Transferring data over induced coupling

[Bruce]

Steve,

A couple pair of SMD tweezers, a toaster oven, and a pair of the headband magnifiers like
mackrackit uses is all you really need. The microscope I've had for about 10 years now, and
the nameplate was peeled off a long time ago, so I don't know the manufacturer, but it
was around $400.00 new.

You can probably get one on eBay for a fraction of that if you want one. Get one with the
ring light if you do. I love the one I have. Really comes in handy when you're working with
very small SMD parts. The batch reflow oven is awesome, but it's pricey at >$5K. If you
have deep pockets a reflow oven is the way to go, and there are some good ones a lot less
expensive than the one we have. You probably don't need the high-temp lead-free type.

Anand,

Couldn't you use IR? A surface mount IR module like in the photo would work if mounted
dead center on the board, and you can connect it to the UART.

[ardhuru]

Anand,

Couldn't you use IR? A surface mount IR module like in the photo would work if mounted
dead center on the board, and you can connect it to the UART.

Absolutely; the only concern is it would interfere with the IR index pulses I currently use to sync the display frame. I could perhaps change the index sensor to a Hall effect device.

Regards,

Anand

[Bruce]

Cool looking clock. I've always wanted to build one myself, but keep getting interrupted by
things I have to do VS things I want to do....;o)

Do you have a video of your clock in action?

[ardhuru]

Cool looking clock.

Do you have a video of your clock in action?

Sure do, and love to show off! But the size is a couple MB, and I dont see .avi or .mov as a permitted valid attachment. Maybe I'll upload to YouTube.

Till then, here are some steady shots;

And Bruce, thanks for the compliment; coming from you I really feel flatterred.

Steve, no problems at all; I benefited from the SMD advices too.

And your opinion on the serial transfer-over-the-coil is reassuring. Intend to try out at the earliest!

Regards,

Anand

[Bruce]

WAY COOL....

Thanks for the pictures. The green LED on the outside edge is really a nice touch.

coming from you I really feel flatterred

Err .. OK, and thanks, but I don't think I could have built that sweet looking clock...

[Byte_Butcher]

Anand,
I keep going back and looking at those photos and thinking I need to build one of those someday! (when I get about hundred and eleventyseven other projects finished )

You did a great job on it! Thanks for sharing.
--

Nick,
Thanks for the link to the microscopes. "Very happy with it" is the kind of reviews I like! I may quiz you about yours a little more when I get ready to shop for one. Still working on getting a decent 'scope first.

steve

[Byte_Butcher]

Dave & Bruce,
Thanks for the SMD tips. I've already got a toaster oven (with homemade controller) to do reflow. That parts covered.
Got decent tweezers so I'm OK there.

I just need better eyes!

I've tried the headband magnifiers and haven't liked them much. It seems like the depth of focus wasn't very good and unless my head was just the right distance from the work then it wasn't focused. Maybe I just need better ones?
Right now I do my work under one of the magnifying lamps with the fluorescent tube around it, but that's not really ideal either. It's in the way a lot.

I think a good lab microscope may be my next adventure...

Dave, who's laughing at your Intel Play microscope? Not me! I already bought a Aven "Mighty Scope" for inspection. Up to 200x magnification...
http://www.weirdstuffwemake.com/swee...scope_0863.jpg

It gets in pretty close. The resistor in the lower right is 0603.
http://www.weirdstuffwemake.com/swee...closeup_01.jpg
Great for inspection, but it doesn't really respond quickly enough to work under "in real time", so I still need...something... else.


Anand,

I'm sorry I highjacked your thread to ask about SMD. But since Bruce brought up 0402 sized parts I just *had* to ask.

The question I'm wondering about, considering the *very* modest range requirement, would I need to modulate the Debugout signal, or just feed it to the MOSFET driving the coil every few 100s of ms (the rest of the time the coil wouldkeep getting its 32 KHz for power transfer).

I doubt you'll need to modulate the signal. I'd just stuff the signal direct into the MOSFET and I'll bet it works fine.
Certainly you could do IR too, but I don't see any reason why you can't couple the data through your transformer.
I'm looking forward to photos of the finished product in action.


steve

[Nicmus]

Just in case someone needs this information here is a good place to find stereo microscopes:
http://www.carton.ca/p1micsstereoboom-dsz44.html
I’m using the one with the light for inspection purposes and I’m very happy with it.

HTH

Nick

I’m using the one with the light for inspection purposes and I’m very happy with it.

HTH

Nick