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Electronics time. Going to put together the first of three PCBs I ordered two weeks ago. This one is a new take on the ProMini LoRaWAN node, skipping the Arduino for a bare ATMega328. So in a way, I designed an Arduino 😅Permalink On twitter.com
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First up: a bunch of tiny SMD parts (0805). Lead-free solder again, and this works surprisingly well, even with the not-so-great soldering iron I'm usingPermalink On twitter.com
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Also got a PCB holder. And it sucks. Well for this tiny PCB at least. I see how it could be useful for bigger ones (like no. 3 later). But for this small stuff... not a fan.Permalink On twitter.com
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Talking about fans, I need to get a solder fume extractor, maybe from @SchindlerTimo or @eHaJo1. Using a fan without filtering right now, which is better than nothing, but it's noisy 🙉 probably due to my a little too simple case design 😅Permalink On twitter.com
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Done with a the SMD stuff, on to the rest. I had some playdough to hold those parts in place, but I can't find it. Small strips of tape should do for now.Permalink On twitter.com
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This should be enough for the first tests. The power supply section seems to work already 💪 I need a proper lab PSU to test this kind of stuff. If I only had the space...Permalink On twitter.com
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Now I need a programmer. And those are in the basement 🤦♂️Permalink On twitter.com
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Here we go, time to make this into an Arduino by trying to flash the bootloader 👩🏭Permalink On twitter.com
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The bootloader allows me to use the serial port for programming. Which is what the Arduino IDE does by default. But seems all my programming adapters for that are also still in the basement 🤦♂️Permalink On twitter.com
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No FTDI adapters to be found anywhere 🙈 so let's start soldering the next PCB instead. It's a derivative of the previous, so ATmega328+LoRaWAN, plus circuitry to measure the cell voltages on a 7S Li-Ion battery. Something for my solar setup, and maybe a few others as wellPermalink On twitter.com
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SMD parts went on without a hassle mostly, but the IC up front was a bit painful. Tip of the soldering iron is just too big for that kind of work. But after a bit of fiddling it looks like it should work...Permalink On twitter.com
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And the remaining bits. I'm not populating the power supply section of this one, because it's ideally powered from the battery packs it's monitoring. Also skipping the battery connector for now, because it's probably easier to test this wayPermalink On twitter.com
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On to flashing the bootloader. Or not, because apparently there's something wrong 🙈Permalink On twitter.com
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Hmm, these two pins should be connected. But they're not. Let's check the schematic and the PCB design again... ok, shit.On twitter.com
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Now that's better 🥳Permalink On twitter.com
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And all the sudden, it works 🕺 Well, enough for today. Some more tests and another PCB for tomorrow then 😬Permalink On twitter.com
