Archive for the ‘Electronics’ Category

• Friday, May 17th, 2013

  Tantalum vs Ceramic Capacitors.

  

  I’ve had to make the hard decision as to what type of capacitors to use in a power supply I’ve been designing.  I need a 5.0v, 3.3v, 1.9v and 1.2v rails powered by a 12v adaptor.  The 5.0v and 3.3v rails use a DC/DC switching regulator while the 1.9v and 1.2v use a LDO regulator feed from the 3.3v rail.   Both require bypass/filtering capacitors and I’ve traditionally used 10uF 16V 20% Tantalums — for some reason the “Case B” end up being cheaper than the 2010 sized equivalent of the X7R MLCC (ceramic).…

  
  

  Tags: capacitors, ceramic, Electronics, tantalum
  Posted in DIY, Electronics | No Comments | Read On

• Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

  Saleae Logic16 – Logic Analyzer

  I purchased the Saleae Logic16 a few months back to “sniff” a SPI bus and since then I keep on using it as my default Logic Analyzer — that’s when you know it’s money well spent.   Saleae offers two models — a 8 channel ($149) and a 16 channel ($299).  I went for the 16 channel version because it offers a bit more bandwidth (sample 2 channels at 100MHz, 4 channels at 50MHz, 8 channels at 25MHz, or all 16 channels).

  The hardware is solid and well made and ships with everything you need — a nice hard case, USB cable and color coded wiring harness with micro-hook probes.  The best part, however, is the software — I use a MacBook Pro (also running WindowsXP via VMWare)  with 16gb ram and it’s always better to run native apps as much as possible but most companies don’t provide native apps for OSX, hence VMWare.  Saleae actually offers ports of their software that runs on all major platforms (Windows, OSX, Linux).  The software offers almost endless sample captures but the most useful feature is the protocol analyzer.  It currently supports I2C, Async Serial, SPI, 1-Wire, CAN, I2S, PCM, UNI/O, Manchester, and MP Mode — making it easier to see the decoded results along with the waveform   So far I have used I2C, SPI, I2S/PCM and Async Serial with it working flawlessly.

  Highly recommended!

  - Saleae Logic 16  [ Buy Now @AMAZON  ]

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  Tags: logic analyzer, logic16, saleae
  Posted in Cool Tools, DIY, Electronics, Hacks & Mods | No Comments | Read On

• Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

  What’s The Best Soldering Iron?

   

  

  I currently have a Weller WES51 Soldering Station that I’ve owned for about 10 years.  While it have served me well all these years — I feel like the thermal recovery time can be a lot better.   Hand soldering prototype boards with many different types of footprints is the latest challenge my WES51 is having a harder time with.   It feels like it cannot keep up and I have to pause a few seconds while the temp recovers — I believe this is caused by the LEAD FREE solder I’m using that requires higher temp than the old LEAD based 60/40.

  So I’m asking the readers of Mavromatic for their recommendations of “Best Soldering Iron”.   I’m leaning towards the JBC CD-1BC (or the 2012 JBC-CD-1BB) — what do you think?

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  Tags: JBC, Soldering Iron
  Posted in Cool Tools, DIY, Electronics, Hacks & Mods | 3 Comments | Read On

• Thursday, April 11th, 2013

  Myro:Air AirPlay Streamer – Final Case Design

  

  

  Progress! These last few weeks have been very productive; finalized the boards and received the custom stainless steel name badges — each one is uniquely struck with a number. As we will be initially only producing 100 units, numbers 1-100 have been made. Soon you will be able to reserve your unit — email preorderair@myrocontrol.com and you will be notified when the site launches.

  What is myro:air? An audiophile grade AirPlay streamer featuring the highly regarded Wolfson WM8741 DAC as well as 2-way control of the AirPlay device via RS232 & Russound RNET interfaces, this is a custom integrators dream come true. Two long years in the making and we’re almost ready!

  What’s next? I will be getting sample production boards in a couple weeks.…

  
  

  Posted in Announcements, Electronics, Home Automation | No Comments | Read On

• Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

  Myro:Air Prototype Sneak Peek

  

  Rejoice! Myro:Air is progressing. The circuit design and custom MCU firmware code is almost final with only the case design really left to hash out. I’m going for the old vintage look and each unit will have a stainless steel plate which is made here in the U.S.A. — like the old Bell & Howell projectors. The case features both metal and solid walnut wood side pieces and is something that you will want to leave on display.

  The plan is to release and sell a small number initially. These will be handmade in the U.S.A. and sold exclusively direct to Myro Control customers. Myro:Air will offer audiophile playback via the Wolfson WM8741 DAC as well as 2-way metadata and transport control to whole house audio systems like Russound and Crestron.

  More details to follow — and for those that have requested to be on our pre-order mailing list (preorderAIR@myrocontrol.com) we haven’t forgotten about you!…

  
  

  Posted in Electronics, Home Automation | 2 Comments | Read On