Question for Technical.

[SAborn]

Why is there no complete schematics for the prototype boards Rev-ed sells ???

There is often a question on the forum about what pin to wire what to, and code to suit, i have never purchased a Rev-ed board in my life (i make my own PCB's).

It be nice to have full schematics for your boards, so it can be easy understood what many questions relate to and not needing to sit on the fence with helping someone, until a person who has knowledge of using your boards comes along.

I find it rather strange in todays era that there is no full schematics for a PCB Rev-ed produce, and sold to many as a starter kit project.

Why is this so, and will it be rectified soon. ??

 

[g6ejd]

I agree, because I have found segments of the board schematics, in the documentation, but rarely is the board and schematic shown together. I'll test that on my favourite board the AXE110 - small delay - OK, there's a datasheet and in there is a full schematic.

Now to do the same with my second best board the AXE401 - small delay - not so good, the datasheet is there, but the schematic is comprised of lots of small partial diagrams throughout the data sheet placed in context at various stages, for example the regulator is shown by itself in one section, so Yes that could usefully be augmented with a full board schematic.

 

[techElder]

Well, that doesn't quite sound the same as ...

... no complete schematics for the prototype boards Rev-ed sells ...

There should be some sense seen in furnishing a complete schematic with every board that one purchases.

One should also see that publishing all of a product's features and construction details on the Internet might have some business negatives.

 

[SAborn]

One should also see that publishing all of a product's features and construction details on the Internet might have some business negatives.

Yes i fully understand that view, and suspect its why there is no full schematics supplied.

But in todays era it really dont matter, as if it was to be copied it will be anyway, its a simple circuit board design anyone can trace out.

So in the meantime there is no actual schematic support supplied, to what i would expect to be a given requirement for selling a product.
We always ask everyone on the forum for a circuit schematic, so why dont Rev-ed follow and supply schematics to their boards too. ??

 

[Morganl]

Also the black paint is a pain. (and is ugly looking IMHO)
Hiding details makes use (modding/extension/learning/development) harder, thus less interesting to buy.

 

[Goeytex]

I imagine it mainly because of time / manpower constraints. Too much to do and not enough people, time & budget to do it. I doubt that Rev-Ed has a 10 man team of employees dedicated to tech writing, and manual updates. Same with programming & product development, which is likely the reason that PE6 has not yet been released.

With only 3 or 4 employees doing it all ... programming, debugging, marketing, shipping, answering phones, tech support , etc, I doubt that very much priority has been assigned to providing full schematics for every product. Certainly it is not because Rev-Ed is intentionally withholding schematics out of fear that a product could be copied as any junior level engineer or technician could reverse engineer just about any Rev-Ed board and have a schematic in a day or so.

I get much more frustrate with posters who ask for help but are too lazy ot too inconsiderate to post a schematic or take a photo, than I do with Rev-Ed for not providing full schematics on everything they sell because I'm pretty sure that Rev-Ed is not doing it out of laziness or lack of consideration.

 

[Morganl]

Schematics are made for making the products anyway, and black paint is (marginally) more expensive than standard translucent green.

 

[Technical]

The vast majority of our products do have a full schematic in the datasheet. Some don't (mostly quite old ones), and as and when they are requested we generally do add them when time allows. There is no intention of hiding anything, but if a datasheet has been in existence for 10 years and no-one has yet requested the full schematic...

There is no 'paint' on any of our boards. The black layer is the solder resist lacquer layer that is essential for manufacture whilst wave soldering, it is not there to simply hide the tracks! Black costs exactly the same as green and is chosen because the white ident print shows up much better against it - and we prefer the colour!

 

[Morganl]

I respect you choice, although i do not share the same preferences regarding opaque solder resist lacquer

 

[John West]

I like the black bds, but I've never had any trouble reading a good silkscreen job done over a green solder mask. The silkscreen quality matters far more than the background color. I do find it more convenient when I can easily see where the traces are coming from and going to, as I tend to forget almost immediately what I just read on a schematic. But then, I'm old, and I suspect I'll just get older.

 

[serfort]

Yep ...I'm still using the AXE-90 (pcb no 101165) and would love to have a schematic. Thanks

 

[SAborn]

Since i have been unable to find a quick link to all schematics of boards Rev-ed sells, other than scattered part schematics of board, perhaps a quick link to the forum tool bar for schematics would assist many.

Im still yet to find a full schematic for a Rev-ed product other than a block schematic, which is next to useless outside of kiddy level.

 

[hippy]

Yep ...I'm still using the AXE-90 (pcb no 101165) and would love to have a schematic. Thanks

There is not a single 'includes everything' all-in-one schematic in the AXE090 datasheet but the individual sections are detailed ( likewise for AXE091 ). The only thing I could not see documented is the power supply, regulator, associated components and decoupling capacitor.

http://www.picaxe.com/docs/AXE090.pdf

Im still yet to find a full schematic for a Rev-ed product other than a block schematic, which is next to useless outside of kiddy level.

I haven't checked all products but a quick check of some popular products show schematics are included in our datasheets.

http://www.picaxe.com/docs/AXE101.pdf
http://www.picaxe.com/docs/BOT120.pdf
http://www.picaxe.com/docs/CHI030.pdf

Perhaps we have some difference in the definition of "schematic" ?

 

[SAborn]

There is what i call a full schematic on pages 7 and 8 of this file. (the rest is just a data sheet)
http://www.picaxe.com/docs/CHI030.pdf

Thanks to hippy i stand corrected Rev-ed dont do schematics, but can we have a quick link to a page of all schematics for all boards, without the need to filter through files and pages of data to find a simple drawing for each board.

 

[hippy]

At present the schematics are within the datasheets and I am not sure if they exist in a standalone publishable form. I will have to pass a request for those on to Technical. We have a list of datasheets but not the schematics themselves -

http://www.picaxe.com/Datasheet-List

 

[SAborn]

Thanks Hippy, it would be very handy if technical could colate a quick link page to all schematics without the need to view each datasheet in full, perhaps with a link from each schematic back to the datasheet.

I often get asked what board can be used to suit someones project needs, and without some form of a quick schematic view its not easy to recommend a suitable board or changes required to adapt a board to suit.

I always have a printed and laminated copy of all picaxe pinouts handy for quick reference, and it would be very useful to do the same for schematics of the picaxe boards.