voltlog – Page 4

Use Templates In Kicad V6 To Save Time | Voltlog 400

Welcome to a new Voltlog, yes it’s number 400, it’s been a great journey so far, thank you for being a subscriber and for all of the support that I have received so far. If you enjoy these videos please consider hitting the like button as that is a great feedback for me.

Now back to the topic of this video, I’m gonna show you how to create project templates in Kicad V6. I’ve noticed there isn’t much info available on Youtube on this topic and yet I find this a very useful feature.

You might ask yourself what project templates are and whether you need them or not. Well the answer depends, but if you work on a lot of different projects that share a common starting point, like say for example how I’m creating multiple internet of things boards and modules that all have some parts in common like the ESP32 processor, the VoltLink connector for programming the boards as well as a few other bits and pieces like decoupling capacitors, pull-up resistors, mounting holes, fiducials, board config, schematic config and the list can go on and on depending on the particular setup that you are running and the projects that you are building.

Kicad V6 First Impressions | Voltlog 399

Welcome to a new Voltlog and I’m gonna start with a question: why should you care about Kicad and what it’s most recent version is like? Well, there is a very simple reason, if you are a subscriber of the channel I have to assume you are a supporter of open-source software and hardware and Kicad is probably the world’s best open-source printer circuit board CAD program.

I have been using Kicad for the past 2 years and it’s been a great journey and if there is one thing I would ask is that if you have been using Kicad and you are getting good use out of it, please consider sending donation by going to kicad.org and hitting the Donate button. This will help fund the small team behind Kicad to continue releasing new and improved versions of Kicad.

So now back to the subject of the video, I’ve been using Kicad version 5 in it’s different releases for a while and I’ve gotten used to how things are done in Kicad but just before Christmas they released version 6 which brings a bunch of improvements. Depending on your workflow you might experience these improvements directly or not, hence why I’m not covering the whole list of upgrades and improvements in this video, just stuff that I have noticed while using the new Kicad V6.

I’m gonna start with probably the biggest change in Kicad V6, which is in the file format, that is definitely an under the hood change and one that not many people would care about, including myself but there could be great benefits coming up from this change, because the new file format should allow for easier handling of Kicad files by plugins and external tools. There is also a minor downside to this, once you convert a project and save it in the Kicad V6 format you can’t use it with V5 anymore but I don’t see why you would want to go back.

InTheMail | Voltlog #398

Welcome to a new Voltog, Happy New Year and what other better video to start the year with, than a genuine InTheMail to feed that need for new and interesting electronics. Just a quick heads-up, I’ve left the most interesting item in today’s mailbag to be presented last but trust me it’s worth watching till the end if you like to keep your electronics workbench clean.

Let’s start with this set of replacement foam pads for these Sennheiser headphones. I’ve had these for a long time, never used them that much but as with all headphone cushions, they started to disintegrate after a few years and I feel bad letting these go into the trash, knowing that they are perfectly good headphones. So I decided to buy a replacement foam pad set to repair them and maybe give them to someone that needs a pair of headphones so that we’ll get maybe at least another couple of years out of this good product. That’s how I generally feel about products that have served me well, they don’t deserve to end up in a landfill, how do you feel about that? Let me know in the comments below and if you find yourself needing some replacement foam pads for your headphones, check out the links I’ve placed in the description of this video to find some for your particular model.

Next up I have some tactile switches, these are just generic ones that I got from aliexpress, they are right angle through hole mounting style and I’m using these on my esp32 thermostat valve controller board and this is a suggestion that I got from a viewer in the comments, because it makes the switch easily accessible through the openings in the din rail enclosure. These are likely a clone of the SKHH series from ALPS because I used the footprints for those, found in the standard Kicad library and they match. Even though I got them for cheap, they seem to be of decent build quality but getting them from aliexpress is always a gamble because on the next batch they might not be the same so I’ll be using these for my prototypes but I’m looking for alternatives from a known supplier to eliminate any quality issues.

revC Tasmota ESP32 Floor Heating Valve Controller | Voltlog 397

Welcome to a new Voltlog, today I’m gonna be showing you revC for the ESP32 based thermostat valve controller, we’re going to do some thermal measurements using my InfraRed PCB inspection thermal camera, talk about resistor power dissipation a little bit and I’m also going to be talking about the future of this project, some changes that I might do in a future revision and ask your feedback in the comments below about these.

As mentioned in Voltlog #395, where I showed revB, I wanted to do this rather small change and release revC just to see if it was possible to improve the thermals of the board, in particular how warm these current limiting resistor networks get during operation.

VoltLink revB CP2102N USB Serial Bridge & ESP32 Programmer | Voltlog #396

Welcome to a new Voltlog, a rather short video for today. I’m gonna be introducing this little guy. You might recognize the design, it’s my VoltLink USB to Serial Converter but in it’s latest revision B which has a few important upgrades over the previous one and these are things that I noticed while using the module almost daily so I think you will all agree with me that these were some good improvements that justified revB.

In general I tried to keep the board the same size, because I like this form factor, the arrangement of the connectors, the fact that I have my own VoltLink standard JST connector that i use for all of the boards that I design so all of that stayed the same but due to the ongoing chip shortage I had to pick a slightly different usb to serial chip, we are now using the CP2102 in QFN28 package. So generally this chip is very similar to the previous version except that it’s a bit newer but you still get up to 3M baud rates which is great. Because of the new chip this meant redesigning the passives to support this new chip and redoing the layout.

Also because of the ongoing chip shortage, prices for electronic components have gone up in the past year and I will have to run the numbers for this particular design but I have no choice but to increase the cost of the unit on my Tindie store if I am to continue making these.

I also upgraded to a USB full speed rated ESD protection diode with lower capacitance TPSP0503, this should mean no connection issues while at the same time offering the recommended protection level on the USB connection together with the PTC resettable fuse.

revB Tasmota ESP32 Floor Heating Valve Controller | Voltlog 395

Welcome to a new Voltlog, today I’m gonna be showing you revB for the ESP32 based thermostat valve controller, this is based on revA that I first showed in Voltog #383. So a few words about this board, just in case you haven’t seen Voltlog #383. It’s based on an ESP32 and I designed it so that it’s compatible with the open source firmware called TASMOTA and that allows us to control it via MQTT from homeassistant.

We have 10 individually switched triacs, each capable of up to 900mA or 1.2A depending on the version of the triac that it’s equipped with and a few expansion capabilities via I2C, 1Wire and some spare GPIOs. Everything was designed to fit inside one of these inexpensive, DIN rail enclosures and the whole purpose of this is to allow smart control of electrical thermostat actuators.

In my case, I use these 240V rated electrical thermostat actuators to control zone valves for my floor heating system. but if you would like to know more, I recommend you also watch Voltlog #383.

So why did we need revB? Well I’ll tell you all about the changes that happened in revB and I’m gonna start with this odd shape that you see around the ESP32 module, I removed the PCB from under the antenna section of the wifi module and although the improvement is probably marginal, in theory at least, it helps to keep the antenna clear of other objects.

Hacking The IKEA VINDRIKTNING PM2.5 Sensor With Tasmota | Voltlog #394

Welcome to a new Voltlog, in this video I’m gonna show you how I hacked the IKEA PM2.5 sensor which is normally just showing good or bad values using LEDs into a fully smart wifi enabled MQTT sensor running Tasmota firmware. And while I was doing that I also added a BOSCH BME680 air quality sensor because there is so much available space inside this enclosure and it almost felt like a perfect match for the PM2.5 sensor. But before I show you how I did that, make sure to smash that like button for the youtube algorithm.

So IKEA sells this PM2.5 sensor for cheap, something like 10EUR, it runs from a 5V USB Type-C port but it only shows results using some LEDs shining from green to orange to red for very high concentration values. But if we take a look inside the sensor after removing the 4 phillips screws we discover that there is plenty of available space inside for adding our own circuitry and it appears to be using a standard PM2.5 sensor module with serial output over UART. This is then read by a small microcontroller which controls the different LEDs and handles the small fan that pulls fresh air over the sensor intake.

So with that in mind I started looking through my box of wifi modules and found this ESP8266 based module which seems like a good candidate to install in this box. If you are a regular viewer of the channel then you must know about my mailbag videos where I show all kinds of sensors and modules and in fact those videos might be your best source for discovering new and interesting electronics modules, sensors and tools so if you are new to the channel, you must check them out.

Now by installing this ESP8266 based module inside this unit, we could connect to the TX pin of the PM2.5 sensor module and just read it’s data at the same time with the on-board microcontroller. I’m not sure if this particular sensor needs any commands for initialization at start-up but in any case that would be taken care of by the on-board microcontroller and we would just be reading the sensor data.

InTheMail | Voltlog #393

Let’s start the mailbag with this tiny PIR motion sensor switch. This little guy is rated for 12V up to 2A load so it’s got an input, you supply 12V to that and it acts like a switch for the output with a 2A load capability. It comes with these connectors witches makes me think it’s meant to be used as part of led installations, maybe for custom furniture or cabinets because it has this mounting bracket and that’s probably how I am going to use it, to light-up this warm white LED tape that I have built into a piece of furniture. This is rated for indoor use only so don’t go using this outdoors as water will get in and corrode the electronics inside. Same as usual links for all of the items shown in this video will be placed in the description below and while you are down there, why not smash that like button, because it really helps increase the chances of this video being seen by more people, it’s just how the algorithm works.

Next up I got some transparent heatshrink, I needed some of this recently so I got two different thicknesses, Sometimes you just want to be able to see through the heatshrink part or you might just want to insulate some metal rod without adding any color so the easiest way to do that is to use some transparent heatshrink.

Micsig DP10013 The Best Differential Probe To Get | Voltlog #392

Welcome to a new Voltlog, in this video we’re going to talk about oscilloscope differential probes and what I have here is the Micsig DP10013, this is a 100MHz differential probe that will probably help me not blow up my oscilloscope when probing high voltage stuff like inside a switch mode power supply.

But first a full disclosure, this unit was provided for free by bangggood.com for the purpose of this review and if you decide you decide to get one after watching the video check out the link I’ve placed in the description below, there will also be a discount coupon that you can use to get the Micsig for a better price.

So as usual with Micsig instruments they do come in these nice plastic carry cases, I mean they are not super high quality but certainly decent and certainly nice to have such a carry case for protection during shipping and for storage purposes.

Inside the carry case, we get the differential probe itself, a USB cable which is branded Ugreen, that’s actually nice to see, Ugreen makes good quality cables. If you’ve seen Micsig instruments before, you now they don’t use any batteries, they are powered over a USB port and that’s super useful and appreciated because this is the type of instrument that you will not be using everyday, this will mostly stay stored in it’s carry case for month before being used again and guess what happens when you forget about those batteries? Yeah they leak and they corrode the inside of your test gear so I very much like the fact that it doesn’t use batteries.

Gopher PPS-1610 PPS-3205 Review & Teardown | Voltlog #391

Welcome to another power supply review video, today it’s about the Gophert PPS-1610, I’m not sure how new this model is, I don’t know the exact date it came out but it’s fairly new and full disclosure this has been sent to me for free for the purpose of this review by a seller on aliexpress so should you decide to order one of these, there will be a link in the description below.

You may know I am a big fan of Gopher power supplies, I have like 5 units on my bench and they are generally my preferred way of powering stuff around the bench, unless I’m dealing with super sensitive analog stuff in which case I’m probably using my old trusty HP linear power supply. The gopher power supplies have been super reliable, for example I have been using my first one since 2015, that’s 6 years of usage already, I have subjected that power supply to multiple assembly/disassembly cycles for various teardowns and reverse engineering and to various noisy and spikey loads and full load conditions it just hasn’t failed me so far.

Teardown images below: