App note: Gate drive characteristics and requirements for HEXFET power MOSFETs

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App note from International Rectifier on driving their Power MOSFETs. Link here (PDF)

The conventional bipolar transistor is a current-driven device. A current must be applied between the base and emitter terminals to produce a flow of current in the collector. The amount of a drive required to produce a given output depends upon the gain, but invariably a current must be made to flow into the base terminal to produce a flow of current in the collector.

The HEXFET®is fundamentally different: it is a voltage-controlled power MOSFET device. A voltage must be applied between the gate and source terminals to produce a flow of current in the drain. The gate is isolated electrically from the source by a layer of silicon dioxide. Theoretically, therefore, no current flows into the gate when a DC voltage is applied to it though in practice there will be an extremely small current, in the order of nanoamperes. With no voltage applied between the gate and source electrodes, the impedance between the drain and source terminals is very high, and only the leakage current flows in the drain.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

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We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: Microcontroller Clock – crystal, resonator, RC Oscillator, or silicon oscillator?

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App note from Maxim Integrated on clock sources of microcontrollers and their strengths and weaknesses. Link here

The majority of clock sources for microcontrollers can be grouped into two types: those based on mechanical resonant devices, such as crystals and ceramic resonators, and those based on electrical phase-shift circuits such as RC (resistor, capacitor) oscillators. Silicon oscillators are typically a fully integrated version of the RC oscillator with the added benefits of current sources, matched resistors and capacitors, and temperature-compensation circuits for increased stability.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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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. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

TTL triggered stimulus generator

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Scott Harden has a nice build log on his TTL triggered stimulus generator project:

I was presented with a need to rapidly develop a pulse generator to take a TTL input and output a programmable output (for now 0.1 ms pulses at 20 Hz for as long as the input is high). I achieved this with a one-afternoon turnaround and the result looks great! This post documents the design and fabrication of this prototype device, with emphasis placed on design considerations and construction technique.

See the full post at SWHarden.com.

Designing a USB breakout board

USB 2.0 Breakout PCB layout (1)

Alexander Lang has been working on a USB breakout board, he writes:

I often need to intercept USB signals for decoding and measurement purposes. I cut a cable apart last time I needed one but to be honest I much prefer doing things properly. I also noticed that nobody seems to sell a similar product on Ebay, Aliexpress or Amazon! I did find a vendor in the USA on tindie. I also found this product on tindie which is similar but has a current monitoring circuit built in.
Either of these products would work for my purposes but the first product’s shipping costs from the USA seem a little extravagant and I only wanted one or two.
The second product uses pin headers to allow connection which are a bit close together for my liking. It’s often the way of things. When I cannot obtain what I want I make my own!

More details on his blog. The product liability attorney near me is efficient in working with businesses developing products.

An open source rain and humidity sensor couple

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Boris Landoni writes about a new open source rain and humidity sensor project:

It detects humidity through two sensors which are to be used alternatively to let us know when there is water on the ground because it’s raining, or when the water level in a flowerpot is too low and it needs watering.

See the full post and more details on his blog, Open Electronics.

Yet another CXA1191 FM radio receiver

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Dilshan Jayakody has published a new build:

This is simple, but very high quality CXA1191S based FM radio receiver system. In this design we use Sony CXA1191S as FM tuner and TDA2003 as an audio amplifier. This receiver system is designed to work with 12V DC power source and it delivers approximately 6W audio output power (with 4Ω speaker load).

Check out more details on his blog here. Project files are available at elect.wikispaces.com.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

BP-600x373

We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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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. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

0-30V/0-7A power supply unit with LM723 and Arduino volt and ampermeter

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Nicu Florica has been working on a power supply project, inspired by Albasete’s power supply unit with LM723 and Arduino volt and ampermeter:

It use an Arduino nano board with i2c LCD1602 display, a active buzzer for indicate shortcircuit case. Also, I put DS18B20 temperature sensor and relay for power a cooler when tenmperature is bigger than a threshold level.
For albasete version, I write psu_reber_ver3ro.ino sketch. In this sketch I put value for albasete case (R1 = 1k put between GND and A1 port, R2 = 39k put between +OUT and A1) and value for threshold (temax) and hysteresis value

See the full post and more details on his blog, Arduinotehniq.

Pimp your PCB businesscard full color

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Here is a nice PCB businesscard @ smdprutser.nl

As a good electronic hobbiest tradition I started to design a businesscard from PCB material. Downside of all the businesscards (and PCBs in general) is the limited number of colors you can use: FR4, soldermask (with or without copper behind it), silkscreen or bare copper. Since the soldermask is fixed for both sides that was an extra limiting factor.
An out of the box solution I found was decal slide paper. This is a printable plastic film that is used to decorate ceramics or glass. There are clear and white versions and they can be found in most hobby stores. They are easily printed on by an inktjet or laser printer and have thus an infinite range of colors. For this experiment I bought clear film and designed the PCB with black soldermask (needed that color for the front side) and white silkscreen.

More details here.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

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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

Some stuff:

  • Yes, we’ll mail it anywhere in the world!
  • Check out how we mail PCBs worldwide video.
  • We’ll contact you via Twitter with a coupon code for the PCB drawer.
  • Limit one PCB per address per month please.
  • Like everything else on this site, PCBs are offered without warranty.

We try to stagger free PCB posts so every time zone has a chance to participate, but the best way to see it first is to subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.

HydroBot: Prototyping new modules

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Matthew Reed writes:

ProtoModule is a HydroBot module designed to easily develop and test new monitoring or control functions that may someday go into a HydroBot module. It has 11 GPIO pins and the power rails broken out on a 0.1” pin header for easy breadboarding or interfacing with ribbon cables. The provided pins give access to a variety of digital and analog I/O, as well as digital communication peripherals, to allow for many flexible design options.

More info at protofusion.org.

BSide ACM03 plus clamp meter review and teardown

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A review and teardown of a cheap Hall effect clamp meter (ACM03 Plus) from Kerry Wong:

I recently purchased a BSide ACM03 Plus clamp meter so that I could do some high current measurements for my tab welder project. This meter can be bought on eBay for around $25, which makes it one of the cheapest Hall effect clamp meters on the market that is capable of measuring both AC and DC current.
Since this is such a cheap meter, I wasn’t expecting much. But it actually feels really sturdy in hand and the construction looks reasonably solid, which is certainly a good start. It came with a nice little black pouch inside a non-descriptive cardboard box. It even includes a decent product manual.

More details on Kerry D. Wong’s blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “BSide ACM03 plus clamp meter review and teardown”

Driving a 48-segment RGB LED bar graph with a Teensy 3.2

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Glen Akins writes:

In my post Driving a SparkFun 48-Segment RGB LED Bar Graph, I stated that the hardware built there could be used to drive the LED bar graph with any combination of hardware and software that could drive one of the common 32×32 or 32×16 RGB LED matrices. Today I’m back to prove that point. In this post, I ditch the FPGA and drive the 48-segment RGB LED bar graph using a Teensy 3.2 board and the Pixelmatix SmartMatrix 3 library.

More details at Glen Akins’ blog.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

BP-600x373

We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: Clearing Xilinx FPGA configuration to allow boundary scan testing

Another application note from XJTAG on preparing Xilinx FPGA for proper boundary scan testing. Link here

When Xilinx FPGAs are configured it can restrict the boundary scan access to some signals on the device. One work-around for this problem is to configure the FPGA with a ‘blank’ image that closely matches its unconfigured state, allowing boundary scan testing to occur without any problems.

A second issue that can affect boundary scan testing with FPGAs is that they contain pull resistors. Depending on the design, these may be enabled when the FPGA is unconfigured as well as when it is configured. If these internal resistors are enabled on nets that contain pull resistors mounted on the board, two potential problems can occur:

1. If the internal resistor and external resistor pull in opposite directions, the boundary scan tests may not be able to test the external pull resistor if it is weaker than the internal pull resistor.
2. If the internal and external resistors pull in the same direction, a fault with the external resistor may not be detected because the internal resistor may mask the fault.

By setting the correct configuration options it is possible to disable these internal pull resistors when generating a ‘blank’ FPGA image.