3 ms·

What's with the entire dev board crammed in there? Is that... normal? What board is it?

by rozab 11mo ago

daemonologist 11mo ago
It appears to be a Teensy 3.2 The "carrier" that everything rides on within the housing is clearly FDM printed as well. I assume these cameras (rated to 6,000 meters) are rather low volume products.
- buildbot 11mo ago
  It honestly makes sense. You are paying for the pressure engineering, and can take advantage of an off the shelf camera system. Maybe use a special lens or filter or something but why bother customizing the software/hardware of the camera much. They probably should still know what it's doing though...
- analog31 11mo ago
  I came here to say "that's definitely a Teensy 3.2" The black cable goes dangerously close to the pushbutton of death. ;-)
duskwuff 11mo ago
The small board on the left is unmistakably a Teensy 3.2: https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy32.html https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy32.html As to what it's doing in there, I have no idea.
- djmips 11mo ago
  Well, I'll be darned! I wonder if Paul Stoffregen knows about that! edit: probably? It was posted at the Teensy forum about a month ago. https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?threads/the-deepest-teensy.77396/ https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?threads/the-deepest-teensy....
whalesalad 11mo ago
Looks like a pi zero
quamserena 11mo ago
I have seen engineers slap Teensies on a PCB and call it a day, so it’s definitely normal. It’s faster than having to route your MCU, USB, debugger, etc. manually, so there isn’t really a drawback as long as it physically fits there.
- 15155 11mo ago
  > It’s faster than having to route your MCU Common misconception. A handful of capacitors, SPI NOR flash, an inductor, and a crystal is way easier to place and route than a restrictive module that completely disables your ability to use SWD/JTAG on an otherwise excellent MCU.
- switknee 11mo ago
  Yup, if it works in your testing, why bother changing it?
robotguy 11mo ago
>What's with the entire dev board crammed in there? Is that... normal? Yep. I designed boards for cameras like this (and the vehicles they are mounted on) for 20 years. When you're only going to sell ~30 a year, and it's going into a $7k enclosure, the extra $7 for the dev board you used during prototyping isn't even a consideration. Go ahead and design around the breadboard, at this low volume it's WAY cheaper than the time to re-design the support circuitry from scratch and it gives you time to start working on the NEXT project that has already been sold to customers with a delivery date quickly looming. Many times I have heard the tech stack for the subsea industry called "Shop & Glue."

What's with the entire dev board crammed in there? Is that... normal? What board is it?

by rozab 11mo ago

What's with the entire dev board crammed in there? Is that... normal? What board is it?

It appears to be a Teensy 3.2 The "carrier" that everything rides on within the housing is clearly FDM printed as well. I assume these cameras (rated to 6,000 meters) are rather low volume products.

buildbot 11mo ago
It honestly makes sense. You are paying for the pressure engineering, and can take advantage of an off the shelf camera system. Maybe use a special lens or filter or something but why bother customizing the software/hardware of the camera much. They probably should still know what it's doing though...
analog31 11mo ago
I came here to say "that's definitely a Teensy 3.2" The black cable goes dangerously close to the pushbutton of death. ;-)

duskwuff 11mo ago

The small board on the left is unmistakably a Teensy 3.2: https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy32.html https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy32.html As to what it's doing in there, I have no idea.

djmips 11mo ago
Well, I'll be darned! I wonder if Paul Stoffregen knows about that! edit: probably? It was posted at the Teensy forum about a month ago. https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?threads/the-deepest-teensy.77396/ https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?threads/the-deepest-teensy....

whalesalad 11mo ago

Looks like a pi zero

quamserena 11mo ago

I have seen engineers slap Teensies on a PCB and call it a day, so it’s definitely normal. It’s faster than having to route your MCU, USB, debugger, etc. manually, so there isn’t really a drawback as long as it physically fits there.

15155 11mo ago
> It’s faster than having to route your MCU Common misconception. A handful of capacitors, SPI NOR flash, an inductor, and a crystal is way easier to place and route than a restrictive module that completely disables your ability to use SWD/JTAG on an otherwise excellent MCU.
switknee 11mo ago
Yup, if it works in your testing, why bother changing it?

robotguy 11mo ago

>What's with the entire dev board crammed in there? Is that... normal? Yep. I designed boards for cameras like this (and the vehicles they are mounted on) for 20 years. When you're only going to sell ~30 a year, and it's going into a $7k enclosure, the extra $7 for the dev board you used during prototyping isn't even a consideration. Go ahead and design around the breadboard, at this low volume it's WAY cheaper than the time to re-design the support circuitry from scratch and it gives you time to start working on the NEXT project that has already been sold to customers with a delivery date quickly looming. Many times I have heard the tech stack for the subsea industry called "Shop & Glue."