Something New Every Day

Category: Electronics

  • Okay, I didn’t

    Okay, I didn’t

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    I didn’t actually do anything with the sponge. Sorry about that. I CADded up the chassis for my silly combat robot. It will be 4WD with 4 N20 motors and 1/2″ x 2.25″ foam wheels. The chassis and the wheel hubs will be 3D printed. So, after printing the chassis and wheel hubs I decided…

  • Channel Hopping

    Channel Hopping

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    Channel hopping is working!!! That’s basically all the hard stuff. Now I just have to make it do simple things like store the bound TX in eeprom, process the sticks data and drive the motor controllers via PWM. (That’s the four sticks data in the image.)

  • Coding

    Coding

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    I started writing my own firmware, from scratch, for the Malenki. I want to use them with a HK-T6A V2 transmitter, which uses the AFHDS protocol not the AFHDS 2A protocol the Malenki uses. Despite the similar name, they are entirely not compatible at the firmware level. (But, fortunately, use the same radio hardware.) It…

  • Malenki Nano-Plus

    Malenki Nano-Plus

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    I have a Malenki Nano-plus PCB. I have a Serial UPDI programmer. I have successfully flashed Arduino “Blink” onto my Nano-plus. The final step is flashing the actual Nano-plus firmware onto the Nano-plus. I used a docker container for the dev environment. Then I copied prog.py from my Arduino install. (actually the megaTinyCore files) The…

  • Serial UPDI

    Serial UPDI

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    I built a Serial UPDI programmer. (For a certain definition of “built”) These are pretty simple. A diode goes between Tx and Rx on a CH340 module. Then a wire from Rx goes to the device being programmed. I’m also using a SOICbite (slightly modified SOP8 test clip) as a programming clip. So, I used…

  • Testing a new PCB

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    I have to be vague when posting stuff about work, but this is an older design that we are still using. I just had a fresh batch made and need to do some testing on the bench before installing them in the final product. So far so good.

  • Perfect Timing!

    Perfect Timing!

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    I ordered these over two months ago. I was starting to lose hope, but they arrived today. And, perfect timing, too. These are CH9340 USB-UART modules. Which is what I need to build the Serial-UPDI programmer. (Assuming these work the same as a CH340, which I can’t seem to find a clear answer on.)

  • Malenki

    Malenki

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    After a few modifications, I ordered some PCBs of the “Malenki Plus” (a higher voltage version of the Malenki Nano) This version uses an A7105 module for the radio. (There is also a version that integrates the radio but I had a hard time sourcing the A7105 IC.) I soldered the radio module to the…

  • New Sensors!

    New Sensors!

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    About midnight last night, the signal “jamming” my sensors went quiet! This is good news, generally. Two of my three sensors started working again. I have no idea why the third didn’t, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it because… My sensor boards came in a couple days ago! All…

  • Circuit Board Tidal Wave

    Circuit Board Tidal Wave

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    In the past two days I have received four shipments containing 200 circuit boards of 6 different designs. (4 – 100% my design, 2 somewhat modified by me) Some are for work and some are personal. I have a LOT of work ahead testing and programming boards.