• Amass XT60PW-M combination footprint

    11/09/2019 at 12:25 • 0 comments

    In case someone wants to use those connectors in KiCad 5.1.x:

    I made this combi footprint, which allows you to:

    • just solder on some wires
    • use the XT60 PW-M connectors
    • use standard 5/5.08mm screw terminals

    Fell free to use, modify and share it. Download them here!

  • Interesting Parts Collection

    05/05/2019 at 05:58 • 0 comments

    Interesting parts

    Here I'll collect some of the interesting parts I stumble upon browsing the Digikeys, LCSCs and so on.

    Mechanical

    PartDescription€/pc @ qty1 @ Vendor





    Passive parts

    PartDescription€/pc @ qty1 @ Vendor




    N-Channel MOSFETs

    PartCaseMfgDescription€/pc @ qty1 @ Vendor
    NCE3400
    		SOT23-3Wuxi NCE
    		RDS(ON) < 45mΩ @ VGS=4.5V
    		0.032 @ LCSC

    Voltage regulation

    PartCaseMfgDescription€/pc @ qty1 @ Vendor
    TPS709xxTi150mA, 30V in, 1 μA IQ Voltage Regulators with Enable0.24 @ LCSC
    STLQ015ST150mA, 5.5V IN ultra low quiescent current linear voltage regulator. 1 μA at no load0.26 @ LCSC
    AP3012Diodes Inc.
    		DC/DC boost regulator. Up to 29V out. 1.5Mhz
    		0.21 @ LCSC

  • My programmer [not a shill post]

    05/10/2018 at 08:24 • 0 comments

    I used another arduino with the ISP sketch for years to program my stand-alone projects (all Atmegas). I think it's really really great you can do that. This helps the tinkerer a lot making standalone stuff the easy way.
    Doing things instead of installing gigabytes of toolchains and other software, yay!

    But there was a project involving an SD card which I did not disconnect before uploading a new sketch. The "programmer" uses 5V signals which the SD card didn't like too much (it shares the ICSP port), so I killed the SD that way.

    So for my last projects I ordered the Pololu Programmer v2 which has lots of nice features I would miss now if I ever had to go back to the Arduino-as-ISP-way.


    Look at these features. It summarises everything it can do:

    What I like most:

    • it's fast. Uploading 25kB or so could take 20 seconds with Arduino as ISP. It's more like 2 or 3 seconds now (you can change speed, see screenshot above)
      Hint: burning the initial bootloader (to set fuses etc) needs to be done at lower speeds or it will fail!
    • You may choose to supply the target with whatever voltage between 2 and 5V
    • Programming and Serial port are independent. This means: upload your program and have another terminal open all times (I use HTerm)
    • fully compatible with the STK500 hardware, you can even change parameters so every software recognises it as a genuine programmer
    • everything Pololu sells is kind of open, they give you circuit diagrams, 3D files, software is on GitHub ...

    I fully recommend this programmer. There is a better and cheaper! v2.1 out now it seems. I got the v2 and it does everything I need to do, so nothing to worry about.