UnBagging More Gifts

10 Mar 2020

Another parcel from Element14 arrived today.... just as I was about to leave for my 3000 steps of exercise so I waited until I returned to open it, along with a nice cup of tea. Inside the bag was a very nice light grey Influencer of the Tear 2019 T shirt, as well as a small silver power bank, both from Element14. I have been wearing my T-shirt and feeling well-influenced. It is so nice it seems a shame to wear it, maybe I'll put it into a picture frame.

I have now combined this with the breadboard I received for completing the MEMS quiz to make myself a battery power breadboard system.

There are still some parts to add. It needs a micro USB to 5 pin DIL convertor so that I can connect the power wires to the breadboard and I think it will look good and work well, to have some sort of mini LCD voltmeter although so far I have not been able to find one. I will also have to find out what the continuous current requirement is to keep the power bank alive, so this will need an on/off switch some load (maybe LEDs) to make it all work nicely.

Thanks very much Element14.

Dubbie

Top Comments

cstanton over 5 years ago

Glad it arrived safely
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dubbie over 5 years ago in reply to genebren

Gene,

I have considered whether it might be useful to have a drop down (or boost up) converter on the breadboard. At present I am just going to see how it goes, as I can always add sometime, either to the breadboard, or to the space above the breadboard and then I can add all sorts of support circuitry. Unfortunately it then obscures the lovely Element14 Presents Logo.

Dubbie
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dubbie over 5 years ago in reply to ankur608

Ankur,

I did look into that type of display voltmeter, but they almost certainly use a fair bit of current being LED displays. I have been thinking of maybe using some sort of smaller OLED display as they have good viewing characteristics but they don't come with the voltmeter part so at present I am uncertain which approach to take.

I did think of using a USB power meter but I have not seen one with a micro USB input. Plus, it would not allow me to measure any voltages on the breadboard.

Dubbie
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genebren over 5 years ago

Very nice plan Dubbie. I recently got one of these (https://www.newark.com/bud-industries/bbp-32701/breadboard-power-supply-5v-3-3v/dp/56AC7832 ) to power my little breadboard. It allows you to set your power rails to either 3.3V or 5.0V (independently). Unfortunately this little guy does not have the micro USB connector.

Thanks for sharing!
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ankur608 over 5 years ago

Nice and genuine innovation !
You can add cheap 3seg. mini voltage gauge or integrate a USB Power Meter Tester

- Ankur
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