Today on December 29, 2012 at 8:44AM, we reached our fundraising goal! I can’t thank our supporters enough. This will definitely help jump start Fried Circuits (our new shop) and enable us to prototype some projects we have designed. You can still place an order and once the fundraiser is over, I will order the PCBs which will take about two weeks from OSH Park.
USB Tester 2 Days Left!
It has been a great two weeks, not just because of the holidays, but our fundraiser is doing well. With only two days left, we are very close to reaching our goal. Currently we are at $552, with a goal of $600. If you haven’t ordered, please come help us out. I look forward to starting the new year making and shipping the USB Testers as well as getting the OLED backpack into your hands. USB Tester Front USB Tester OLED 3D Model Thank you so much for your support!
Disassembly of an 8 Pin Connector
For a new upcoming project I bought an 8-Pin Mini Din connector from Fry’s Electronics and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to take it part. They really should sell it to you separated so that you don’t have to disassemble it yourself, possibly damaging the connector. Now that I figured it out, I thought it would be a good idea to to share it since I couldn’t find any other sites. Unfortunately, their site doesn’t list it, so I couldn’t find the part to link to. The 8-din packaging with the other parts for the project At first examine of the part there doesn’t seem an easy way to take it apart without damaging it. Upon closer inspection it looked like …
3D Model of USB Tester OLED Adapter
Before I head out for a holiday break, I wanted to post a teaser of the USB Tester OLED Adapter. I ordered a few PCBs for the first prototype. I was able to breakout all of the unused pins on the Atmega32u4. There are a few that have a via close to the pin instead of a normal header on the edge of the board. I used eagleUp to create the 3D model. You can find it here if you would like to try it: http://eagleup.wordpress.com/. The model is only the PCB, I haven’t had a chance to get the parts working yet. Happy Holidays! Enjoy!
Bluetooth Roomba Part Two
Continued from Part One. After the MOSFETs arrived! I attempted the rear MOSFET labeled U4 first. Instead of desoldering it, I just clipped the legs and heated up the other side. It come off without a hitch. Cleaned up the pads, added some flux and soldered the new part. Piece of cake, one more and I am done. Back side MOSFET before removal The second one didn’t go so well. There is a large diode above the MOSFET which makes it hard to heat up enough to remove it. Adding more heat was a bad idea as the MOSFET rear drain plate transfers heat rather well and heats up the PCB. Which, combined with me trying to pull the MOSFET out with tweezers, I ended up lifting …
USB Tester Fundraiser
Today on 12/17/2012, Tindie launched a new fundraiser system to help new products get off the ground. The USB Tester is one of the first products to use this new system. Our goal is to reach 50 orders or $600. This will help further development of the USB Tester backpacks and will help jump start FriedCircuits. The way it works is a shop sets a minimum order and you can prepay using the normal Tindie checkout. You are not charged unless the fundraiser meets the goal. Once the two weeks is over and the goal is met, you are charged and we are able to build and ship out the orders. This allows you to support a new product but not put …
Our First Product: USB Tester
Today on 12/12/12, we launched our first product! Check out the product description below. If you would like to purchase one you can do so here: https://www.tindie.com/shops/FriedCircuits/usb-tester/ We have launched a new name, FriedCircuits, which will be used for any products that we sell. I am working on a site for product information and documentation (will be shared when completed). USB Tester v1 USB Tester v1 Front USB Tester v1 Front with Jumper USB Tester v1 Rear USB has become the core of many projects. In my experience I’ve found it to be troublesome to test USB voltage levels and current usage using a breadboard. They usually consist of holding wires attached to the DMM’s test leads, making it difficult to …
100th Post: Giveaway Winner!
We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 100th post giveaway! Congratulations to Michael Horne! We will be in contact with you. (Note, you have forty-eight hours to respond, or the prize will be forfeited.) Check out the video below to see the setup of the random number generator using an Arduino. We decided to select three winners, in case we do not receive a response from the first person, etc. I used a brand new, unopened Arduino Leonardo from my stash and used a graphic LCD screen that was on SBot2. I tried to use the included random function, but the results wouldn’t work for the giveaway as randomization is difficult in general. So I came across this other library, which you can …
Raspberry Pi 1/2 DOA
When the 512MB version of the Raspberry Pi was released, I couldn’t resist not getting one. This would be perfect as a permanent attachment for the Motorola Lapdock and a Pillbow case. A few days later I received it in the mail and loaded Adafruit distro on a borrowed SD card from our digital camera. This is when things started to go awry. After first boot I went through the setup, including region and all that stuff. That last thing I did was a rpi-update to update the firmware. After that it wouldn’t boot, or so I thought. I tried multiple images and SD cards. So far, nothing. It looked like it would boot and then get to a point, lose video and Ethernet. After many …
RIP: Arduino UNO 11/19/2012
It saddens me to write this post after the events of last night. This Arduino UNO was the beginning of it all. It started me on a journey that would change my life forever and has taught me many things over the years. From blinking LEDs to controlling a robot, to many late night projects. It has always been there for me, no matter the task at hand. It gave its life in the line of duty for betterment of electronics and the protection of my USB port. Its sacrifice will not be in vein but help further development of many late night projects. It will be missed but never forgotten. RIP 2009-Nov 19 2012 Have you had a similar loss?