50 x v4.2b gruvin9x boards ordered from China factory

[Bryan]

Hello

We have finally been able to place an order for an additional 50 gruvin9x custom controller boards, from the factory in China.

This will be the v4.2b version, which contains some minor changes/bug-fixes/improvements, but is ostensibly the same as v4.1, save a resistor or two.

The v4.1 board can easily be patched to the same electrical circuit as v4.2, without adding wires or cutting any tracks. The only important patch is the addition of a 10K resistor, soldered across C63. This cures a problem where the soft-off function locks power on, requiring the battery to be removed to reset. If anyone has a v4.1 board and is unable to arrange for this to be done at their location, then please let us know. We should be able to arrange for someone relatively near by (as in, not me, way over in New Zealand) to do the job for you.

Last time we placed the order with the Chinese factory, it took about two months for the units to arrive. We suspect things will be quicker this time, though I have not yet been notified of an actual ETA.

Oh and, since this batch is larger in quantity than the first test batch, it is therefore cheaper. We will not be able to confirm the final retail price until we get through local testing of all the boards -- and any remedying as will doubtless be required, for some. But I think it's fair to say that the price will be well under USD$100 this time. Yay \o/

On that note, I'd like to extend a hearty THANK YOU to all those early adopters who shelled out the higher price for a board form the first batch. It was you who made this second batch possible. So give yourselves a good old Kiwi pat on the back,  for a job well done. Cheers.

--
Bryan.
aka Gruvin.

[Jacques Blain]

Hello

I have found your online store site

Thank you

[Bryan]

Very good then. :-D Oh and, thank you for the compliment.

It will be some time -- perhaps a couple of months. I will send a update messages to this group.

The next step will be the reception of production files for me to check over, before they commit the resources and machine time. We didn't have that step the last time. So I think we must be dealing with a slightly different team -- or new policies. Interesting.

As I noted earlier, all going well, we can look forward to much better pricing this time around. Wish us luck.

Bryan.

[Enrique Iglesias Osuna (Gmail)]

Hi Bryan, please, can show the differences between v4.1 and 4.2b, since I have not even made to mount the radio with my material, and whether to modify something in boards is better now than after already mounted?

 

Enrique Iglesias Osuna

enriqueigl...@gmail.com

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[Ferenc Roman]

Hi, please if you have best practice steps for modification let us
know. I saw few elements are changed there, so thanks on advance for
sharing the knowledge.

[Bryan]

Not sure what to say. Simply solder a 10K resistor on top of C63. Wet one end of the resistor with flux and solder, use tweezers to hold it in place and apply heat. Then solder the other end. Same technique as hand-soldering resistors directly to the PCB pads.

None of the other changes are remotely required -- unless you actually want to run DSM2 (125,000baud) off the pseudo RS-232 port, which I'm sure none of you do, right? (Best use the TTL port.) If you do though, then it's just some value changes and the additon of a 1K resistor across one of the transistors in the pseudo RS-232 circuitry (Q2 and Q3 is it?) It's all pretty clear on the schematic. Just compare.

There is an additional decoupling capacitor added near the MCU. But this is of no practical consequence what-so-ever. It can be ignored.

Bryan.

[FROMI]

Huston, having problems!

SI2319CDS is a very rare 3lgged FETbug. Could you suggest a replacement?
Thanks in advance.

[Cam]

Maybe best if you give me a link to the website you are buying
components from and I will sort through to find you a replacement.
Otherwise I might suggest another device you can't obtain either.

Cam.

--
Cam

[Ferenc Roman]

Farnell

[Cam]

OK, so is the problem with the link in the BOM just that Farnell are out
of stock of that item ?

http://uk.farnell.com/vishay-siliconix/si2319cds-t1-ge3/mosfet-p-ch-40v-4-4a-diode-sot23/dp/1858942

Cam.

[Cam]

This should be ok to:

http://uk.farnell.com/diodes-inc/dmg2307l/mosfet-p-ch-30v-3-8a-sot23/dp/2061518

Failing that most of the ones in this search are a good starting point,
but double check the pinouts first (or run it past me) :

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=204245+110191750+110029860+110187251+110169965+110022572+110078148+110082989+110045844+110067736+1
10037545+110103730+110106490+110088369&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&divisionLocale=en_UK&catalogId=&skipManufacture
r=false&skipParametricAttributeId=&prevNValues=204245+110191750+110029860+110187251+110169965&mm=1001803||,1000363||,1002572||,1000019||,&filter
sHidden=false&appliedHidden=false&autoApply=false&originalQueryURL=%2Fjsp%2Fsearch%2Fbrowse.jsp%3FN%3D204245%26No%3D0%26getResults%3Dtrue%26appl
iedparametrics%3Dtrue%26locale%3Den_UK%26divisionLocale%3Den_UK%26catalogId%3D%26skipManufacturer%3Dfalse%26skipParametricAttributeId%3D%26prevN
Values%3D204245


Cam.

--
Cam