Voltlog #280 – TPS62840 olmBoard Ultra Low Power Step Down Converter

Welcome to a new Voltlog, in this video we are taking a look at the TPS62840 ultra low power step down converter from Texas Instruments. It’s basically a buck converter with an input voltage of 1.8-6.5V, 750mA output current, with a quiescent current of just 60nA and active current of just 120nA. It also features very good efficiency at light loads of just 1uA it can offer 80 percent efficiency.

Other features include 16 selectable output voltages through an external resistor and a stop pin which when activated will completely stop any switching to eliminate any switching noise for a short moment, allowing you to take for example an ultra low noise measurement during that time. During that take power will be sourced from the output capacitors. So it looks like this is a pretty interesting dc-dc converter, with really nice features and it’s optimized for ultra low power devices.

Voltlog #263 – InTheMail

Welcome to a new InTheMail, the series that will touch both your passion for electronics and your bank account at the same time. We’re going to start with this big jar of flux paste. This is commonly referred to as “yellow paste”, the branding I believe is NT but if you search for yellow paste you will find it in various sizes. Banggood sells it in 150 gram jar and it has a good price of $4 with free shipping. I’ve seen other people use this stuff with good results so I decided to give it a try. I’m not sure if there are any fakes to this particular brand, but the ones from banggood seem to be the genuine stuff.

The consistency is that of a paste so I don’t think it would be easy to put this inside a syringe and use it that way. This works better if you pick it up with a toothpick or some tweezers. This is not rosin based or so they advertise, and it’s supposed to be a neutral PH,with low corrosion to your pcb and components. You will probably see me use this in a future video, until then, there will be a link in the description so you can order one.

Voltlog #247 – InTheMail

Welcome to a new InTheMail, the series that will touch both your passion for electronics and your bank account at the same time. We’re going to start with this small module, at first when I ordered it I didn’t fully understood what it does but now after doing a bit of research for this mailbag it seems this is an immobiliser emulator for the VAG group. So am immobiliser is a security component of your car that will not let the ECU start the engine unless a certain key or token is present. And there might be valid reasons why you might need this emulator, for example if the immobiliser is broken, you can supposably cancel it and start the engine with this emulator or if you exchange the motor/ecu combo once again it might not be possible to use the old immobiliser and so an emulator will help.

It talks over a K-line interface which is something specific to the automotive domain but it’s basically a form of serial interface. At first I thought this was going to emulate some kind of can bus and I was planning to play with it by scanning the bus but now I realize this is useless for me.

Voltlog #246 – What if we install a heatsink on the TPS61088 boost module?

In the previous video where I took a closer look at the TPS61088, I did some measurements of the output noise but I also ran the module up to the maximum specified output power of 12V 2A. It was to be expected that the losses would turn into heat and just the small size of the board would not be enough to dissipate all that heat safely so the boost chip reached a toasty 150 degrees Celsius and inevitably went into thermal protection.

There were two questions that people mainly left in the comments of that video. First people were curious if this module would behave differently if a heatsink was installed and also some people thought about using this module in a fixed configuration, because if you remember there is a chip on this module that will switch the output voltage based on quick charge spec, depending on what the load is requesting through that protocol but people might just want a simple fixed output. To this I would add a third question of my own, what is the real efficiency figure of this module, at the maximum output. 

Voltlog #245 – TPS61088 Boost Module Test (with QC3.0)

The real limitation for this small module to output the claimed 24W for longer periods of time is temperature. There is not enough thermal dissipation happening with this small pcb. Having a bigger pcb with more copper layers would help and it would probably allow this module to output continuously and prevent the TI controller chip from going into thermal overload. Even so I was impressed that running it into thermal protection several times did not do any damage the chip recovered on it’s own each time and no magic smoke escaped during these tests.

So all of this considered, this is probably one of the best dc-dc boost converter modules I got from China so far and I would recommend getting one of these if the specs meet your needs.

Voltlog #76 – InTheMail

This what happens when I left myself on a shopping spree, you get a month’s worth of InTheMail episodes. So let’s get started on the 4th episode in a row showing the stuff I get from China.

Here is a list with the items shown in this video:

  • Brushless Blower Fan 12V 5015S
  • Brushless Blower Fan 5V 6015S
  • Cooling Fan 5V 2 Pin 50x50x10mm
  • Fan Grill Guard 50mm
  • Aluminium Heatsink 150x60x25mm
  • TO-220 Aluminum Heatsink 34x12x30mm
  • 100W Wire Wound Aluminium Housing Resistor
  • 200x175x70mm Plastic Enclosure For Instrument
  • 170x130x75mm Metal Enclosure For Instrument
  • Rubber Feet Self Adhesive 15mm
  • LM2596 DC-DC Step-Down Converter Module
  • XL6009 Buck-Boost DC-DC Converter
  • 10A BMS 3S Battery Protection Module
  • Zener Diode Assortment – Through Hole
  • Zener Diode Assortment – SMD
  • PT4115 LED Driver IC

Links for all of the items will be in the video description on youtube.

Voltlog #57 – InTheMail

Another InTheMail video because I know you like seeing these electronics items from China.

Here is a list with the items shown in this video:

  • Prototyping PCBs
  • Carbide PCB Micro Drill Bits Set
  • 1W 3W 5W 6x LED Aluminium Printed Circuit Board
  • 1W 3W 5W Star Shaped LED PCB
  • 20W Waterproof IP67 LED Driver
  • EL Panel 10cm x 10cm
  • 3V Flat Vibration Motor
  • High Voltage Boost 400KV Step-Up Module
  • Small Plastic Bottle With Needle
  • Gelid Silent 5 Cooling Fan Replacement for Rigol DS1054Z
  • 18650 Battery Storage Case
  • Small Plastic Project Box Black
  • 3P4T Rotary Selection Switch
  • NodeMCU ESP8266 Module with CP2102 USB to Serial
  • LM2596 DC-DC Step Down Module
  • HC-SR501 PIR Motion Detection Sensor Module
  • 2000W SCR Motor Speed Controller
  • LT1083 Power Supply Kit
  • Maiwo K104 USB 3.0 to 2.5 Inch Sata Hard Drive Cable Interface

As usual links for these items will be posted in the video description.

Voltlog #50 – InTheMail

A new InTheMail video because mail items have been constantly coming in. I hope you’ll find it interesting and if that’s the case, hit that like button so I know you like this kind of video.

Here is a list of items shown in this video:

  • DC-DC Adjustable Step-Down Module with LCD
  • OLED Panel Meter 0-33V 0-3A
  • PWM DC Motor Speed Control
  • BQ24650 MPPT Solar Panel Lithium Lead Acid Battery Charge Controller 5A
  • Battery BMS Protection Board For 3S 18650 Lithium Battery
  • Battery BMS Protection Board For 3-4S 18650 Lithium Battery
  • Mini DC-DC converter Module
  • RS232 Bluetooth Serial Adapter
  • HC-05 Bluetooth Module
  • MP3 Format U Disk TF Card decoder board module amplifier player
  • Digispark Attiny85 Micro USB Development Board
  • RFID T5577 125KHz EM4100 ID Card Copier Duplicator
  • HC-SR505 Mini Infrared PIR Motion Sensor
  • NCP1203D60 PWM Controller IC
  • Energy Meter Electricity Monitor

You can find links for all of these items in the video description.