For a current project I need a step-up converter to get 5 volts from 2.5V-5.5V input. The output of this converter is used to power sensors which drive motors and small heat elements from this source. The average consumed current is 160mA with a peek at 320mA. In the photo you can see the latest…
Category: Common
Adafruit PCB Coaster Arrived
Today I got the PCB coaster from Adafruit. They look so much better in real than on the photos in the shop. The coasters are made from 2.4mm FR4 PCB material. There is a transparent solder mask on the top to protect the copper and gold elements. The frame around the image is black silkscreen. I…
Snowflake Assembly Video
Here a quick video of the snowflake assembly. It shows the assembly of the LED side of the panel using hot air. The assembly went without big problems, except there was a little bit excess solder on the pads. Therefore the LEDs do not lay perfectly flat on the board. More Snowflake Posts
Perfect Snowflake Panels from Eurocircuits
Eurocircuits delivered some perfect panels for the snow flake board. Each panel has five snow flake boards on it. This was an impressive good job from from Eurocircuits. There are a quite number of challenges to produce panels in this outstanding quality: The width of the small decorative lines on the front is just 0.15mm….
White Boards from PCBWay
Recently, the boards for a small power converter arrived from PCBWay. This board house provides a fast and reliable service. In the following image you can get a own impression of the produced boards:
Plant Watering Sensor Files
There was a long delay with no update about my projects. The reason for this is, I focused on other non electronic related projects. I promised to publish all files and information about the plant watering sensor project in August, and here are all the files. First some Important Notes Even with these files, it…
Plastic Cup Meltdown – Working with Epoxy
Currently I am working on the coating for the foot part of the plant watering sensor. Here I already tried a wide range of techniques and materials. At the moment, epoxy seems the perfect material choice – so I am trying different resins and hardeners to get the best results. Some hardeners are very reactive…
Eurocircuits Delivered Astonishing Perfect Panels
I ordered a single panel as a test for the production version of the plant watering sensor and I got astonishing perfect panels from Eurocircuits. Even I only ordered just one, I got three perfect panels in gold. Thank you very much Eurocircuits! As you can see from the photos, the quality of the panels…
Weller WT Solder Station – Great Tool with Great Issues
Update: Weller solved the problems I describe in this article with a new design of the retainer. This new retainer solves all the problems described in this article. The new retainer looks very different and uses a spring to pull the tip to the heating element. A little bit more than a half year ago…
12 Time Wasting Issues in Autodesk EAGLE
I am a machine engineer and very used to work with CAD software. The abbreviation CAD stands for Computer Aided Design. I personally think, Autodesk Eagle fails with the ‘A’, because often it does not give you any aid. On the contrary it often puts a spoke in the wheel and makes your life horrible….