Entries from Spiff's Electronics Notebook tagged with 'SMD'
Single Sided FT232RL USB-Serial Converter (January 25, 2008)
Unsatisfied with everything else, I present the simple, single-sided, breadboardable, FT232RL based USB to TTL Serial converter.
I know you're thinking "But everyone under the sun makes an FT232 kit!", and you're right. But they all suffer from a selection of problems:
- Double sided boards with tiny vias. Not only are these a pain to solder by hand, they also require perfect precision to etch and drill at home.
- 7 million parts butted as close to each other as the pick-and-place can tolerate. I can't assemble these with tweezers.
- Signals and power brought out to a DIL style header. There's simply no effective way to plug a DIL header into a breadboard. It's a functional system for wirewrap, perfboards, and stripboards but so is a DIP style connection. It's not very helpful for custom PCBs either, since I might as well integrate the whole circuit into the board.
- You get the idea.
The answer of course is to design a simple, roomy, single sided board, with a DIP like fit.
Continue reading "Single Sided FT232RL USB-Serial Converter"
Eagle3D FT232 Kit PCB Serial SingleSided SMD USB
Posted by spiffed at 12:27 PM
Microchip non-RoHS sale (December 21, 2007)
For hobbyists, kit builders, and lovers of lead, MicrochipDirect is selling off non-RoHS compliant inventory for steep discounts.
I was able to pickup some chips for less than 40% of their normal price. The best deals are on SMD parts, but most PICs are available in 1-off for less than their normal 25-off cost.
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