I have one K8055 board applied for automation of an car painting chamber (fans, heatig, lights, preasure). Of that reason a secure and reliable functioning is of a great meaning. Whole system fuctioning well until today, when a USB port in PIC16C745 processor is no more visible from the PC. Fortunately I have one more PIC and I changet it. So I temporary solve a problem. I saw on your web page that no spare parts for K8055 is availabele. Problem is in preprogrammed PIC. All other coponents are reachible in normal IC stock. Can you help me to find the easiest way to get spare PIC for my borad.
I don’t know if Velleman can supply a replacement for the PIC. What I do know is that for copyright reasons they will not provide the firmware, so you cannot buy an empty PIC16C745 and program it yourself.
There are pin compatible flash devices out there, the PIC18F2455 and 2550. They require a different crystal and a few other minor changes to the board. Nothing scary. The first version of the open source firmware for those is actually a 1:1 functional equivalent to the original K8055 firmware.