EEVblog #979 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

Mailbag is back!



SPOILERS:
http://www.frantone.com
Protean  8x2 MOSFET driver Proto Board
http://protean.adamlhumphreys.com/
Fujitsu Lifebook Stylistic 500 Tablet PC Teardown
HP 48G Graphing Calculator
RoboMaid RM-770 Robot Vacuum Cleaner
RatherBoard Industrial Raspberry Pi Controller
http://www.ratherboard.com/
Old Philips Databook

[Barny]

Hi

Thanks for the mailbag video.
I'm one of the wacky's which are looking all of your videos.
But I prefere the informative videos like "Fundamental (insert weekday here)", Repair videos,...... most.

.

The Rather Board is looking good.
I dont knew if this saying is correct in english, but my toe-nails are rolling up themselfe when I see the promo-pic of the Rather Board (5:39)

* No strain relief
* No protection at the end of the outer insulation against water - > the cable will "drown" within a short amount of time which lead to an high capacity of the cable
* No protection of the cable against mechanical impact / animals
* No UV protection of the cable -> The insulation will crumble the next view years
* Thats no propper cable for instalation under earth -> no propper mice-protection, not earth - alkali protected, ....

I knew, I'm an grumbling machine fitter, but my job was for several years to hide 100+ core / up to 10 km long signal cables below the earth, splice them and connect them to the control room distribution boards.

I've found out that absolute wather proof housing aren't that good for outside use.
A little hole on the bottom side to let the water out is the best solution.
Because absolut water tight housing are tending to "swet" when used outside static.

[Edit]
The doughter boards should get some mounting holes too to fix them to the motherboard with glued screws.
And if the power wouldn't come through USB, it would be a extreme good housing for useing it at high vibration.
Like boats, model boats, canion - multicopter, cars, hobby CNC-machines,....
[/Edit]

PS.:
(17:29) -> München = Munich
And please don't kill the poor calculator.

[Paul Moir]

"MGA" just below the 40 pin DIP, and what else would that DRAM be for? 
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.ca/2016/09/pleasant-suprises-epson-mga-q205a.html

I vote against killing the calculator:  I can't imagine we're going to see anything interesting inside.

[jonovid]

up-date
The Rather Board,   yes the USB power cable looks like an afterthought. its getting in the way. so why this bad design feature?
also enclosure did not have space for RF sockets. space for heat sinks for power outputs?
if say your FarmBot has large stepper motors that needs more grunt? 

the Fujitsu Lifebook can you mod it for 2D retro games, by adding a new screen ?, seen a VGA DE-15 video output on the side.

Im also against killing the calculator  one day EEVblog will have an electronics museum . because your the Steve Irwin of electronics! 

[Cnoob]

Don't teardown calculator

[Brumby]

I was hoping to see an area that might be available for additional external connectors - suitably rated, of course.  Perhaps a bit more space here:

[JPortici]

Straitjacket made from mailbag, for mailbag, when?

[Kohanbash]

Rather board looks like it uses Deutsch connectors http://www.deutschconnector.com/products/deutsch_connectors/deutsch_dt_series_connectors/

They are easy to build and seal. The downside is that there is no option for backshells for strain relief.

 

[Cliff Matthews]

I looked over that Protean 8x2 Arduino board and thought what a shame, good product, nice guy and it didn't cross the line. I've never used Kick Starter or Tindie sites before, but what typically happens after the dust settles?

[kcozens]

Greetings, Dave.

At 3:55 you said the module was for WiFi but I suspected right away that it was a GPS module. Once I saw a close up of it I can see it is a u-blox NEO-M8Q GPS receiver module. I know the u-blox NEO GPS receiver devices as I have three versions of them. I'm using one of them in a GPS receiver attachment I'm making for use with my digital camera.
I wonder if anyone else noticed that the green LED was flashing on the RoboMaid device seen at 16:30.
If the HP calculator is going to be that difficult to open then I vote NO.   Please don't kill that nice, and working, calculator.
At 35:36 you were holding an MGA video card (model Q205A). A quick internet search turned up a page about it at http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.ca/2016/09/pleasant-suprises-epson-mga-q205a.html

[H.O]

Regarding the Ratherboard:
Did I get that correct, 7-17V input voltage range on something labeled as "industrial"? I looked briefly at their website but wasn't able to find even the most basic datasheet.
In my book anything "industrial" (when it come to control equipment) runs on either 24VDC or 230VAC. 7-17V falls in the automotive range (which matches the connectors).

[f4eru]

Automotive connectors ("Truck Automotive" is small quantity higher prices):
http://www.te.com/usa-en/product-DT13-12PA-R015.html#pdp-docs-features

Yes, that's robust, but not made for the kind of mounting as they shown directly in view outside.

These are expensive things it seems : https://octopart.com/dt13-48pabcd-r015-te+connectivity+%2F+deutsch-23927641

Can't find the backshell for now.

Anyway, it would be reeeeealllly interesting to find the same kind of housing from real automotive, as those would be at least 2x cheaper !!!

For ethernet, on a 10baseT : use M12 4pin connectors, they are used a lot for industrial ethernet. You can mount one or two of those in the middle.
10BaseT ought to be enough for every PI.

[f4eru]

More on the ratherboard
No powering through the header ? really ?
7 to 17V supply ? really ?? "Industrial" application wants 24V ( with a huge margin up to 32V for spikes at least)

Concerning the connector solution, it's neat, robust, and "wire sealed", as in automotive style, but not really "Industrial"
Industrial low quantity is traditionally a type of connector that permits easy rewiring....

[max_torque]

Rather Board is indeed housed in a standard, off-the-shelf Deutsch automotive enclosure:



And yes, they do connectors with lands so you can use heatshrink, adhesive filled boots for strain relief:




Biggest issue with those enclosures is that there is no internal heatsink option, and being plastic, tend to cook any power electronics you might want to put inside!

[f4eru]

There are Aluminium ones :
http://www.kinkong-connector.com/category/enginecontrolmoduleunit-3.html

[FrankBuss]

Was this "München" from the HP48 mailbag at 17:30? Yeah, small town somewhere south of Cologne

[bitwelder]

Rather board looks like it uses Deutsch connectors http://www.deutschconnector.com/products/deutsch_connectors/deutsch_dt_series_connectors/

They are easy to build and seal. The downside is that there is no option for backshells for strain relief.

At 9:33 the Deutsch logo is visible at the bottom of the enclosure: https://youtu.be/2t1Odn5dTD0?t=9m33s

[Brumby]

Yep .... there it is.

[Cerebus]

Was this "München" from the HP48 mailbag at 17:30? Yeah, small town somewhere south of Cologne

Is that the place I once went to a small craft beer festival sometime near the end of September? 

[Fungus]

Was this "München" from the HP48 mailbag at 17:30? Yeah, small town somewhere south of Cologne

Is that the place I once went to a small craft beer festival sometime near the end of September? 

I've been there several times. I can recommend the Haxnbauer for some real German food, just off Marienplatz. 

[Cliff Matthews]

Visiting my family in Saarbrücken, we passed by that little village at 190kph. Too funny BMW has headquarters there

[hans]

Used to use these exact same Deutsch enclosures and cabling on agriculture/automotive ECU's. At the places where it's exposed to all the mud, rain, snow, and other crap. They are very robust enclosures, I think we rarely encountered problems with them. Perhaps occasionally when it was not properly closed, because you need a firm press upon closing them. Oh.. and also all pins on the connector should have a stub of course to make them waterproof...

Cinch also make similar ones with same mounting size for the 2 connector version (you can intermix them when stacking these), however Cinch do much higher pin counts in the same size. And also have versions where the connector is screwed down with a bolt, instead of clicked in.

All of these are literally impossible to open without a screw driver nearby. That's also quite nice I suppose.

[Fungus]

All of these are literally impossible to open without a screw driver nearby. That's also quite nice I suppose.

Just 'nearby'? Or do you have to hold it in your hand?

[twice11]

After you found the WD graphics chip in the Stylistic 500, you might have noticed that the CL-PD6720 is most likely not another graphics chip (I have to admit that I fell for the same trap, although I was irritated by the number. LCD-capable cirrus logic controllers from that era should be named more like CL-GD64xx). In fact, all of the Cirrus Logic graphics chip have a part code starting with "CL-GD", the "G" most likely meaning "graphics".

The CL-PD6720 is the PCMCIA interface chip (and the P in the part code aligns with "PCMCIA"). That's a lesser known market segment, but Cirrus Logic held a big share in it that time, too.

[robby1995]

did anyone notice the new multimeters in the background?