New Picaxe 08M2s not labelled?

Jeff Haas

Senior Member
I just got some 08M2s in, and was surprised to see that they are not labelled "Picaxe 08M2+" on the top. Instead, they have the Microchip info - "12F 1840" etc.

?
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
My first thought is: "Do they behave like an 08M2?" Ie Can you program them with the PE?

And, if they don't respond to the PE: "Where did you purchase them from?"
 

Jeff Haas

Senior Member
Oh, they program fine. Just wondering why this batch didn't have the expected label on top. I have some older 08Ms and tell them apart by the label. Now, I'll have to track them more closely.

I got them from RobotShop in the US.
 

rq3

Senior Member
I've been using surface mount 20M2 direct from RevEd for close to 10 years. They've never had the Picaxe part number on them, just "PIC16F1829".
 

erco

Senior Member
Surprising, never seen that. I thought Rev-Ed preferred to not give away the info on which PIC chip it was originally. Everyone loves a mystery.

Have Picaxes ever been knocked off? Ten years ago I found some BASIC Stamp 2 knockoffs in China and ordered some. The Parallax guys were VERY interested in those.
 

kfjl

Member
Have a close-up look at the chips sold on-line in the picaxe store. 08M2s have the picaxe name and 20X2s have the pic name.
The mystery is why?
 

AllyCat

Senior Member
Hi,
.... I thought Rev-Ed preferred to not give away the info on which PIC chip it was originally.
Not really any secrets, see HERE in the "Manuals" section of the forum for the "Advanced Technical Details". It also says:

"The M2 series chips are engraved with the full PICAXE name**, whilst other parts are simply marked with the base Microchip 'PIC' name. See the table below for the names engraved on the current PICAXE parts.
** M2 surface mount parts (and in times of supply shortages, DIP parts) may also be supplied marked with just the standard base Microchip 'PIC' name."

AFAIK, the "Labels" are Laser-Etched onto the packages in the Microchip factory, which presumably is only worthwhile for large volume products. Smaller volume products (e.g. X2s and SMD) and in times of short supplies (as of microchips in general, Globally at the moment) can be programmed by Rev Ed themselves onto "blank" devices, which would carry the base Microchip part number.

Cheers, Alan.
 

bogbean

Well-known member
I just got some 08M2s in, and was surprised to see that they are not labelled "Picaxe 08M2+" on the top. Instead, they have the Microchip info - "12F 1840" etc.
I've also experienced this recently (some 08M2s bought on 9th February from Spiratronics via eBay). In fact I initially thought they'd sent me the wrong chips until they pointed out they had the boot code correctly loaded onto them, which indeed they did have, they worked fine.
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
I'd never thought of looking for PICAXEs on EBay. Refer to the attached image for a possible reason.

At that price, it must be for same-day delivery from UK to Australia!
 

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Technical

Technical Support
Staff member

Lead time on our own bulk factory orders is well over a year at present due to the global microcontroller shortage (in normal times it is 8-12 weeks). Hence it is not always possible for us to supply the custom marked DIP parts at present as we have to use whatever parts are currently available. The chips have identical silicon and PICAXE firmware and so are identical apart from the cosmetic labelling.
 
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