An open source universal audio amplifier called ‘U-AMP‘ @ GmanModz, that is available on GitHub:
Using what I learned getting digital audio working on each systems, I set out on a new project I would call “U-AMP” (Universal-Amp). This would be ONE pcb which has the features of seamlessly integrated speakers and headphones with a variety of input sources for digital audio from Wii, PS2, Dreamcast, as well as analog audio input. It does it all. The board is based around the LM49450 IC which I have used many times. The amp is controlled by a PICLF15324; the LF version of the same PIC I use in the WiiPMS.
App note from Analog Devices about ways to extend capabilities of their ADM106x supply supervisor and sequencer chip. Link here (PDF)
The ADM1062–ADM1069 Super Sequencers accurately monitor a number of input rails. The ADM1062–ADM1067 have 10 input pins dedicated to monitoring (VH, VP1 to VP4, VX1 to VX5) and the ADM1068 and ADM1069 have eight (VH, VP1 to VP3, VX1 to VX4). Each of these pins has two internal programmable comparator circuits. By programming these circuits undervoltage only, overvoltage only or undervoltage and overvoltage trip points can be set up around each monitored supply. These trip points are 1% accurate at all allowable voltages and across the entire operational temperature range of the devices.
Ionization chamber is a device to measure radioactivity level. When air’s atoms are hit by radioactive particles, an ion-pair is produced. Ions has electric charge, if they are in electric field create by positive and negative electrodes, negative ions will move to positive electrode and positive will move to negative electrode. They will try to “meet each other” thus creating a current. This current can be measured. The current is proportional to amount of ion-pairs. Amount of ion-pairs is proportional to radioactivity level.
Ken Shirriff has written an article on reverse engineering a “Onboard space clock” from a Soyuz mission:
We recently obtained a clock that flew on a Soyuz space mission.1 The clock, manufactured in 1984, contains over 100 integrated circuits on ten circuit boards. Why is the clock so complicated? In this blog post, I examine the clock’s circuitry and explain why so many chips were needed. The clock also provides a glimpse into the little-known world of Soviet aerospace electronics and how it compares to American technology.
Nexperia app note about MOSFET’s destruction investigative hints that can be used for design improvements. Link here (PDF)
When Power MOSFETs fail, there is often extensive damage. Examination of the size and location of the burn mark, the failure signature, provides information about the type of fault condition which caused the failure. This document provides a catalogue of failure signatures from common electrical overstress failure modes. The catalogue can be used in forensic investigation of the underlying root cause of failure to improve module design and reliability.
This app note from Nexperia discuss’ gate drive designs for safe operation of MOSFET. link here (PDF)
The MOSFET gate-source threshold voltage (VGS-th) and maximum gate-source voltage (VGS-max) are key parameters that are critical to the reliable operation of MOSFETs. The threshold voltage represents the voltage at which the MOSFET starts to turn on, whilst the maximum gate-source voltage is the maximum gate-source voltage that the MOSFET can withstand safely. VGS-max ratings vary between suppliers and between MOSFETs, which can make it difficult to choose appropriate MOSFETs for the application.
This project is about 24-bit stereo DAC, which we build for Raspberry Pi boards. This R-2R ladder DAC is developing around Intel / Altera EPM240T100C5N CPLD. We developed this module after review the PT8211 DAC, which we tested a few months ago. Compare with PT8211 DAC, this module is capable to provide high-quality audio output with Raspbian OS.
VU-meter circuit built on a breadboard using transistors, diodes, resistors, and LEDs @ Build Electronic Circuits:
It’s basically a simple display for showing a value. It’s originally for showing signal level in audio circuits, but there’s no reason you can’t use it to show temperature, rain intensity, light level, or whatever other value you are measuring.
Great read from Bourns about USB killer devices and port protection solutions. Link here (PDF)
Researchers have long warned about the security risks of inserting other users’ USB drives into your PC, even those from whom you trust. If the threat of malware infections isn’t cause enough for concern, there have been stories of malicious USB thumb drives that have “fried” laptops. Does this seem like a far-fetched occurrence? Hearing of the threats, PC World documented the work of an electronics engineer who set out to create a prototype that could actually kill a mobile device’s USB port.
Bourns’ built-in thermal cut-off devices adds extra protection from faults directly on USB Type-C cables. Link here (PDF)
The now ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard was initially developed in 1994 with the intent of providing a communication standard to improve and simplify communication between the PC and peripheral devices. An updated version of the USB interface standard is the USB 3.1 Superspeed+, which doubles the data rate to 10 Gbps – a 2x improvement of the previous generation USB 3.0 Superspeed. USB 3.1 Superspeed+ is backwards compatible with USB 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 with a power delivery projected at 100 W. This gives users enhanced data encoding for more efficient data transfer offering higher throughput and improved I/O power efficiency.
In addition to the increased power capability and bandwidth achieved in this updated USB standard, the connector has been changed. The original simple 4 pin D+/ D- Power and GND format has been upgraded and now combines multiple connector functions into one. The new USB Type-C connector features 24 pins in a smaller form factor.
A downside to this combination of increased power and the extremely tight pin spacing is heightened concern about potential safety and fire hazards due to the possibility of thermal runaway at the connector. To deal with these potential threats, it is recommended that electronic equipment manufacturers and connector and cable manufacturers integrate overcurrent and overtemperature protection into the Type-C connector.
“FIREO” (Pronounced FIRE-O), is basically a bit of non-conventional QRP (low power) SSB/CW transceiver design in which speech compression is implemented using FM limiter circuit. This unique approach of speech processing increases the effective average transmitted power and thus it improves on the signal strength reports at the receiving end. Consequently this technique also helps to cut through any man made or natural noise, very effectively.
Ray Ring has written an article detailing the build of his mini SDR radio using FV-1 Audio processor and Si5351:
This is a revised version of my FV-1 based SDR. I replaced the CS2100 clk generator with the Si5351 clk generator. The Si5351 has some advantages over the CS2100, namely you can generate quadrature clks directly. This simplifies the hardware design and improves the quadrature accuracy. The sideband rejection in LSB/USB modes is impressive..somewhere around 60 db as best I can measure.
David Gironi writes, “Brushless electric motor (BLDC motors) are synchronous motors that are powered by a DC electric source via an integrated inverter/switching power supply, which produces an AC electric signal to drive the motor. Hall sensored motors uses hall effect sensors or a rotary encoder to directly measure the rotor’s position.
A white paper from Bourns about thermal protection PTCs on flyback converters. Link here (PDF)
This paper examines the use of resettable polymer fuses for protecting offline flyback converters. Using a thermal model of the resettable fuse surrounding solder pads and copper to optimize the trip time so that the converter is protected during overloads, there are two potential positions considered for polymer Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) resettable fuses in the circuit. One position is directly on the winding and the other position is beyond the control loop. Results are taken from the converter and compared with a simulation.
Build a cloud weather station dashboard to visualize your ESP32 or ESP8266 sensor readings from anywhere in the world. You’ll see your sensor data displayed on gauges and on a table. The ESP32 or ESP8266 will make an HTTP POST request to a PHP script to insert your data into a MySQL database.
For a number of years now I’ve had a couple of high powered switching power supply units made by Power-One. They’re typically found in I.T. equipment and provide a single output rail of either 12 V or 48 V with a very high current rating. The other cool thing is that in the case of the 12 V model – the output voltage can be changed in software from 1 V to 12 V (12.45 V is the max). The 48 V model does not allow configuration of the output voltage frustratingly.
Thank you for reading the blog and being part of our community in 2019! We’re looking forward to more open hardware projects, more how-tos, more videos, more free PCBs, and more hacking in 2020.
This is the prototype display board for the next, and possibly final, revision of Bus Pirate “Ultra” v1. We went a bit wild, but we’re thrilled at the possibilities:
2.8″ IPS LCD with capacitive touch display. The capacitive touch sensor is I2C based, so we added an I2C bus and interrupt pin to the flex connector
2 silicone buttons with an RGB LED under each. The buttons are read through a TCA9534 I2C IO expander, basically a 5volt tolerant PCF8574 at half the price. The TCA9534 uses the same I2C bus as the capacitive touch sensor, and gets a dedicated interrupt signal on the flex connector
SK9822 RGB LEDs share an SPI bus with the LCD. The SK9822 runs at 5volts and uses a two pin protocol that can be driven by an SPI peripheral, but it doesn’t have a chip select pin so it can’t share an SPI bus with other slaves. We use a 74HCT573 as a level converter (3.3->5volts), and the 573’s latch pin as a pseudo chip select
The board is now powered from VUSB (5volts) and has a 3.3volt regulator
6 additional IOs (routing in progress) from the unused pins of the TCA9534
A few tweaks to the schematic before we send off the PCBs: *MISO on SPI should be jumpered. This leaves a disconnected pin between VUSB (5volts) and the 3.3volt logic pins *Route unused IO pins to a header *Run LCD backlight from VUSB
v1e is nearly complete and we’ll make a small batch of them soon, but probably immediately after spring festival. Feels free to hit us up on Twitter or check out the latest in the forum.
