Here is the 8v 1A VPU designed for @kevingraehl
Here you can see a third JST conector, this is for a thermistor which has been setup to turn on the unit after the thermistor has reached 50c. With my rudimentary knowledge of electronics this should work but happy to be shown otherwise. The outputs now have a 1A fuse, in case you want to run a single output at 1A, instead of at 500mA. The output of the unit has not changed. The traces are now all wide enough to carry 1A. There are thermal relief vias under the LM5164 which can have solder flowed through, although that isn’t necessary.
The size of this board is 33 x 33mm which is great. Without the thermistor circuitry, and with smaller connectors, the size could be taken down even further. This will allow for ease of mounting the unit inside an enclosure. If there is significant interest in the thermistor version I could offer that at a later stage, after testing and stuff. If that is something people want, I would want to spend some time figuring out smaller connectors and stuff to save space.
An order will be placed for some units soon. Once some testing has been done, I can place orders on the different voltage versions and test each of them. Once each iteration has been tested a working I will make public the design files with instructions on how to order from JLCPCB and LCSC. I will also be offering boards prebuilt with all connectors and stuff
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Simple words coming out of simple minds
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That’s some good stuff! Ordering jclpcb tonight.
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While we wait for Kev’s order to come in, I’ve been working some more.
The 3 designs are far more unified, with more uniform component choices, such as caps. You can see on the left a new couple of pads labelled FH1. This is for the new fuse holder. Instead of direct board mount fuses, I found a small fuse holder.
They don’t look that tiny, but this is the smallest fuse holder in LSCS’s extensive library of products. 9.73x5.03mm. And the fuses are user replaceable, and also support up to 125V if you wish to make your own VPU with a higher output or for other devices too. Very cool.
Boards currently measure around ~20x35mm. Trying to maximise space to get it lower. Almost definitely will be going down to XT30 I think.
PS: XT30 upgrade done, takes 3.5mm height off the board without changing anything else. And I can totally work on optimising further.
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Just wondering what you guys are more interested in terms of distribution for this product. If more people wanna just buy them from me I’ll fast track testing but otherwise I need to put some time info documentation. I just wanted to know where to focus my efforts
- Order myself through JLCPCB
- Buy pre-built ready to go
Gonna place an order on JLCPCB in the next few days. Will order 5 of the 5v boards and see how we go. From there I will make any changes and then do a run from there. I would like to get an idea for number so then I don’t under or over order. I will order a bunch extra for warranty replacement and also for sale into the future. There will be future runs
Current board size is 20x31.3mm. After the trial run there is definitely some more opportunity for optimising of size. Will wait until safe operation has been confirmed
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You can count me in for 2.
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I have placed an order on behalf of @kevingraehl for his 8v models. These boards are now in the production phase and I should receive them in a couple weeks, hopefully. This will serve as the first test run.
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Do you take/want constructive feedback?
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Absolutely! Anything that I can learn from more experienced users is a win for me
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Name of project has been changed to the Lil Power Unit or the LPU. This is to avoid any trademark issues (knew this would happen), the product text on the board will be changed.
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It’s like a bad porno but with the esk8.news logo
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I personally find this name much more fitting.
The a larger one could be easily identified by its name.
Can you put a lil image of Pump on there somewhere?
lil pump ooo
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I like this. I’ll see what I can do
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20mm x 23mm With XT30 I don’t think that it can get much smaller. I also expect more people to power only a single device with these boards, so went down to 1 output. More devices can be paralleled onto the single output, unless y’all have another connector I could use that would take up less space?
I still need to make sure that current carrying traces are thick enough, and that the silkscreen references are actually in position.
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From left to right is 12v, 5v and 3.3v. All boards have now been shrunk, with the 12v being the largest at ~26mmx21mm. Just need to finish the silkscreen, and then I would consider about as finished as the first units are going to get. Still waiting for Kevin’s parcel, shipping from China to Australia is fucked right now, still waiting for a pair of shoes that I ordered towards the end of May.
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