Gough Lui's Blog

A Project14 "Limited Edition" Surprise & Soldering Iron Thoughts

Gough Lui

"Who doesn't like surprises?" Engineers. That's who. As an engineer, I'd have to say that we are trained to handle unpleasant surprises out of the blue. Things not going our way. "Quick! Pull out the contingency plans!" A Limited Edition Surprise! Ho...
- 15 Apr 2023
Play a Game, Win an Fire TV Stick 4K Max? Thanks e14!

Gough Lui

One Friday in March, I had a missed call from a number I didn’t recognise I was at lunch earlier and didn’t have my phone on me, and being wary of all the pervasive spam calls that are flying around, I was in a split mind whether to call ...
- 15 Mar 2023
SurPRIZE! - Ready for Tomorrow 2022 Sailing Autopilot (AU/NZ) Prize Arrives

Gough Lui

The year is drawing to a close, which means it’s pretty much holiday season once again. But many moons ago, I recall seeing a banner on element14 Australia’s storefront which linked to a community competition titled “Ready for Tomor...
- 3 Dec 2022
Experimenting with Thermistors – Grand Prize Pt.2: Fluke 279 FC/iFlex DMM Review

Gough Lui

If you’ve read my last blog, you would have seen my review of the first-half of the Grand Prize from the Experimenting with Thermistors Design Challenge. Of course, this leaves me with the second half to cover … and in true Gough fashion...
- 26 Nov 2022
Experimenting with Thermistors – Grand Prize Pt.1: Apple AirPods Max Review

Gough Lui

So far, it seems I’ve been having quite good luck with my entries in the “experimenting with” style design challenges, as sometimes it’s the simple things that are interesting to me. Case in point – the Experimenting wit...
- 19 Nov 2022
Surprise Delivery: Maxim Integrated/ADI MAX32666FTHR Application Platform Unboxing

Gough Lui

It's been a busy time for me recently - aside from the busyness of work that never seems to abate with the slow transition back to "work-from-work" which now involves teaching course co-ordination duties, I've also been finalising my contributions to...
- 12 Nov 2022
RoadTest Maintenance Update: Keithley KickStart, Tek PA1000, RSA306, Digilent ADP3450, Aim-TTi QPX750SP & SMU Thoughts

Gough Lui

When the RoadTest is over, the torture is not over for the equipment. At least, that's what I like to think, as I try to keep my equipment busy doing more tests and making new discoveries. Nowadays, with most equipment, they aren't exactly static obj...
- 22 Oct 2022
When PCBs Are Cheaper Than Lunch, Build PCBs! A DA-15 & Banana to Terminal Block Breakout

Gough Lui

It wasn't all that long ago that I took the step to get myself acquainted with KiCad and start designing PCBs for manufacture in my spare time - in fact, just two years ago. But since then, I could not have imagined that vendors such as JLCPCB could ...
- 2 Oct 2022
Designing & Building a USB/LAN 40-input 1W/2W/4W Solid-State Relay Multiplexer with RP2040

Gough Lui

Having recently finished my blog series for the Experimenting with Thermistors Design Challenge, and taking a breather on a RoadTest at the moment, I found some time to embark on a project that I had wanted to do during the challenge but did not have...
- 24 Sep 2022
Experimenting with Current Sense Amplifiers - Runner-Up Prize Arrives!

Gough Lui

To have won the grand prize for the Experimenting with Thermal Switches design challenge was a great honour - it was the first such design challenge I had ever entered. But I couldn't help but give the Experimenting with Current Sense Amplifiers desi...
- 22 Jul 2022
Under the Hood of the Lenovo Legion 5 & SSD Tests

Gough Lui

After receiving my prize, is it no great surprise that the first thing that I do is to take it apart? Alas, this was not in vain - this was all part of analysing just what sort of upgrade potential the Legion 5 has and to actually perform the upgrade...
- 21 Jul 2022
Experimenting with Thermal Switches - Grand Prize Arrives!

Gough Lui

It's been way too long since my last posting here at element14 ... but I suppose that's not unexpected as I've just been flat-out busy with work and a myriad of other commitments. Just recently, I put quite a bit of time into reviewing a ...
- 20 Jul 2022
Keysight SBE Follow-Up #1 – DSO Noise, DMM Calibration Post-Teardown & More

Gough Lui

It’s been a few months since I delivered my Keysight Smart Bench Essentials RoadTest Review. While I had done as much as I felt was possible within the two-month period, there were a few loose ends that I promised to follow-up later. Time got t...
- 18 Jun 2022
The "Secret Santa" Makes a Delivery!

Gough Lui

Christmas seems like so long ago, but with a mixture of component shortages and logistics delays, my Secret Santa items only finally arrived this week while I was away interstate! At first, I thought Christmas may have been cancelled, but thanks to&n...
- 15 May 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch4: On-the-Bench User Experience

Gough Lui

This chapter focuses on what it’s like to use the instruments on-the-bench, without considering computer-based remote control or connectivity. This is the way that many instruments, traditionally, would have been used at undergraduate level uni...
- 18 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch6: PathWave BenchVue Oscilloscope, Power Supply, Digital Multimeter & Function Generator

Gough Lui

The “secret sauce” that ties the instruments together and makes it a smart-bench is the PathWave BenchVue software. Four individual apps are used with the EDU-series instruments – one for the Oscilloscope, Power Supply, Digital Mult...
- 18 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch9: Peeking Under the Covers

Gough Lui

Now that most of the hard (review) work is done, I can do what I’ve wanted to do for a while which is to take a peek under the covers (perhaps venturing into full teardown) to see what makes the instruments “tick”. How did they mana...
- 17 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch8: Instrument Performance Tests

Gough Lui

While it is acknowledged that instrument performance is perhaps not the primary focus for a cost-sensitive bench targeted at undergraduate-level laboratories, because of changes to the RoadTest plan, I felt that it would be worth running some tests j...
- 17 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch7: Keysight BenchVue Test Flow Automation

Gough Lui

In this section, I will explore the state of Test Flow automation as it presently stands with regards to the Smart Bench Essentials Kit. Is Test Flow Still Alive? When I proposed my review, I was very excited to have the potential to try out the Test...
- 16 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch5: Connected to the LAN

Gough Lui

This chapter will examine the instrument’s LAN-connected web interface capabilities and design. For further information about instrument remote control performance, please refer to Chapter 8. EDUX1052G Oscilloscope The home screen when loaded ...
- 16 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch3: Initial Setup & Documentation

Gough Lui

Before the Keysight Smart Bench Essentials kit can be pressed into service, there are a few tasks that must be completed to configure the equipment for operation and ensure that it has the latest firmware that improves instrument functionality and so...
- 16 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch2: Unboxing^4 & Design Features

Gough Lui

The kit has all arrived, so it’s time for a mega-unboxing where I take a look at each of the units from all sides and see just what is included with each device. By doing so, we can also understand some of the features of these instruments, alt...
- 16 Apr 2022
Keysight SBE In-Depth – Ch1: The Need for Smarter Benches?

Gough Lui

This chapter focuses on setting the context of what a university electronics laboratory bench looks like, including the various challenges that academics face in running their lab programs. I will examine some of the creative solutions which have bee...
- 16 Apr 2022
A Tracer Module Breakout for the Digilent Analog Discovery Pro ADP3450

Gough Lui

In my recent review of the Digilent Analog Discovery Pro ADP3450 USB/Ethernet Mixed Signal Oscilloscope, I was rather captivated by the capabilities of the Tracer and Impedance modules within Digilent WaveForms which are able to use the oscilloscope ...
- 23 Jan 2022
An LCD Cover for the B&K Precision/Sefram DAS240-BAT Multi-Channel Recorder

Gough Lui

It's been a long time since I last looked at the B&K Precision/Sefram DAS240-BAT Multi-Channel Recorder which I previously RoadTested back in January 2020. Since the review, it seems that Sefram have come up with a few firmware updates, bringing ...
- 21 Jan 2022