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  1. R

    Best Solder and flux to use

    Hi, A quick question please. After 10 years of soldering i am about to run out of solder wire and flux. For the wire I have been using 60/40 Lead, 22AWG (0.7mm) wire with flux inside (Roisin? the reel doesn't say). For the the flux Ihave beenusing Roisin paste. CLeaning the board from the...
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    No, sadly not. I had to buy it separately. The suggested one was £7.
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    The Youtube review did address that aspect and provided the link (Banbgood) to the very version tested. The page on Banggood had a photo of the interior of the driver box. It still not a guarantee that what I am going to get will be as good. More due diligence on my part. Finger crossed
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    I've gone for this one. https://www.banggood.com/Mini-V3_0-T12-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Soldering-Station-Soldering-Iron-Tips-T12-K-p-1338117.html?utm_campaign=26071159_1338117&utm_content=10535&p=BX282326066583201810&cur_warehouse=CN Good reviews, embedded heating cartridge, inexpensive...
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    So on the soldering iron front temperature control is useful, about 50W is plenty and a fine tip enables precision work. Reviews seems to suggest that tips with embedded heating element are superior. These ones go with the iron I posted earlier. Any thoughts/opinions? http...
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    Thanks everyone. did some watching on youtube for reviews and this one seemed a good product. Any thoughts? Still looking at reviews for hot air guns. Atten 858D+ seem to be a basic entry. Also wondering about a reflow oven. Definitely still in the exploration phase. Riccardo
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    Recommendations for soldering station

    Hi all, I am looking for some advice please. I am on the market for a soldering station/hot air gun to solder SMD components onto my boards. What features are necessary/important for soldering and reworking small components? Any particularly good brands/models? I am looking for a tool which...
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    Tricky push button circuit - Is there a known solution?

    Hi, this is not a Picaxe question but I think it suits the forum nonetheless. It is the kind of “fundamental circuits “ question. I am trying to devise a “button pushed circuit” but I cannot figure out how to do it. I hope it is allowed. I am using a NodeMCU (a breakout board for the ESP8266)...
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    Temperature measurement in low power applications

    So I did the maths. I looked at the option of adding a resistor in parallel with the thermistor. it is true that it linearises the response, but it also reduces the voltage change and therefore the resolution. So it is best to not fit it, as in a narrow temperature range the response is quite...
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    Temperature measurement in low power applications

    A sanity check please. It occurred to me that in applications where batteries need to last for a long time (years) a DS18B20 would not be a suitable sensor for temperature measurement, due to the fact that it takes quite a while to measure and transmit the temperature to the microcontroller. 12...
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    how to interface with a 24V pressure sensor

    Hi, I've been trying to troubleshoot a problem all day: I don't seem to be able to switch off the boost converter with the BC327. The circuit is attached. I think I have worked out why. I think the reason is that I have the microcontroller downstream of a LDO to keep everything (including the...
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    Amazing prices for prototype board manufacturing and assembly

    Hi all, I was surfing the net (as you do on a lazy bank holiday morning) and I came across this prototype board manufacturing and assembly website: https://www.pcbastore.com/ The prices for board assembly look incredibly low. If one needs to make 10-50 off something it is really not worth...
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    how to interface with a 24V pressure sensor

    Hi, here is a (slightly) better circuit diagram. Apologies, I don't know my way around the drawing package very well. Hopefully it is an improvement. With regards to the buck-boost, I bought two to experiment. One for regulating the voltage to the Picaxe (I don't connect directly to the...
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    how to interface with a 24V pressure sensor

    Hi, An additional questions, this time about wiring to minimise power usage. I am working through the implementation. So far I have done some experiments to the calibration of the sensor with the multimeter by dipping the sensor into barrel. It all seem to work fine. The sensor is going to...
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    how to interface with a 24V pressure sensor

    Hi, I bought a pressure sensor to measure water level in a tank (1-5 metres). The sensor requires 24V DC and it modulates the current in the range 4-20mA, according to the pressure reading. In regards to how to interface it with the Picaxe I was thinking of putting the sensor in series with...
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    Harvesting power from ethernet?

    Hello, I have a project where I use NodeMCU boards to transmit temperature data in my flat to a web server through WiFi. It all works fine but, due to the high power consumption of the NodeMCU (about 150mA at 5V) I need to connect it to a power supply plugged into the mains. I am thinking...
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    USB To TTL UART stick

    Hi, I have mislaid my USB to serial TTL stick so I need to buy a new one. I have been looking at something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182388994594 which is similat to what I had before. What I would like though is something which has the voltage conversion (from 5 to 3v3) for the Tx...
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    Mimic a thermistor with a digital potentiometer?

    Possible brute force approach? Thanks for the advice. I have a scope so I will take the measurement. One thing that makes me think however is the fact that I have a 10 uF capacitor in parallel with the resistive output of the VTL and the commercial controller is fine with it. Wouldn't it...
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    How to turn a NO relay into a NC

    Hi all, I am trying to control a relay with an 08M2. The intent is to power cycle a broadband router (12V, 1A power supply) I would like to buy an off the shelf solid state relay because I haven't got time to make one and for other reasons I have no control over. Ideally I would like the relay...
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    Mimic a thermistor with a digital potentiometer?

    An update and some questions: I have swapped the two electrolytic capacitors for a ~10uF ceramic. I am in the process of taking measurements. Data to follow. In the meantime I have had a go at drawing a circuit which controls the resistance "seen" by the DC1100 and implements a close loop...
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