Steve Rodgers has been busy coding. He’s developed a set of Python scripts (BOMtools) which allow you to extract part numbers from a Kicad schematic and match them to a part number database. There are two scripts. One which does the part merge operation and is called from Kicad and the other which manages the […]
Category Archives: parts
Having fun with big ultra capacitors
Here’s a video by Afrotechmods: Fun with ultracapacitors! So I recently got hold of some 2600F (no that is not a typo) ultracapacitors with an insanely low ESR of 0.7 milliohms, meaning they can discharge hundreds of amps even at low voltages. This video shows you some of the mayhem I got up to, and […]
Will the SMD resistors marking become a history?
Will the SMD resistors marking become a history? Company YAGEO announced its intention to remove marking of RC/AC 0603,0805,1206 SMD chip resistors from July, 1-st, 2013. Everything implies, that the situation with marking of chip resistors (0603/0805/1206) will soon be similar to chip capacitors – i.e. no marking on the top of the component. The […]
DIY hand-wound resistors
Need higher power resistors, or heaters, as we like to call them? Build them yourself. Matseng hand-wound 6 meters of 38AWG wire to build 12 ohm resistors. He used a pencil and some kapton tape as the base for the resistor. I needed two power (just ~1 watt) 12 ohm resistors for a project and […]
LED packaging overkill
Order a single surface mount LED, you expect a small “anti-static” bag with a tiny LED inside. Wrong. Here’s what Systemstech got when he ordered one. A large “anti-static” bag, with a dehumidifier bag, and a humidity sticker inside. The actual LED is the tiny black dot on the right. Got a packaging overkill stories […]
How to build a surface mount resistor and capacitor collection
This tutorial shows how to easily, and relatively cheaply, build a nicely organized SMD resistor, and capacitor collection. George likes using connectable tiny storage boxes, and filling them with resistor/capacitor kits from eBay. This is complemented by printing out labels for your storage boxes using the label design files for download. Via Twitter.
Another nixie tube hoard
In response to our Workshop Update in which we displayed our Nixie Tube collection Buzzdavidson writes: Hoarding…Yup. Nice to know that I’m not alone in my insanity. Here’s “My collection”. To be fair, there are some VFDs and Dekatrons in there as well. I’ve salvaged most of my nixies (side view in the plastic flip […]
Microchip’s PIC18F2/4550 replacements are available for sampling
In July we mentioned that Microchip was getting ready to release replacements for the famous PIC18F2550 and PIC18F4550 microcontrollers, and now they are available for sampling. The PIC18F2/45K50 family is pin to pin comparable with the older series, and are also capable of running at 5V. The price has gone down considerably, as the new […]
7 segment display controlled by simple SPI interface
Touch let us know about these 4 digit SPI controlled 7 segment displays that cost a little less then $1 a piece. They include decimal separators and a colon separator so it’s easy to display time. I picked up some cheap 4 digit 7 segment displays over on eBay for $10 + shipping. They Include […]
Nixie hoard or collection, you decide
Like many, we’ve amassed a bunch of nixie tubes but never use them for much. Matseng shared his hoard collection: Top left to right: 10 pcs alphanumeric ZM1350, 5 boxes @ 20 each of the tiny IN17, 8 pcs of the huge B7971. Left middle: A box with about 100 random nixies with 16 pcs […]
Sourcing cheap parts on TaoBao, China’s eBay
Matseng wrote about the Chinese eBay equivalent TaoBao as a great source for cheap electronics components. While the pricing is cheap, the downside is that most sellers only sell locally, so using an agent is a must. Read his full report below.
Octopart provides historical component pricing
Greg Shikhman from Octopart writes, “Hey DP, we just launched a new feature on Octopart that we think is really cool: historical prices on chips. We’re trying to bring transparency to the chip market and we’ve already discovered some cool stuff in our data. Check it out! The way it works is you search for […]
Connector sampler pack
We have an ongoing thread in the forum where you can share your latest electronics purchases. Here’s some stuff Zeta got recently: You know how hard it is to choose the right conector when all you have is an online catalog and well TE Conectivity (via Digikey) sent me a sample pack of their sotutions […]
Our big box of traveling parts is in the wild
We are constantly developing prototypes, so we end up with a large pile of unused components. When we moved to a new location we realized some components sat untouched since the previous move. A while ago we read about the The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk and decided this was a perfect way […]
8051-compatible MCU samples from Microchip
For those of you who like the 8051 chip, we notice that Microchip has 8051 compatible MCUs available in 40-pin PDIP, part number SST89E516RD-40-C-PIE, available as samples. According to the datasheet: The SST89E516RDx and SST89V516RDx are members of the FlashFlex family of 8-bit microcontroller products designed and manufactured with SST’s patented and proprietary SuperFlash CMOS […]
Octopart on standardizing partlist data
An engineer from Octopart asks about standardizing the format for partlists for easier automated processing and quotes. They are designing a new part information API and would like help with suggestions and ideas: If we can all come up with a good general purpose structured data format, it could be used for interchange between EDA […]
Small 10 mW thermogenerators available retail
This device is a tiny SMD thermogenerator that harvests heat energy to generate up to 10 milliwatts of power. Dev boards are available at Mouser for a mere $700 retail. In case of Micropelt devices, one side is placed near the heat source and the other side has a fixed heat-sink on top of it. […]
Ceramic, tantalum, and electrolytic capacitor comparison
Arhi made use of his precision LCR meter to measure capacitance and ESR values of ceramic, tantalum, and electrolytic capacitors. He made his measurements at various frequencies to help him graph the changes to the values over a wide frequency range. From the graph it can be extrapolated that the ceramic capacitors have the lowest […]
Bus Pirate PIC programmer through-hole version
MickM decided to rework our PIC programing adapter to a through-hole version. He made two versions of the board. One for both Bus Pirate V2go and V3, and one that supports only V3. I got very confused reading the schematic, and had to redraw it. One thing led to another and I laid it out […]
PIC32s in DIP packages are available at microchipDIRECT
PIC32 microcontrollers in DIP packages are in stock at microchipDirect. The prices range from $2.51 in the singles to $1.82 in high volumes. This compares well to 8, and 16bit PICs which also range around $2 in the same package. Via the forum. Thanks Shaos.