Another article that might help with bench power supply designs: A good, reliable and easy to use bench power supply unit is probably the most important and most used device in every electronic lab. A proper electronically stabilized bench power supply unit can easily cost over 200 Euro. Using a clever microcontroller based design we […]
Author Archives: Ian
MAX11835 haptic actuator controller with I2C interface
rsdio writes: Haptics and Capacitive Touch are hot topics about which I would like to learn more. Industry’s First Single-Chip Haptic Pattern Generator, Boost Converter, and Driver IC for High-Voltage Actuators Flexibility: designed to drive single-layer piezo actuators, multilayer piezo actuators, or electroactive polymer actuators allowing customers to choose between the various types of haptic […]
PWM controller for low noise power supplies
rsdio writes: These parts look promising on paper, but the sample circuit has too many parts for an inexpensive implementation. I’m still sure something can be learned by studying the data sheets. MAX5975A, MAX5975B Current-Mode PWM Controllers with Frequency Dithering for EMI-Sensitive Power Supplies: High Efficiency at Light Loads Meets Green Requirements of Next-Generation IP […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook comments
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. The first few people who comment on this at Facebook get a free PCB. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. This week we’re giving away two PCB codes. Pick your own PCB from the free PCB drawer. Don’t forget there’s […]
Week in (p)review: June 17, 2011
This week was lost to server setup and site migration. Thanks for hanging in there. We’re back now, pushing to Twitter and Facebook too. Look out for new features and updates. A new mobile forum interface makes it easier to read and post. Many have noticed a substantial speedup with the new server too. Lots […]
TMP006 IR temperature sensor pictures and tests
Joe posted pictures of the single-chip digital IR temperature sensor covered earlier. jbeal has measurement tables and first impressions in the forum: I got the eval kit for the TI TMP006 sensor mentioned here last week. It does seem to be able to detect the presence of my hand (apparently about 37 C), when I […]
MSP430 FRAM board – 50% Off coupon
octal writes: the board cost is $29. Enter this coupon “MSP430_FRAM” (without quotes) and you got it at 50%, shipping fees are still free from TI Store. The MSP-EXP430FR5739 Experimenter Board is a development platform for the MSP430FR57xx devices. It supports this new generation of MSP430 microcontroller devices with integrated Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM). […]
Logic Shrimp free PCB build
Kenneth built a free Logic Shrimp PCB. 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. You can get an assembled Logic Shrimp for $34.90.
DIY Bus pirate with FT232 breakout
hak8or posted pictures of his DIY Bus Pirate with a breakout for the FT232 chip. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Unboxing the OverLoad programmable dummy load
tempmj posted his first impressions ITead’s new programmable dummy load. Via the forum.
Improved Bus Pirate v3 case sticker
adamoutler posted an updated case sticker for Bus Pirate in the forum. Note: it is only compatible with the seeed cable. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
DIY PCB mill
fcobcn shares a little about the DIY PCB mill used to make the QFP50 breakout we covered earlier.
Control #twatch from Linux command line
llauren used Netcat to control his #twatch: I received my #twatch the other day. I found out that the most basic way to speak to the #twatch is using Netcat (nc). Netcat probably comes as standard with most Linux distros and if it doesn’t, then install it. On a Debian-flavour platform (like Ubuntu) Via the forum.
Bus Pirate v4 free PCB build
Greeeg built a free Bus Pirate v4 PCB. 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.
“Welcome to the new server” free PCBs
Welcome to the new server. Please help us out by leaving a comment below. We’ll send out some free PCB coupons, and double coupons for each new reported problem. Forum, blog, wiki, and free PCB store are all open again. Please report any problems in the comments or the forum. Migration was a bit dicey. […]
Server migration in process
UPDATE#2: We think this is the new server :) Welcome. —— UPDATE#1: Forum will be down for sync now. —– It’s time to move to a fancy new server. Comments are locked while we sync the blog database, and the free PCB store is not accepting orders. Next we’ll move the wiki, and finally the […]
Free PCB coupon to RT #5 & #16 @dangerousproto
Every Tuesday we give away some extra PCBs via Twitter. This post was announced on twitter. The 5th and 16th person who retweet it get free PCBs. We changed the approach this week due to auto-retweeters grabbing boards first. Thanks for the heads-up on auto-retweeters JT! Love it, hate it? Let us know in the […]
USB IR Toy v2 back in stock
USB IR Toy v2 is back in stock at Seeed Studio. You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.
Open source PCB exchange from ITead Studio
ITead will start giving away mystery PCBs with every order: At normal when you make your prototyping PCB from us, we just send you 10 pcs of your design, now we offer this OPEN PCB activity to get 2 more PCBs at $0.1 cost. If your design and boards is not Privacy/Private, and it can […]
All through-hole version of the Logic Shrimp
jarin made an all through-hole version of the Logic Shrimp logic analyzer: I’ve made variation of Logic Shrimp, using only through-hope components found in my junk box. More details and pictures can be found here. There is no schematics drawn, I built it just using datasheets and original schematics – and I’m too lazy to […]