There are a lot of little details you need to think about when taking a project from PoC (proof-of-concept) to production. Most projects today have some form of onboard microprocessor and require you to flash your custom bootloader and/or program code onto it at some point. There are many ways this can be accomplished but the most common method is using an ICP (in-circuit programmer) connected to a 6-pin ICP header somewhere on the PCB.
When you are in the process of getting your product into mass production, the last thing on your mind is if parts being used are real or counterfeit. Especially, relatively cheap commodity parts like a simple voltage regulator. I’ve always heard to beware of parts from China as they are typically not the same quality, much lower quality or not even the same functionality as the original.
As many of you know I’ve been busy finishing my latest hardware creation, Myro:Air and as part of a certification process, the USB port on the back of the unit must be able to provide a stable 5V at both 1A and 2.1A loads. Long story short, it’s been quite the process to test the power supply consistently until I found this nice Programmable DC Electronic Load system. It’s marketed under many different brands like TekPower, Circuit Specialists & ProTek but it usually also contains the model number of 3710A and is made by Array. The best part is the price — $349 for the 360VDC/150W and $499 for the 360V/ 300W version.
I purchased the unit from Circuit Specialists and will post a full video review soon. It’s allowed me to easily test different component profiles as well as test the required overload protection of Myro:Air’s USB circuit. The unit also features a built in multimeter that can also measure the voltage of the circuit under load though I still prefer to use my DMM for more accurate measures. I’ll also demonstrate the PC software it ships with in the video.
Feel free to post an questions in the comments and I can answer then in the video.
– Circuits Specialists CSI3710A
– TekPower TP3710A via Amazon.com
There's not much detail on how to get a Windows 7 Media Center with Ceton's InfiniTV 4 to tune in a channel from a ZeeVee zvBox modulator. I hope this post will be useful to others that find themselves in my situation.
I’ve been in search of the best interior trim/cabinet paint for almost a decade. I’ve tried as many different types and brands I could find and I think I found a winner.
A bit of background first — I’m not a professional painter but I do consider myself a paint enthusiast in the search of the ultimate interior finish for cabinets and trim. I also prefer airless (Graco) or HVLP (Fuji 4-stage) spraying application over brushing on the paint. For some reason I can’t stand the “brush strokes” — no matter how good a painter is, I like the perfect smooth finish of spraying (OCD?).
Since I prefer spraying the finish on, I opt for water based paints for the ease of clean up. Over the years I tried the following trim/cabinet paints:
- Sherwin William ProClassic® Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel – Satin – First generation 2004 (applied over 10 gallons)
- Sherwin William ProClassic® Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel – Satin – 2011 (applied over 4 gallons)
- Sherwin William ProClassic® Interior Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel – Satin -(applied over 3 gallons)
- Benjamin Moore ADVANCE® Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint – Satin – (applied 6 gallons)
The break down goes like this — the Sherwin William ProClassic line provided a decent finish. To me, it lays down more like a latex-y finish than oil. Satin actually turned out more of a duller, flat finish. I used that for all this doors and trim in my home and it has held up well.
The early version of the Acrylic Latex Enamel paint seemed to sag when applied with a spray gun and was quite a challenge — even when using a fine finish tip and light coats. Apparently, this was a known issue with the early formulation and Sherwin William’s adjusted the formula to fix that. I gave the latest formulation a try and it was much better but the finish didn’t level as nice compared to the newer “hybrid” water based Acrylic-Alkyd finishes.
I’m a big fan of the new “hybrid” paints where it’s like oil but with the ease of clean up of water based paint. The only drawback is that it takes a lot longer for it to cure over the Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel finishes. So be sure to give the paint extra time to fully cure before placing items on a bookcase/cabinet — something that could be an issue for most projects that you want to finish in a weekend.
Between the Sherwin William’s ProClassic Interior Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel and the Benjamin Moore ADVANCE®Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint it was very close — both are great finishes but I’m really preferring the overall application, smell and finish to the Benjamin Moore Advanced paint.
WINNER: Benjamin Moore ADVANCE® Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint
Feel free to post any questions and I’d love to hear your experiences as well!
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).