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?
100th Post Giveaway! CLOSED
The 100th post has arrived! So to celebrate, we’re having a giveaway! I wrote about it earlier, and I still cannot believe that it is finally here. I’ve wanted to extend my gratitude to those who follow my blog here, and to the electronics community, especially when it comes to Opensource. Thanks to our friends over at DFRobot for sponsoring this giveaway! A little background about them: as an online shop, they specialize in robotics. They make and sell a variety of boards (offering PCB services), tools, components, kits, etc. If it’s about robots, chances are, they’ve got it. They also plenty of other electronic items. If you’ve yet to hear about them, go check them out! The prize: Dreamer Nano V4.0 Source: DFRobot, with editing by heartsy Description from DFRobot: The Dreamer Nano …
Wishlist: Raspberry Pi 512MB
With the recent release of the latest Raspberry Pi (512MB version), I thought it would be fitting to add it the Wishlist. This newest version was announced just this week and I was fortunate enough to snag one before they sold out. If you’ve thought about diving into Linux and physical computing, this beauty would be the perfect gateway. Really, for me it’s become greatly addictive. Also, it would be an awesome gift to get someone started. The minimum requirements for it is a 4GB or greater SD card and a 5v power supply. A monitor or a TV with HDMI isn’t necessary; you could run it headless. You can also get some really cool accessories like cases (like the Pibow below), WiFi cards, USB hubs, or some breakouts for the GPIO. Newark and Adafruit …
New Project: Sneak Peek!
Here’s a sneak peek of our latest project!
Wishlist: Wearable Electronics
Side-stepping from holiday gift and wish lists, I thought it would be fun to share some products off my personal wishlist. So what exactly are wearable electronics? Some might refer to them as e-textiles, wearable tech, tech togs, or fashion electronics. Essentially, these are electronic components incorporated into clothing and accessories. You can make a simple baseball cap come alive with some LEDs or spruce up the back of that old denim vest with a mini light show. Design ideas are endless. And with so many projects and tutorials already out there, it’s easy so get started! breakdance One kit that’s on my list is the ProtoSnap – LilyPad Development Board available from SparkFun. From SparkFun’s listing:The ProtoSnap LilyPad Simple Development board is a great way …