Category Archives: c-electronics

General Electronics Posts

Cermetek CH1724 Modem PTH Adapter Board

Posted on March 2, 2017 by

I need to solder pins to multiple CH1724 modems which look like this: I tried soldering header pins directly, but that was a cluster. So I designed this little adapter board: You can layout header pins on a PCB, put … Continue reading →

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Cleaning Flux from Printed Circuit Boards (PCB)

Posted on November 22, 2016 by

I got some professional looking PCB boards manufactured for a project recently. The boards look great compared to anything I could do myself. Problem is, after I solder on the components and try to clean the flux off, I’m always … Continue reading →

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Project Box Graphics

Posted on April 25, 2016 by

After building my project’s box (see here), I wanted to create some decent graphics. I spent a fair amount of money on the guts, I did a nice job cutting holes, I expect the ‘customer’ will have this for several … Continue reading →

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Cutting Holes in an ABS Plastic Project Box

Posted on April 22, 2016 by

Wrapping up a project and it is time for the case. I purchased a nice heavy duty case from Mouser to use. It needs several holes which are easy enough but it also needs a large rectangle cut out as … Continue reading →

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How to use VeeCAD Stripboard Editor with CadSoft Eagle

Posted on April 16, 2016 by

A project I’m working on is a one-off. Since I’m only building one, having a real PCB created is over kill. In the past I would etch my own, but I’m getting to where the chemicals bug me so I … Continue reading →

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SIM800L GSM/GPRS Part II – Seeking Stability

Posted on April 12, 2016 by

My first SIM800L dev board was a flop when I tried to use it in an actual project. As mentioned at the end of my last post, the reliability of that SIM800L dev board was horrible. The SIM800L chip would … Continue reading →

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SIM800L GSM/GPRS Cellular Eval Board First Look

Posted on March 26, 2016 by

I’ve built a project using a SIM900 GSM/GPRS dev card. It works fine, but that dev card is too big to fit in the project case and kind of expensive (comparatively speaking). I went looking for another solution and found … Continue reading →

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Adafruit Thermal Printer Library haspaper() Function Fix

Posted on February 24, 2016 by

I posted this ‘fix’ on Adafruits’ forum as well. I have been playing with their mini Thermal Printer (https://www.adafruit.com/products/597). I started testing the haspaper function in their thermal printer library which returns true if there is paper else false. In … Continue reading →

Posted in c-arduino, c-electronics | Tagged | 1 Comment

5V to 48V Switch-Mode Power Supply using MC34063

Posted on January 15, 2016 by

I needed to build a 5V to 48V DC to DC converter. After scouring the web for sample circuits, I found one that was based on the SG2534N. Well, the circuit had problems and I spent entirely too much time … Continue reading →

Posted in c-electronics | Tagged | 11 Comments

Experimenting with Switched-mode Power Supplies (SMPS)

Posted on January 15, 2016 by

I need to build a step-up DC to DC converter so I started looking at building my own switched-mode power supplies (SMPS). The basic idea behind an SMPS is to send an alternating waveform into an inductor to step the … Continue reading →

Posted in c-electronics | Tagged | 3 Comments