I recently released Rev 4 of my USB-C PD Breakout Board . One of the changes from Rev 3 is better DFM, namely adding testpoints for future fixtures. Testing the Rev 3 boards 100 at a time by manually plugging in jumpers was getting old. Once I had the PCB design locked down and sent for fab, I turned my attention towards prototyping the test fixture. Here are some thoughts and documentation of my…
I've been quiet for a while, mostly because I've been working on a new USB-C board. Actually, the board didn't take the most time; that would be the firmware development. (Never underestimate firmware). The result is a cool piece of gear, a powerful development platform, and a stronger firmware library. The USB-C Explorer is a development board with everything needed to start working with USB…
Let's take a look at what it takes to get almost 100W of power for a USB-C Easy Bake Oven . In this post, I'll go through the detail of the transactions on the Configuration Channel (CC) when I plug in my oven. Click to enlarge. I borrowed a fancy Teledyne LeCroy Mercury T2C USB HS/PD Protocol Analyzer to capture the traffic. You can follow along for free with their software and my saved session .…
I modified an Easy Bake Oven to run off USB-C. The obvious question is "Why?", but I prefer to ask, "Why Not?". The USB-C spec allows for 100 Watts of power to be transferred through the connector, and that is the power rating for the oven, so it should work. I found one of the new models of the Easy Bake Oven on Amazon . The first step was taking it apart to figure out how it worked. The hardest…
Check out Part 1 for an overview of all the USB3.1 specs, and Part 2 for more details on the USB-C connector. USB Power Delivery is a new specification that enables new functionality for the USB-C connector. In this part, I'll go over the benefits of the specification and details of its implementation. USB Power Delivery Rev 3.0 is included in the USB 3.1 specification, which you can download from…
This part will focus on the USB-C connector itself. Check out Part 1 for an overview of all the USB3.1 specs. The USB Type-C connector is slightly larger than the micro-B connector. It has 24 pins in a radially symmetric pinout, making its orientation reversible. Unlike previous versions of the USB connectors, there is no physical distinction in the plug depending on the functionality supported by…
USB Type-C (USB-C for short) is a new connector that promises wonderful things, including reversibility, 100W of power, and 20 Gbps data transfer. However, I've noticed a lot of confusion about this new standard and how it relates to the rest of the USB ecosystem. I've been having to learn all about USB-C for my day job, and I'd like to share what I've learned and help other engineers design USB-C…
Here are some quick instructions on how to get set up with the Remote Thermocouple Monitor. This product is still in beta, so it will take some effort on the part of the user to get things working. This guide should make it relatively painless. The basic steps: Create a free particle.io account. Claim the Photon. Create a free SparkFun Data account. Flash the example code. View the data. Step 1 -…
I gave a talk at the Hardware Developers Didactic Galactic last week in San Francisco. The video will be posted eventually. In the meantime, here are the slides from the presentation. Click here .
I have the first Internet Window prototype built up. I used a laser cutter to cut a frame out of 3/16 inch thick cast acrylic. This frame is just intended to hold everything together enough that it's a single unit instead of a mess of wires. I also had to solder the power cables down. The final version will have a frame that can be wall-mounted easily. It will also have a smaller interface board…
I'm starting to document a project I've been working on for the last year. This is an evolution of the seven-segment display project. Now with more LEDs. The 12-bit Internet Window is a low resolution, high brightness, wifi-enabled display. It's main components are: Four 64x32 pixel RGB LED matrix panels A Particle Photon A custom interface board Mounting hardware Power supply The interface board…
The first units of USB Power Armor Type-A are now available in the Reclaimer Labs store . I'm hand assembling these units to get them out quickly. USB Power Armor allows you to charge your devices at full speed while blocking data communication. This prevents the spread of malware, such as BadUSB. To learn more about how USB Power Armor works, check out this blog post .
Highlighting the security risks of using USB to charge mobile devices, BadUSB – a class of exploits that can lead to malware infections – was recently in the news. With the adoption of USB-C, concerns are only going to increase . New devices, including the new Apple Macbook and Chromebook Pixel, only have USB-C ports, which means the only way to charge your device is through a data port that could…
One of the fastest ways to get started with our seven-segment display is to use an Arduino. One Arduino can drive many digits. Up to 10 has been tested. 30 or more is practical with the standard interconnects, and hundreds are possible with multiple power drops. Hardware You will need to connect the Arduino to one of your digits. This digit must be on the end of the chain. It will drive the rest…
Preproduction (Rev 3) units of the 6-inch tall seven-segment display are available for sale at the Reclaimer Labs store . All boards are fully assembled and tested. Each segment comes with a laser-cut cardboard waveguide and interconnect. These are early units, so not all the bugs have been worked out. As I update the design to the production design (Rev 4), I will post specifics. In the meantime,…
It's been a while since I updated this blog. That's because I've been working on Rev 3 of the seven segment display. This is the preproduction version. It is an important step on the way to ramping up to mass production. Over the next few weeks I will be testing and evaluating these units and building demos for the Kickstarter video. Stay tuned.
Today I will describe how I built my prototype countdown clock, which counts down to the next SpaceX launch. It automatically updates itself using the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and a script running on my home server. This project will demonstrate how to use the panels and will provide a glimpse into the firmware libraries that are under development. Counting down to SpaceX DSCOVR launch attempt…
Reclaimer Labs now has a logo. I'm still working out the details of its spacing relative to the name, but it's coming together. Thanks to Two Thousand for putting this together. You can check out her other work here .
I finished building and testing all 10 Rev 2 prototype segments. Here's a video of a quick test of driving all of them from an Arduino. I also figured out the code to use SPI to drive the data and clock lines. I've since ported that code to a Spark Core. Next up is writing the code to countdown to SpaceX DISCOVR launch tomorrow.
I was having trouble soldering the Rev 2 boards reliably. The major problem involved the slots for the LEDs. For these prototype boards, I needed to stick to a standard PCB fabrication process, which meant that I couldn't get non-plated slots. Unfortunately, plated slots make it very easy to short out the LEDs. To test for a short, I used my multimeter on the diode setting. If the LED lit up,…