PIC Project Parts Suppliers

The following is not meant as an endorsement of any of these companies or their products.  Other than buying things from them, I have no affiliation or investment with them.

Digikey -- www.digikey.com
Generally has nearly everything under the sun.  They do have a $25 minimum and for small quantities, their prices are OK, but not the lowest.  However, they are one of the few places I can find the LF version of the PIC16LF87 or PIC 16LF88 needed for the 13 RGBLED controller.  Digikey does a really good job of turning around most orders the same day.

Mouser -- www.mouser.com
They have an awful lot of things -- in some ways, better than Digikey, in some ways worse.  However, they have no minimum order amount and they turn around orders as fast as DigiKey.  However, they do not seem to carry the LF PIC16LF87/88 parts, so at least at the time of this writing, you can't get all the parts from them.

Maxim Dallas -- www.maxim-ic.com
These are the only folks I can find that carry the MAX6966 or MAX6967 PWM chip needed for the 13 RGBLED controller.  You can get either chip as the controller will correctly configure the chip (the only difference between the two is the initial setting of one pin function).  They can be very frustrating to deal with and often will have a backorder of a few weeks or more (sometimes, a lot more).

SuperBright LEDs -- www.superbrightleds.com
They have a very nice diffused T1 3/4 (5mm) RGBLED.  I've used these for a lot of things and they are good and inexpensive.  Be sure to get the diffused RGBLED -- the clear one just doesn't mix colors very well.  If you are using the 13 RGBLED controller, be sure to order only the common Anode RGBLED -- common cathode will not work (either will work with the mRGBLED, though it defaults to common Anode).

Also, if you are going for high power, they have some nice XLamp 1 watt LEDs.  These are not RGBLEDs and they require a lot more power than either of the RGBLED controllers can put out.  But with a power amp and some mixing, they through off a lot of light.

LCK Leds -- www.lck-led.com
These folks produce a really nifty high-power RGBLED.  This thing is incredibly bright -- by stats, at least 10x as bright as the SuperBright RGBLED, but I honestly think it's higher.  They require a lot of power and absolutely must have a heat sink (they get incredibly hot and will fry themselves in just a few minutes without one).  But for lighting up big things and color washes, they are had to beat.  The Part # I've used is PG1N-3LFC 
Maxbotix - www.maxbotix.com
These folks produce the EZ1 ultrasonic ranging module.  It's very inexpensive and very small (about 1"x1"x1") and pretty easy to use.

Futurlec - www.futurlec.com
For creating small batches of PC Boards, I hesitantly recommend them. I have used them a number of times and the result they produce is a sharp, professional quality board.  Their plating, silk screening and solder shields look as good as anyone.  And their pricing is some of the best around.  Finally, they can take the Eable CAD files (the .BRD files) directly, so you can just send them the .brd file in the various distribution and not have to download/run/learn Eagle.  The problem?  They continuously promise it will take a week or so to produce your PCBs and then take anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks to actually do it.  And they never seem to give a good reasona or accurate measure of time.  Very frustrating.

There are others who do small quantity PCB production, but it seemed they are either higher priced (sometimes a LOT higher priced) or take Gerber files (not hard, but it is a chance to screw things up).

Last Updated June 12, 2006