Re: Faulty Mini 360 Buck voltage regulator in the nano-DDS kit
I get it that we shouldn't have to resort to doing our own QA. However the problem is so widespread that it is impossible to control.
To a lessor extent I give the vendor a pass. He just gets a shipment at a very good price, then sells it on online auction. I don't like the quality from Vendor A, fine. I try Vendor B, C, D, etc until maybe Vendor CE finally has in spec parts at a good price. Which probably only will work until the next batch number rolls in.
I place the blame solely on the manufacturer. Yes he may make good in spec parts and those go to production manufacturers who will do their own due diligence to ensure quality control. Those units that don't make the cut you see on eBay. Rather sell sketchy stuff for a small charge and recoup some revenue than scrap the lot and recoup none is the business model.
For example those bypass caps I mentioned? They were from Tayda Electronics. As a vendor for the amateur radio?homebrew market they?offer very good prices and their customer service is top shelf. They sell on eBay as well as having a separate web site. Cost in lots of 100 is 0.009 each or 90 cents per 100. The same value cap at Mouser is 0.069 each or 6.90 per 100. Or go top shelf and see what Lady Ada at Adafruit offers. They come in packs of 10 and 10 packs will run you 17.60. I can throw away a bunch from Tayda and still be money ahead.
When I started homebrewing one of my Homebrewing Elmers (vs my DX Elmer or my Satellite Elmer) highly suggested that my next project should be a LC meter from Almost All Digital Electronics. Took his advice and assembled one. Good money spent. My Homebrewing Elmer hinted that some sources have questionable quality and to check each component prior to installation. Between the Fluke multimeter and the AADE LC meter I know what I'm stuffing in the board. That LC meter came in real handy when working out the final tank circuit of a 6C4/5763 vacuum tube rig I built.
Unfortunately the proprietor of AADE passed away last year and the future is uncertain?for AADE and the LC meter. As a future project we would do well to keep this piece of test equipment available to radio amateurs.
It's one thing to do QA on a batch of caps or resistors you got dirt cheap. It's another when you are dealing with fraud. Do an online search for 'fake transistors' and that will get you to double up on your blood pressure medications.
Till later Hank K5HDE
---------------------------------------------------------- Anytime someone finds a vendor, domestic or foreign, who sells product that is out of spec, they need to post that vendor's name on this forum. There's no need for this kind of crap and if enough of us detail who the bad suppliers are, they will learn that they have a choice: sort out the crap before they ship it, or lose sales here.
Jack, W8TEE?
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Re: Faulty Mini 360 Buck voltage regulator in the nano-DDS kit
Anytime someone finds a vendor, domestic or foreign, who sells product that is out of spec, they need to post that vendor's name on this forum. There's no need for this kind of crap and if enough of us detail who the bad suppliers are, they will learn that they have a choice: sort out the crap before they ship it, or lose sales here.
Jack, W8TEE?
From: "HankEllis@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]"
To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2016 6:28 PM
Subject: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] Re: Faulty Mini 360 Buck voltage regulator in the nano-DDS kit
?
It has been my observation that parts sourced from China obtained through eBay can sometimes have sketchy quality control.
Recently I obtained 200 .1uf 50v ceramic caps from one of the more respected suppliers. Checked each one and 80% were outside a +- 20% tolerance. Check of resistors frequently finds ones out of tolerance also. Logical to think that ICs and PCB products may have defective units also. Browsing through the posts here you can find instances of faulty finals and LM386 chips in the Forty-9er.
Like with the caps even though I chunked 80% of them, it was still cheaper to source through eBay than through more traditional sources such as Mouser and Digikey. As long as I know up front to do my own QC I'm cool with it.
Myself, if at all possible,?I check the value or function check?each component prior to stuffing it in the board.
Not a slam to those kitting the nano-DDS kit. Just an observation of what we in the homebrew world have to deal with.
Till later Hank K5HDE
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Upgrading Displays to I2C
In my junk box I have a supply of 2x16 LCD displays. These all have the analog interface where it takes several wires from the microprocessor to the display to make it work. This project introduced me to the I2C bus which only uses?two data wires plus the power and ground. Nice. Now, is it possible to upgrade the older displays to the I2C bus? Yes and it's easy.
On eBay search for 'I2C'. Then sort by 'Price + Shipping: Lowest First'. What should show up near the top is something like this. | | | | | | US $0.76 New in Business & Industrial, Electrical & Test Equipment, Electronic Components | | | | Preview by Yahoo | | | Picked up four to try it out. All were Version 1 as described at the Arduino Wikispaces page. ?Soldered them in and gave the hardware a trial run.
First I ran the address scanner sketch and each reported 0x27. Then added in the LiquidCrystal_I2C library from the vfo-source-rev6 code for this project. Copied the demo sketch from the wikispaces page, compiled, and ... fail. The line that sets the LCD address has a call of POSITIVE that the compiler didn't like. Quick internet search revealed that it was a library issue. Downloaded and installed the library from the link at the wikispaces page. Recompiled and all is well.
Ran the sketch and each display is responding as it should. Do be aware that you will have to tinker with the LCD contrast through the pot on the I2C module. If you do not have any characters displaying it may be just a contrast issue. Had to adjust all four of mine.
One more oh by the way. The address scanner sketch has you set the Serial Monitor speed to 115200. While the demo sketch has the speed at 9600. Had me scratching my head for a minute why it wasn't working. After the forehead slap I set the speed at the Serial Monitor dropdown box to what the code asked for. Duh. As we say at my workplace, "Never overlook the obvious."
So for less than $1 shipped you can upgrade those displays.
Till later Hank K5HDE
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Re: Faulty Mini 360 Buck voltage regulator in the nano-DDS kit
It has been my observation that parts sourced from China obtained through eBay can sometimes have sketchy quality control.
Recently I obtained 200 .1uf 50v ceramic caps from one of the more respected suppliers. Checked each one and 80% were outside a +- 20% tolerance. Check of resistors frequently finds ones out of tolerance also. Logical to think that ICs and PCB products may have defective units also. Browsing through the posts here you can find instances of faulty finals and LM386 chips in the Forty-9er.
Like with the caps even though I chunked 80% of them, it was still cheaper to source through eBay than through more traditional sources such as Mouser and Digikey. As long as I know up front to do my own QC I'm cool with it.
Myself, if at all possible,?I check the value or function check?each component prior to stuffing it in the board.
Not a slam to those kitting the nano-DDS kit. Just an observation of what we in the homebrew world have to deal with.
Till later Hank K5HDE
|
Transmit status LED for DDS/VFO 49'-er? Expand Messages
Can anybody tell me where I would make a tap on the 49'er keyer section so I could have a front panel indication of the transmit state? I'd like to use a small led. I found one at RS and it would need 12V, however I could find something lower power if needed.. I just need to get an idea where the +/- connections would be for this particular board.
Steve NS3L
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Re: In need of some vfo help
Thanks for the help on the display , that part is working now.. now to rack my brain on other problems.
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Faulty Mini 360 Buck voltage regulator in the nano-DDS kit
Well I finally got to building the nano-DDS kit, Nice, very nice. But I had difficulty with the mini360 regulator board. I could not get it to adjust below 8.7v, I had a few in my stock box so no biggie but I tested the replacement before I swapped out the one I had already fitted, yep, the new one adjusts down to 5v no worries so I went ahead and replaced the original. I tested the original outside of the nano kit and sure enough it would not go below 8.7v. I mention this to prospective builders and suggest that you test the module before you fit it. This is just a heads-up to save prospective builders some potential trouble and is absolutely not a criticism. Thanks again for a great project. Blessings
Wayne - NQ0RP
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Debco has a 10 pack of 5.1V 1W zener diodes for $1.25 and a 2 pack of 22uH chokes for $2. I buy a lot of stuff from them...husband and wife team, both hams, and great people.
Jack, W8TEE
From: "n9jcvphone@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]"
To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2016 9:22 AM
Subject: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] part swap anyone?
?
I would like to trade; 2 1W 36 Zerner Diodes 2 100uh inductors
for? 2 5.1 1W zener diodes 2 22uh inductors
I can send today. ?Send me an email to n 9 j c v @ mail.com
Thanks b
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Re: Looking to gather the parts
Well, my update is that I made it back from FDIM and have been checking out some new toys.
I ordered the remaining parts/modules for the DDS VFO and should have all that in a few weeks. In the meantime, I'll be finish getting the parts together for the MMR 40.
The plan is to get the NANO/DDS VFO running, build the MMR 40, then put them together. The integration will require changes to the code to have the DDS generate the ~3 MHz VFO signal and display the 7 MHz operating frequency.
Stay tuned for more updates.
Dave, N4ELM
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I would like to trade; 2 1W 36 Zerner Diodes 2 100uh inductors
for? 2 5.1 1W zener diodes 2 22uh inductors
I can send today. ?Send me an email to n 9 j c v @ mail.com
Thanks b
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Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
While Farrukh is working on a modification to the Beta PCB, I'm continuing to work on the software. Something most AA's won't let you do is store a scan for use later. The attached photo shows a previously stored scan (yellow) overlayed with a current scan. (Perhaps you trimmed the antenna between the two scans.) This allows you to compare "before and after" adjustments. Since each scan can be save to a built-in SD card, you can compare to any previously-stored scan, not just back-to-back scans. You are limited to 9000 scans on the SD card...probably not a hardship. You can also download the saved scans via a USB cable into an application that can read a CSV file (e.g. Excel).
I think this is going to be a pretty useful piece of gear.
Jack, W8TEE
From: "Gary Auchard w0mna74@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]" To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
?
Jack,
What you were demonstrating to me on your new AA device really looked interesting and definitely worth building.? While you were showing me the device I was also thinking of how I could possibly package that into some box that would look good plus hold up to abuse at times in a backpack. In recent years I have been picking up blank pieces of circuit board material from Far Circuits while at the hamvention.? I picked up six really nice pieces this year just for the purpose of making cases for projects where there is no really good case designed to fit it. I've built cases like this in the past for several projects and they all came out really well since you can solder them together.? I use a small table saw from Harbor Freight that cuts these boards like they are made from butter.? Nice clean cuts and easy to paint when done.? I make the square/rectangular holes for displays using a scroll saw with a starter hole in each corner to start the cuts.? Then I finish off the hole with a fine file to make it really square up and look nice.? I'll be building your AA when the article is published so keep on working on it as this should appeal to a lot of hams just like the 40 meter transceiver article did.? The 40 meter transceiver I built sure did get a lot of attention on Friday evening and I've had a number of people email me since I returned home asking more questions.? You sure came up with a fun device when you dreamed up that item. Gary A.
?
Gary:
Yes, the new AA will be completely portable, but will allow you to save scans to an SD card, which can then be sent to a PC via a USB connection. Since it's stored as a CSV file, it can be input directly into Excel. I'm working on one more feature that will allow you to overlay the previous scan with a new scan. That way, you can see directly what impact any change you made since the last run. I've also added coverage for the 60M band.
Each scan is comprised of 100 sample points spaced out over the frequency range you input. So if you do a scan from 7.0mHz to 7.1mHz, you have one point for every 1kHz. What is not obvious is that each one of those points is an average of 70 individual voltage tests. That will dampen the effect that small environmental changes (e.g., wind) can have on a single reading. If we can get the accuracy to 10%, it will be as good or better than units costing two to three times as much. I'm pretty excited about it.
Gotta run...still working on code tonight...
Jack
?
Interesting on the two calls.? Never thought to look them up.? I was lucky and ended up with a call ending in MNA when I started but have over the years modified it a bit with WN0, AB0, WB0 and now W0MNA.? Think I'll stop with this one.? Great CW call.
Just checked my supply of Arduino and I have a Mega board new still in the package.? I'm ready whenever you publish the article.? It really looked interesting and I can see this being used on a SOTA summit for checking the antenna when you put it up in a tree or however so you end up with the best SWR etc. you can get in that location.? I have another antenna analyzer I put together as a kit a few years ago but it requires a computer to see the results.? Yours looked like something I could really make use of in the field. Thanks again, Gary A. - W0MNA On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Jack Purdum jjpurdum@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] <SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...> wrote:
?
Gary:
You did a good job, as I said.
BTW, I wondered if anyone had the call W0MAN, and it turns out a lady has it, but a guy has W0MEN. Interesting!?
I'll keep you posted on the AA project. I have the Beta board working now.
Jack, W8TEE
?
Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
|
Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Jack,
What you were demonstrating to me on your new AA device really looked interesting and definitely worth building.? While you were showing me the device I was also thinking of how I could possibly package that into some box that would look good plus hold up to abuse at times in a backpack. In recent years I have been picking up blank pieces of circuit board material from Far Circuits while at the hamvention.? I picked up six really nice pieces this year just for the purpose of making cases for projects where there is no really good case designed to fit it. I've built cases like this in the past for several projects and they all came out really well since you can solder them together.? I use a small table saw from Harbor Freight that cuts these boards like they are made from butter.? Nice clean cuts and easy to paint when done.? I make the square/rectangular holes for displays using a scroll saw with a starter hole in each corner to start the cuts.? Then I finish off the hole with a fine file to make it really square up and look nice.? I'll be building your AA when the article is published so keep on working on it as this should appeal to a lot of hams just like the 40 meter transceiver article did.? The 40 meter transceiver I built sure did get a lot of attention on Friday evening and I've had a number of people email me since I returned home asking more questions.? You sure came up with a fun device when you dreamed up that item. Gary A.
?
Gary:
Yes, the new AA will be completely portable, but will allow you to save scans to an SD card, which can then be sent to a PC via a USB connection. Since it's stored as a CSV file, it can be input directly into Excel. I'm working on one more feature that will allow you to overlay the previous scan with a new scan. That way, you can see directly what impact any change you made since the last run. I've also added coverage for the 60M band.
Each scan is comprised of 100 sample points spaced out over the frequency range you input. So if you do a scan from 7.0mHz to 7.1mHz, you have one point for every 1kHz. What is not obvious is that each one of those points is an average of 70 individual voltage tests. That will dampen the effect that small environmental changes (e.g., wind) can have on a single reading. If we can get the accuracy to 10%, it will be as good or better than units costing two to three times as much. I'm pretty excited about it.
Gotta run...still working on code tonight...
Jack
?
Interesting on the two calls.? Never thought to look them up.? I was lucky and ended up with a call ending in MNA when I started but have over the years modified it a bit with WN0, AB0, WB0 and now W0MNA.? Think I'll stop with this one.? Great CW call.
Just checked my supply of Arduino and I have a Mega board new still in the package.? I'm ready whenever you publish the article.? It really looked interesting and I can see this being used on a SOTA summit for checking the antenna when you put it up in a tree or however so you end up with the best SWR etc. you can get in that location.? I have another antenna analyzer I put together as a kit a few years ago but it requires a computer to see the results.? Yours looked like something I could really make use of in the field. Thanks again, Gary A. - W0MNA On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Jack Purdum jjpurdum@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] <SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...> wrote:
?
Gary:
You did a good job, as I said.
BTW, I wondered if anyone had the call W0MAN, and it turns out a lady has it, but a guy has W0MEN. Interesting!?
I'll keep you posted on the AA project. I have the Beta board working now.
Jack, W8TEE
?
Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
|
Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Gary:
Yes, the new AA will be completely portable, but will allow you to save scans to an SD card, which can then be sent to a PC via a USB connection. Since it's stored as a CSV file, it can be input directly into Excel. I'm working on one more feature that will allow you to overlay the previous scan with a new scan. That way, you can see directly what impact any change you made since the last run. I've also added coverage for the 60M band.
Each scan is comprised of 100 sample points spaced out over the frequency range you input. So if you do a scan from 7.0mHz to 7.1mHz, you have one point for every 1kHz. What is not obvious is that each one of those points is an average of 70 individual voltage tests. That will dampen the effect that small environmental changes (e.g., wind) can have on a single reading. If we can get the accuracy to 10%, it will be as good or better than units costing two to three times as much. I'm pretty excited about it.
Gotta run...still working on code tonight...
Jack
From: "Gary Auchard w0mna74@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]"
To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
?
Interesting on the two calls.? Never thought to look them up.? I was lucky and ended up with a call ending in MNA when I started but have over the years modified it a bit with WN0, AB0, WB0 and now W0MNA.? Think I'll stop with this one.? Great CW call.
Just checked my supply of Arduino and I have a Mega board new still in the package.? I'm ready whenever you publish the article.? It really looked interesting and I can see this being used on a SOTA summit for checking the antenna when you put it up in a tree or however so you end up with the best SWR etc. you can get in that location.? I have another antenna analyzer I put together as a kit a few years ago but it requires a computer to see the results.? Yours looked like something I could really make use of in the field. Thanks again, Gary A. - W0MNA
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Re: In need of some vfo help
Peter, Besides making sure you are using the correct I2C library for the DDS/49-er radio, you need to make sure that you are calling the display in the code but its proper address. If you head over to this site:? - there's a TON of information about several I2C displays including how to install the latest I2C library. About 3/4 of the way down the page, there's a sketch for an "I2C Address Scanner." If you copy and paste this code into a new Arduino sketch, then run it according to the instructions, you'll find the address for YOUR display. I think the standard address for the 16 x 2 display is "0x27" but I wouldn't quote me on that. Not having the correct I2C address will cause all kinds of issues IF the display puts out any data at all - which is most often the case... nothing showing up. The best you might do is the backlight coming on. However, since you're getting small bits of data being displayed, I'm going with the incorrect I2C library being installed as being your problem. However, it never hurts to check for the correct I2C display just to rule that out as a potential issue.
Aaron - N2HTL
?
The listing is no longer viewable. If you can, write the vendor and ask which libraries the display uses.
Jack, W8TEE
?
here's a link to the display i bought on eBay.?
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Re: In need of some vfo help
The listing is no longer viewable. If you can, write the vendor and ask which libraries the display uses.
Jack, W8TEE
From: "wh6fao@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]"
To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 9:15 PM
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] In need of some vfo help
?
here's a link to the display i bought on eBay.?
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Re: In need of some vfo help
here's a link to the display i bought on eBay.?
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Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Interesting on the two calls.? Never thought to look them up.? I was lucky and ended up with a call ending in MNA when I started but have over the years modified it a bit with WN0, AB0, WB0 and now W0MNA.? Think I'll stop with this one.? Great CW call.
Just checked my supply of Arduino and I have a Mega board new still in the package.? I'm ready whenever you publish the article.? It really looked interesting and I can see this being used on a SOTA summit for checking the antenna when you put it up in a tree or however so you end up with the best SWR etc. you can get in that location.? I have another antenna analyzer I put together as a kit a few years ago but it requires a computer to see the results.? Yours looked like something I could really make use of in the field. Thanks again, Gary A. - W0MNA
?
Gary:
You did a good job, as I said.
BTW, I wondered if anyone had the call W0MAN, and it turns out a lady has it, but a guy has W0MEN. Interesting!?
I'll keep you posted on the AA project. I have the Beta board working now.
Jack, W8TEE
?
Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
|
Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Gary:
You did a good job, as I said.
BTW, I wondered if anyone had the call W0MAN, and it turns out a lady has it, but a guy has W0MEN. Interesting!?
I'll keep you posted on the AA project. I have the Beta board working now.
Jack, W8TEE
From: "w0mna74@... [SoftwareControlledHamRadio]" To: SoftwareControlledHamRadio@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
?
Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
|
Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Jack,
Thanks for the nice comments on the transceiver and for creating the design to start with.? Some pretty tough competition at this build session.? Really looking forward to building your next project you showed me at FDIM.? I can see a number of uses for that device.
Also, thanks for all the assistance you gave me early on in the building process with the sketch.? Really enjoyed talking to you at FDIM and hope to see you there again next year.
Gary A. - W0MNA
|
Re: 49er transceiver build by W0MNA
Norbert,
I found the case at a hamfest for $3.00.? It had something else in it at one time but was empty when I bought it.? I was able to use the former front panel as the back panel since it has an LED and ON/OFF switch already in it.? I made a new front panel from some blank circuit board material I bought from FAR Circuits at the Dayton Hamvention last year.? I just cut my own holes in the new front piece to put the parts where I needed them to be.
Gary A. - W0MNA
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jjpurdum