Reviews on Bald Engineer

nRF7002 DK vs EK vs EB Hands-On

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:53:00 +0000

In August 2022, Nordic Semiconductor announced its first Wi-Fi product. The nRF7002 is a dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) Wi-Fi 6 compatible companion IC. It does not have a general-purpose microcontroller built-in. Instead, Nordic intends for you to combine it with another microcontroller, like one of their nRF52 or nRF53-series system on chip (SoC). Nordic and the element14 Community sent me an nRF7002 Development Kit (DK), Evaluation Kit (EK), and some nRF7002 QFNs. I reviewed the nRF70 variants in this video and looked at the various boards. As the thumbnail suggests, I connected the Wi-FI transceiver to a FPC1500 spectrum analyzer.

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Digilent Analog Discovery 2 Review | Workbench Wednesdays

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 18:44:50 +0000

The Analog Discovery 2 combines all the equipment found on a typical electronics workbench into one small package. It packs an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, power supplies, spectrum analyzer, and so much more. As impressive as the hardware is, the Analog Discovery 2’s software, called Waveforms, is fantastic as well. You can configure it for any measurement situation, and it has extensive scripting capability. See if you should be considering adding the Analog Discovery 2 to your electronics workbench.

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DCA Pro Transistor Tester Review | Workbench Wednesdays

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 14:19:09 +0000

When it comes to transistors, there are only so many things a multimeter can measure. The DCA Pro from PEAK Electronics makes short work of testing parts like a transistor. This small device can determine pinout, component type, and essential parameters in a matter of seconds. Not only that but it can be connected to a (Windows) PC and draw parameter curves. Check out the video review to see how the device and software work. Then head over to the element14 page where you can download a zip file full of example parts I measured for you. Use the free DCA Pro software to open them.

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Hakko FX-888D Review

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:49:50 +0000

My friend Pablo recently upgraded his firestarter iron to a Hakko FX-888D. Because of its popularity and his relative newness to the iron, I asked if he’d like to write up a review for it. You can follow him on twitter. Just based on the color, the Hakko FX-888D seemed, at first, like it was a toy compared to other electronic tools and equipment. The color does make it easy to spot even if you are buried in a project. You can quickly find it because it stands out. The outside seems like plastic, but it is made from or encased in metal. Knowing that it was only a plastic enclosure made me feel like this will be with me for a long time.

Measuring ESR with the PEAK ESR70 | Workbench Wednesdays Review

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 14:50:45 +0000

There are three capacitor measurements you need to know how to make: capacitance, leakage current, and equivalent series resistance. Capacitance is easy to measure if you have a current limited supply or can use a resistor. Apply a voltage, then time how long it takes to charge up. You might need to use an oscilloscope or even an Arduino for the second part. Leakage current is the easiest of the three, apply a voltage (ideally through a resistor) for a few minutes, and then measure the current. ESR requires some special tricks. Since it is the resistance of the “wires” connecting to the capacitive element’s anode and code, you have to measure resistance without charging up the capacitor. (Otherwise, you get leakage.)

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Penguin Bot from elegoo hands-on review of the kit build

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 18:50:22 +0000

Recently I received three packages from Elegoo Industries. They are a company based in Shenzhen China. Before those packages, I noticed their name several times on various electronics kits on Amazon. They asked me if I’d help them with a video that shows how to assemble their latest creation: Penguin Bot. There is not much point in sharing that video with you unless you’ve purchased one. So instead, here is my review, or hands-on, of the kit. I will, however, show you a short Instagram video I made to show off Penguin Bot’s cuteness.

EAGLE 9 First Look - Couple of things I noticed

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 13:00:21 +0000

Autodesk released EAGLE 9. This new version continues the improvement that Autodesk has been providing since acquiring the infamous ECAD tool. There are three areas I look at in this AddOhms Livestream. How I looked at EAGLE 9 In the beginning, I use an old training class I wrote about five years ago when I was using EAGLE daily. It shows how to design a 555 flashing circuit from schematic to PCB. A follow-on class taught how to mill the PCB on a Shopbot. I might update the course and release it if I have time. The exercise class helps me find some surprises with EAGLE’s incremental improvements.

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FPC1500 Review, a Rohde & Schwarz Spectrum Analyzer

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 13:00:15 +0000

Everyone’s first piece of test equipment should be a multimeter. Next is probably a power supply with current limiting. For many engineers, the next step is an oscilloscope. At least those working on digital electronics. Even if you are not working with RF, do not overlook a spectrum analyzer. The Rohde & Schwarz FPC1500 is three instruments in one: a Spectrum Analyzer, RF Signal Source, and a Vector Network Analyzer. In this post, I combine an FPC1500 review with an introduction to these frequency domain tools.

Adafruit Feather Review and Selection Guide

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:04:17 +0000

Four days ago, I found out I needed to make a piece of a costume. The idea was to combine a TFT LCD with a microcontroller and Bluetooth Low Energy. I checked my microcontroller bin and found some Adafruit Feather Boards. In this post, I will introduce the feather family and provide a decision chart for choosing the right one for your project. adafruit-feather-layout The Feather board have a standard footprint and pinout. Most(All?) have a USB connector, a microcontroller, two rows of pins, and a battery charger. They measure 50.80 by 22.86 mm, which is 2.0 by 0.9 inches.

PicoScope 2204 Review and Hands-On

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 12:21:32 +0000

If you need a reason to be an Element 14 member, let me suggest their Road Test program. Companies partner with Element14 to get people to try out their gear. A couple of years ago I got a new microcontroller board. This week I received a new test instrument. Here’s my hands-on Picoscope 2204 review. The scope is bus powered. With the BNCs and type-B USB connector, it is slightly larger than an external USB hard drive. There is not much weight to the device. It does not feel cheap, just lighter than I expected.

Pi Cap Hands On Review

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 13:05:52 +0000

The Pi Cap adds capacitive touch buttons to your Raspberry Pi. Bare Conductive was kind enough to send me one. I do not have a project in mind right now, so here are my first impressions. What is the Pi Cap? Arduino tends to call daughter cards shields, while the Raspberry Pi community calls them hats. The Pi Cap is a hat. It plugs into the GPIO header of a Raspberry Pi and provides 13 capacitive touch pads. There is a traditional push button, an LED, and a prototyping area. While the Pi Cap does consume all of the GPIO pins, several are broken out near the GPIO header.

Aeroscope Review

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:11:36 +0000

Previously, I reviewed the smartphone DMM, Mooshimeter. It is a great meter. One feature I didn’t spend much time on in my review was the ability to graph. Some see it as an “oscilloscope alternative.” The past couple of weeks, I’ve been using Aeroscope. It is a Bluetooth-based oscilloscope about the size of an older active probe. The Aeroscope runs $199 direct from Aeroscope Labs. The question I address in this Aeroscope review: is it better to buy this, a USB-based, or standalone scope for about the same money. How does it measure up?

Mooshimeter Review - Smartphone Multimeter

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:23:41 +0000

For fifteen years I used my Radio Shack 22-168A digital multimeter as my go-to meter. A couple of years ago I bought a Fluke 115. Not because the RS meter lacked a measurement, but because I wanted a backlit screen. Here’s the crazy thing though in 20 years of multimeter development, there hasn’t been much innovation. Well outside of maybe auto-ranging. All three meters I have, plus the Virtual Bench I reviewed about a year ago all continue to have the same limitation: they can only perform one measurement at a time. That’s one feature that makes my latest meter, the Mooshimeter, unique. It can measure both voltage and current at the same time. Oh, and it doesn’t have a screen.

Arduboy Review and Hands-On

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 13:00:37 +0000

When it comes to Kickstarters, I have been relatively lucky. Most of the projects I back have shipped, even if years after I forgot. However, few Kickstarters are something I use on a regular basis. The Arduboy has been a pleasant surprise. This Kickstarter-backed project packages the ease of programming an Arduino into a game playing friendly form factor. Here’s my first Arduboy review, impressions and hands-on experience. Looking back at when I was a kid, there were two gifts I received that made an impact in my life. I have them both to this day: my RadioShack Multimeter and my Nintendo Gameboy. No wonder that my two geek passions have always been electronics and (retro) video games. The Arduboy is a fun little device that combines both! The hardware has the limitations of early 8-bit game machines but the accessibility of an Arduino.

Hands-on with Arduino Create and Arduino IoT

Wed, 06 Apr 2016 13:00:00 +0000

This past weekend Arduino fans celebrated Arduino and Genuino Day 2016. In classrooms, maker spaces, and impromptu meet-ups around the world enginerds got together to learn and create with Arduino. At the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation on Berkeley’s Campus, I first heard that Arduino Create had been launched. In addition to hands-on learning workshops, there was a display of Arduino/Genuino projects by students. In the afternoon, three Arduino co-founders gave a short talk. David Mellis spoke on Machine Learning. Tom Igoe did his first talk on Technology and Humanities. Lastly, Massimo Banzi talked about IoT.

Review of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:00:31 +0000

Reading a blog post like this one is something we all do multiple times a day. As early as 20 years ago, such a concept was still entirely unknown to the rest of the world. Walter Isaacson’s “The Innovators…” book is a history telling of the players involved from the early days of Ada Lovelace all the way through to Google’s search success. Here are some of my favorite highlights from the book.

The Martian

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 07:30:47 +0000

The Martian by Andy Weir is an engineer’s dream story. The story opens with Mark Watney being stranded on Mars after an accident occurs. The book is a collection of his daily logs on the Martian surface, chronicling the measures he takes to stay alive. Rarely do I read a fiction book so well thought out, I start solving the problems along with the characters. Midway through I was excited because I would see Mark’s solution as one of the possible answers in my head. I also found myself invested in what happens to Mark. He is a likeable guy and, at least for me, easily relatable.

A Whole New Engineer

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 18:38:30 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to join The Engineering Commons podcast to talk about capacitors on episode 93. I had been a listener of the podcast because I heard about it in this book. A Whole New Engineer looks at the changes are needed in engineering education. My personal interest was to see if there were elements I could apply to the AddOhms Electronics Tutorials I create. Like all aspects of our lives, evoluation is occuring and educaiton is no different. On top of that, traditional education techniques rarely prepare students for live after school.

Review of EMSL's XL741

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 01:25:09 +0000

When you need to buffer the output of an R-2R ladder or an RC filtered PWM signal, an op-amp is a single chip option. Unlike a discrete NPN transistor like a 2n3904, there is a lot going on inside of an LM741—or any op amp for that matter. What if you could look inside of the op-amp? Wouldn’t it be cool to see how many transistors make up these small chips?

Circuit Trading Cards Review

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 13:00:18 +0000

One of my early hobbies as a kid was collecting baseball cards. At every card show, I was on the lookout for the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr Rookie card, #1, from Topps.My collecting craze lasted until the baseball strike in 1994. Then I lost interest in professional baseball and its collectibles. You’re asking, what does this have to do with electronics? Well, the Circuit Trading Cards from Arachnid Labs reminds me of the days I spent trading baseball cards. Instead of memorizing RBIs and Homerun counts, these circuit patterns trading cards teach you circuit basics.

X-Carve CNC Review and Hands-On with PCB Milling

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:00:07 +0000

There are two methods to making a prototype PCB: 1) Etch Your Own or 2) Send to a Prototyping Service. While there are many prototyping service options, most cause you to wait anywhere between 24 hours and 30 days before you get your boards back. If you need a PCB done today, etching at home is a great option. Chemical etching involves all kinds of steps with all kinds of weird chemicals. If you don’t want your neighbors to think you’re the next Walter White, then mechanical etching is a better option. Which is why I bought an X-Carve from Inventables. It’s a CNC Milling Kit you build yourself.

Video Review of NI's VirtualBench

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 14:30:33 +0000

National Instruments changed the world of instrumentation when it released the VirtualBench. For about $2000 (USD), they give you a bench’s worth of equipment in a box about the size of Horowitz’s The Art of Electronics! In this video review, I take a look at the VirtualBench’s 6 built-in functions. This is a follow-up to my written review of the Virtual Bench. I use the same mixed signal oscilloscope (MSO) demo board, to point out what I like and don’t like about the VirtualBench.

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Review of NI's VirtualBench, All-In-One Instrument

Wed, 11 Feb 2015 15:13:40 +0000

The first time I saw the VirtualBench from NI, I was amazed by its shear size—or lack of size. At the time, the unit I had access to an uncalibrated pre-release unit at the Austin TechShop. So I didn’t think it was fair to do a full review. Fast forward to today. Now that I’ve spent a week working with the VirtualBench I have some comments and thoughts. What follows is a review of this “All-In-One Instrument” that runs $1999 USD.

Space Invaders on Gecko EFM32

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:05:08 +0000

The Gecko Zero EFM32 Weather Station Evaluation Board from Silicon Labs is intended to show off the low-energy or energy harvesting capabilities of the EFM32 Zero. The ARM-based board has physical and cap sensitive buttons along with the LCD. It comes pre-loaded with a demo program, which is the classic Space Invaders. If you’re interested in more about the board, I wrote a road test of Gecko EFM32 on element 14. (Spoilers: I wasn’t impressed. Not a bad board, but rough development environment.)

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Eight Amazing Engineering Stories: Using the Elements to Create Extraordinary Technologies

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:11:54 +0000

Bill Hammock’s “Engineer Guy” podcast series was one of my first video podcast subscriptions. His explanation videos hit the right balance between “high level’ and “low-level” details in a few short minutes, which was actually an inspiration for the format of AddOhms. With each of his videos, you will learn something and get a few laughs–which is rare for engineering related videos. His book, with co authors, “Eight Amazing Engineering Stories”, was added to my Kindle App as soon as it became available. The book breaks down everyday objects and technologies down to their science and engineering fundamentals.

Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified (2nd Edition)

Mon, 29 Dec 2014 16:25:32 +0000

Let me start by saying, this book is not for new comers, or (ugh) “newbies”, to electronics. This book is intended for those who have a solid understanding of electrical engineering fundamentals, but want to expand to the next level. Bogatin’s amount of detail is on-par with a textbook but writing style is more casual. Understanding signal integrity use to be “Black Magic.” It is taught in a language which resembles engineering speak, but sounds like randomly assembled terms purposefully meant to confuse people. Personally, I remember hearing “signal integrity engineers talk” and wondered if they were speaking in code.

Hands On: National Instrument's VirtualBench

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 14:00:27 +0000

Modern smartphones have eliminated the need for a number of devices. Often I use my smartphone as a scanner (CamScanner), car GPS, voice recorder, security token, pedometer, light controller, and oh yeah, a phone. My electronics bench is currently home to a Bench Power Supply, an Oscilloscope, and a Function Generator. While good instruments, they should worried because they’re going to get replaced with one device: National Instrument’s VirtualBench. You might also be interested in my Full Video Review of the VirtualBench! This relatively small box (10in x 7.5in x 3xin) gives you a rack of equipment in a compact package. Plus, the performance of the instruments is seemingly good for the approx $2000 (USD) price point.

Review: The Art of Electronics [Book]

Mon, 12 May 2014 15:00:34 +0000

Title: The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill. Most electronics books are written by engineers, for engineers. It is difficult to find an extremely comprehensive book which covers most Electronics subjects that is written in plain english. This is that book. Book Structure The book’s chapters are broken out into logical sub-groups like “Foundations”, “Digital Electronics”, and “Microprocessors.” There are 15 chapters and a number of appendixes with useful information. Within each chapter information is broken out into a number of headings. At the end of most chapters are “Circuit Ideas”, “Bad Circuit [examples]”, and Exercises.

Long Overdue LaunchPad Review

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:13:26 +0000

Recently I realized most of my projects were all Arduino-based. There are lots of other prototyping platforms available in the market, and the TI LaunchPad, based on the MSP430 is one of them. In fact, I have had one of these boards sitting in my box of stuff ever since they came out. At $5, they because an impulse purchase when I was buying some other stuff.