Cluso's cheap and tiny modular pcbs...
Cluso99
Posts: 18,069
Today I received my first tiniest pcbs back. They are 0.6"x0.75" although some future ones will be different sizes.
The aim of these pcbs is to allow hobbyists to add little modules to most prop boards cheaply. The pcbs will be available bare, bare with parts or parts fitted. I only produced a small number. If there is sufficient interest I will get more made. They are not specific to any of my announced stackable or pluggable blades, but are for general use. They have not been designed to fit into any boxes.
The first is a microSD pcb. It has an onboard optional 3V3 regulator. There is a 6pin header with 5V, Gnd and 4 I/O pins for connecting to the prop. I goofed and the I/O pins are reversed to the normal prop I/O SD usage.
The second is an FT232 pcb. It is able to be a PropPlug and more... It has the FT232RL with the transistor reset circuit. Provision to supply 5V to the Propeller board is via the header or a separate header and is enabled by a shunt (pin header link). There is a single led with resistors to both the TxLed and RxLed pins so the led will flash for both receiving and transmitting data. The RTS and CTS pins are also brought out to small vias so that they could be used in a non-prop circuit (dare I say xxxduino). An smt miniUSB socket goes to the USB so you will require a USB cable from a camera, phone or eBay. I suggest heatshrinking the finished pcb for protection.
These two bare pcbs will be US$1.50ea plus postage.
Unregistered Airmail postage and packing will be US$4.00 and will cover a number of little pcbs and parts. At these prices I am not going to guarantee same day shipping. Payment will be via PayPal.
The FT232 works great and provides 5V power to my boards from the USB. I haven't built and tested the microSD board yet.
The aim of these pcbs is to allow hobbyists to add little modules to most prop boards cheaply. The pcbs will be available bare, bare with parts or parts fitted. I only produced a small number. If there is sufficient interest I will get more made. They are not specific to any of my announced stackable or pluggable blades, but are for general use. They have not been designed to fit into any boxes.
The first is a microSD pcb. It has an onboard optional 3V3 regulator. There is a 6pin header with 5V, Gnd and 4 I/O pins for connecting to the prop. I goofed and the I/O pins are reversed to the normal prop I/O SD usage.
The second is an FT232 pcb. It is able to be a PropPlug and more... It has the FT232RL with the transistor reset circuit. Provision to supply 5V to the Propeller board is via the header or a separate header and is enabled by a shunt (pin header link). There is a single led with resistors to both the TxLed and RxLed pins so the led will flash for both receiving and transmitting data. The RTS and CTS pins are also brought out to small vias so that they could be used in a non-prop circuit (dare I say xxxduino). An smt miniUSB socket goes to the USB so you will require a USB cable from a camera, phone or eBay. I suggest heatshrinking the finished pcb for protection.
These two bare pcbs will be US$1.50ea plus postage.
Unregistered Airmail postage and packing will be US$4.00 and will cover a number of little pcbs and parts. At these prices I am not going to guarantee same day shipping. Payment will be via PayPal.
The FT232 works great and provides 5V power to my boards from the USB. I haven't built and tested the microSD board yet.
771 x 626 - 78K
436 x 531 - 28K
640 x 643 - 62K
Comments
FPC
A tiny pcb 0.4"x0.4" that has an FPC 0.5mm connector broken out to 1x4 0.1" pins for connecting to a Touch Panel such as the Nintendo DS. Otherwise the connector is just too fragile. I bought a touch panel on eBay for $3 incl postage and have already interfaced it to the propeller.
Weee
Another small pcb 16.8x16.8mm (~0.66") designed to plug into a Wii device such as the Motion Plus, Nunchuck, or Classic Controller Pro. There is a 3V3 regulator on board and the pcb terminates in a USB-A. Many of my new pcbs have miniUSB connectors and these pcbs will plug into the miniUSB to USB-B cable to add Wii devices to my propeller boards.
Wee2
This pcb is 10x16.8mm (~0.4"x0.66") and is the same as the Weee except instead of the USB-A connector, a 1x4 0.1" header is used.
USB
This pcb is 0.65"x1" and is designed to be used with either USB-A connector as a host, or with a USB-B connector as a device. The header is 1x10 0.1" and will plug directly into my CpuBlade (can be used with other propeller boards). Up to 8 prop pins can be used to control the USB interface. P0 & P1 are designed for the comms with series resistors of 68 ohms. Each further set of prop pins connect via series resistors to the USB D+ & D- pins allowing programmable pullups and pulldowns. The idea here is to test the propeller chip doing USB host and device functions utilising BradC's and Scanlime's USB software as a starting point. PS2 mode can also be used.
I have a few of these pcbs available for US$1 ea ($1.50 for the USB pcb) plus airmail postage $3 (up to 50g so quite a few tiny pcbs can be included). I am still trying to figure out the PayPal charges on such small payments as I need to cover these too.