🔧 Tool of the Week
Joulescope JS110 / JS220
The gold standard for low-power profiling. It allows you to see the tiny current spikes of an MCU waking up from sleep in real-time with incredible dynamic range. If you are optimizing battery life for IoT, this is the tool. 🔗 https://www.joulescope.com/
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🛒 Deals & Finds
- Waveshare 7.5" E-Paper Display – Prices have dipped recently on these large, three-color (Black/White/Red) panels. Perfect for a desk weather station or calendar that draws zero power while idle. 🔗 https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/e-paper.htm
- INA219 High-Side DC Current Sensor – A cheap I2C module that lets you measure both voltage and DC current draw. Essential for adding power monitoring to your own dev boards. 🔗 https://www.adafruit.com/product/904
- Rigol DS1054Z (Refurbished) – Still the king of the entry-level lab bench. Look for refurbished units to get 4-channel capability for under $300. 🔗 https://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/1000z/
- Kapton Tape Multi-pack – High-temperature polyimide tape for masking off boards during reflow or insulating heat-sensitive components. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/Kapton-Tape/s?k=Kapton+Tape
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🧪 Cool Build
The Split-Flap Display
A modern take on the classic mechanical airport arrival board. This project uses 3D-printed rotors and small stepper motors to create a tactile, clacking display controlled via an ESP32. 🔗 https://github.com/scottbez1/splitflap
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📚 Worth Reading
- Current Shunt Resistor Selection – A practical guide on how to pick a shunt resistor that is small enough to not drop your voltage, but large enough for your ADC to read accurately. 🔗 https://www.ti.com/lit/an/sboa549/sboa549.pdf
- Managing I2C Bus Capacitance – Why your long I2C wires are failing and how to calculate the pull-up resistor values needed to fix the signal edges. 🔗 https://www.analog.com/en/resources/analog-dialogue/articles/i2c-communication-protocol-understanding-i2c-primer-pmbus-and-smbus.html
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⚡ Quick Hits
- Cyberdeck Users – A subreddit dedicated to the design and build of rugged, custom portable computers. 🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberdeck/
- KiCad-Action-Plugins – A collection of scripts to automate tedious tasks like teardrops or length matching in KiCad. 🔗 https://github.com/MitjaNemec/Kicad_action_plugins
- ESP-IDF 5.2 – The latest stable framework from Espressif with improved support for the C6 and H2 wireless chips. 🔗 https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf