4 ms·

I fondly remember the 555, but nowadays it's actually cheaper to use a super-low-end microcontroller.

by thaeli 8y ago

howard941 8y ago
Gently, friend, the 555's less than 10 cents at Digikey in medium quantities [0]. One of my hardare cow-workers happily placed one on the same board alongside a sub $ ST ARM MCU. Sometimes the 555's still the best option. [0] https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/NA555DRG4/NA555DRG4-ND/1571934 https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/...
- rasz 8y ago
  http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1132-the-3-cent-microcontroller!/ http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1132-the-3-cent-mi...
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- tripzilch 8y ago
  Disclaimer: I'm not very knowledgeable about DIY electronics and pretty bad with a soldering iron (shaky hands). Regardless I think it's super interesting and cool and thus my question: I checked that site and "medium quantities" is 5000 of them :) (for a total price of $493). Somewhere on the page it says minimum amount is 2500, but I tried and wasn't able to successfully add that to my cart (only 5000). So I guess that's nice, but how are you going to put even 2500 of these chips to use? That's a LOT of soldering to do. Unless you have some kind of machine to do that for you? But even then what are you going to use 2500 of them for, if not for reselling?
  - howard941 8y ago
    I believe you're asking a genuine question. It's not DIY (well, after we've prototyped it's not), these components are elements of goods for sale. Specifically the 555 was used as a watchdog. Runs of 5000 are barely enough to get the attention of stateside distributors so long as they arrive with orders for everything else on the board. As to how they're used, someone sticks a reel into a pick-and-place robot that populates the board, and the assembly shuffles into a wave soldering machine for the dirty work. It's very conventional stuff to the extent that $DAY_JOB's factory manages it from a third world-country.

I fondly remember the 555, but nowadays it's actually cheaper to use a super-low-end microcontroller.

by thaeli 8y ago

I fondly remember the 555, but nowadays it's actually cheaper to use a super-low-end microcontroller.

Gently, friend, the 555's less than 10 cents at Digikey in medium quantities [0]. One of my hardare cow-workers happily placed one on the same board alongside a sub $ ST ARM MCU. Sometimes the 555's still the best option. [0] https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/NA555DRG4/NA555DRG4-ND/1571934 https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/...

rasz 8y ago
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1132-the-3-cent-microcontroller!/ http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1132-the-3-cent-mi...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
tripzilch 8y ago
Disclaimer: I'm not very knowledgeable about DIY electronics and pretty bad with a soldering iron (shaky hands). Regardless I think it's super interesting and cool and thus my question: I checked that site and "medium quantities" is 5000 of them :) (for a total price of $493). Somewhere on the page it says minimum amount is 2500, but I tried and wasn't able to successfully add that to my cart (only 5000). So I guess that's nice, but how are you going to put even 2500 of these chips to use? That's a LOT of soldering to do. Unless you have some kind of machine to do that for you? But even then what are you going to use 2500 of them for, if not for reselling?
- howard941 8y ago
  I believe you're asking a genuine question. It's not DIY (well, after we've prototyped it's not), these components are elements of goods for sale. Specifically the 555 was used as a watchdog. Runs of 5000 are barely enough to get the attention of stateside distributors so long as they arrive with orders for everything else on the board. As to how they're used, someone sticks a reel into a pick-and-place robot that populates the board, and the assembly shuffles into a wave soldering machine for the dirty work. It's very conventional stuff to the extent that $DAY_JOB's factory manages it from a third world-country.