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If you start tinkering with electronics, eventually you will want to make your own printed circuit board. In the olden days you could just buy an etching kit at your local radio shack. Now, most electronic projects are much more complex, the boards are much smaller, and you need to deal with 2 layers, surface mount components and vias. Rather than being just another PCB tutorial, this extensive two part overview covers the myriad of problems you may encounter and the methods available for solving these problems.
Making Your Own PCB – pitfalls and overcoming them - [Part1]+[Part2]
PCB terminal blocks Wago 233 provide a fast and reliable connection at production and also a very convenient way of installing for end users of your devices.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of Wago 233 terminal blocks is saving of space and a simple installation of wire leads. Pin spacing is only 2.5 mm and a simple pushing of a plastic lever is all that is necessary to insert of a lead.
This way of installation is very simple and intuitive. That´s why the Wago terminal blocks are very suitable even for products, where a user himself must connect leads, for example various security devices, controlling units etc. Usable are leads with a 0,08-0,5 mm2 cross section. Recently we enhanced our stock with next types, that´s why you can now choose from 5 types – 2, 3, 4, 5 a 12-pole. Upon order, we´re able to deliver you even other versions and also models in an orange color (with 2.54 mm pin spacing). Detailed information will provide you the Wago 233-203 datasheet.
Wago 233 – connected by one click! - [Link]
embedded-lab.com writes:
The overall process of designing a microcontroller-based system is divided into two parts: designing the hardware of the system, and writing the control software for it. Before the design cycle begins, it is important to have good knowledge of the tools available for the chosen development platform. While we already explored the hardware features of the chipKIT UNO32 board in Exploring the chipKIT Uno32 board, it’s time to look at the software development process. The flowchart below gives an overview of how an application program is developed for the chipKIT board.
Getting acquainted with the chipKIT programming tool - [Link]
embedded-lab.com writes:
The chipKIT Uno32 development board is based on the powerful PIC32MX320F128 microcontroller, which features a 32-bit MIPS processor core running at 80MHz, 128K of flash program memory, and 16K of SRAM data memory. The board can be powered via USB or an external power supply. The on-board USB-UART interface provides a communication path between the board and the MPIDE tool running on the PC. MPIDE stands for Multi-Platform Integrated Development Environment and is a complete tool for developing and downloading embedded applications into the chipKIT Uno32 board. Now let’s explore the chipKIT Uno32 board and its on-board features in more detail.
Exploring the chipKIT Uno32 board - [Link]
The number and quality of electric vehicle (EV) options on the market continues to expand, spawning vehicles like the new C-1. Created by Lit Motors, the trick electric motorbike uses gyroscopes for stabilization in much the same way as the Segway personal transporter to keep the rider from falling over, even at a stop without added effort from the rider.
Taking around 6 hours to charge to full capacity, the C-1 can then travel for around 150 to 220 miles without ever using a drop of gas. Top speed is around 120 mph, impressive for any EV. The electric motorbike offers the traditional advantages of a motorcycle; fast speed, good acceleration, spirited cornering and a fun ride; while avoiding their pitfalls.
The rider doesn’t need to worry about balance as that’s what the gyros are for. As for safety, a hard outer shell creates a cocoon around the rider, allowing for car-like safety. Even when struck by another vehicle from the side, the gyroscopic system will work to keep the C-1 from falling over.
Expected some time in 2014, the Lit Motors C-1 will carry a base price of around $12,000 to $14,000, less than a typical home renovation, but undercutting the cost of commercially available electric cars by a significant margin. Due to the small nature of the company, credit buyers will likely be responsible for their own financing.
When seeking bank financing for an alternative powertrain vehicle the applicant needs good credit. The average credit card debt of card users will need to be kept under control as banks will be hesitant to loan out to applicants already saddling heavy debt.
One option for those who would like to get rid of some debt in anticipation of electric vehicle financing is 0 interest balance transfer credit cards. By transferring balance from several cards or other debt sources to a single card with a no-interest policy for one year, monthly payments will come down significantly and come at the convenience of paying to a single source rather than several monthly payments.
The Lit Motors C-1 is the EV to watch out for in 2013 and 2014, proving that thinking outside the box to create a new type of personal vehicle can produce a form of transportation that has never even been conceived of before. There’s tons of electric motorbikes on the market, but the C-1′s innovative gyroscope system makes it stand out. And stand up, on it’s own!
Steven Keeping writes:
Switching DC/DC converters (“regulators”) have become popular because they are highly efficient and able to step-up (boost), step-down (buck), and invert voltages with ease. However, voltage and current ripples generated by high frequency operation can cause operational problems with sensitive chips and electromagnetic interference (EMI) hassles.
One answer is to spend a lot of time and resources ‘tuning’ the PCB design to minimize parasitic inductances and capacitances, and design time consuming filter circuits to minimize voltage and current ripples. Another is to enlist the venerable linear regulator to work in tandem with the switching converter to smooth the output of the latter and provide a stable, reliable voltage output.
This latter technique requires careful design and considered component selection to get the two regulators working in harmony and eliminate those post-regulation filters. This article describes the benefits of a “hybrid” voltage regulator approach, recommends component selection criteria, and describes a low-noise analog power supply example from Texas Instruments.
Hybrid Power Supplies Deliver Noise-Free Voltages for Sensitive Circuitry - [Link]
Pjkim assembled his Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 free PCB and enclosed it into some Tupperware. He had some problems with the firmware, but he eventually got it to work as intended. [via]
The LCD works, the iron gets hot and I can solder stuff with it! What do you call the first functioning of a soldering iron? First solder? First smoke? First joint?
Will have a more thorough writeup and more pics on my blog soon. And thank you Arhi and Arakis. And Ian too.
Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 assembled and enclosed - [Link]
Modkit Micro is a graphical programming environment for microcontrollers. Microcontrollers allow programmers and engineers to add behaviors to everyday objects and electronic gadgets. We created Modkit Micro to bring the world of microcontroller programming to the masses.
Modkit Micro helps almost anyone to make almost anything smarter through a simple, yet powerful visual programming interface. Modkit Micro is based on years of research at the MIT Media Lab including the popular Scratch project, so it will look familiar to the over 1 million kids and novice programmers who have already been introduced to Scratch.
Modkit Micro: The Easiest Way to Program Microcontrollers - [Link]
scd writes:
I designed this controller for my Crystalite Sparrow 48V electric bicycle hub motor. The core function of a DC motor controller is to periodically read the throttle setting and adjust the current being supplied to the motor. It does this with a technique called pulse-width modulation or PWM (more on this later). Other functions of the controller include: 1) low-voltage cutoff .. monitor the battery voltage and shut down the motor if the battery voltage is too low .. this protects the battery from over-discharge. 2) over-temperature cutoff .. monitor the temperature of the FET power transistors and shut down the motor if they become too hot .. this protects the FET power transistors. 3) over-current cutoff .. reduce the current to the motor if too much current is being supplied .. this protects both the motor and the the FET power transistors. 4) brake cutoff .. shut down the motor when the brake is applied .. this is a safety feature .. if the user applies brake and throttle, the brakes win.
DC Motor Controller for Electric Bicycle - [Link]
Mayhew Labs writes:
Whether you’re a first-time circuit board designer or you’ve been doing it for years, you know how difficult it can be to visualize layout, spacing, and relative size in PCB layout software. You might have also experienced that uneasy “I hope everything is right” feeling when you submit your design files for manufacturing. You’re not alone! I’ve ordered boards with silkscreen text way too small to read, components on the wrong side of the board, and even had my silkscreen and soldermask layers reversed by mistake! Each of these times, the real problem was not having a good view of the design.
I came up with a solution to these problems and designed (with the help of a web developer) an online 3D Gerber viewer that anyone can use. If you’re not familiar with Gerber files, they are the files that layout software (like Eagle, Altium, etc) export for manufacturing. They describe everything pertinent about your board that will be required to actually create your PCB.
View Your PCB Design in 3D Online for Free - [Link]
