KiCad has been updated to 4.0.x branch and it is strongly recommended to use it for all your new projects, instead of the good old BZR 4022 from 2013.
But sometimes, when you want to open an old design without too much trouble, it’s more convenient to just install the old version.
Continue reading How to install KiCad 2013-07-07 BZR 4022 on Ubuntu 64
LEDs are polarized components. Backward, they just don’t light on.
How to recognize the polarity of a LED?
Continue reading How to determine Through Hole LED Polarity?
Hand soldering Surface Mount Devices (SMD) scares a lot of builders, but it is easier than what it looks like. Even sometimes, it’s easier than soldering classic Through Hole Components. Really!
Updated on March 24th, 2021
Continue reading How to Hand Solder SMD
In my previous entry on how to generate a BOM in KiCad 4, I wrote about “KiCad BOM Wizard” from hashdefineelectronics.com which can produce both CSV and HTML output.
Their website is well documented. But I wasn’t able at first to use that script on my Ubuntu (xubuntu 16.04).
Continue reading “KiCad BOM Wizard” error on Ubuntu 16.04
I’m switching from KiCad 3 to KiCad 4.
While version 3 offered a simple, quite un-customizable, CSV generated BOM, version 4 now only offers a raw XML export.
As KiCad website says:
BOM generation is extensible via Python scripts or XSLT, which allows many configurable formats.
“many configurable formats” This is great! It’s even possible to use any program or language other than Python and XSLT to translate the XML in whatever format pleases you.
The downside is, it requires additional steps before you can actually generate a BOM. It seems a bit complicated but it’s not. Read below.
If you want to power up your Mini Dual Power Supply, you need to supply it with an AC voltage on its input.
You can either use a simple transformer or, safer and easier to manage, use a AC/AC wallwart adapter.
It’s not easy sometimes to make distinction between an AC to DC adapter and an AC to AC adapter. They share the same form factor, the same look and feel. But there are clear indications to help you determine the type of each one.
Here’s a quick comparison between the two types with two example closeup pictures, one AC/DC adpater and one AC/AC adapter:
Continue reading Choosing a suitable adapter for the MDPS
Connecting your module for the first time can be tricky. There are chances to destroy it.
Ok, what to do then? Well, you need to check the following points before pluging in anything, and most important : Never trust the red stripe.
Continue reading Eurorack Power Connectors and Ribbon cables
I was testing one of my projects and was annoyed by a lot of noise at the output on the last stage Op-Amp. What was wrong?
Here’s an excerpt from a topic about temperature compensators in exponential converters on Modwiggler forum:
http://www.modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=120518
Frequency drift is caused by the two transistors in the exponential converter being at different temperatures and minimised by them being on the same substrate. This is temperature balancing. Temperature compensation with tempco resistors tries to stop the Volts/oct changing by matching the exponential term which is proportional to absolute temperature. At 25 deg C the amount of change for 1 deg is 1/(273 + 25) = 0.33557% or 3355.7ppm. That is where the figure comes from, it is not 3300pmm or 3000ppm or 3500ppm or anything else.