Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

By MacroFab, Inc.Science Technology

Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast episodes

February 18, 2021MEP EP#264: Electronic Wear Items
MEP EP#264: Electronic Wear Items
Tesla Recalls Cars With EMMC Failures, Calls Part A ‘Wear Item’
Wear items on cars are designed to be “easily” serviced
Is this just a cop out to avoid warranty issues and recall problems?

If the EMMC is a wear item it should have a recommended service interval but it does not

Derek Fronek from the slack channel:
“So it finally happened.... after all these years of using SD cards on pi's ive never had an SD card fail on me, until today.......”
Resealing 12oz cans?
3D printed a sealing cap that screws onto a Yeti can insulator

Testing it out over the weekend
GM to extend vehicle plant shutdowns to more than a month
The chip shortages we have been talking about? GM expects it to get worse.

Ford cutting Pick Up Truck production!

Shortage could lower Ford’s earnings in 2021 by $2.5 Billion

Suppliers are saying by mid June they will be caught up
PinoTaur REV 4 Prototype ordered
Relay part number: G2RG-2A-X DC12

Changing current sense IC to a higher rated one for the 50V DC line

Added a second RGB channel for the serial LEDs
Digi-Key Elimination Search
Talked about this on Episode 260: A Couple Months Ago

Use a ~ in the “search within results” box to eliminate whatever you like from your search
Coolio Opamp
TLV915x

$0.512 in 1k qty from TI

125uV offset

16V

Rail to rail
Parallax Prop 2 exists!
Parker has a development board now
52 min
February 10, 2021MEP EP#263: Hoarders Edition
MEP EP#263: Hoarders Edition
Chris Carter
Owner of Mercury inc, a design consulting firm with expertise in electrical mechanical software and firmware development

Was last seen on MEP episode 244 Comic Con for Engineers

DFM For Safety As in Supply Chain Safety
Difference in projects
Project specific information

Based on price and quantity breaks for components

Multiple Vendors
Vendor accessibility (location location location)

Alternate sources

Communications between contract manufacturer
Too many cooks in the kitchen
1 hr 6 min
February 03, 2021MEP EP#262: Flex PCB Primers
MEP EP#262: Flex PCB Primers
Parker
Robert Feranec
Published a video about what to consider when selecting chips for your new board design.
Don’t want to steal Robert's content so go check him out.

Hardware design and PCB Layout online course

Comprehensive Power Supply System Designs for Harsh Automotive Environments Consume Minimal Space, Preserve Battery Charge, Feature Low EMI
Analog engineer Bin Wu and previous Linear Tech engineer Zhongming Ye writing an application note with linear tech devices.

‘An Ideal Diode Satisfies Automotive Immunity Norms’
LT8672
Active rectifier controller

Why is all this needed?
Car power is dirty
Load dumps

Cold cranking

Pulses
ISO 7632-2 is a negative spike whose peak voltage exceeds −220 V!

Reverse Polarity

AC Ripple
Stephen
Wurth Elektronik on Flex PCBs
Basically Polyimide foil with deposited copper

3 ways to create a system (from page 2)
Heterogeneous

Homogeneous

Partial Homogeneous

Full flex and Semiflex

Much Much easier way to create a 3d system design

Added benefit of having a full panelized system
Can test a full panel of designs all at once

Test points can technically be on the flex

Break and make
Take the rails off of the PCB

Flex-rigid boards
Can be bonded to external layers

Can be internal

Can be rigid on one side or both

Can be multiple layers

Layout and routing
Create a new layer in your EDA tool to define the Flex portion

No vias in flex portion

Use teardrops for added rigidity

Use wider tracks where possible for added strength

Do not change width in bend area

Distribute conductors evenly

Documentation
Do it... Do it a lot

In addition to the PCB gerber or ODB++ files include drawings

A fab drawing that defines the flex pcb is very helpful
44 min
January 28, 2021MEP EP#261: Critical Path Components
MEP EP#261: Critical Path Components
Parker
What can you do to help alleviate component shortages and lead times in your design
Last week we talked about automotive component shortages

Passive components
Most passives it is easy to find substitutes

Check your specifications
Components that have extraordinary specs for there package size

Active components
Diversify what you can
Discretes

Diodes

Mosfets

Integrated Components
Different packages or packaging

Connectors
Different plating options possible?

Other manufactures making similar or compatible parts
Stephen
Searching for components kind of sucks sometimes. Another Quick idea for making this easier
Anything that is a complement
Connectors

Transistors
Guessed BCP54 - BCP52

PCB Crosstalk
Video by Robert Feranec with Eric Bogatin

What causes PCB crosstalk?
Capacitive coupling

Inductive coupling

Effects of pcb crosstalk

How do we mitigate pcb crosstalk?

One other form of “crosstalk” that really isn't crosstalk
Poor filtering and PSRR

“Feedforward” current

Not really something that shows up often...
56 min
January 20, 2021MEP EP#260: A Couple Months Ago...
MEP EP#260: A Couple Months Ago...
Parker
Homebrew going big
Uncle runs a brewpub down in Alvin, Tx

Going to help him repair and rebuild the brewery for post COVID

Building more electrical boxes

Chip shortages hit even as auto chip sales climb
Ford and Fiat Chrysler are temporarily closing factories due to limited supplies of electronic components that are used in displays and transmissions

Apple wants to make a self-driving electric car by 2024

VLSI Research report
4th quarter auto chip sales improved by 30% over the third quarter, reaching $6.2 billion

Which is 11% above fourth quarter in 2019

Overall auto IC sales for 2020 were down about 6.4% from 2019

Tesla may be the best example of what happened in 2020, reaching sales of 499,000 new cars in all of 2020, an increase of 36%
Stephen
Searching for components kind of sucks sometimes. New idea for making this easier
Connectors

LDOs and other ICs

Simple search removal that doesn't require that the engineer perform their own logic to reach the “perfect part”

No More lists or excel sheets - Savable searches

Watch out for datasheet marketing wank…
TL052 precision voltage reference circuit

MCP1501T-30E/CHY

Opamp calls out max 80mA per channel and 160mA per chip...with low offset the best of all worlds!

Circuit works well in multiple designs but new one craps the bed

Got to pay attention to those charts - this is actually slightly worse than a normal opamp…..

Solution is to transistor buffer
1 hr 2 min
January 13, 2021MEP EP#259: Troncrete
MEP EP#259: Troncrete
Parker
Your C@$% Is Mine Now
We actually brought up the security report on this device back in Oct 2020 on episode MEP 245: K-factoring A Gumbo

Qiui, the China-based manufacturer of the device, which is aptly called Cellmate, did not respond to a request for comment
Stephen
Solar Freaking Roadways!
First talked about on MEP EP1…
“France building a huge solar roadway. This again?”

Solar Roadway

Timeline
2006 solar roadways is founded

2009 - 100k small business innovation grant from USDOT

2011 - 750k small business innovation grant from USDOT to make small “parking lot”
This is what shows up in all the videos.

2014 Indigogo campaign raises 2.2mil - the highest at the time

2016 given an additional 750k by USDOT

2016 Jeff Jones Town Square
30 panels

Supposed 60k install cost

Wiki - .25kW per day

Typical Home install 1.45kW/day

According to thunderF00T ⅓rd of the energy is consumed by the LEDs and the remainder is in heat.

2016 France installs Wattway
5.2 million to build expected 767 kwh per day.

$20/ kwh 13x the cost of rooftop installation. Only produced 409kwh/day

2020 December USA gets its first real solar road! Woohoo!
City of Peachtree Corners in Gwinnett County, Georgia

About the size of a typical Rooftop install but less than half as efficient

4 Solar roadways we can find in the world… only 1 has been declared a success.
Dutch bike path

70-metre test bike path generating 3,000 kWh
Looks to be a meter wide. 70 sq meters or ~760 sq ft

Average house only needs ~300 sq ft of solar panels on a roof....
49 min
January 06, 2021MEP EP#258: Chainsaws, Wasps, Doom, and Gloom
MEP EP#258: Chainsaws, Wasps, Doom, and Gloom
Parker
PCBA Lead Times in Q1 2021
Supply chain disruption in 2020 started with the Lunar New Year and quickly extended into the COVID-19

2021 LNY falls between February 9 to February 16

COVID-19 Vaccines
Logistic capacity being reserved for the vaccine distribution

10 Day service at MF will be the biggest hit. Guaranteed 10 day service will be disabled on January 13th and will resume on February 16th.

On Dec. 31, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) allowed the exclusion for 2-layer and 4-layer printed circuit boards HS code to expire.
Any orders for 2- and 4-layer products going forward or that have not yet been received into the U.S. will have a tariff surcharge if built in Mainland China.

Other interesting PCB related things
Copper – the price of copper has increased 68% YOY

Gold – the price of gold has increased 22% YOY

Resin – cost of epoxy resin has risen 40% since the recent fires at Epoxy Resins factories in China and Korea

UL aims to put a security rating on every connected device
Categorizes products according to an ascending five-level scale: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

For consumer level devices this could take hold if customers pay attention to markings.

Do customers look for UL markings? If not who does? The seller/store?
Stephen
Covid-19 5G Chip Diagram NOW THIS IS NEWS!
Is everyone getting more metal?

Conspiracy theorists in Italy are warning the public about a ‘5G Chip’ they claim has been planted in COVID-19 vaccines
However, the widely circulated image of the chip in question has been outed as a reworked schematic for the Boss Metal Zone pedal

Best response to this : “Excellent. Reassured to know that 5G relies on op-amps and some 1n4148 diodes. Proper old school. None of that digital and microprocessor nonsense. I’ll take one in each arm.”

Boss metal zone uses a very interesting gyrator circuit within a non inverting opamp configuration

Dual gyrator to simulate two inductors to ground. Must be for filtering to get “the right shitty sound”

A very interesting frequency response with multiple peaks

One before clipping and two after - Interesting choice
58 min
December 30, 2020MEP EP#257: Viciously Different Creams
MEP EP#257: Viciously Different Creams
Parker
The ole ordered a 0603 and it was metric instead resulting in an 0201 imperial chip component.
0.6mm x 0.3mm = 0.024” x 0.012”

0201 imperial chip size only size that does not match the actual size
Imperial 0201 is 24mil x 12mil... not 20mil x 10mil like the name implies

Imperial 0603 is 60mil x 30mil

0603 metric is the only standard metric size that has the same size code as an imperial one!

Does anyone actually use the metric sizing for chip components?
Stephen
Hardware v software - Features and their impact
Hardware
needs a lot of motivation to make a feature. It is slow and deliberate. Removing features is a big deal

features by default cannot break the device unless extreme cases are encountered

Software is "easier" to flip the switch on features.
Have to consider all the ways this will break things.

Kicad - Panelization
Moving between layers has hotkeys - yay

Middle mouse now by default pans and wheel is zoom

Snap to points is huge

Creating arrays actually creates arrays
There are pluses and minuses to this.

Ref Des is maintained!

Changes to one board are not copied!

Holes are not a function.....They are a footprint and therefore need to be created.

Most tutorials suggest that Mouse bites be made a part....

Buying new machines
Sometimes being an engineer is annoying but you still have to do it

Learn from my experience

Air Hose

Solvent

Power Cable

If you are a machine provider also consider these things
51 min
December 23, 2020MEP EP#256: Color Clashing Chip Consolidation
MEP EP#256: Color Clashing Chip Consolidation
Parker
Whats up with the Cat feeder unreminder?
Still waiting on components to test with

PinoTaur taking priority

Email PDFs of wiring harnesses

Jeep Fan Project Revisit
Jeep Fan was a project idea to take sensor input from all over the Jeep and display on a VFD

Universal Multi Gauge exist but kinda suck

Rear view mirror has a screen in it
Composite video?
Stephen
Negative in negative out SMPS
Help from PhilG and Tom Anderson from the slack channel

Need -5.5V that is derived from a -12V rail

Cannot derive from a positive rail (would be easy)

LTC3805

Design note 1022
Perhaps something is weird here. There were two app notes… now there are one…

Current mirror solution for feedback voltage

LT8302 is like 4 or 5 bucks in qty

LT1070

Cool Chip - SSI2130
VCO core in a package

Linear through zero
1 hr 2 min
December 17, 2020MEP EP#255: Fifth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - Neo Jedi
MEP EP#255: Fifth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - Neo Jedi
Parker
SPACE TRASH in Star Wars
Recently ESA commissioned the world’s first space debris removal
ClearSpace-1 which will launch in 2025

Would space trash be a concern for the galaxy far far away?

I don’t think the Empire cares all too much about space garbage since they just jettison everything before jumping to hyperspace as seen in Empires Strikes Back.

If it was merely a case of if space was just big enough that dumping trash didn't matter then this wouldn't be a problem. The universe is “infinite” thus infinite space for GARBAGE!
Maybe space trash ends up collecting into large space planets of trash like the floating trash islands on Earth’s oceans.

In the legends or non canon StarWars literature you have the Squibs
The imperials provided Squib salvage vessels with the locations of Imperial dumpsites so it can be collected

Traveling through the planets CORE
Boss Nass sends our heroes through the core of Naboo as it is the fastest way to get to the other side of the planet with the Trade Federation on the surface

Could there be a water filled tunnel through the core of a planet to facilitate faster travel? Better call Elon and the Boring Company

Limit on the depth of a liquid water ocean?
Phase change diagram of water

Liquid water transforms to solid ice around 92000 psi

At a depth of 1200 miles the weight of the water would turn the water into solid ice given the specifications of an Earth size planet. Deepest point on Earth is 6.8 miles so James Cameron has a bit of ways to go

Naboo has a radius of 7456 miles so water would pressure solid if Naboo was a “water core” world
Stephen
Star wars and the matrix are the same universe
Perhaps a different version of matrix
In the matrix revolutions and the matrix reloaded

6 different versions of the matrix before they landed on 1999

Faster than light travel

Fundamental forces different

The force is a glitch?
Ancient religion - this was a method of understanding

People could openly demonstrate their “force” because it had a religious aspect to it.

Neo
Neo exhibits all of the same characteristics of a jedi

Amban phase-pulse blaster
Jawa gets vaporized

Three gigajoules of death-ray to entirely vaporize a person

Jawa specifications
1 hr 41 min

About Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Dive into the electrifying world of electrical engineering with Circuit Break, a MacroFab podcast hosted by Parker Dillmann and Stephen Kraig. This dynamic duo, armed with practical experience and a palpable passion for tech, explores the latest innovations, industry news, and practical challenges in the field. From DIY project hurdles to deep dives with industry experts, Parker and Stephen's real-world insights provide an engaging learning experience that bridges theory and practice for engineers at any stage of their career.

Share Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

Sign up to save your podcasts

Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast episodes

About Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

More shows like Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

Hackaday Podcast