Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Messages

This section allows you to view all Messages made by this member. Note that you can only see Messages made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - TomKeddie

167
General discussion / Big Box Of Parts U.S.A. Only
Quote
As the box traveled "anonymously", each person only knew where it came from, then where it went next.  The locations were never disclosed for privacy.  Going forward, I'd propose that each recipient disclose their zipcode or nearest major city for a very generalized tracking of the packages.  Anyone agree or object to this idea?

We could also post tracking links, they don't reveal the address of the recipient.

I'm still in, I have more stuff than I need so can easily add more than I take.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
168
Bus Pirate Support / Bus Pirate as JTAG sniffer
I've done before with a logic analyser.  It was a long time ago, I seem to remember I dumped the hex and replayed it - is in a commercial product still used today.

I'm not that familiar with the BP but perhaps a logic sniffer is more appropriate?

Tom


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
169
General discussion / Taobao Agent Experiences/Reviews for Electronics Purchasing
I've just used newbuybay.com, they are the same people as TaoBaoMaster that Ian used.

I haven't received the order as I opted for SAL shipping to reduce the price.  Tian has been great working through the minimum purchase quantities etc with me very patiently.  I have photos of everything too.

I combined two orders into one shipment, his english is excellent.  Their website has a great per item chat feature that lets you resolve issues item by item.  This was very helpful as I ordered a lot of button, switches and lights.

Cheers,
Tom

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
170
Tools of the trade / Group buy in Shenzhen?
Ian,

Well spoken and well thought out.  As crazy as it sounds, I wish I could be in that alley helping, need to wait until the kids are older.

Packages are definitely the go, will categorize the freight and the packing to a small number of options.

I'm with you on learning Chinese, I had a lot of fun on TaoBao recently but some Chinese would help.

Cheers,
Tom


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
172
General discussion / Re: I just bought this, and you what did you buy ?
I just took the TaoBao plunge and bought a bunch of programming gear.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=18976824143

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16237148739

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13587725852

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=15619401636

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=13271586156

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13226899010

TaoBaoMaster seem to have morphed into http://www.newbuybay.com
173
Project logs / Re: Smoke Tester
I've completed my free pcb drawer version of the board, am quite pleased although the OCD in me wants the parts to be better aligned - need a P&P machine!

A few comments about the PCB, some of which will have been fixed with the ATX breakout.  I always provide feedback, discard as necessary.
- The screw terminal inputs are not labelled with +/-
- The pads for the banana connectors are too small for the model I have, am concerned about cutting through the solder mask and shorting the outputs.
- The pads for the banana connectors are too close together for the model connector I have, I had to shave a little off with a knife.
- There are a lot of different sizes components on the board, I think the LEDs are 0805 (I used 0603), all the passives but the current sense resistors are 0603, the current sense resistors are 1206.  Would be easier to be more consistent.
- The silkscreen for the jumper position is  a long way from the jumper, perhaps swap it with one of the logos?

I think a diode in the path of the screw terminals/barrel connector would make the board safer.

[attachment=0]
174
Tools of the trade / Re: Group buy in Shenzhen?
[quote author="ian"]I don't know yet :) I called my local branch of Bank of China, and it turns out they are completely separate from the one in China and have no info on wire transfers, online banking, deposits, etc.[/quote]

These links look useful.
http://www.theswiftcodes.com/china-bank-of-china/

81. BANK OF CHINA    SHENZHEN    (SHENZHEN BRANCH)    BKCHCNBJ45A

Perhaps try a small transfer to see if it works?

*edit*

More at http://davidwei.org/doc/wiringMoney.htm

eg. via NYC.

http://www.bocusa.com/portal/Info?id=443&lang=1&

If you want me to give this a try from my xetrade account, pm the account details, you can repay me in pcb coupons ;-)
175
Tools of the trade / Cheap Solder Paste
[quote author="arhi"]I was few time close to purchasing a dispenser but a proper air compressor was always a problem. It's not that they are expensive as you can get a great one for 200eur, problem is that darn thing is big and loud...[/quote]

As I mentioned in Ian's dispenser forum, take a look at ex dental units, they run quiet.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
176
Tools of the trade / High speed Pick & Place for $3600
You guys should use xtrade.com for transfers.  You register your bank accounts and the transfers look like local debit to your bank.  They make the money on the exchange rate, no fees and the rates aren't that bad.  They are slow though, usually take a week to xfer.  I've been using them between US, Canada and Australia for about 8 years.

Tom

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
177
Tools of the trade / Group buy in Shenzhen?
[quote author="ian"]I'll provide a spreadsheet for choosing what you want, then it is your responsibility to add the customs declaration name/value/ and optionally international customs codes directly on the spreadsheet.

As BinaryG said, I'm looking for experience, to build relationships, and wield more negotiating power than my cash alone. However there will be a lot of fees associated with paypal, international wires to my Bank of China account (and US paperwork depending on the amount), hiring the cart kids to move stuff around, etc. I will have to find a way to recoup that.[/quote]

Perhaps people should be wiring directly to your china account (or do you get charged a per wire rx fee?).  This might be less hassle and would avoid a double currency exchange loss for some.  Paypal's forex rates are atrocious.

Cheers,
Tom
178
Tools of the trade / Re: Group buy in Shenzhen?
Ian, that would be so much help.  As above, knows more about the units in advance is so so useful.

I think I'd be interested in the cheaper stuff, oven, paste dispenser, vacuum pen.  Might be able to get the local hackspace involved too

As you mentioned, it would be great for a few of us to have these same models so we can sort out their quirks.
179
General discussion / Re: Big Box Of Parts U.S.A. Only
[quote author="Sal_The_Tiller"]ducksauz: Thanks! I can't wait to get mine working, but I'm at school now so I can't tinker that much. What did you use for power and buttons (i.e., what part numbers)?

I still have no response from binaryguy, is anyone opposed to just moving on to SimplicityGuy?[/quote]

Yep, its been nearly two weeks, I say move on!!
180
Project logs / Oscar's control panel - TI stellaris
[align=center:]Oscar's control panel[/align:]

This is a 3rd birthday present for one of my sons.  It's his birthday today.

The unit is driven by a TI Stellaris Launchpad board (http://http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/stellaris_head.html?DCMP=stellaris-launchpad&HQS=stellaris-launchpad), powered by a Nokia BL-5J 1320mAH cell battery and charged by an Adafruit LiIon charger(http://http://www.adafruit.com/products/259).  The front panel contains 26 LEDs and 11 DIs (4pos joystick, 3 buttons, 2 x 3pos switches).  The LEDs all have a 47R resistor in series and are driven directly open drain.  The DIs use internal pullups.

All the OR link resistors on the launchpad were removed to free up as much IO as possible.  The direct USB +/- pins are used as IO.  The direct USB port is filled with silicone to prevent accidental use.

The power switch is switched to take power from the direct USB port (set away from debug port).  The 5V from the USB debug connector is fed to the input of the charger (from H19).  The output of the charger and battery (in parallel) is fed to USB_VBUS (to H18), the input to the LDO regulator.  The LDO regulator was not replaced with a switching regulator due to time contraints.  U4, the power on reset control chip was removed as it is looking for 5V (the internal CPU reset is sufficient).  The 3.7V min from the LiIon cell is sufficient for the LDO regulator to produce 3.3V output.

The panels were all drawn in sketchup and cut on the VHS laser cutter (http://vancouver.hackspace.ca).

The project is not remarkable except perhaps for the power circuit and the debounce pipeline in the code.

Code attached.

Cheers,
Tom










( ! ) Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Elk_Exception' with message 'Please try again. If you come back to this error screen, report the error to an administrator.' in /var/www/dangerousprototypes/forum/sources/database/Db-mysql.class.php on line 696
( ! ) Elk_Exception: Please try again. If you come back to this error screen, report the error to an administrator. in /var/www/dangerousprototypes/forum/sources/database/Db-mysql.class.php on line 696
Call Stack
#TimeMemoryFunctionLocation
10.01672453552session_write_close ( )...(null):0
20.01702585176ElkArte\sources\subs\SessionHandler\DatabaseHandler->write( )...(null):0
30.01702585952Database_MySQL->query( ).../DatabaseHandler.php:119
40.06042724712Database_MySQL->error( ).../Db-mysql.class.php:273