EEVblog - Electronics Engineering Video Blog

EEVblog #108 – Amazon Kindle 3 3G/WiFi Review

EEVblog — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:29:45 +0000

Dave reviews the new Amazon Kindle 3 3rd Generation 3G GSM/WiFi Ebook reader.
What superlatives can he find for the new E-Ink display?
And what happens to the E-Ink display when you put it in the thermal chamber?

EEVblog #107 – Live Show #4

EEVblog — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:19:28 +0000

The 4th Live EEVbog show. Dave answering questions in the lab and flashing the odd bit of hardware around.

How To bring Your Project From Idea To Reality

EEVblog — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:50:31 +0000

Another fantastic talk by Mitch Altman about how to bring your project idea from concept to reality. he uses his example of TV-B-GONE.
It was recorded at one of the HOPE conferences, and I originally heard it HERE, but it now seems to be missing.
So I have found the file and hosted on my server, if anyone minds please let me know.
The original source is HERE.

How To Run An Open Source Hardware Company

EEVblog — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:43:19 +0000

I heard this great audio presentation by Limor Fried (Ladyada) and Phillip Torrone.
They talk about how they run Adafruit, their open source hardware company, and I highly recommend everyone give it a listen.
It was recorded at on of the HOPE conferences, and I originally heard it HERE, but it now seems to be missing.
So I have found the file and hosted on my server, if anyone minds please let me know.
The original source is HERE.

EEVblog #106 – Top 5 Tips To Bring Your Product to Market

EEVblog — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:58:28 +0000

Are you are a hobbyist, hacker, maker, or garage engineer with a great product idea? Dave gives you his Top 5 tips for bringing your product to market. And a bonus Top 5 reasons to avoid patents. Copyright, Marketing, Advertising, Protection, and Creative Commons Open Source all get a look in.

The Creative Commons licenses available: http://creativecommons.org/licenses

Watch the Google ads for the invention/patent companies ironically show up here now! —>

EEVblog #105 – Electronics Thermal Heatsink Design Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:44:43 +0000

A follow on from some of the recent blogs that have involved basic thermal heatsink calculation. This time around Dave takes you though the basic theory of thermal design and how heatsink calculations work. Then there are some real world temperature measurements to see how close to the theory we get.

How do you read a heatsink thermal response graph? What is emissivity? It’s all here in thermal design 101.

EEVblog #104 – Live Show #3

EEVblog — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:24:04 +0000

The live EEVblog show recorded back on July 4th. I only just around to editing and uploading it.

The new Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscope
http://www2.rohde-schwarz.com/en/products/test_and_measurement/Oscilloscopes/RTO.html

EEVblog #103 – World’s Largest Depth of Field Laser Hologram

EEVblog — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:39:10 +0000

Dave & Phil check out the world’s largest depth of field laser hologram display at Macquarie University.
It was part of the Paula Dawson exhibition. The bar display is titled “To Absent Friends”
This hologram was created in 1988 and is still the worlds largest to this day. They don’t make holographic plates this big any more!
The resolution on this entire room display is incredible and was hard to catch on camera in the low light, but you can read the labels on the bottles as if they are right in front of you, and the light reflections in the crystal vases and other objects was simply amazing.
See a behind the scenes video of how it was created here:
http://www.pauladawson.com.au/ (click through to the To Absent Friends video)

The Dave Jones & Chris Gammell Electronics Radio Show #2

EEVblog — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 07:56:34 +0000

Links discussed in the show:

* MAKE magazine’s review of Maker Faire Detroit (learning to solder)
* NYT article about mineral deposits in Afghanistan
* Antipasto Hardware Blog — Graphing Calculator on the Beagle Touch
* Anduino Wiki Page
* Maker Faire NYC Tickets

We would love any feedback either in the comments or at the EEVblog forum (there is a specific section for the radio show).

EEVblog #102 – DIY Constant Current Dummy Load for Power Supply and Battery Testing

EEVblog — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 05:54:39 +0000

Dave grabs a few junkbox parts and builds a useful constant current load for switch mode power supply, battery testing, and other applications.

The Dave Jones & Chris Gammell Show

EEVblog — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:29:50 +0000

The inaugural Dave Jones & Chris Gammell podcast radio show!
An off-the-cuff podcast about electronics designs, and anything electronic industry related.

Feedback, Comments, and Q&A questions invited for the next show!
And we need a name for the show, all suggestions invited!

EEVblog #101 – Hacking your own Peltier LAB Thermal Chamber

EEVblog — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:37:57 +0000

Dave turns a low cost reptile egg incubator into a decent 2degC to 60degC lab thermal chamber.
Throw in a Rigol oscilloscope, an Arduino, and a few multimeters for good measure.

The model used is the HERP Nursery II, also known as the BCR-25 Wine/Beer chiller and Pie Warmer.

EEVblog #100 – Triple Digit Retrospective, Wonder Woman, and More Multimeter Destruction

EEVblog — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:14:43 +0000

100 video blogs? Who would have thought Dave had it in him!

EEVblog #99 – $100 Multimeter Shootout – Extech Amprobe BK Precision Ideal UEi Uni-T PART 2of2

EEVblog — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 02:43:27 +0000

PART 2 of 2
Dave compares six $100 Multimeters:

BK Precision BK2709B
http://www.tequipment.net/BK2709B.html
Extech EX505
http://www.tequipment.net/ExtechEX505.asp
Amprobe 34XR-A
http://www.tequipment.net/Amprobe34XR-A.html
UEi DM391
http://www.tequipment.net/UEiDM391.html
IDEAL 61-342
http://www.tequipment.net/Ideal61-342.asp
UNI-T UT61D
http://www.uni-trend.com/UT61D.html

EEVblog #99 – $100 Multimeter Shootout – Extech Amprobe BK Precision Ideal UEi Uni-T PART 1of2

EEVblog — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 02:39:19 +0000

PART 1 of 2
Dave compares six $100 Multimeters:

EEVblog #98 – Microsoft InstaLoad Battery Technology – Patent Busting Time?

EEVblog — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 01:40:24 +0000

Microsoft’s new Instaload battery technology allows batteries to be inserted into a product either way around.
Is it one of those brilliant “why didn’t anyone think of that before” moments, or just another silly patent on a really obvious idea?
Is it workable in practice?
Can YOU bust the patent by finding prior art before 2006?

See the Microsoft Patent here:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=hVXGAAAAEBAJ

OR DOWNLOAD THE FULL PDF PATENT HERE: http://www.eevblog.com/files/Microsoft%20Instaload%20Patent%20US7527893.pdf

You can get Dave’s T-Shirt here:
http://www.eevblog.com/store

EEVblog #97 – Live Show #2

EEVblog — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:30:19 +0000

The 2nd EEVblog Live show. A whole bunch of stuff – Extech update, Agilent, Extech and BK Precison LCR meters, uCalc project, broken chairs, BP oil spill solution, the Large Hadron Collider, decade resistance boxes, multimeter shootout and countless more viewer questions.

EEVblog #96 – The TI LaunchPad MSP430 Development Board

EEVblog — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:21:12 +0000

Drive-Time.
Dave rants randomly about TI’s bold new entry into the hobby/hacker/maker market with the $4.30 MSP-EXP430G2 Evaluation Board, and what it’s got to do with the Arduino.

EEVblog #95 – Linear Regulators, Closed Loops, Simulations, & Brand Shenanigans

EEVblog — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:17:43 +0000

A bit of a follow-on from the linear regular episode. Dave dances with a simple linear closed loop circuit he built, and bodges it up in LTspice to get a remarkably consistent result.
Not really a tutorial, just a few random tidbits.

EEVblog #94 – Near Death Multimeter Experience

EEVblog — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:57:02 +0000

Dave was looking forward to reviewing the new Extech RC200 SMD Tweezer Multimeter, until the damn thing tried to kill him. Now he’s, well, kinda mad!…

The Cryrustek ES51928 DMM Chip: www.cyrustek.com.tw/spec/ES51928.pdf

EEVblog #93 – PCB Autorouters Suck

EEVblog — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:49:42 +0000

Drive time rant again.
Dave begs beginners not to use PCB autorouters, and questions why the low end EDA CAD packages even bother to have them.

EEVblog #92 – Get your MIT Engineering Degree for FREE

EEVblog — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:52:39 +0000

Has electronics design information become a bit of a commodity? And how can you differentiate yourself?

Product Design FAIL – IDEAL Multimeter – Redux

EEVblog — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:51:30 +0000

Is the bad design of the IDEAL multimeter tilting bail really that a-typical? Should you expect to be able to poke the buttons on a multimeter while it’s standing up?
Dave does some comparisons to find out.

EEVblog #91 – $50 Multimeter Shootout – Extech EX330, Amprobe AM220, Elenco, Vichy VC99, GS Pro-50

EEVblog — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:48:28 +0000

Dave compares five $50 Multimeters to see if they are any good, and how they compare.
Download the PDF comparison sheet

Thanks to Evan from Tequipment.net

The Extech EX330:
http://www.tequipment.net/ExtechEX330.asp

The Amprobe AM220:
http://www.tequipment.net/AmprobeAM-220.asp

The Elenco M-2625:
http://www.tequipment.net/ElencoM-2625.html
(Also Jaycar Digitech QM1535)

The Global Specialties Pro-50:
http://www.tequipment.net/GlobalSpecialtiesPRO50.html

The Vichy VC99
http://www.dealexcel.com/old/vc99-3-6-7auto-range-digital-multimeter-with-analog-bar-product-133.html
(Also on Ebay)

Product Design FAIL – IDEAL Multimeter

EEVblog — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:48:18 +0000

Bad Product Design 101:
How to screw up your product with a simple design oversight.
The IDEAL brand 61-342 looked like a nice multimeter until Dave tried to actually use it and discovered an epic product design FAIL!

EEVblog #90 – Linear and LDO regulators and Switch Mode Power Supply Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 29 May 2010 10:24:32 +0000

Just how different are linear, LDO and switching buck voltage regulators? You might be surprised!
It’s tutorial time.

NOTE: There are many different methods of SMPS control, this is just one of the simple ones, go investigate!

EEVblog #89 – EEVblog Live Screwup

EEVblog — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:04:56 +0000

The first Live EEVblog event – unedited. Dave short circuits his wife’s laptop and cuts the feed, proving that anything can happen live.
The audio sync is not the best, sorry, minor file conversion issues. And the last bit is supposed to be crap quality video that freezes due to the crap wireless connection. It’ll be better next time, this one was only a trial.
Sorry, no overlayed chat, it was too hard to sync the raw text with the video. The video grab got lost in the laptop confusion.

Not much to see on the video, so an audio only version is also available.

EEVblog #88 – There’s More To Electronics Than Just Circuit Design

EEVblog — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:53:29 +0000

Drive time rant. Dave talks about how circuit design and prototyping can often come last in the design process. And talk on the upcoming live EEVblog show.

EEVblog #87 – Let’s hop on the Electronics Design Merry-Go-Round

EEVblog — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:12:04 +0000

Dave demonstrates how much fussing around can be involved in selecting just a couple of cost optimised parts for a new design, using Digikey, Mouser, FindChips, Octopart and Atmel websites.

EEVblog #86 – Buy a real Analog Oscilloscope PLEASE!

EEVblog — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:46:02 +0000

Dave is sick of getting emails asking if the cheap toy DSO’s and FPGA/PIC/AVR oscilloscope kits are worth buying.
Guess his response… answers by telepathy please.

Proof that Telstra Bigpond is Throttling Youtube Bandwidth in Australia?

EEVblog — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:03:31 +0000

Are Telstra (Bigpond), Australia’s largest Internet Service Provider deliberately throttling (capping) Youtube bandwidth on all of their plans?

Try it yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/my_speed

My speed:
http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/MyTelstra.png
Other Telstra customers:
http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Telstra1.png
http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Telstra2.png
http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Telstra3.png
http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Telstra4.png

Other ISP’s:
Internode: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Internode.png
Netspace: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Netspace.png
Optus: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/Optus.png
TPG: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/TPG.png
Exetel: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/exetel.png
iiNet: http://www.eevblog.com/images/telstra/iinet.png

EEVblog #85 – High Voltage Oscilloscope Probe Design

EEVblog — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:15:19 +0000

Doug Ford shows us how he designed his own 1000:1 high voltage oscilloscope probe.
http://www.dfad.com.au

and the Oscilloscope probe tutorial:
http://dfad.com.au/links/THE%20SECRET%20WORLD%20OF%20PROBES%20OCt09.pdf

EEVblog #84 – High Energy Multimeter Destruction

EEVblog — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:21:37 +0000

Let’s destroy some multimeters and shoot some metal with Doug’s high energy 4KV capacitor discharge unit.
Visit Doug at www.dfad.com.au

EEVblog #83 – Do you suck at Hardware or Software?

EEVblog — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:39:55 +0000

Drive time rant.
Hardware vs Software, which one do you suck at?

EEVblog #82 – 10th Anniversary of GPS & Geocaching thanks to Bill Clinton

EEVblog — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:38:38 +0000

On May 1st 2000 Bill Clinton turned off Selective Availability on the GPS system and commercial GPS as we know and appreciate it now was born. A truly red letter day.
On May 3rd 2000 Dave Ulmer placed the 1st Geocache or “Geo Stash” and Geocaching was born. Tupperware was never the same again.

EEVblog #81 – Smart Tweezers LCR Meter Review And Teardown

EEVblog — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:29:05 +0000

Dave reviews the Canadian Advance Devices Smart Tweezers LCD meter. What will he find? Does it cut the mustard?
Bonus LCR meter tutorial at the end.

EEVblog #80 – Nokia E71 + Garmin Mobile XT = Embedded Hell

EEVblog — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:20:57 +0000

Dave cuts loose on the ridiculous battery life on the Nokia E71 mobile phone.
The code monkeys at Garmin and Nokia get a serve.

EEVblog #79 – Peak Oil Crisis & Career Options

EEVblog — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:33:03 +0000

Drive time rant.
Mail Bag time, Dave answers two viewer emails about career options, and manages a rant on the coming peak oil crisis.

EEVblog #78 – Fenix LD01 LED Keychain Flashlight And Victorinox Minichamp Review

EEVblog — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:21:19 +0000

Reviews of Dave’s most used everyday tools. The Fenix LD01 flashlight to replace his ARC-AAA Premium, and the Victorinox Minichamp.

EEVblog #77 – Rigol DS1052E DS1102E Oscilloscope Hack Update

EEVblog — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:24:31 +0000

An update on the Rigol DS1052E 100MHz Hack showing that the new 2.04 firmware can be downgraded, hacked, and re-upgraded again.

Buy the Rigol DS1052E cheap:

EEVblog #76 – Publish And Be Damned!

EEVblog — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:42:57 +0000

Another drive-time rant.
Dave cuts lose on people who email pointing out stuff he should have covered in the blog.
Bottom line – don’t email, put it in the comments and let the community debate it!

EEVblog #75 – Digital Multimeter Buying Guide

EEVblog — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:46:17 +0000

Who else in the industry can give you 52 solid minutes of beginner advice on buying a multimeter?
Dave of course!, who started out wanting to give some “quick” advice, but as usual Dave likes to rant…
So you get a feature-by-feature breakdown on what makes a good multimeter. It turns out there is a surprising amount of stuff to talk about on the humble multimeter.

The other video on meter counts & accuracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4JFeU-o2kc

And this is what happens to cheap meters when you overload them:
http://gossenmetrawatt.com/english/seiten/cautiondangerousmultimeters.htm

EEVblog #74 – Video Blogging Tools

EEVblog — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:09:12 +0000

Another drive time rant about the tools I use for video blogging, video formats etc.
No electronics content, so if you don’t like that then don’t watch.

EEVblog #73 – How to screw up your winning product

EEVblog — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:39:04 +0000

Another random drive-time rant.
Dave rants about how dickhead marketing changes can screw up your winning product.

The Tropicana Story:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2009/04/tropicana_fiasc.html
and
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/linda-tischler/design-times/never-mind-pepsi-pulls-much-loathed-tropicana-packaging
and
http://www.johnmamus.com/designeverything/2009/01/tropicana-design-critique.html

EEVblog #72 – Let’s Design a Product

EEVblog — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:56:05 +0000

In this supersized lecture length episode, Dave foolishly attempts to explain how to design an example product (the uCurrent) from start to finish.

Read the FULL ARTICLE.
The uCurrent WEB PAGE

EEVblog #71 – Happy Birthday to Us!

EEVblog — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:03:05 +0000

Dave hasn’t sold out and is still doing, well, the same old stuff a year later…

The times they are a changing…

EEVblog — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:53:04 +0000

Just a quick update on an exciting big change coming to the blog…
(YES, it was an April fools joke! Sorry, couldn’t resist!)

EEVblog #70 – Turn your Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope into a 100MHz DS1102E (Hack)

EEVblog — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:02:58 +0000

The ingenious EEVblog viewers have finally cracked the Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope. All you need is a serial port cable and you can turn your 50MHz DS1052E into the 100MHz DS1102E.
Dave shows you step-by-step how easy it is, and that it does actually work.

Rigol caught with their pants down AGAIN!

NOTE: There have been a couple of reports of units failing when this mod is attempted. The cause is unknown at this stage, but the exact sequence of serial commands keys appears to be IMPORTANT. You CAN’T hit backspace or ENTER etc, follow the instructions precisely, key-by-key. The vast majority have had success though.
As with all hacks, do this mod at your own risk.

UPDATE: This mod no longer works with firmware 2.04 and above. You have to downgrade the firmware first. See the UPDATE VIDEO.

Buy the Rigol DS1052E cheap:

EEVblog #69 – Sex Toys, Telescopes, Cable TV, UHF Modulation, Renewable Energy, & Silly Shower Taps

EEVblog — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:27:09 +0000

Dave goes on holidays to Hawaii and rants a little bit about a variety of things, yet ultimately manages to tie Sex Toys, big Telescopes, Cable TV, NTSC, UHF Modulation, Renewable Power Generation, and bad product design together in the one blog.

EEVblog #68 – I should be Selling Oscilloscopes

EEVblog — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:11:29 +0000

Another drive-time rant. Dave laments the difference between designing oscilloscopes and selling them. Seek and ye shall find.

EEVblog #67 – Hacking the Princeton Tec EOS LED Headlamp with a Cree XPG

EEVblog — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:58:07 +0000

Dave does a teardown of the Princeton Tec EOS headlamp and mods it with a new Cree XPG LED.
Throw in a quick reverse engineer of the circuit, gratuitous scope shots, torturing a thermistor, a practical demonstration of why you really do need 5 multimeters on your bench, and as usual Dave finds no problems filling up 25 minutes.

EEVblog #66 – Death & Destruction of a Fluke Multimeter

EEVblog — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:55:05 +0000

Dave goes on a several hundred km adventure in order to completely destroy the Fluke 28-II multimeter. Short of blowing it up with explosives, will he succeed, or will it live to measure another day?

EEVblog #65 – Umm, I Design Computers

EEVblog — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:16:56 +0000

Another drive-time rant.

The camera mount (turns out it’s a bit shaky).

EEVblog #64 – Fluke 28 Series II Multimeter Review & Teardown

EEVblog — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:12:43 +0000

Dave checks out the new Fluke rugged 28 Series II Multimeter and compares it with the venerable Fluke 87

Internal photos: TopPCB1, TopPCB2, BottomPCB1, BottomPCB2, InputJacks1, InputJacks2

EEVblog #63 – Microchip PIC vs Atmel AVR

EEVblog — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:54:02 +0000

Let the microcontroller fanboy wars begin!
Dave’s rather random rant on which is better, Microchip PIC or Atmel AVR.
(Warning, Dave hates Fanboys)

And check out this way to program AVR chips with the PICkit2

EEVblog #62 – The Drivetime Experiment

EEVblog — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:12:11 +0000

Warning, no electronics content, just a 30 minute filler experiment of Dave ranting about the blog.

EEVblog #61 – Crystal Oscillator Drift

EEVblog — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:43:44 +0000

Dave explains the what how and why of measuring crystal clock oscillator drift over time.

The Clock Drift PCBs

Real data collected with the sine fit envelope.
And results showing the same characteristic result over a slow temperature ramp.

EEVblog #60 – Fluke 117 Multimeter Review and Teardown

EEVblog — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:43:39 +0000

EEVblog #59 – Back to the Future Flux Capacitor T-Shirt Tanty

EEVblog — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:47:57 +0000

Dave goes nuts over NBC Universal Pictures pulling his Flux Capacitor T-Shirt designs from Zazzle.

EEVblog #58 – Warm and Fuzzy FPGA Troubleshooting

EEVblog — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:57:05 +0000

Look, up in the sky, is it a hardware fault?, is it a software fault?, no, it’s a bloody FPGA

EEVblog #57 – Agilent Thumbs Up Furore

EEVblog — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:23:59 +0000

Dave responds to the furore over his thumbs up rating on the Agilent U1253A Multimeter And it’s all about the love, really.

ADDED COMMENT:
Agilent make the exact same meter in an LCD version (U1251A or U1252A) with longer battery life. So you get the choice of display vs battery life!

EEVblog #56 – Agilent U1253A OLED Multimeter Review & Teardown

EEVblog — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:49:01 +0000

Dave reviews the Agilent U1253A OLED Multimeter and compares it with the Fluke 87-V in this epic review. How will it stack up?

Check out Stormbyte’s video response to my review.
Some good points here which I address in #57.

EEVblog #55 – RCA Airnergy WiFi Hotspot Energy Harvesting Marketing BS

EEVblog — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:42:38 +0000

Dave can smell marketing bullshit a mile away, so checks out the new RCA WiFi Energy Harvesting “Airnergy” device with some back of the envelope calculations. Marketing BS? or can it actually work?

The RCA video is HERE
and another interview HERE

EEVblog #54 – Electronics – When I was a boy…

EEVblog — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:41:59 +0000

Dave goes Back to the Future and talks about how he got started in electronics.

OT: The Australian Mandatory Internet Filter Folly

EEVblog — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:55:29 +0000

(Sorry for the off-topic rant, normally I wouldn’t post it here, but I know some of my regulars will be interested. This is an Australian specific social commentary, so those who are just after electronics, you won’t find any in this post, sorry)

Dave cuts lose on the idiots behind Australia’s proposed Mandatory Internet Filter, and calls everyone to arms to stop this madness before it’s too late.

For more information, see:
http://www.nocleanfeed.com
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet&id=892
http://www.efa.org.au/category/censorship/mandatory-isp-filtering/
(PDF Fact Sheet) https://www.getup.org.au/files/campaigns/conroys_greatfirewall_factsheet.pdf
(PDF Fact Sheet) http://www.efa.org.au/mandatory-internet-filtering-fact-sheets/
http://stephenconroy.com.au/
And THIS video is hilarious!

And a politician finally backs down!

Thanks to Miwers for the image!

EEVblog #53 – Mr Murphy and Microchip PIC Silicon Bugs

EEVblog — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:36:38 +0000

Dave tangles with Murphy’s Law and Microchip silicon bugs with his latest PIC project.

The PIC24FJ256 errata

And that Jim’s Mowing Franchise looks pretty tempting.

EEVblog #52 – Panasonic Plasma TV’s Suck

EEVblog — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:09:51 +0000

Dave cuts loose on his Panasonic Plasma TV set that failed, yet still manages to give it the thumbs up.

EEVblog #51 – A tour of the EEVblog Electronics Lab

EEVblog — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:18:12 +0000

After countless requests, Dave finally takes you on a guided behind the scenes tour of the EEVblog lab.

EEVblog #50 – Solid State LED Lighting, and How Thermal Design Sucks

EEVblog — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:47:13 +0000

Dave lights up his new backyard deck with Cree XPG LEDs, and then winds up measuring the wind from a storm instead. And who can spell efficacy?

LINKS:
Cree XPG LED Datasheet
Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive
Luminous Efficacy Graph
Graph #1
Graph #2
LED Strip, Mounted LED
700mA 35W Mains LED driver

EEVblog #49 – Decibels (dB’s) for Engineers – A Tutorial

EEVblog — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:39:12 +0000

Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Dave explains dB’s and how they are useful for us engineering types.

EEVblog #48 – Solar Power Hope

EEVblog — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:45:44 +0000

Can solar power hope beat out the engineering reality for Dave’s latest project?
Was Doc Brown right?

Solar Cell DATASHEET

EEVblog #47 – Recruitment Consultants Suck, and Engineering Evil

EEVblog — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:19:06 +0000

100% pure rant time.
Dave cuts lose on recruitment consultants, local component suppliers, and companies that make you register to get datasheets.

EEVblog #46 – Gossen Metrawatt Xtra Multimeter Review

EEVblog — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:30:14 +0000

What have those wacky Germans been up to? Dave reviews the German made Gossen Metrawatt XTRA Multimeter. Also known as the Dranetz BMI Drantech XTRA

In Australia you can Gossen meters at Zedflo HERE

EEVblog #45 – Arduino, PICAXE, and idiot assembler programmers

EEVblog — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:15:03 +0000

Dave checks out what all the fuss is about with the Arduino, contemplates the PICAXE, and cuts loose on die hard assembly language programmers.
All with no more silly 10 minute youtube time limit.

EEVblog #44 – Part 2 – Logic Analyzer Tutorial

EEVblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:13:08 +0000

Part two of Dave’s Logic Analyzer tutorial / monologue

EEVblog #44 – Part 1 – Logic Analyzer Tutorial

EEVblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:10:22 +0000

Dave gives you the what, how, and why of Logic Analyzers in this two part tutorial.

EEVblog #43 – Fluke 233 Multimeter Review

EEVblog — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:59:38 +0000

Dave gets his hands on the first Fluke 233 meter in the country. Gimmick?, or the biggest innovation in multimeters since autoranging?

Aussie customers can buy the Fluke 233 HERE. Use “EEVblog” as the code to get free shipping. And if you register you get 15% off the price of all gear.

Amazingly, even Dave’s wife liked this meter!, is that a good or a bad thing?

EEVblog #42 – Exploding Capacitors in High Speed

EEVblog — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:31:33 +0000

Dave blows up some tantalum and electrolytic capacitors in front of his new 300fps Sanyo Xacti high speed camcorder!

EEVblog #41 – Pigs fly at Microchip in HD

EEVblog — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:29:28 +0000

See Dave in glorious HD-ish, Microchip PIC talk, and Damocles the flying pig takes flight.

EEVblog #40 – Dilbert and the world of micro managed Engineering

EEVblog — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:42:20 +0000

Dave goes through his Top 5 list of dead projects, Dilbert style.

EEVblog #39 – PICkit 3 Programmer/Debugger Review

EEVblog — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:56:59 +0000

Dave compares the new PICkit 3 to the old PICkit 2, and, well, he starts to rant uncontrollably about how Microchip may have screwed this up…
And what do MBA managers and dickheads have in common?

UPDATE:
Since this blog has gone to air and made it’s way all around the Microchip HQ, I have received a phone call from none other than the Microchip CEO Steve Sanghi. In a totally unexpected and rare show of honesty from any corporate person, let alone the CEO, he thanked me for the blog and for raising the issues. They took it as serious constructive criticism (as it was intended). He pointed out a few factual errors on my part which was fair enough, but admitted they could have done the PICkit 3 better and most importantly are working to fix the issues and give customers what they expect.

Check out their video response below!

Any other huge multi-billion dollar corporation probably would have got their lawyers to give me a dressing down, if they cared at all, but Microchip really do care about their products and will happily take constructive criticism seriously at the top level. Such a thing has to be unprecedented surely?
I am absolutely blown away by Microchip’s honesty, and it starts from their CEO down.
Two thumbs up to Steve Sanghi and Microchip!

Erroneous issues in my blog pointed out by Microchip are:
1) The auto VDD voltage was removed deliberately due to potential damage to chips if applied incorrectly. (Fair call, but I still don’t like it)
2) The VDD range is not 3V-5.5V, it’s actually 2V-5.5V and range changes with the chip selected. (Yep, I didn’t see this, different to the PK2)
3) The PK3 is only slower for the chip type I selected (Murphy’s Law), for all others it’s actually faster than the PK2. They are working on speed optimisation for the other ones.
4) Debugging is faster than the PK2 which I didn’t mention at all.
5) Programming to Go feature is now supported (only a week or so before I filmed the blog)
6) They plan on releasing the separate programmer software again (open source)

Microchips response!

EEVblog #38 2of2 – Seismic Survey Boats & Insulation Resistance Measurement

EEVblog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:35:27 +0000

Dave explains errors and problems associated in insulation resistance measurement through a relay test matrix.
Betcha no one else has covered that one before!

EEVblog #38 – LCR Meters, Transmission Lines, and Moving goal posts

EEVblog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:32:53 +0000

Dave gives the solution to the first hardware quiz.
How do you design an LCR meter?
What about a stepped transmission line attenuation tester?
What does modular design and management have in common?

LINKS: Guardian Solid Streamer and Marine Aquisition

EEVblog #37 – Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope Teardown

EEVblog — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:24:39 +0000

Dave opens up his Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope, and ponders how to convert it into a DS1102E.
And yes, he finally checks out the infamous ADC overclocking issue.

Hires images: ADC & FPGA ADC Support Blackfin DSP Front End 1 Front End 2 Front End 3 PSU

Buy the Rigol DS1052E cheap:

EEVblog #36 – It’s Hardware Puzzle Time!

EEVblog — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:23:19 +0000

It’s time for YOU to get involved and solve a hardware puzzle – what does this board do?
Get your reverse engineering brain into gear and win a prize.

High Res images 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

RULES:
- Dave makes the rules and can change the rules
- The first person who (in Dave’s opinion) is the closest to guessing what this board does and how it works wins the prize, the more detail the better. The most correct may not necessarily win if enough detail is not there. I’ll let it run for a while even if someone is spot-on up front.
- No time limit, until Dave closes it that is.
- I will not reply to guesses, so no “cold”, “warm” etc
- Hints may be given in due course
- You can build upon other peoples answers and gazump them with extra detail if you think they are pretty close!
- You can guess as many times as you like

EEVblog #35 2of2 – NiMH and NiCd Battery Charging Tutorial

EEVblog — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:33:05 +0000

While we’re on the subject, Dave talks about NiMH and NiCd battery charging methods.

EEVblog #35 – Inside the Varta 15 minute NiMH Battery Charger

EEVblog — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:28:40 +0000

Dave cracks open the Varta 15 minute NiMH battery charger, what will he find?

EEVblog #34 – Girls, Brad Pitt, and Sweden vs the United Kingdom

EEVblog — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:50:25 +0000

Dave ponders his demographic data, and why on earth women would want to watch this rubbish.
WARNING – contain 0% electronics, and nerd semi-nudity.

Jeri’s Fatman & CircuitGirl site.
Jeri’s YouTube page.
Lady Ada’s Video Blog

EEVblog #33 2of2 – Capacitor Tutorial (Ceramics and impedance)

EEVblog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:23:54 +0000

A blog so big it needed two parts.
This time it’s all about ceramic capacitors, and that mysterious things of putting different vale capacitors in parallel. Not to mention microphonics.

EEVblog #33 1of2 – Capacitor Tutorial (Electrolytic, Tantalum, and Plastic Film)

EEVblog — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:17:48 +0000

Dave attempts to give the low-down on different capacitor types in under 10 minutes, can he do it?
(Hint – Dave likes to waffle…)

EEVblog #32 – Tandy 1000 Retro Computer time!

EEVblog — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:23:34 +0000

Dave goes Back to the Future and powers up his old Tandy 1000 computer.
Will it work?, will it choke?
And how to channel your inner Woz to design your own Turbo Board.
(Check out the ROM BIOS version 1.00.00 !!)

EEVblog #31 – Microcontroller Datasheet Utopia

EEVblog — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:45:52 +0000

Dave gets disturbingly emotional about microcontroller datasheets and documentation.

LINKS:
The NEC Micro datasheet(20pin) and datasheet(80pin)

EEVblog #30 – Jaycar Bench Lab Power Supply Review

EEVblog — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:16:01 +0000

Dave checks out an el-cheapo Jaycar lab power supply. What do you get for 150 bucks?

(Something went horribly wrong with the camcorder and the end summary didn’t get recorded, oops. It gets a thumbs sideways. Would have been better if it had better resolution on the adjustments, no overshoot, and a load button)

EEVblog #29 – Audiophile Audiophoolery

EEVblog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:06:57 +0000

Dave cuts loose on the Golden Ear Audiophiles and all their Audiophoolery rubbish.
Panasonic gets a serve too, or is that applause?
The Blue Jeans cable LINK

And Kurt Denke’s response to the infamous letter: LINK

The Panasonic design guide is HERE and the rest of it HERE
Post your best Audiophool product links in the comments!

Thanks to Steve Macatee from Rane Corporation for pointing out this must-have bit of gear for every Audiophool!

Check out this awesome Audiophool product!: Blackbody

EEVblog #28 – Product design drives me NUTS!

EEVblog — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:18:15 +0000

Dave goes nuts over dodgy product design decisions in Canon DV camcorders, Fluke multimeters, Timex watches, Princeton Tec LED lights, and PVR’s.
And how cool would it be to design farting gnomes?

EEVblog #27 – More Engineering Job Interview Tips!

EEVblog — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:21:17 +0000

Yes, it’s another round of Electronics Engineering job interview tips.
Techniques to help you stand out at the interview and secure that engineering job.
See Blog #7 for the previous bunch of tips.
(Note the record number of “you know”‘s!)

EEVblog #26 – Multimeter Counts, Accuracy, Resolution & Calibration

EEVblog — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:15:27 +0000

All about Multimeter display counts, accuracy, and calibration.

EEVblog #25 – The Infinite Resistor Puzzle

EEVblog — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:14:45 +0000

The Infinite Resistor Puzzle

EEVblog #24 – The secret world of Chopper Amplifiers

EEVblog — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:41:47 +0000

The secret world of Chopper (auto-zero) Amplifiers.

EEVblog #23 – GSM mobile phone audio design

EEVblog — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:07:10 +0000

GSM mobile phone audio design, RF immunity, and low noise dead bug point-to-point prototyping.

EEVblog #22 – On Blogs and Video Blogging

EEVblog — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:25:54 +0000

On blogs and video blogging.

EEVblog #21 – The Unusual Oscilloscope Phenomenon(3)

EEVblog — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:13:14 +0000

Dave dons the lab coat for yet another installment of the Unusual Oscilloscope Phenomenon.

EEVblog #20 – The unusual oscilloscope phenomenon – Part 2

EEVblog — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:17:31 +0000

The unusual oscilloscope phenomenon – Part 2!

EEVblog #19 – Rigol caught with their pants down!

EEVblog — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:26:41 +0000

Rigol caught with their pants down! An issue with the Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope.
Or perhaps it’s Analog Devices caught out?
(correction – there are only 2 PLL’s in the model FPGA used in the Rigol)

EEVblog #18 – The Garmin Etrex GPS investigated

EEVblog — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:12:43 +0000

How can a consumer electronics product last on the shelf for more than 10 years? The Garmin Etrex GPS investigated.

EEVblog #17 – I hope your next project DOESN’T work!

EEVblog — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:19:22 +0000

I hope your next project DOESN’T work!, dual-purpose I/O pins can be a trap, and www.octopart.com
(P.S Sorry about the audio, been playing around with a new mic)

EEVblog #16 – All about CMOS SCR Latchup

EEVblog — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:22:51 +0000

All about CMOS SCR Latchup

EEVblog #15 Part 2 of 2 – Fluke 189/289 Multimeter Review & 87V Comparison

EEVblog — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:43:43 +0000

Fluke 189/289 Multimeter Review & Fluke 87V Comparison

EEVblog #15 Part 1 of 2 – Fluke 189/289 Multimeter Review

EEVblog — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:41:33 +0000

Fluke 189/289 Multimeter Review & Fluke 87 Comparison

EEVblog #14 – An unusual Oscilloscope phenomenon!

EEVblog — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:30:35 +0000

A rather unusual Oscilloscope phenomenon!

Here is an old paper on the ESD chair issue: http://www.emcesd.com/pdf/eos93.pdf

Here is

EEVblog #13 Part 2 of 2 – PC Based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Comparison

EEVblog — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:51:02 +0000

PC Based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Comparison

EEVblog #13 Part 1 of 2 – Digital Storage Oscilloscope Tutorial

EEVblog — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:49:25 +0000

All about Digital Storage Oscilloscopes

EEVblog #12 Part 2 of 2 – Shanghai Special – Dodgy USB hubs

EEVblog — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:49:30 +0000

Shanghai Special – Dodgy USB hubs

EEVblog #12 Part 1 of 2 – Shanghai Special – PCB Assembly Tour

EEVblog — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:46:55 +0000

Shanghai Special – PCB Assembly Tour

EEVblog #11 Part 2 of 2 – DIY product design

EEVblog — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:39:27 +0000

EEVblog #11 Part 1 of 2 – DIY product design

EEVblog — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:37:25 +0000

The Art of Electronics book review, and talk about DIY product design.

EEVblog #10 Part 2 of 2 – Fluke 87V Multimeter review

EEVblog — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:40:08 +0000

Fluke 87-V Multimeter review continued

EEVblog #10 Part 1 of 2 – More cheap Chinese Multimeters

EEVblog — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:38:04 +0000

More on cheap Chinese Multimeters, how a rubber band cost millions of dollars, and the Fluke 87-V Multimeter reviewed.

EEVblog #9 – ThermoChron iButton and Microchip PICkit2

EEVblog — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:10:23 +0000

TI buys Luminary Micro, Maxim/Dallas ThermoChron iButton, Microchip PICkit2

EEVblog #8 Part 2 of 2 – BK Precision 1697 Programmable Lab Power Supply

EEVblog — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:39:18 +0000

Review of the BK Precision 1697 Programmable Lab Power Supply.

EEVblog #8 Part 1 of 2 – Graphical LCD display development

EEVblog — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:36:37 +0000

Graphical LCD display development and PIC demo board stories.

EEVblog #7 – Engineering job interview tips galore!

EEVblog — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:54:42 +0000

Blog update, and Engineering job interview tips galore!

EEVblog #6 – Part 2 of 2 – Why cheap Chinese Multimeters suck

EEVblog — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:19:30 +0000

Why cheap Chinese Multimeters suck.

EEVblog #6 – Part 1 of 2 – Meterman 37XR Multimeter Review

EEVblog — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:13:58 +0000

More Analog Microchip, Meterman 37XR Review