Author Topic: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter  (Read 224298 times)

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Offline dcel

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #75 on: December 17, 2013, 08:13:21 pm »
3.3x Target! Woahoo

Ok, I think I have Dave figured out, these little microCurrents turned out to be a GOLD MINE, hence the all new microCurrent GOLD.

Good on ya, Dave (in my best Australian accent)

Chris
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #76 on: December 17, 2013, 09:11:36 pm »
@Dave: Will you post the Kickstarter video on your channel as well? Btw: You should have explained first what the µCurrent does before referring to your article. People have a short attention span nowadays.

Didn't I explain what it does?, pretty sure I did!
I wasn't going to spend another few minutes in the video explaining burden voltage in detail.
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #77 on: December 17, 2013, 09:16:42 pm »
I've always sort of wondered. If there's something so infinitely as useful sounding as a uCurrent, why Fluke/Agilent/etc integrated that function by now? (This is meant as a genuine question, not a rhetorical one)

Because it's ultimately quite a niche thing. For the majority of current measurement uses you can usually "get by" with regular multimeters, DIY shunt resistors, and upping your supply on your bench supply to compensate for the burden voltage.
The popularity of it honestly surprises me.
 

Offline Metalcrowe

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #78 on: December 17, 2013, 09:17:19 pm »
Very nice gadget.

Is it possible to measure the output voltage of ucurrent directly with the oscilloscope? Without a Differential Probe?

Greetings
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #79 on: December 17, 2013, 09:19:15 pm »
Is it possible to measure the output voltage of ucurrent directly with the oscilloscope? Without a Differential Probe?

Yes, I showed that in the video.
Just watch out for the usual ground reference issue.
 

Offline u271D

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #80 on: December 17, 2013, 09:22:22 pm »
Any stretch goals ?
 

Offline notsob

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #81 on: December 17, 2013, 09:27:16 pm »
And I see franky's input on those lovely knurled knobs

Congrats Dave
 

Offline Fsck

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #82 on: December 17, 2013, 09:31:36 pm »
jeez. about 370 sold already.
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Offline SiC

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #83 on: December 17, 2013, 09:33:04 pm »
I've always sort of wondered. If there's something so infinitely as useful sounding as a uCurrent, why Fluke/Agilent/etc integrated that function by now? (This is meant as a genuine question, not a rhetorical one)

Because it's ultimately quite a niche thing. For the majority of current measurement uses you can usually "get by" with regular multimeters, DIY shunt resistors, and upping your supply on your bench supply to compensate for the burden voltage.
The popularity of it honestly surprises me.

Maybe it's because you're excellent at selling it to us?  :)

To be honest, it doesn't surprise me one bit, as:
  • More and more of us are designing battery powered products where maximum life is important.
  • If you're designing said product, the optimisations that can be made and extra life given to the battery could mean the product is far more competitive and pay back the cost of the unit quickly enough.
  • Ideal emergency weapon when battery life is terrible and the boss is breathing down the neck wanting to know why you can't get the battery life as good as the competition.
  • I reckon most engineers much prefer to quickly plug in a black box that can be trusted than fiddling around 'engineering' our own solution/work-around. Especially when time is short and you need something that plugs in and 'just-works'.
  • Many of us don't have a problem paying it to you as it will directly support EEVBlog! Of course if we get a really useful reward out of it, then it makes it very easy to explain to the other-half why you've just spent $100. Going by the rate the campaign is currently going, it could be self funded for a few years...! ;D

Cheers,
Si.
 

Offline Kohanbash

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #84 on: December 17, 2013, 09:35:15 pm »
Quote
From twitter: Kickstarter has some interesting stats. 9% have bought via KS (so presumably not fans). Only 50% watched the entire video.

I think people are not watching the video since it is bogged down.
I tried twice to watch the video on kickstarter. The first time it refused to start and just kept trying to buffer. I tried a few hours later (from a different computer) and It kept playing a few seconds at a time and then buffering for a few minutes. Both attempts were fails to complete.
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Offline bronson

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #85 on: December 17, 2013, 09:51:39 pm »
Looks like 10 more hand-assembled uCurrents are available.  Description still reads "low serial number, 5-15." :P

Make that nine...
 

Offline u271D

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #86 on: December 17, 2013, 09:57:54 pm »
make it 0  |O
 

Offline idpromnut

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #87 on: December 17, 2013, 10:18:41 pm »
While it most likely won't happen, is there any possibility to bump the number of first production run units?  I missed getting one by seconds :(    If not, I am just happy that I will eventually have one :)
 

Offline idpromnut

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #88 on: December 17, 2013, 10:34:49 pm »
The popularity of it honestly surprises me.

Oh that's easy... it's something useful and supports some crazy Aussie Bloke run a great site + video blog.  Beauty!  :-+
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #89 on: December 17, 2013, 10:41:59 pm »
Looks like 10 more hand-assembled uCurrents are available.  Description still reads "low serial number, 5-15." :P

I can't change the text after someone has chosen that option. Not a bad idea, so you can't swindle the backers I guess.
I drove from home to the lab and all extra 10 were sold out  :-//
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #90 on: December 17, 2013, 10:45:54 pm »
While it most likely won't happen, is there any possibility to bump the number of first production run units?  I missed getting one by seconds :(    If not, I am just happy that I will eventually have one :)

Well, to be honest that number was a bit of a wank. I always planned to do at least 500 units anyway, and it's likely all the boards will go through at once anyone, not just 200.
So it really depends on how tired I am of shipping the first 200 units as to when I give the rest of the job to someone else, but I guess I have to stop somewhere?
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #91 on: December 17, 2013, 10:47:06 pm »
Any stretch goals ?

Oh boy, haven't even thought of that...
Maybe a BNC adapter or something?
 

Offline Phobos

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #92 on: December 17, 2013, 10:50:17 pm »
I feel sorry for Dave already, after seeing him post a number of those uRulers recently! I really wanted one of those but couldn't afford it at the time :(

As a question for Dave, would you mind sharing the part number for the connector used in the uCurrent? Just something of interest... plus I always have difficulty in finding good connectors, in general, for decent value anyhow.
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #93 on: December 17, 2013, 10:50:34 pm »
Coincidentally I'm in the process of setting up my new corporate bank account today, I hope I can change my bank details in KS to match. They don't let you edit this stuff after the fact, I'll have to speak to a human...
I'm paying oodles to my accountant to suck all the data from my bank account and manage it, this will be a good test (or a plain nightmare) if all the transactions come in individually...  :scared:
 

Offline Wilksey

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #94 on: December 17, 2013, 10:50:58 pm »
Unfortunately by the time I saw the video the first run ones had all gone!

I did manage to snag an ordinary one though!

Just got to wait now for the ass raping from customs to come through!

Dave, if you would be so kind as to declare the item as a gift valued at around $10 that would be superb! :)
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #95 on: December 17, 2013, 10:52:58 pm »
As a question for Dave, would you mind sharing the part number for the connector used in the uCurrent? Just something of interest... plus I always have difficulty in finding good connectors, in general, for decent value anyhow.

I went through a LOT of connectors to find the right one for this, there are lot of crap ones out there, they might all look the same, but some are just plain hopeless.
Franky from the forum sourced this one for me, I don't have a part number for it.
 

Offline dexters_lab

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #96 on: December 17, 2013, 11:00:59 pm »
Coincidentally I'm in the process of setting up my new corporate bank account today, I hope I can change my bank details in KS to match. They don't let you edit this stuff after the fact, I'll have to speak to a human...
I'm paying oodles to my accountant to suck all the data from my bank account and manage it, this will be a good test (or a plain nightmare) if all the transactions come in individually...  :scared:

I doubt that, i would have thought KS are holding the money in escrow and will international transfer it in one lump to you?

Offline Legit-Design

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #97 on: December 17, 2013, 11:10:16 pm »
Dave, if you would be so kind as to declare the item as a gift valued at around $10 that would be superb! :)

Dave has mentioned on several occasions (prices for contests) that he will not lie/break the law in the customs forms. I think the customs forms for these will be printed out, so no unclear handwriting either. Ebay sellers usually just garble something in there, usually that results in stuff coming through customs without problems.
 

Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #98 on: December 17, 2013, 11:12:08 pm »
Any stretch goals ?

Oh boy, haven't even thought of that...
Maybe a BNC adapter or something?
Free pair of short 4mm-4mm leads for DMM connection?
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Day Job: Mostly LEDs
 

Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: µCurrent GOLD on Kickstarter
« Reply #99 on: December 17, 2013, 11:14:50 pm »
What a missery.

Would have liked to found the Project and get one of those nice mCurrets, but Kickstarter doesn't want my Money.
On Pozible i payed happily via PayPal to get those nice Rulers but Kickstarter only acceps Kredit Cards. Don't have a Card...

Greetings
Janaha  :'(

.and you don't know anybody else who has, who you could give cash to ?  :-//
Youtube channel:Taking wierd stuff apart. Very apart.
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