4 ms·
Thermochromic Breadboard
- hcrean 3y agoThat is a clever idea, but I tend to find overheating is too sudden to notice from colour changes.
- chongli 3y agoYeah, this is why a cheap thermographic camera is a useful tool for electronics tinkering.
- dghughes 3y ago> a cheap thermographic camera Define "cheap" and where would one come across such a beast? I'd like one but they tend to be expensive. Add-on IR modules for phones are OK but ports change and standalone devices are double ($600 CAN) the phone add-on modules ($300 CAN). Sub $200 CAN would be nice.
- CamperBob2 3y agoYou can buy one for less than a smoked PCB typically costs. It's scary how dependent I've become on my FLIR E4.
- rpearl 3y agoI've made a couple dozen pcbs of varying complexity in the past 6 months and I still haven't spent more than a FLIR E4 would cost ??
- CamperBob2 3y agoYou don't need an E4. A cheap smartphone attachment is fine.
- anfractuosity 3y agoThis one looks interesting - https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/review-infiray-p2-pro-thermal-camera/ https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/review-infiray-p2-pro-therma... the fps seems reasonable too.
- dghughes 3y agoIt's not too bad although the resolution is pretty low at 256x192 but it is 25Hz. Export restrictions fro anyone outside the USA (I'm in Canada) limit refresh to less than 9Hz if the resolution is over 640x480.
- viraptor 3y agoYou're going to be ok with the current USB-c for many years now, so that should solve at least one issue.
- prashnts 3y agoAt one point my laptop had some thermochromic indicators to indicate when the laptop became warm. I salvaged it from dead duracell batteries (ones which have a battery level indicator). I noticed that it's too slow to react though.
- RicoElectrico 3y agoSome 15 years ago I had a breadboard with CMOS 4000 logic chips connected to a power supply, left the room and came back later to see it dead. I saw some faint burn marks on the breadboard. I never figured out what caused this, but 99% it was my little brother swapping banana plugs to the supply. CMOS chips don't like that as ESD protection diodes are put in forward mode conducting a lot of current. Depending on power capacity of supply they may or may not survive.
- amelius 3y agoThis is why a thermal imaging camera is a good idea.
- nosmokewhereiam 3y agoThe bitunlocker TTP may apply here; spray the board with upsidedown canned air to freeze traces and see where things thaw fastest.
- CamperBob2 3y agoYes, or spray with alcohol and watch the evaporation. Both alcohol and freeze-spray have the drawback of condensing moisture on the board, unfortunately, which can be problematic in high-impedance circuits. Not all of those are obvious; e.g., the voltage divider in a typical switching regulator reference design that's been optimized for efficiency. A combination of moisture, flux residue, and a 1M+ resistor can do (not-so) funny things.
- ComputerGuru 3y agoIn case anyone has trouble getting the link to load: https://archive.is/zO7dg https://archive.is/zO7dg
- ComputerGuru 3y agoCall me old school, but licking the tip of my finger and carefully touching parts has worked for me in the past! (You usually get a sense for which parts are the most likely to generate heat fairly quickly, so it's just a matter of confirmation.)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago> often happens that a power rating of some part is exceeded If this is happening more than rarely, you are really doing something wrong. Or you're prototyping a high power circuit and expect some mortality. Still, understanding the power dissipation of every component in your circuit should be second nature.
- obrajesse 3y agoA tool like this is a fantastic way to help it to become second nature
- nunuvit 3y agoAll you have to do is read the datasheet and multiply a few numbers to calculate worst-case power. Remembering to do that should be second nature, like remembering to close any parentheses you open. It's a great tool for understanding in greater detail, but it's not the way to avoid breaking stuff.
- serf 3y agoif I was to give a kid a breadboard and a bag of components I wouldn't want them to avoid breaking stuff; what I would want is for the child to be able to interpret the event and gain knowledge from the mistake. This idea can shift the paradigm from "oh, the LED doesn't work", to "Oh, the LED doesn't work, the color around that rectifier area has shifted; why?" , and I think that can help to build intuition.
- Avicebron 3y ago[flagged]
- lloydatkinson 3y agoWhat does that even mean? What a dumb comment
- throwawaymobule 3y agoAre we ever going to get this type of paint (or one with more colors, like a mood ring) preapplied to PCBs? I know there's one fab company that uses all purple boards, and sparkfun loves their red PCBs. I assume the results wouldn't be worth the complexity of applying the coating.