Questions tagged [production]
The production tag has no usage guidance.
0
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1answer
40 views
Transform small Arduino protoboard project in a final solution
I am collecting data on consumption and solar production and I centralize it in a Raspberry with Openhab.
Now I want to connect to Smart Grid Ready and/or Power Control of a Panasonic Aquarea ...
14
votes
1answer
1k views
Legal obligations when designing electronics
I'm planning on releasing a USB powered device, basically a AVR ATMega2560 µC with a FTDI FT232RL chip powered by USB-C.
Although I'm comfortable with the safety of the device (has fuses, ferrite ...
0
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1answer
81 views
Registering IOT products across Europe based on NodeMCU
We've been designing some smart home devices and softwares in past few years and they've been sold in some countries in middle-east. Basically, they were combination of ESP, Arduino and NodeMCU boards ...
0
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1answer
88 views
I have an idea/invention and look for a real investor/industry to take it to the next level? [closed]
I checked many online resources/websites and all of them asked me to pay thousands of dollars to make it real! I couldn't find any one that says you don't have to pay and we will take it from here ...
15
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4answers
2k views
Using decapped ICs in production
We were looking for a very specific type of ADC in a small package for one of our projects, and found something suitable in a TSSOP. We wanted to save more space, so looked into getting bare dies; the ...
7
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1answer
132 views
Do Soft Termination Caps Really Increase Reliability?
I'm managing several designs. At one point I identified a few failures that were caused by 0603 caps failing short. After that I switched to all soft-term caps to hopefully eliminate the problem.
...
7
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2answers
1k views
How to manufacture chip on board?
I am a developer of a cheap product and i have no experience in mass production. Device is fully functional and represents a single sided PCB, a microcontroller, a bunch of diodes and a few passive ...
14
votes
2answers
333 views
Taking a device to market [closed]
I have somehow managed to make a little gizmo that primarily consists of an MCU, some sensors, and wireless connectivity. I have gone through the process of making the initial prototype, then designed ...
3
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1answer
140 views
Watertight enclosures - what production steps are required to ensure no condensation on the insides?
Background
We want to waterproof an electronic device and the specifications call for IP-65 protection. To this end, we have selected a sealed polycarbonate box to put the electronics in. The ...
-3
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2answers
140 views
Producing energy from lighting bolts
An average bolt of negative lightning carries a current of 30 to 50 kiloamperes, transfers a charge of 5 coulombs, and dissipates 500 megajoules of energy (120 kg TNT equivalent, or enough to light a ...
0
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1answer
112 views
Mass producing my electronics/raspberry-pi idea - What are the steps? [closed]
Could somebody tell me what the rough steps would look like? I think I have a good idea. I have put things into practice, and it's working and so on, but it's very ugly.
I guess, first I would have ...
8
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2answers
152 views
Is the maximum audible noise from power supplies regulated in Europe?
Power supplies make sometimes a lot noise in the range of kHz. Is there a regulation for the maximum allowed noise emission for consumer electronics on the European market?
Is there a regulation ...
0
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2answers
109 views
Microcontroller with and without debugging features?
Out of curiousity, are there any microcontrollers which are available with and without debugging capabilities?
I'm asking because I assume that the debugger is not a simple 'peripheral' in terms of e....
6
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1answer
255 views
Quantity less than one on Altium BOM
There are some items that goes on the BOM that, in production, apear as 1 for many. Example: large card box to package 10 boards/products. These kinds of items apear on the BOM as less than one ...
0
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1answer
77 views
Production programming: is there a practical size limit to serialization length? [closed]
This is a follow on question from the answers of these two:
Is it practical for firmware to be uniquely identified in production
How to verify hardware is legitimate
I would like to be able to ...
1
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2answers
335 views
Why do PNP silicon transistors cost more to produce? NPN is cheaper?
I got a few suggestions/answers but nothing definite after searching and digging around awhile .. I am not so sure about any of these so correct any of them that you see
Thanks
Alex Van den ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
Term for a guarantee a manufacture makes that a product will be produced for a number of years?
Sometimes manufactures of electrical components guarantees that a product will be produced for a number of years so you can rely on getting new components for future production runs. What is the term ...
7
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2answers
2k views
How are through-hole boards mass-produced?
I'm familiar with the manufacturing process of surface mount boards. Chips come on reels (very high volume smaller parts), trays, or tubes. They are loaded into pick-n-place machines. The PCB, with ...
1
vote
3answers
629 views
Advantage of series vs parallel battery in handheld product
There are many handheld product like laptop or an Handheld measurement equipment that all parts would works fine with 3.3V or lower VCC. However these devices still comes with a 11.1ٰV battery or ...
2
votes
1answer
925 views
Why are EI-cores (shell-type) most common for power transformers?
I notice that most small power transformers (single-phase, 100-240V, 50hz/60hz, laminated core) are shell-type, with an EI-shaped core. But as I understand they have relatively low efficiency due to ...
0
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1answer
103 views
60335-1 27.5 Test - Am I doing this right?
I work at company producing household appliances, and I'm looking into a way to test compliance with part 27.5 of the NEN-EN-IEC 60335-1 standard (which is derived from IEC 60335-1).
It states (...
2
votes
1answer
172 views
Estimating Assembly costs II
This is a continuation of Estimating Assembly Cost which has addressed some approximations in estimating between North American and Asian assembly houses as price per pin.
The question does not ...
0
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2answers
495 views
Serial programming of several AVR microcontrollers simultaneously via ISP interface
I'd like to put several PCBs in a panel with only one ISP connector routed to each MCU in parallel.
I hope that it will be no problem that many MCU's outputs will be connected together as it is ...
0
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1answer
310 views
Chip masking process…what can be changed during the process?
I'm working with an overseas vendor.
We've tested the electronics and code of the product. We gave them the green light to start chip masking. However, a few days later we realized that the working ...
2
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0answers
1k views
Why don't I see the esp8266 chip in many commercial products? [closed]
I am a bit of a novice in the field of RF design, and I was looking around for an RF module to use in a project. I kept on noticing the ESP8266, which is pretty popular with hobbyists, but it's ...
0
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2answers
148 views
What connectors are best for mass production? Is it cheaper to not use connectors at all?
I'm in the middle of designing a circuit with hopes of going to mass production (> 5000 units). I'm trying to think ahead in my part selection a little bit for reliability and cost effectiveness. My ...
5
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6answers
603 views
How to prevent sealed in product battery drain on store shelf?
How can a microcontroller-based device prevent battery drain while the product is on the store shelf? We are creating a waterproof, sealed in product without any buttons. This means the battery is ...
1
vote
1answer
103 views
Baking 0603 Components
I have a few 0603 LEDs that come with the instruction to bake them if they had the chance to draw moisture. What is the best way to do that?
Can I leave them in the tape, so I don't lose the ...
1
vote
2answers
143 views
Reliability of edge connectors for production
I'm looking for an 6 pin .1 standard edge connector to program for production my board without any connector. And I cannot find the number of cycle they can support.
Does anyone has used such ...
3
votes
2answers
213 views
Reduce BOM Lines or reduce BOM cost? How to make production cheaper? [closed]
We are designing a product that will hopefully sell many thousand units, and now I am at the stage of specifying what parts to use.
We require three inter-board connectors, one with 10contacts and ...
1
vote
2answers
87 views
From prototype to printed board - who does the translation from wired proto to circuit board [closed]
The question is broad, and I am sure that there is more than one way, but the generic sequence should follow a common pattern, and that's what I am looking for.
I basically would like to move from ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Serial Number Generation
I am working on a product that will need a unique serial number for each device.
Are there any "recommended practices" for serial number generation?
Since I never saw a device with serial number 1, ...
69
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10answers
13k views
Why did LEDs take so long to appear as light bulbs?
LEDs are an old technology, why did the industries take so long to put them into light bulbs? Was there any technological gap missing?
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3answers
2k views
Replace SOT-23 (5 pin) package in production with wire
I have found a hardware bug on a board design after many PCBs have been manufactured but not populated. I can fix the problem by removing a SOT-23 component and putting a wire across two of the pads.
...
1
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2answers
408 views
From Proof of Concept on BeagleBone to Prototype
I've been developing a project with a BeagleBone Black and some other accessories connected to it as a proof of concept. Now, I wish to create a Prototype on my own leaving the BeagleBone behind, with ...
5
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2answers
4k views
In production, is there a significant difference between QFN or TQFP components other than space?
When producing a run of PCBs, does it matter if I choose QFN or TQFP components? Say, I want to have 1000 boards manufactured with an Atmel AVR that is available in QFN or TQFP packages. The QFN ...
3
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3answers
796 views
How do I simplify microcontroller-based prototype into a sensible production-like circuit?
First some context: I'm an IT person by trade, and I dabble in electronics as a hobby. I have rather limited experience - apart from some toy circuits I've only made a single "production" quality ...
1
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1answer
344 views
Connecting Sensors To A Production PCB
Background: I designed a simple board a while ago using a ATMEGA328 and a ESP8266. The idea is that the ATMEGA deals with sensor data and the ESP8266 deal with the whole online bit.
I did a initial ...
2
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2answers
205 views
Is advisable to drive an LED matrix using a Shift Register+FET on High side and an LED driver on the low side?
Trying to find the most economical way to drive 60 leds (~20mA) for volume production.
Our main MCU doesn't have enough pins, so I2C or similar set up is needed and total budget of driving LEDS ...
1
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1answer
123 views
A sleeping mcu in a product -sent by air to?
This might be strange, but i guess you guys electrical engineers are the only one that knows that .
Our MCU is turned on by a push button . That means he sleeps most of the time, and when pushing the ...
0
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4answers
2k views
Light effiency or efficacy and watt to heat output
I am on a light forum and there are debates about watt heat output of lights.
I'm using my common sense for the debate but can't find the data online to support my ideas.
People are thinking that ...
0
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1answer
1k views
How to take a raspberry pi project and get it mass produced [closed]
I was wondering how can I take my project that I have done with a raspberry pi and convert it to a PCB for mass production.
My project is an e paper display that is attached to the raspberry pi in ...
4
votes
5answers
2k views
Injecting UUIDs into ROM during production
I'm brand new to electronics and was wondering if someone could explain to me how individual MCU/MPU-powered electronics units can be assigned unique identities on the factory line.
For instance, ...
0
votes
1answer
318 views
How to program modules on assembled PCBs?
Suppose a Bluetooth module like the HC-05 is part of the PCB design. During production, how/when are the modules programmed? Is each programmed before or after assembly? If it happens after assembly, ...
2
votes
1answer
145 views
Optimizing product tests?
I'm currently working for a company where I design and implement an automated test program to test our products. Currently our tests take quite a bit of time (several minutes per unit) and need to ...
8
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7answers
2k views
How come product makers tend to make their own boards rather than putting together modules?
It seems that most, if not all, companies that produce mass market goods use custom boards rather than putting together modules that are already available in the general market.
For instance, battery ...
4
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2answers
2k views
Using arduino code for mass production
I have prototyped a connected object with arduino and I would like to go for mass production, actually just a few hundreds to start.
I'm going to design a customed PCB with everything integrated: ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
BLE Transmitter for Production
We would like to add a BLE transmitter to our board so that it can serve as an iBeacon (and whatever the non-Apple equivalent is known as).
It seems like the engineers at Estimote and Stick n Find ...
0
votes
1answer
101 views
How are processors tested before going to production?
No matter how much experience an engineer has, or how many engineer works on the design of a processor or a microcontroller, we are human at the end, and it is possible to make mistakes. Before ...
8
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2answers
6k views
Why should one buy through digikey or element14? [closed]
I quite often find that digikey or element14 have quite expensive pricing for the parts, right now I'm looking for memory chips and compare it to ebay sellsers:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/...
