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 can...
Feb 18, 2021•52 min•Ep. 264
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 ma...
Feb 10, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 263
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 de...
Feb 03, 2021•44 min•Ep. 262
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 poss...
Jan 28, 2021•55 min•Ep. 261
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 i...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 260
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 g...
Jan 13, 2021•48 min•Ep. 259
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 Represe...
Jan 06, 2021•57 min•Ep. 258
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 compone...
Dec 30, 2020•51 min•Ep. 257
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 N...
Dec 23, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 256
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 ...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 255
MEP EP#254: Ridiculous Relay Ratings Parker PinoTaur updates REV 4 Automotive relays are not certified to run at the voltages we need G2RL-1A-E-CV DC12 Max voltage rating is 300VDC “Rated” current is 24VDC at 16A G2RG-2A-X DC12 Rated at 500VDC at 10A Looking at other relays used for this purpose in production machines… Am I missing something in choosing the correct relay? RGB Light string split into two Power current is the reason Foxconn Electronics hit by Ransomware $34 million ransomware atta...
Dec 09, 2020•52 min•Ep. 254
MEP EP#253: Benjamin Jordan of Autodesk Benjamin Jordan A Computer Systems and PCB Engineer with over 25 years of experience in embedded systems, FPGA, and PCB design Is an avid tinkerer and is passionate about the creation of electronic devices of all kinds Holds a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honors from the University of Southern Queensland Currently Senior Product Manager for ECAD in Autodesk Fusion 360, and 16 years prior with Altium Recently licensed HAM radio operator Call Sig...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 253
MEP EP#252: Kicking Troglodytes Off The Stage Parker PCB serial numbering or other unique marking I have batches of boards and need to put some unique numeric identifier and a MAC address on each board. Besides stickers, laser etching, scratching or DIY stencil and paint, what are folks doing? PinoTaur REV 3 boards arrived REV 4 changes already ;) Ben Jordan of Autodesk will be a guest on the podcast Product manager and is responsible for the EAGLE product Get your Eagle questions in early! Step...
Nov 26, 2020•49 min•Ep. 252
MEP EP#251: Loopholes or Equivalent Parker Wiring Harness update Wire Jacket Temperature rating Wire strandedness or number of strands Labeling Requirements? Treatment to pigtail end RoHs? The Untold Story Of The Bug That Almost Sank The Dreamcast's North American Launch Audio IC hardware layout problem Floating input pin causing the IC to flip into MIDI mode and crash the software BL6: The Coolest* Console Ever Video game console that is supposed to look like a 6 pack of beer Has two chilled sp...
Nov 18, 2020•47 min•Ep. 251
MEP EP#250: Artisan Sudo Toasters Parker EXTRALIFE charity update How Biden may handle China and the electronics trade CHIPS Act Creating Helpful Incentives for Producing Semiconductors Incentives for the construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities and equipment Calls for $300 billion in new funding over four years for R&D and breakthrough technologies like AI and quantum computing. “aggressive trade enforcement actions against China” Drawing wiring harness diagrams for contract m...
Nov 11, 2020•45 min•Ep. 250
MEP EP#249: How Soft Are Your Diodes? Parker Signed up for the EXTRA LIFE charity this year to raise money for the Texas Children's Hospital This Saturday (Nov 7th) Parker will be broadcasting a 24 hour video game stream Will be playing the Half-Life 2 video game all the way through This includes the two episode expansions to the base campaign Difficulty level will be set to 'Hard' and I will be attempting to unlock all the achievements at the same time. Donations are tax-deductible and 100% of ...
Nov 04, 2020•48 min•Ep. 249
MEP EP#248: Keeping The Spirit Costs Extra Parker AMD to buy Xilinx for $35 billion in stock Wasn’t that long ago that Intel bought Altera Why such a merger? Sharing topography, technology, and manufacturing techniques Tariffs and the Election Engineers and Manufacturers have been decoupling from China for the last 4 years The big question is what happens next. If Biden wins, are the Trump tariffs gone? Or will we keep them? What happens if Trump wins? Tesla self driving Imagine learning there i...
Oct 28, 2020•47 min•Ep. 248
MEP EP#247: To Bake an Apple Pie Parker PCB Stackup Why is it important to manufacturing? Who should define it? CM? PCB Fabricator? Designer? PCB Bodges Your worst bodge Most proud bodge? DIY Glycol chilling? Chiller Daddy Pump Diverter Stephen Brexit and the UKCA Mark New regulatory mark to make things easier… Goes into affect 1 January 2021 The UKCA marking can be used from 1 January 2021. However, to allow businesses time to adjust to the new requirements, you will still be able to use the CE...
Oct 21, 2020•54 min•Ep. 247
MEP EP#246: Doing Something Magical Parker Physicists build circuit that generates clean, limitless power from graphene University of Arkansas physicists Energy harvesting the thermal motion of graphene Without getting all quantum about it, it seems to work by configuring the graphene as one electrode (or both) of a capacitor. As the graphene flaps in the breeze (actually Brownian motion, I assume), the changing geometry will change the capacitance. The team's next objective is to determine if t...
Oct 14, 2020•41 min•Ep. 246
MEP EP#245: K-Factoring a Gumbo Parker Security flaw left ‘smart’ chastity sex toy users at risk of permanent lock-in List to podcast for additional information... Stephen Fusion 360 has changed their personal license subscription model All of these went into effect on Oct 1 Project storage is limited to 10 active and editable documents Exports are now limited to a small number of file types. Thankfully this still includes STL files but alas, DXF, DWG, PDF exports are all gone Perhaps most impor...
Oct 07, 2020•45 min•Ep. 245
MEP EP#244: Comic-Con for Engineers - Chris Carter Chris Carter The owner of Mercury Inc. Mercury Inc. is a design consulting firm with expertise in electrical mechanical software and firmware development DFM for PCB Assemblies Industrial Design What is this? Special Assembly Unique processes Sequences and events Design for Serviceability Documentation Change logs...
Sep 30, 2020•53 min•Ep. 244
MEP EP#243: Schematics and Connectors, Name a More Iconic Duo... Parker Battery Charger debacle update Two batteries recovered, One failed Amazon Sidewalk draws electronics from among TI, Silicon Labs and Semtech Amazon Sidewalk, a new shared wireless network for IoT consumer device DXF to Board outlines? Eagles DXF importer doesn’t work all too well Suggestions? AutoDesk Fusion seems to import just fine Stephen Connectors on schematics Rfdave on slack channel asked a question about this Am I th...
Sep 23, 2020•54 min•Ep. 243
MEP EP#242: The Heartbeat of Cats and LEDs Parker Battery charger and maintainer died Took all my batteries with it Company is replacing the unit Nothing looks particularly wrong with the PCB Assembly besides it being gross SF1565SG Current Mode PWM Controller FQPF12N60C Fet used in the PWM Controller HT46R004 HolTek MCU Cost Effective? Cat Feeder Unreminder Ordered a breakout board for the AEM10941 Super Caps SCCS30B106PRB 10F @ 2.7VDC Solar Panel AM-1816CA 84µA at peak power This is specced at...
Sep 17, 2020•48 min•Ep. 242
MEP EP#241: Failing to Electrocute the Chicken Parker Bit of feedback on a live stream People suggesting YouTube live Will set this up for episode 242 The little things no one sees that make projects take forever 3D printer update completed New fans TI calls for lower-cost sensors to boost robot adoption “We don’t see as many robots as we’d like” Elon Musk’s Neuralink implant Pig example Stephen High voltage low current measurement - The circuit evolves Adding resistance measurements The new pro...
Sep 09, 2020•50 min•Ep. 241
MEP EP#240: Disturbed Solder Accuracy Parker Got a fully automatic screen printer! ESE US-2000X Potentially lower our minimal paste size Twitch Live Stream podcasts? Amazon multimeter probes Stephen High voltage low current measurement Don't want to break the connection so a traditional ammeter isn't going to work Sticking with the read both sides of a resistor method Caddock 1776-C681 high voltage high resistance high tolerance divider 1/100 so 0 to 500v becomes 0 to 5v ADC - MCP3551-E/SN 22 bi...
Sep 02, 2020•41 min•Ep. 240
MEP EP#239: Frictionless Spherical Cow Transformers Parker Garage Door opener hacking Converting my normal style garage door opener to a “jackshaft” style opener Reversing the direction of the A/C single phase motor? Split phase motors One phase is shifted with a large capacitor by ~90 degrees In my application I just had to reverse the wires and the end stop wires PyInstaller Can take your python scripts and make it into a self contained application Useful for non technical inclined people on y...
Aug 26, 2020•50 min•Ep. 239
MEP EP#238: Better Encryption than Zoom, Firmware Stacks with AND!XOR AND!XOR Previous podcast episodes: Incognito Mode which was episode number 69 Arduino, The Gateway Drug To #BadgeLife which was episode number 109 Espress-ify? Designing Products Around the ESP-32 Platform which was episode number 144 Feel the Hum which was episode number 183 Firmware RTOS vs No OS (i.e. Arduino or pure SDK usage) What about a Bootloader? Zephyr RTOS DTS Config Drivers Whats good about Zephry / What SUCKS abou...
Aug 19, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 238
MEP EP#237: Ice Cream Solder Paste Equipotential Parker Cat Feeder Unreminder Started designing the parts and symbols in Eagle. Will post more on twitter as I build the components and put together the symbols Garage Door opener hacking Converting my normal style garage door opener to a “jackshaft” style opener Why? LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Craftsmen are all the same Mine is a Liftmaster Formula 1 Belt drive need to convert to chain drive to attach to the jackshaft All of these use similar drive ...
Aug 12, 2020•58 min•Ep. 237
MEP EP#236: Excited Electrons Parker Lead Forming Topic Tools 3D printed forms Best practices? Cat Feeder Unreminder Choosing a solar panel Solar Panels generally act like a current source across its useable power band Specifications that are important Power (Watts) - Max Current @ Peak Power Voltage @ maximum power point (Vmpp) Vmpp - Voltage @ open circuit (Voc) AEM10941 Solar Panel Chip Max V is 5V so open circuit can’t be higher then this MPP is set by 2 configuration pins Ratio between Vmpp...
Aug 05, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 236
MEP EP#235: Solar Freaking Cat Feeders Parker Cat Feeder Unreminder Pulsing current to light LEDs http://donklipstein.com/ledlocup.html http://www.discovercircuits.com/H-Corner/lowpwrflasher.htm Timer IC LTC2956 Power Management Solar with super capacitors Panasonic BSG series solar panels Will have to do research on specifying solar panels AEM10941 https://e-peas.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DS_AEM10941.pdf Built in LDO regulators Stephen Ball screws Bought a small section of ball screw with ...
Jul 29, 2020•59 min•Ep. 235
