Microchip MPLAB PICkit 4/SNAP Cable Selection and Installation

PICkit 4 has an 8-pin 0.1″ pitch SIP header in place of PICkit 3’s 6-pin header. For PIC / dsPIC / PIC32 the same 6-pin cables used for PICkit 3 are still used with PICkit 4 and will bring out the same signals on the TC2030 footprints as when used with PICkit 3, make sure you align pin 1 of both connectors.

TC2030-MCP with Microchip AC164110 Adapter (Adapter NOT included)

This solution is ONLY for PIC/dsPIC/PIC32 families, it won’t work with AVR or SAM.
This solution shares the same PCB footprints/pinouts as detailed on page 1 of these datasheets: TC2030-MCP / TC2030-MCP-NL

 

Above shows the Microchip PICkit^TM 3 and the Microchip AC164110 “RJ11 to ICSP” adapter.

A WORD OF WARNING Microchip’s AC164110 adapter ships with a short RJ12 cable (that you won’t need if you are using Tag-Connect). In every case we’ve seen the Microchip supplied cable is severely undercrimped and WILL BEND AND DAMAGE the gold wire contacts in any jack or debugger that it is plugged into. The undercrimped cable will work just fine with the now damaged jack, but any correctly crimped cable that is subsequently plugged in (such as our TC2030-MCP cable) will operate at best intermmittently. PLEASE discard the Microchip RJ12 cable OR use a quality RJ12 crimp tool to ensure the crimps have been fully completed. We always recommend using a ratcheted crimp tool which will ensure that under-crimping of modular plugs is not possible.