Global Geek Tour: Sjaak’s score from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China

This is a little grab of some of the things Sjaak came home with from our Global Geek Tour of China this week.

This pile has 5 little breadboard, 5 LCD/OLED breakout boards for plastic ribbon FPC connectors, 2 shiny LiPo batteries with a capacity of 800mAh, and a spool of black thin wire. We like to use the 0.10mm lacked copper wire to repair our PCBs, we think it’s more robust and visible than other wires. We can’t remember the cost, but it seem like a bargain at the time.

More of Sjaak’s treasures below the break.

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SuperScope: circuit simulation through Arduino-Processing interface


Here’s a novel application. Supecapacitor has developed a circuit simulation project using Arduino-Processing. As he describes it:

“SuperScope is a circuit simulator app for representing and calculating analog circuits.
What’s so cool about SuperScope is the ability to actually import circuit components (via Arduino Serial) into the program where you can physically manipulate them.
Arduino tests for the value of the component (a capacitor, inductor, resistor, or waveform of specific frequency) then sends the data to Processing. Imported components can then be plugged into circuit schematics. SuperScope builds upon the mission of Arduino, the interface between hardware and software, analog and digital.
SuperScope provides the user with three graphical representations of the circuit. The first is the basic frequency-domain plot; graphing voltage vs. frequency. The second is the vector diagram; depicting the phase and magnitude of the output.
The third is a phasor; a dynamic, analytical representation of the output’s phase and magnitude relative to the input’s.”

The schematic, Processing code and Arduino code are available at Instructables.

Via Instructables.

Global Geek Tour: Ian’s Apliu Street Hong Kong score

Our geek tour of China started with Apliu Street, Hong Kong’s version of Akihabara. It has a few well-stocked electronics stores with online prices, but it’s not big enough to be a global geek destination on its own.

A store with a big HAKKO sign had a nice range of irons and soldering stuff. Here’s 5 Hakko 900M-T-3C 45 degree Bevel soldering iron tips. We thought these were wave tips with a dimple to hold solder, but that’s actually 3CM. At five bucks each it’s slightly cheaper than eBay, and not a huge loss. We’ll compare one to a real wave tip in an upcoming video, the rest will be giveaways on the blog.

We also spotted some GOOT brand stuff, the Japanese company that makes the brush on flux from the flux-off review. 1.5 meters of 1.5mm solder wick is $1.80, way cheaper than our local parts store.

We also grabbed some BS-2 soldering iron “Tip Refresher” for $6. It claims to cleans up an oxidized iron that doesn’t hold solder. We’ll find what the BS is about later. Here is a video review from ChipDip.

The soldering paste is for big stuff, not PCBs. We got an extra to give away.

Global Geek Tour: Ian’s Hua Qiang Bei (SEG Market) score

We’ve scarcely been back for 3 hours, but already Sjaak and Ian are in IRC unboxing their toys from Hua Qiang Bei. First, the big lesson we learned. For years we’ve heard about SEG Market and the component shops, but it’s actually part of a whole neighborhood of electronics distributor complexes much like Akihabara or Cheonggyecheon. The neighborhood is called Hua Qiang Bei (ho-wa chong bay), and the famed SEG Market is actually one of the smallest of maybe 10 buildings of parts distributors. More about this in our photos and videos next week. Now – goodies!

First up is our major purchase; a new light box. We’ve always used a cheap light tent with a couple external halogen spots. It’s better than nothing, but there’s no room for it in the new studio workshop and it’s impossible to take straight-down pictures. We’ve been on the prowl for an integrated light box for a few months, but most of them cost a fortune.

We first spotted an acrylic HAD-brand light box in Hong Kong. It’s got integrated 5500K color-temperature cold cathode tubes and LEDs. Pictures can be taken from the front, or from the built-in mount in the top.  When we saw the whole product line direct from the manufacturer in SEG Market we know it was meant to be.

Bigger is usually better, so we got the biggest one we could pack. It took an hour for the factory to deliver one to SEG, and we used that time to search the nearest knock-off clothing market looking for a giant (not knock-off) bag to get it home in. $15 bag in hand, we picked it up an hour later for around $200.

Overall it’s perfect for the workshop, and test pictures look great. We will need to modify the overhead holder before it works perfectly with our camera. It also comes with two extra LED “spot lights” that seem mostly useless. These blue and green LEDs plug into two sockets, but don’t seem bright enough to do anything in practice.

Continue below for more of Ian’s scores, including LEDs, USB microscopes, digital calipers, tweezers, flux, and more. The great thing about all this stuff is we have the distributor info and 100 piece cost, we can probably get any popular stuff on sale in the Seeed Studio store.

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MSP430 based 32 LED driver

Parker designed a MSP430 based 32 LED driver. His intends to use it as a VU meter, by reading a ADC line with the uC and turning LEDs on and of depending on the calculated VU level.

Finished the VU. Changed the name to a 32 LED Driver as that is what it really is. The idea for the VU is to sample the sense line via an ADC a couple times and average the value. Then the MSP430 will look up that value on a table and light up that many LEDs. Should be fairly straight forward.

Open source solar data acquisition system PCBs

Arup got some PCBs made by Seeed of the open-source data acquisition system he designed. The system uses solar panels, and rechargeable batteries for power. An ATmega32 microcontroller reads, and stores data onto a SD flash card. Data ca also be viewed via a character LCD.

Via the forum.

Another PICKIT2 clone

Thefickletinkerer ported the through hole design of MCU Hobby’s PICkit2 into a SMD venison. The PCB is just 5cmx5cm which means it comes within the $10/10pcs PCB service from Seeed Studio.

The heart of this programmer is no other than the PIC18F2550. I’ve kept the silkscreen to a minimum, only labelling the header pins and the indicator LEDs. The colors of the LEDs are green (POWER), yellow (TARGET), and red (BUSY). I really should have taken a photo with the LEDs on. The green isn’t true green, more of kelly-green, and the yellow seems to lean more towards orange.

Unfortunately the design files are currently on vacation, he has assured us he will look for them when he gets back

Inexpensive Sniffer reveals 802.15.4 packet details

Jon used TI’s SmartRF Protocol Packet Sniffer to reveal 802.15.4 wireless packet details:

For the last several months my work with the XBee modules from Digi International involved using a logic analyzer to monitor the serial communications to and from the modules so I could measure the times between transmissions and view data streams as hexadecimal characters. The logic analyzer worked well, but I wanted to look at the wireless information, too, to help me better understand the communications.

Thanks DSM! Via the contact form.

DIY Bus Pirate case


Stan Hall informs us of a Bus Pirate case he made at the OHM Space Corporation, an Oklahoma City hackerspace. Stan created the case using the hackerspace’s member-built CNC router. Case materials include plywood, acrylic and rubber bands. Here’s the link to his writeup.

Get your own Bus Pirate for less than $40.

Via the contact form.

Shenzhen Global Geek Tour preview

We’re on the way back with tons of film and goodies to give away. Sjaak and Ian return tomorrow and the posts and giveaways will begin. We met a ton of suppliers with great stuff we’re going to try to get into the Seeed shop. Here’s a quick picture to give you a preview. There’s a hundred more floors of electronics action just like this in Shenzhen.

Check out our previous Global Geek Tours.

BoardX motherboard update

Kevin unveils the first production run of the successfully funded kickstarter BoardX project. The BoardX are development boards intended for a wide range of microcontrollers, which are placed on add-on boards.

It’s finally here, after months and months of waiting. The box that arrived weighed about 45 pounds and was divided neatly into four smaller containers. Each one had about 50 BoardX Motherboards and 37 AVR-X add-ons, for a grand total of 200 Motherboards and 150 AVR-X.

Via the contact form.

Philosophy of engineering podcast

Cris form Amp Hour, and Jeff from Engineering Revision started a podcast discussing the philosophy of engineering. The first episode is online and features a discourse on the finer points of starting a new engineering project. Lots of insightful stuff on the things engineers have to deal with when starting new projects.

Chris Gammell and Jeff Shelton discuss engineering philosophy and ask the question: when you’re starting a new project, how do you jump off and get started? It’s well timed, since this is the first episode of a new podcast.

Via Wardy’s Projects.

Integrating the XSVF player into Bus Pirate firmware

Jean modified the Bus Pirate firmware to integrate the standalone XSVF player into it. The XSVF player is an alternate firmware for the Bus Pirate that allows it to program CPLDs and FPGAs via XSVF files.

I have integrated the support of XSVF Player within the current 6.1 BP firmware as a new bitbang mode. I have created mode 0x18 for it which looked unused.

As we now need to activate bitbang mode and XSVF Player mode from the PC, I have modified the Windows application too.

The places i made change in sources are identified by a //— sequence.

I can now program succesfully my XC9572xl CPLD board

Via the forum.

GOduino II motor driver


Hazim Bitar writes in about the GOduino II motor driver project. In addition to the Atmega328p w/Opti bootloader, he uses a L293D h-bridge and various supporting caps and resistors giving the project a total estimated cost of about $20.

Visit the TechBitar blog for project build details, along with schematic and Arduino sketch.

Via the contact form.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters.

Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week:

  • Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch it every Sunday, right here on the blog
  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs will be your friend for the weekend

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Programing your DIY Bus Pirate v3.5-SOIC build with the MSP430

Hardwhack bought 2 DIY Bus Pirate v3.5-SOIC PCBs and programmed them using the MSP430 microcontroller. Since he didn’t have any PIC programmers around, he decided to port the AVR Bus Pirate programmer code to a MSP430 MCU. The custom firmware he coded is open source, and available on his site.

I built two DIY Bus Pirates but did not have a PIC programmer or AVR programmer. I used a MSP430 Launchpad using ApProg from Jozef to program the PIC24s. At $4.30, this is probably the cheapest way to program the Bus Pirate.

Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.

Via the contact form.