A Switch Mode Power Supply circuit collection from Linear Technology. It covers 12 basic SMPS circuit categories: Battery, Boost, Buck, Buck-Boost, Flyback, Forward, High Voltage, Multioutput, Off Line, Preregulator, Switched Capacitor and Telecom.
Author Archives: DP
App note: Need for power and ground cleanliness
Some tips and tricks on how to reduce noise on PCB power and ground traces. It warns digital engineers that the analog nasties are lurking in power supplies, and can cause unexpected surprises for inexperienced PCB designers. Many times electronic system failures are blamed on the parts when the real cause was human error. […]
App note: Audio applications using PIC32 microcontrollers
Here is an app note from Microchip introducing the audio-specific features of the PIC32 MCUs. One of the features disused is the hardware SPI module that supports some standard audio communication modes. In this application note, the available audio-specific features of the PIC32 MCU are explored to address these needs. The SPI module supports different […]
App note: Ball grid array explained
Here is Texas Instrument’s application note on Ball Grid Array IC packages. It provides general information about BGAs, and the many versions of the same. Leaders in the consumer electronics industry will be determined by their ability to deliver increasingly miniaturized products at lower costs. The Ball Grid Array (BGA) package achieves these objectives by […]
Workshop Update for July 27th, 2012
Today much of the day was spent answering emails, and forum support. We did receive our order of Dangerous Prototypes stickers in the meantime. Bus Pirate demo board v5 firmware is being finalized. We caught a few hardware bugs on the board though, which might require another PCB revision. Ian and Sjaak are meeting this […]
ATX Breakout board free PCB build
Chicken built an ATX Breakout board free PCB. The ATX breakout board routes the -12, 3.3, 5 and 12 volt ATX outputs to screw terminals, each protected by a 1.25 amp resettable polyfuse. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll […]
PIC12F source shared for the one-wire HD44780 LCD controller
As a follow up to the “One wire control of HD44780 LCDs” post, McLaren shared the Assembly source code for his project. Pick up the source in the forum. Assembly language source file and hex file (for 12F683) attached… Allow approximately 60 msecs after power-up for LCD initialization before sending commands and/or data to the […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, […]
Week in (p)review July 27, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. WORKSHOP VIDEO: Sick of Beige standard PCB templates and cases NEW PROTOTYPE: Sick of Beige basic case v1 NEW PROJECT: Sick of Beige standard PCB sizes v1.0 3D Model: Bus Blaster v3c HOW TO: Eagle shortcut keys and […]
DIY BGA soldering teardown
Andrew decided to write up a how-to on DIY BGA soldering. His article describes why it’s a bad idea to keep the vias unfilled with solder before reflow. Capilary force sucks up the ball of solder into the via, and there is no solder left to make contact between the IC and the pad. After […]
GIVEAWAY: MSP430 LaunchPad
Today we announce the recipient of the MSP430 LaunchPad. There were lots of great ideas for projects based on the MSP430 LaunchPad, thanks for your submissions. Chris gets a MSP430 for his open source aquarium automation idea: I’m busy with some Opens Source Aquarium Automation project (well, the first phase will only be to automatically […]
Workshop Update for July 26th, 2012
Releasing the Sick of Beige standard PCB template and cases dominated the day. We made a video about it, showed off the standard PCB library, and presented the two initial SoB v1 case designs. As a demo project for the Sick of Beige cases, toady we designed 2 protoboards on DP6037 (60mmx37mm) standard PCBs. One […]
NEW PROTOTYPE: Sick of Beige basic case v1
Basic case version 1 is a laser cut acrylic case that demonstrates Sick of Beige standard PCB sizes. A handy Eagle template library gives your board the right case dimensions with no hassle. Version 1 of the basic case is simple, cheap, easy to assemble, and fits our Sick of Beige standard PCB sizes. The PCB […]
NEW PROJECT: Sick of Beige standard PCB sizes v1.0
Are you sick of beige project boxes that hide your cool board and hard work? Wouldn’t it be cool if your project was case ready from the first revision? We worked with case designer David Moberly (dsm) to create a case-friendly PCB footprint for all our projects. We call the specification Sick of Beige v1.0. […]
GIVEAWAY: MSP430 LaunchPad
Later today we’ll announce the winner of the MSP430 LaunchPad. If you’d like one just leave a comment on the original contest post with an idea for a cool project.
RoboBrrd Brain board v2 gEDA design time-lapse video
Watch Erin design RoboBrrd’s Brain board v2 in gEDA from start to finish. RoboBrrd is an interactive robot designed to motivate students by responding to their achievements through chirps and dances. The original brain of the RoboBrrd was an Arduino MEGA, but the latest version will feature a custom Arduino compatible board. Since redesigning RoboBrrd […]
Workshop Update for July 25th, 2012
Shooting on tomorrows video started early in a sweltering workshop. The accompanying tutorials are all edited and ready to go for Thursday. Sent an order of PCBs and laser cutting to Seeed. Part Ninja documentation continues today, with further diagrams, and images created for the wiki.
Bus Pirate v3.5 free PCB build
David built a free Bus Pirate v3.5 PCB. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. Get […]
GIVEAWAY: MSP430 LaunchPad
Tomorrow we’ll give away an MSP430 LaunchPad! If you’d like one just leave a comment on yesterday’s post with an idea for a cool project.
HOW TO: Eagle shortcut keys and scripts
As we picked up some experience with Eagle, we figured out that clicking icons and typing in commands slows down productivity. Eagle’s key-binding features make it faster to do common tasks by pressing a few keys, but for a real kick they can also run scripts. We use a hot-key to run our project export […]