#WashTastic - 1W node based on E22-900M30S and promicro NRF52

1 messages · Page 6 of 1

olive basin
severe halo
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because I'm assuming you gave them the same washtastic design that is already available

olive basin
severe halo
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did they tested the 5v rail ?

olive basin
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i gave them the schematic so well see

olive basin
severe halo
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one small possibility is that the boost is not working and the sx1262 is unpowered, hence no radio on SPI bus

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well.. what's left is to test continuity between promicro board and the e22 SPI pins one by one and look also for shorts

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do you have full text output or just screen capture?

olive basin
severe halo
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ask it for a more detailed inspection that can help you to find the root cause

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who knows

severe halo
# olive basin

what bugs me about this picture is that the bluetooth antenna is soldered upside down xD

olive basin
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oh

severe halo
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the C3 marking is on the PCB side... I have some dead promicros and found that the bt chip antenna is just like the one on your picture in the pcb side

olive basin
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💀

severe halo
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btw, the BME280 has it's i2c addr floating, not to vdd neither to gnd. Is that deliberated for the customer to manually bridge the address?

olive basin
olive basin
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tho i could change the footprint

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hmm

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not the whole log tho

severe halo
olive basin
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yeaaaa

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i asked of they can provide it

olive basin
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Don't see anything wrong expect no lora

heady mulch
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Question: what firmware are they using?

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And have you confirmed that that firmware matches the repo?

olive basin
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WashTastic variant and promicro

heady mulch
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They're using the Washtastic 30db one, but has that version been tested locall?

olive basin
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WashTastic jus piggy backs from promicro

heady mulch
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yee, but have you checked that that works ok on one of your washtastics?

olive basin
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I did give them the default promicro firmware too and apparently it doesn't work either

heady mulch
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I saw the floating BME address thing, too. I don't think it will make a difference?

olive basin
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Idk how it would

heady mulch
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I ran the DRC against the current wahstastic, and I notice the boost vias are smaller than the rest

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is it definiteyl getting 5v?

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they've added the battery, but have they flipped the switch?

olive basin
olive basin
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More testing stuff xd

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Will also check WashTastic firmware just to be sure it worked

heady mulch
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anyway, you can fatten them up

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maybe they were smaller for the old boost module

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its a neat little circuit

olive basin
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The boost layout hasn't changed between me ordering and elecrow making them

heady mulch
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I know

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but the difference is that elecrow made these, and JLC made the last ones

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will they charge to ship you one for testing?

olive basin
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Ill have to ask.

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But that's for tomorrow

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Or later today when im home

heady mulch
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ok

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Best thing to do is put the same firmware on one of your working ones, and then try and recreate the fault with switch settings and adding/removing battery

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might be something silly like they've got it powered off USB and battery or something

severe halo
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totally agree with @heady mulch

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would try telling them with a generic 2.6.11 diy promicro from the meshtastic site

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and if you have this file (INFO | ??:??:?? 1 S:B:255,2.7.4.c1f4f79d4,WashTastic,vardas/meshtastic_firmware_mirror) I would test it on one of your boards

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or if you ran out of boards, I can try it in one of my 0.3.5.4

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INFO | ??:??:?? 2 S:B:255,2.7.5.e3dd8164a,WashTastic,vardas/meshtastic_firmware_mirror

This is the only one I could test out... it works, but is not the same version

olive basin
severe halo
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well.. if board is the same, the options, as I see it, are:
different promicro (spi not properly wired)
boost not working/no 5v in rail
bad solder joints

silver crest
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Anyone had issues with the battery voltage reporting wrong in the v0.3 or 0.2 @olive basin

olive basin
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Not that i know

olive basin
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idk if i rly should just start selling v0.4, maybe that one would not have this issue what elecrow is having

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and me on 3 boards

severe halo
olive basin
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I don't believe Elecrow is making them, rather they are just buying them.

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I guess i could also ask if they can try changing the promicro to see if it helps

heady mulch
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You need one in front of you

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Ideally 2

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Then you can debug yourself, an remove the promicro and see if it really is defective

olive basin
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Tru 😅 will have ask about that too, what does it cost to get few to test.

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Well technically i have 3 right now that show similar log output 🤣

heady mulch
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Ohkay

silver crest
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Are there any of the washtastic that have the XIAO boards or are they all just pro micros

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What’s the newest version and the updates I only have the v0.3 what’s changed looking to get some new ones

silver crest
# olive basin

This one looks cool I think it’s the latest one @olive basin

olive basin
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yea thats the latest one

silver crest
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Cool is it on the GitHub?

olive basin
olive basin
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v0.3.5

silver crest
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Whats changed?

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Better battery management

olive basin
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better charger yea

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thats the main thing

silver crest
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That’s the only big thing right and just fixing other broken things

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Cool

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I’ll find it on GitHub I wana see how much it costs now in the U.S

olive basin
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also has bme280 onboard, tho its optional cuz it requires standard assembly

silver crest
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Ohh cool

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So like the pro micro right

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You have to add them separate

olive basin
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u can make jlc add the bme280 if u want

silver crest
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Cool is that for weather or just pressure

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What’s V0.4?

olive basin
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pressure, temp and humidity

olive basin
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so no promicro

silver crest
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Ohhh interesting

olive basin
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tho its very expensive

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u can get 10 0.3.5 for the same price as 5 0.4

silver crest
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Oh wow

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Let’s see how much they are in the U.S. with all the tariffs @olive basin 😂

olive basin
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there are ppl here that live in US so maybe u could get group order 😅

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oh ye 0.4 also has ina3221

silver crest
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Yeah that’s what I’m thinking

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What’s an ina chip do?

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And the board with the solar input is mppt right?

olive basin
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i do wanna redo the whole, well the solar side mainly to reflect the layout of 0.3.5

silver crest
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Cool

olive basin
silver crest
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I’ve had issues with the battery voltage reporting on the first version maybe that’s fixed on 0.3.5

olive basin
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it is

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atleast works for me

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lol

silver crest
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Cool

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And what’s the battery and solar input? 1s for battery right

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Lipo

olive basin
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if u read the readme it has a image of every port iirc

silver crest
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Oh cool so there is switches for the solar input

olive basin
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yea

silver crest
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Thats cool

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Do you upload the CSV as the bom as wel?

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Oh I found it

olive basin
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yea

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yea after "swapping" promicro this one works now

silver crest
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Is that too flash it

olive basin
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nope

silver crest
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Woah cool

olive basin
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this one was not working lol

silver crest
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Ahh

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So I can just press through the buttons on JlC right

olive basin
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well u need to resolve the shortfall of 20 caps

silver crest
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Hmm they just don’t have them currently

olive basin
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u can find some part that is same values

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hit that

image.png
silver crest
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The search button okay

olive basin
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yea that lol

olive basin
silver crest
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Will any of these work

olive basin
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take that

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its basic part

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so cheaper

silver crest
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Cool thanks!

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And the other things it just matched up so I selected

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Do I need to flip any parts like before?

olive basin
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u can do that but jlc should fix that 😅

silver crest
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So I do or they will hopefully

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Is it the same parts I have to flip?

olive basin
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U9 is the only i think

silver crest
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Just flip it 180?

olive basin
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flip the dot there

silver crest
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So rotate 90 to the left or the right?

olive basin
silver crest
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125$! That’s not bad for 5

IMG_8589.jpg
olive basin
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thats before tax and shipping hehe

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but yea

silver crest
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Oh yeah true

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I got to get someone to get them with me

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Anyone in the U.S. wana buy 3 and I’ll get 2?

olive basin
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haha

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how much is it with tax and what not?

silver crest
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It was my turn to drive lol I’ll check

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30$ per

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@olive basin

IMG_8590.jpg
near maple
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@olive basin so I gather elecrow will send my board once they've done/passed all the testing?

tame sigil
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@silver crest When you go to actually check out they will raise the shipping charge and then add the tariffs prepayment... When I looked last week it brought the cost up to ~$250 for 5 boards.

silver crest
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You feel like the preview show should the correct thing

tame sigil
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I know. Feel the same way

silver crest
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If your interested I might do a group buy with you

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I want to see how much it increases on my end that’s insanity

tame sigil
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I would possibly be willing to do a group buy. You ran the one without the BME280, right?

silver crest
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I’m open to either

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@tame sigil

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I want to see the price difference when I get home

tame sigil
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Bme kicks it up to standard PCBA... It is much cheaper just to add a cheap BME board

silver crest
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Cool then I’m good with that

granite scarab
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I've given up making sense out of most of these companies

tame sigil
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Elecrow? I did not get charged tariff for an Elecrow order either. We are looking at JLCPCB board build, JLCPCB adds tariff.

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I assume I will get a separate tariff bill for my Elecrow order.

granite scarab
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Oh, yeah.. the tariffs make assembled boards almost unaffordable now through JLCPCB.. heck even just ordering blank PCBs has gotten pricey.. I ordered a batch of PCBs for HF dipole antennas that I designed.. in January it was quoted as $36 shipped for 20 of them.. by the time I ordered them it was $106.. the shipping cost tripled even before the tariff was applied

tame sigil
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I didn't have quite that bad of a time with the order I did for 5 femtofox CE boards a couple months ago but it still wasn't great

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Unfortunately most of the domestic board makers don't like the JLCPCB file structures for BOM and Pick and Place... So you have to go through a lot of work to figure out how to reformat the files

silver crest
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Ohh shit you where right @tame sigil

tame sigil
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You have to reselect your coupon though, will drop it either $9 or $15 depending on which coupon you have

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Yeah it is ugly though. But still ~$50 per board is still maybe doable

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Plus the price of the pro micro nrf boards, but I think those are not too much

silver crest
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Yeah those are like 3 or 4 each

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Damn expensive @tame sigil

tame sigil
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It is. But @olive basin said they would have to raise their price on Elecrow too. And they are $85 now

olive basin
olive basin
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Also i most like need to pay tax to the government so that also means I'm not left with alot of money from the sales

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Tho will raise the price after the first 20 are sold out.

cunning breach
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Yay Finland

olive basin
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Yea...

severe halo
# olive basin <@210716942976286720> 😅

yeah I saw it... but is not the same with elecrow. I mean, you have 3 units in a drawer after assembling and testing... 20 units? that's a fair failure rate with promicros. However you said (or at least I understood) that elecrow is having this issue in all the 20 manufactured units

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this was my way of solving this one... as the promicros pins are that large, normaly I would cut them. but this promicro was failing so I erased the top promicro flash, soldered a paralel promicro in the uncut pins, and fixed it. Is actually working flawlessly at my roof

cunning breach
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I've piggybacked memory chips before, but this takes the cake... what happens if the other cpu starts up and tries talking to the bus?

severe halo
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that's why used the erase_nrf.u2f

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the dead one has no software, wont use spi

olive basin
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it was about 20

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wait no

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10

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and have 3 boards without promicros

olive basin
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Now that i think of it, maybe i should make the testing guide better 😅 to have common errors etc

severe halo
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Well, if scalating, you could give them one of the promicro testers you just designed (provided thats the fault we are having)

olive basin
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I just soldered another promicro parallel that had meshtastic flashed 😅

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Ah yes

image0.jpg
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About 15h then i can get those for 77€ 🤣

severe halo
olive basin
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Basically same way u did but with just the spi lines and it worked

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So faulty promicro

severe halo
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I’m waiting to see the promicro testers.

olive basin
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Oh those

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Yeaaaa 😅

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Gotta see if i can make em cheaper

olive basin
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Its gonna be popularish probably 😅

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Seems like jlc doesn't have pogo pins that are 12pins in one row

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Or ill just order the pins from AliExpress 🤣🤣🤣

heady mulch
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You don't need all 12

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I think I got it down to 4 groups of 3 or 4 when I was looking for a bed of nails.

olive basin
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Hmmmm

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Idk why i didn't find on lcsc

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Well gotta look tomorrow

olive basin
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otherwise good but spacing is wrong

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might have found one

olive basin
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hmmm

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they might not fit

severe halo
olive basin
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they are nice but the plastic will interfier with the other once sadly

severe halo
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yeah thats what I meant

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this is the individual one, a bit shorter

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if you look over the manufacturer, there are over 500 pogo pins xD

olive basin
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also too big xd

severe halo
olive basin
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fair

severe halo
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but a catalog over 550 pieces... maybe theres something useful 😅

olive basin
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https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C5157276.html?s_z=n_C5157276

https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C5157231.html?s_z=n_C5157231

LCSC Electronics
YZ70115093P-02 | Xinyangze | Price | In Stock | LCSC Electronics

YZ70115093P-02 by Xinyangze - In-stock components at LCSC. Price from $0.1983. Free access YZ70115093P-02 datasheet, Package, pinout diagrams, and BOM tools.

LCSC Electronics
YZP0049-20055-01 | Xinyangze | Price | In Stock | LCSC Electronics

YZP0049-20055-01 by Xinyangze - In-stock components at LCSC. Price from $0.1248. Free access YZP0049-20055-01 datasheet, Package, pinout diagrams, and BOM tools.

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3d model of promicro isnt perfectly on it

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i think those pins are too thing

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id

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idk

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C5157276 on the right and C5157231 on left

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they might be same size idk

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C5157276 is 35 cents

severe halo
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the pogo pins are not meant to fit inside. If they do, they wont make a firm contact

olive basin
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i know 😅

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i cant find anything that is small at the base but big contact at the top

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atlest yet

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i think thats good?

olive basin
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guess gotta pay what its gonna cost to get these

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1.3€ per

severe halo
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dont put all of them... just power, spi, uart and i2c.

olive basin
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fair 😅

heady mulch
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Did you find a row of 10?

olive basin
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nope

heady mulch
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Oh

olive basin
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rehehee

heady mulch
#

There's the pogos on the clamps - they have a spear point.

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So a 1mm shaft, and a 2mm head or whatever.

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But they're long

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So you need two PCBs to support

olive basin
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one pcb prefered

heady mulch
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Yee, obvs.

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But if you look at the clamps, you can see the design choices.

olive basin
#

ye

heady mulch
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There's designs for those pogo clamps on oshwlab

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And Ali sells kits as well as fully made ones.

olive basin
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i mean yea true

heady mulch
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This is for you or for Elecrow?

olive basin
#

me and for who ever needs xd

heady mulch
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Kk

olive basin
heady mulch
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Proposal: buy 3 of the kits. Make PCBs to support the row of 12 pins. Make 2 clamps with those. Profit.

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Or just do what I do and use a 10 pin clamp on the one side, and break it up on the other side

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Sorry, not meaning to derail you.

olive basin
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ther few less

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dont need all the ground pins xd

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i think these are perfect

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was not needed but i did it anyway xd¨

heady mulch
olive basin
#

i can add it xd

heady mulch
#

Is this so you can run a blinky sketch?

olive basin
#

yes

heady mulch
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You could overcomplicate it by adding two 12 pin socket headers as weel

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So it works with pinned ones, too.

heady mulch
olive basin
#

yes

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the top most xd

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next to usb

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so its easy to hold xd

olive basin
#

well not by much

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maybe they just fit?

heady mulch
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Second area

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You have big bord

olive basin
#

i mean i guess could put on the other side xd maybe

heady mulch
#

Rotate and put side by side.

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Use same LEDs.

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Complicated

olive basin
#

hahah

heady mulch
#

But you just know that youre going to want to test one that you've put pins on.

olive basin
#

happy now?

severe halo
severe halo
olive basin
#

now u are able to test promicros on headers xd

severe halo
#

yeah thats cool too

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I want my board 😬

olive basin
#

testing board?

heady mulch
olive basin
#

gud xd

heady mulch
#

You know it makes sense

olive basin
#

tru

heady mulch
#

Now, group buy?

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Or you sell them on your shop?

olive basin
#

I will be getting 5 anyway

olive basin
heady mulch
#

Preorder wen?

olive basin
#

ummmm... I mean i have to first test it xd

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tho

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why would it not work lol

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and also need to make the firmware for it

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:)

severe halo
#

does nrf ports support bidirectional current ?

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I mean, pushing and draining

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sorry, I don't know how properly express it in english

olive basin
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afaik yes, could be wrong too

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im trying to make a firmware for the board to turn the leds on and off

severe halo
#

sooooo each pin should have 2 leds? direct and reversed polarity..

olive basin
#

in meshtastics case most pins output a signal

heady mulch
#

Or read a signal...

olive basin
#

if it can send it can receive 😅

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atleast it should lol

severe halo
#

well read is a drain, isnt it ?

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ah I just got it, how bad idea was it

heady mulch
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No, but being able to go low and sink power is important too

severe halo
#

the leds would be always lighting xD

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(ignore that there's one resistor, with 2 the outcoume would be the same, a closed circuit)

heady mulch
#

Yes, needs a jumper...

severe halo
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I'm picturing a board with one relay per tested pin, all of them activated by a single switch XD

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I'm joking ofc... but switching 16 jumpers is not atractive

heady mulch
#

No, but you could have all the pins on a single rail, with a 2-position switch between vcc and gnd

severe halo
#

is amazing how is easier to think the most complicated way

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xD

heady mulch
#

Yeee

olive basin
#

😅

severe halo
#

iris is gonna kill us haha

heady mulch
#

It feels like only yesterday I said leave iris channels for iris stuff

olive basin
#

okay, no i have a program for it but how do i make it uf2 😅

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its a zip

olive basin
heady mulch
#

Have I told you about my bad memory?

olive basin
#

yes u have xd

heady mulch
#

SAMOP

olive basin
heady mulch
#

Woohoo!

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Make it blink once for out, and twice for in.

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In sequence, so you don't kill the power.

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Or something

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Idk, I computer illiterate

olive basin
#

atm like this

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it builds

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but now i need to figure out uf2 xd

heady mulch
#

In the Meshtastic firmware.

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Hth

olive basin
#

then i can make it automatically do it like meshtastic does right

heady mulch
#

Yes

olive basin
#

woohoo uf2

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anyone able to test it for me?

severe halo
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weird

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I copied it into a promicro, but is not reseting it

olive basin
#

that means the bootloader is not compatable i think

severe halo
#

bootloader is 0.9

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okay

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I think this erased the bootloader

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can't go again into dfu with double reset xD

olive basin
severe halo
#

I found this

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bin/build-nrf52.sh: bin/uf2conv.py $SRCHEX -c -o $OUTDIR/$basename.uf2 -f 0xADA52840

olive basin
#

c, f and o

severe halo
#

the same f I pasted ?

olive basin
#

guess its not the same

severe halo
#

I'm finding curious that the address is 0xADA52840

olive basin
severe halo
#

no works

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now*

olive basin
#

ooo

severe halo
#

tested all pins

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in the code just include all of them

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the 'user led' too, so anyone with a multimeter can test the rest of the pins

olive basin
#

alr

severe halo
#

you own me a promicro

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or a tsting board

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whatever fits you better

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xD

olive basin
#

u should be able flash a bootloader with nrfutil

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or if not then u need swd xd

severe halo
#

arg

olive basin
#

did u manage to flash the bootloader?

severe halo
#

no, nrfutil wont do because no usb device poping. I also was trying bluetooth from the nordic apps but no bluetooth either

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seems I have to sw

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but I dont have a programer and... I don't know if I have a free esp32 at hand

olive basin
#

#1194757507013427250 message

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thats for esp

severe halo
#

yeah i know it but need a free sp32 xD

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not an important board but also an important board...

olive basin
#

what country did u live in?

severe halo
#

the board is the board I managed to pull from a non working washtastic because could not initialize radio

olive basin
#

ah

severe halo
#

So the board itself is not useful

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BUT was perfect to try the firm and find the bastard pin that wasnt working

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You should try the firm on your dead washtastic

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And use the multimeter

olive basin
#

oh i will in 2 weeks 😅

severe halo
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Ohhh right

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You are so accesible here that I forget you are serving

olive basin
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hahah

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yeaaaa

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not many are this accessible

severe halo
#

I guess it depends of your designation.. you got to an office?

olive basin
#

basically yea

silver crest
#

Anyone else had this issue with the 0.3v that the voltage is reading over 4.5volts when the battery is at like 3.5

olive basin
silver crest
#

Thanks

olive basin
#

np

olive basin
#

10 boards

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tho i will order these with some other boards

silver crest
#

Wow that’s a good deal!

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It’s so expensive in the U.S.

olive basin
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Thats a different board haha

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Its to test promicros

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I hope it works the way i want it to xd

heady mulch
olive basin
#

That actually has them applied

olive basin
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its th testing board

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10 of em

heady mulch
#

Oh!

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Coolio

severe halo
#

I think im ordering 5 tomorrow. I will sell the rest to the spanish comunity members

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Will give feedback as soon as i get my hands on them, an also comunity feedback

silver crest
#

@viral pier did you have any issues with the power levels showing wrong on meshcore?

severe halo
#

This is for 5 assembled boards. had a $20 coupon..

image.png
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total 30,87€

olive basin
#

nice

severe halo
#

I just got scared... the initial render shows a 3,5mm pogopin, like this:

image.png
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but later DFM Analisys after order is placed renders this:

image.png
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the P/N is the same so I guess is an error rendering

olive basin
severe halo
#

yeah, I also checked the PN in the library

#

but you know, DFM analsys is performed by their engineers, so there's always a chance that they replaced a PN, but checking the components PN below is the same PN as the requested, so I don't know why it renders differently

olive basin
#

🤷‍♀️

#

i mean if its the same zise overall and same price its all good i guess 😅

viral pier
silver crest
#

I ended up having to change it in the meshcore firmware

severe halo
#

okay... learning kicad.. now fighting libraries and symbols

olive basin
#

gotta start converting easyeda stuff to kicad xd

severe halo
#

I have no idea of what I'm doing

#

I know what I want but right now I have a blank sketch and unable to import the promicro symbol

near maple
olive basin
#

they didnt send any emails?

#

my contact said that they sent

#

klhlksdflsk

#

anyway we have bit of an issue in testing the boards

#

we are working on it

near maple
#

Yeah, no email other than the one I got notifying my order had been confirmed. thanks for letting me know!

severe halo
#

Same traceroute. Same personal device (wismesh tag). Same distance between my personal node and test nodes (almost 6km). The test nodes are 200m apart but they are the same height.

The karmans tube solar is a regular 22dBm and no filter faketec with a handmade well tunned j-pole antenna (with VNA).

The CovatelNode1 is a 27dBm washtastic board with the ceramic filter and GPS, with a 40cm gizont antenna.

IMG_6117.png IMG_6116.png
#

Tested a couple of times, sonsistent results.

#

The filter is noticeable in RX. I think the TX is boosted in the handmade jpole because is vna’d.

heady mulch
#

the 40cm gizonts aren't the greatest, iirc

severe halo
#

Granted. But I dont have access to this place so I gave the board to someone who built the node and mounted it.

silver crest
#

90 mile link with a washtastic nodr

IMG_8621.jpg
olive basin
#

holy shit

olive basin
#

okay yea, i think ill be getting a board to test myself and figure out what is the issue

#

and the lora module does get the voltage needed

zenith yarrow
#

@olive basin i‘m getting confused about the output voltage of the washtastic v0.35,it output 5.43v on lora module and I checked the schematic and datasheet of tps61230,found that 360k and 100k resistors will give me 5.5v output on lora module.is that safe for e22-900m30s?

olive basin
#

Yup, it's totally acceptable. Tho it's the max voltage it can handle, could probably drop it to 5V

zenith yarrow
#

Okay I’ll take it,thx.

#

Working on it.

IMG_5327.jpg
near maple
heady mulch
#

But one direct connection on there is that distance.

silver crest
near maple
#

That's amazing! We're in the process of setting up a Meshcore mesh in Sydney as well so I'm looking forward to testing my Washtastic node with it when it arrives

olive basin
#

😅 yea sorry about all this mess

#

I didn't think it would be this hard

#

I hope it won't take long for me to get a board to test stuff out

#

To maybe figure this out

near maple
#

No worries at all! I'm just glad you're building one - I'd looked into trying to build a 1w node myself but it's waaaay beyond my skillset

olive basin
#

Fair

#

I just hope we are able to get the boards working cuz it wasn't a small sum either 😅

#

Considering Elecrow is more expensive than jlcpcb for obvious reasons 😅

#

Will probably at somepoint stock some boards for myself to sell in EU

#

For probably faster shipping times 😅

#

Also i had a lower failure rate than elecrow had, i had 10 boards and 3 doesn't work, same error what elecrow has.
3 doesn't have promicros cuz ran out 😅

#

Need to get more

#

But 25 promicros is like 76€ 😅

#

What do we have here :)

Screenshot_20250905_204111_AliExpress.jpg Screenshot_20250905_204123_AliExpress.jpg
#

Time to get 50 promicros 😅

severe halo
#

Who knows why so low.. maybe they didnt survive the qa testing xD

olive basin
#

i once bought some that were 1€ and all of em worked iirc

#

or atleast almost

severe halo
#

Is elecrow sending you a defective unit to further test it?

olive basin
#

thats what i understood

velvet pier
#

I'd be keen to know when those issues are resolved, would love to buy one and I have 0 confidence in my ability to use jclpcb, nor do I need 5 of them

olive basin
#

Dont worry, ill update once i know anything

severe halo
#

I am really curious about elecrow, really

#

So far I made 10 boards out of jlcpcb without issues (except that one with a faulty promicro..)

olive basin
#

yeaa

#

pretty much the same

#

only faulty promicros

olive basin
#

they have shipped

#

if its fast i should have it by friday

severe halo
#

elecrow ?

olive basin
#

yup

#

my test sampke

severe halo
#

Did they test it failing? Just picture your self receiving a working unit.. xDD

olive basin
#

that would be hilarious

#

i hope its one that does not work 🤣

olive basin
#

@severe halo whats the status on the testing boards?

severe halo
#

Mine landed at madrid yesterday

olive basin
#

and my hopefuly not working board is in finland

severe halo
#

Maybe delivery happens tomorrow or next monday/friday

olive basin
#

hopefully it arrives tomorrow so i can test it on saturday

severe halo
olive basin
#

yea

unborn charm
#

For a washtastic board, what should the Tx power be set to? 29?

olive basin
#

Depends where u live

#

@unborn charm

severe halo
#

@olive basin maybe you should ship your boards with washtastic builds so people dont have to do the math in the app.. xD

olive basin
#

Tho since the firmware isn't on the official flasher updating isn't as simple 😅

#

U need to know the other address

wicked breach
#

Hey hello! Thank you for project! Can you share the source file of project please? I need to make traces wider for home printing and сopper etching 🥺

olive basin
#

smalles trace is 0.254mm

#

largest is 0.750mm

#

also copper traces on the bottom layer

wicked breach
#

Thanx, 0.3 is the edge of my production capabilities 😁 maybe I'll give it a try

olive basin
#

v0.4 is impossible 😅 4 layers and rly tiny traces

#

good luck :)

severe halo
severe halo
#

3 behave like the one in the video

#

Actually this was the first board that I tested so I though that one led could be wrongly placed

#

I inspected the leds and all are oriented the same way

#

Sooo maybe that’s a dead promicro

#

I still dont have an explanation 😅

#

All the four promicro boards were tested with the same tester board (I got 5)

#

the bad news about the pogo pins is that they are actually fitting inside the holes... they need to be a bit wider

#

also a reset button would be cool to help to flash new promicros

#

otherwise is a nice to have

olive basin
olive basin
#

Thos pogo's barely fit next to each other

#

I wonder if the program also could have faults 🤔

#

I wonder can i find bigger pogos that it there

cunning breach
#

Are the through holes not plated? The pogos fitting into the holes should be a good thing 🤔

olive basin
#

They are, I think

#

If the pin fits inside does it make good contact?

cunning breach
#

I mean, if they're so small that they stick out the other side, probably not... but resting in the holes should be fine

olive basin
#

@severe halo u able to take a pic of the pins closer?

#

While promicro on them

heady mulch
severe halo
#

I have to press agains the pogo base

olive basin
#

💀

#

Fuuuu

heady mulch
#

You could make them like the pogo peg clamp thing by ordering 50% as bare PCBs...

#

Would still need to order 30 long pogo pins.

cunning breach
#

I wouldn't expect them to work well without pushing down anyways 🤷

severe halo
#

yeah but usually you only press to counter the springs

#

here you have to press more because the pogo fits inside and is not making contact

severe halo
# severe halo Got them

you can see in this video how even when Im pressing good the 4 corners, one led first stays on then off

#

that led is just vcc, should be on all along the test

#

but it goes off because the bad contact

olive basin
#

There wasn't alot bare pogos that would fit next to each other like that

heady mulch
#

I've used these in the past.

olive basin
#

tall af 🤣

#

how do these even attach ti a pcb?

heady mulch
#

You use two PCBs with a space between.

#

I'll find the other pogos later and see if they're ok with through holes.

cunning breach
#

They look like drill bits 😂

severe halo
#

They sonetimes make great contact withou further pressure, sometimes you need to make a lot of pressure

#

but hey this is good enought for me

olive basin
#

Atleast it somewhat works 😅

severe halo
#

yesh, as you can see in the videos I already located a dead promicro

olive basin
#

Yeee

#

Its weird that one led is flipped 🤣🤣

severe halo
#

but is not! polarity at that led is right as it should be

#

maybe is a short somewhere in the board, maube the nrf52 is really faulty

severe halo
#

oh btw testing unsoldered boards is a bit dificult, the remaining flux acts as isolator so if you're ever testing an usoldered promicro board, be sure to clean it with alcohol

olive basin
severe halo
#

Yeah. I cant think of what twisted logic makes that behaviour

olive basin
#

neither do i

#

since u had one that worked like a charm

silver crest
heady mulch
#

And hopefully preventing the Spitzensparken

olive basin
#

hopefully no need to desolder promicros cuz it turns out it does not work

vague blade
#

I'm gonna whip one up on protoboard I guess so I don't end up soldering any dead promicros

olive basin
#

They were just the first thing that came to mind

vague blade
#

Oh yeah they'll work good enough, this is what actual test fixtures use though. They're kinda long, you might need to do the 2 PCB thing or use a 3D printed case if you want it to be durable

severe halo
vague blade
#

The point on them is a cone and the widest part is wider than the holes on the promicro

#

so it won't slip through the holes and you actually get the spring pressure

severe halo
#

I mean, is not so crazy to do a test bed with pogo if you find enought width pogos, is it?

vague blade
#

that's the hard part though, pogo pins aren't made for this so they don't really come in the right size

#

the kind you have are meant for connecting to pads not holes

#

and like, they're awesome for that, but you need the weird head shape because the body has to be small enough to fit the pin pitch

olive basin
#

Yeaaa.......

vague blade
#

the idea with them is that you shouldn't need to bottom them out or be perfectly level, the springs will hold firm contact with the holes

#

more useful for robots I guess but that's why they're like this

olive basin
#

I just like the idea that u can just like put it on the springs and hold it there and dont need to clamp anything

#

I mean ofc u gotta hold it down a lilbit

vague blade
#

just mocking it around protoboard but something like this to hold the board and the pins straight would make it a lot sturdier

image.png
#

assembly for it would be install board into housing > install pins through housing into board > solder

olive basin
#

Hmmmm..... That could actually work

#

And then just start selling this on Etsy 🤣🤣

vague blade
#

😄

#

P50-E3 would fit a little better but I can't find any with choice shipping

heady mulch
#

Don't try to use a normal breadboard with those pins, btw.

#

Let's just say it's a good thing they come in packs of 100

olive basin
#

I wonder can i find them on jlc so i can make a pcb 🤔

vague blade
olive basin
vague blade
#

I mean, they fit

#

they don't have a little collar to hold them in the right position, so that's annoying, but they'll fit standard protoboard holes

#

Since you're doing your own PCB for it you could use P75-E3 instead, they're available w/ choice shipping and a little stronger, but they won't fit protoboard holes, just barely too big

#

You don't need to have them perfectly level with each other either 'cause springs

olive basin
#

I mean tru xd

vague blade
#

JLC would tell you to sod off 100% if you asked them to assemble one

olive basin
#

Are the testing heads small enough to fit rly close to each other? I guess they are xd

vague blade
#

E3 is 1.2mm diameter head

image.png
#

P50 is 0.68mm diameter body, P75 is 1.02mm body

heady mulch
#

Get the ones with jagged heads.

#

Spear point

#

Stabby stabby

vague blade
#

Yeah those are good too, I already ordered these ones because I found a listing with reasonable shipping 😅

heady mulch
#

Fair

olive basin
#

I guess i just need to make a new pcb with holes big enough to fit those thingies xd

vague blade
#

They should fit your existing PCB no? they're skinnier than the pogo pins karman was using

olive basin
#

Oh they are?

#

Hmmmm

#

Well then lol

vague blade
#

P50 will fit for sure, I'm not sure what size the holes are

#

If they do fit your board use P75, P50 very fragile

olive basin
vague blade
#

oh wow the pin on those is so tiny uh

#

0.6mm, if you have enough clearance on your holes it should work for P50

olive basin
#

Could just swap it to regular through holes

vague blade
#

Yeah I was just thinking for the sake of not needing more boards haha

#

They're cheap enough though I guess

olive basin
#

Haven't ordered the board yet lol

vague blade
#

oh perfect 😅

#

do 1.1mm holes instead of w/e the default pth is and use P75 pins

olive basin
#

Spiky

vague blade
#

My listing has both kinds and choice, if it's available for you

olive basin
#

Oh it was

vague blade
#

It's crazy how cheap they can sell stuff like this and still make a buck

olive basin
#

The one i sent is bkt cheaper 🙃

vague blade
#

Oh it's more for me

olive basin
#

4.24€ instead of 4.66€ 😅

vague blade
#

Ahhh I was looking at the price for the wrong option

olive basin
#

Added to my cart xd

#

Will have to design a case i guess 🤣

vague blade
#

I need to do one for myself anyway, if you wanna send the board step file I can just make it fit both

olive basin
#

Won't be able to do it now tho

vague blade
#

Yeah no rush I gotta wait for the mail anyway haha

olive basin
#

Maybe tomorrow if time allows lol but for sure on Thursday

unborn charm
#

Curious if the elecrow boards for testing arrived and if there is any update on any potential next run

severe halo
#

You are dragging me again..

cunning breach
olive basin
#

Today or tomorrow ill be able to test

severe halo
#

the working board

olive basin
#

If it works then elecrow can go to hell 🤣

severe halo
#

I'm so impatient about this... you should have sent it to me xD

olive basin
#

I should be home today I'll test it when i get home

cunning breach
olive basin
#

It is freedom indeed

#

I'm officially out

20250917_135533.jpg
heady mulch
#

Thank you for your service 🫡

#

(I used to do this to an old squaddie that worked for me, but with my left hand, doing a US salute)

#

(a look of pain every time)

olive basin
#

😅

#

Thx

heady mulch
olive basin
severe halo
#

we have internet and snacks

olive basin
#

😅

#

Internet shit

#

Little rain isn't bad cuz freedom 🙃

heady mulch
#

Let freedom rain!

olive basin
olive basin
#

Box in a box 🤣

20250917_205713.jpg 20250917_205843.jpg
#

They sent me 2

#

okay i did not get a working unit, or this one isnt

olive basin
#

now im questioning elecrows capability

#

ill test the other board

#

same issue on the other one

#

works with my janky setup

#

@severe halo

#

at this point what am i supposed to do

heady mulch
olive basin
#

yea

#

both

#

either elecrow got rly bad batch or something else fucks these promicros

heady mulch
#

Any visible solder splashes?

olive basin
#

nope

severe halo
#

Send them the janky setup, a promicro tester and documented procedure and tell them to fuck off their QA system

olive basin
olive basin
severe halo
#

Did you erased the flash at the onboard promicro, right?

olive basin
#

yea

severe halo
olive basin
#

i didnt order it yet since i was thinking of getting all the boards that i have in the cart all at once but i think i will not do that 🤣

#

ill also edit the tester to make it use the real test pins

#

plus it costs a fortune for me to send anything to china lol 🤣

heady mulch
#

What bootloader is on theirs?

olive basin
#

the i gave them aka the meshtastic one

severe halo
#

U could try adafruit bootloader but I doubt it makes a difference

#

After all they managed to burn and boot meshtastic

olive basin
#

yea

severe halo
#

Welp.. if I were you I would desolder the promicro and test it in your tester (once you have it) all in video and slap elecrow with that video to show then they are using defective boards

olive basin
#

Yeaaa.......

#

Tho it probably takes few weeks to even arrive in the worst case

severe halo
#

I though you had bought the testers the day before me xD

olive basin
#

Nah i didn't 🤣🤣🤣

#

I wasn't sure what ill do with all the pcbs in the cart lol

#

I'll prob order tomorrow

torpid jewel
#

Beautifully designed.

olive basin
#

Thx

severe halo
#

Hah now you wish you had

#

Seems I believe in you more than yourself xD

olive basin
#

hm

olive basin
#

one downside is to import all the different version u need to do it manually

#

gotta change the version in use and download it

olive basin
#

plus no 3d models atm

olive basin
severe halo
#

so, you get history exporting from easyeda ?

#

or those are just you hardwre variants

olive basin
#

just different versions of the same board

#

had to export them one by one xd

heady mulch
#

Oof*1000

olive basin
#

and still i'm missing all the 3d models 🙃

#

thats something that needs doing still

olive basin
#

guess ill make a video for them 😅

#

🤣

severe halo
#

I would love to unsolder that promicro and try it in the tester carrier

olive basin
#

oh yea same xd

severe halo
#

I was about to suggest to use the firmare and a multimeter bu since all gpios 'works' on my defective board that would lead a wrong test

olive basin
#

i did try the flashing firmware on it but didnt try it with the working promicro to see the difference

#

guess i should do it

severe halo
#

you definetly want to see all leds at same time because is not a thing of one gpio not working but working reversed xD

olive basin
#

yea

olive basin
#

thats the default easyeeda hole

#

there

#

its bit larger

vague blade
#

Nice, that should work

olive basin
#

great thx

olive basin
#

@vague blade

vague blade
#

Can you export a svg of the top layer?

olive basin
#

hmmm

vague blade
#

Or a dxf is better if it can do those

olive basin
vague blade
#

slapped the logo on it to remember which way's up

image.png
#

these are mounting holes right? the mesh was so messed up it's hard to tell 😂

olive basin
#

yea

vague blade
#

cool

severe halo
#

New board for aliexpress spears?

olive basin
#

its the same one basically but bigger holes

vague blade
#

could probably cram some tiny ones in to hit the programming pads too, but they'd be pretty easy to break

#

that'd be cool though, drop a blank board on, it programs the test code, confirms everything works then flashes meshtastic

olive basin
#

would be cool 😅 but its uf2 file that u flash. i guess u could flash it with swd too but does that break the bootloader?

vague blade
#

ah yeah no you'd need to flash it differently, like reflashing the bootloader with an esp32, but you can flash program code too while you're doing that

olive basin
#

oh rly?

vague blade
#

Yeah of course, that's what those pads are 😅 it's a programming header

#

You could use this chip with no usb if you wanted to, just flash it with those pins at the factory, I'm sure lots of stuff is made with these or similar nrf's like that

olive basin
#

oh yea

#

there are

vague blade
#

Did you mean to size these holes for M3 screws? They're a little too small, they'll fit M2/2.5 @olive basin

olive basin
#

m2 😅

#

i have them

#

like 100

vague blade
#

Alright cool, me too haha

#

Do you have heated inserts?

olive basin
#

big 🤣

vague blade
olive basin
#

m4 inserts 😅

vague blade
#

fair, they should self tap just fine I guess, I'll size the holes for screws instead of inserts

vague blade
olive basin
#

i do have heatinsert kit that has m2/m2.5 tip xd

vague blade
#

I love those little heated tips but they don't fit my good iron, I have to use some my old very crappy iron for it

olive basin
vague blade
#

ooooo, that's exactly what I want, but pinecil tips won't fit mine

#

Do you need access to the USB-C port of the inner promicro? I'm not really clear on what the second one's for, auto test?

#

Gotta punch holes for the LEDs, then usb-c port hole if it's needed and it should be ready

image.png
olive basin
#

one is for header promicros and one is for no header

vague blade
#

oh

#

uhh

#

So you'd just have pin sockets on the other side and plop headered promicros on to it?

#

I can make slots for pin sockets I guess, that's not hard

olive basin
#

yea

#

u never know what ppl need 🤣

vague blade
#

Yeah totally that's not a bad idea

vague blade
#

😅 sorry logo

image.png
#

conveniently headers are about the same height I need to sleeve the pins to

heady mulch
vague blade
#

Oh no it's okay it's just a mock board anyway it's not really obscuring anything, might as well make the case fit all the pins

#

I just slapped a logo there so I could remember what side was what lol

olive basin
#

niceeee

#

now that i think of it, resete button would probaply be a good 🤣

vague blade
#

Wouldn't hurt, I can throw one of those in there too if you can keep the board outline the same

olive basin
#

oh yea it will be the same size lol

vague blade
#

Easy then 😄

olive basin
#

do u want me to put it on the edge? so its over the pcb?

vague blade
#

oh an edge mount button, I was thinking a regular one and just have a little pusher from the top of the case

olive basin
#

ooo

#

can do that too

vague blade
#

I was thinking like there

image.png
#

a lot of people probably have the little ones for faketec boards if you want a common part

olive basin
#

yea just found similar xd

vague blade
#

yeah that'll do

heady mulch
#

@olive basin what did you think of having bidirectional LEDs?

olive basin
#

maybe one day 😅

vague blade
#

honestly for mine unless I order some pcbs I was gonna wire the gpio to a rp2040 and spare myself all the leds and resistors

olive basin
vague blade
#

uhh can you nudge it up a little? as close as you can to the logo

olive basin
#

just did

vague blade
#

sweet

#

there's a standoff there in the case for the screw hole

olive basin
#

better?

vague blade
#

stupid parallax, I think so

olive basin
vague blade
#

Yeah okay that should clear it

olive basin
#

can still move it up xd

vague blade
#

maybe just move it so the white outline for the switch is just on top of the meshtastic logo?

olive basin
#

moved logo and button up

vague blade
#

oh okay yeah that works too

olive basin
#

this work?

PCB_promicro-testing-board_2_2025-09-18.dxf
#

or do u need the model too?

#

😅

vague blade
#

Nope just that's perfect

olive basin
#

looks good

vague blade
#

I made the holes for the test probes configurable too so if anyone needs it tweaked for their printer should be nbd

olive basin
#

cool

vague blade
#

Shame easyeda doesn't do proper step exports, with kicad/eda pro I can just export the whole board in one piece and fusion's happy with it

olive basin
#

yeaaaaa

severe halo
#

I love all this

#

Thanks for adding the reset button

#

Now I also want this board and the printed case for the spears xD

heady mulch
#

Nail bed 💅

olive basin
#

i did publish the new gerbers

vague blade
severe halo
#

Boards and spears

vague blade
#

Already ordered the probes haha, I was going to just solder them to some perf board, but after seeing how it all turned out I want the boards

severe halo
#

Im searching the backlog for the aliexpress link

vague blade
severe halo
severe halo
#

Last time I ordered for the previous board, aliexpress female headers came before the jlc boards

vague blade
#

Yeah aliexpress is dumb fast these days

severe halo
vague blade
#

and free ship 😂

severe halo
#

Yeah. Crazy capitalism

vague blade
#

Must be a machine that just punches like thousands per minute out of flat stock

#

I'd imagine the factories in china go through a loooooooooooot of test probes

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you're meant to crimp wires onto a little socket that holds the pins, and the pins are basically disposable because they break real easy

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but I think P75 + not being in a factory should last fine

olive basin
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btw i did add the test pin link in the readme

vague blade
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nice, they're a real standard too so should be available forever

olive basin
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haha yea

severe halo
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But aliexpress is easy using the smarphone 😬

vague blade
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at least they're not as manipulative as temu 😅

olive basin
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i'm not even gonna touch temu lol

vague blade
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They honestly have pretty good deals sometimes, but $40 minimum order and the app is like.. realllly gamified

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"you won a $whatever reward! spin the wheel!"

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then it's like loljk spend $60 for your reward

olive basin
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yeaaaa... nah

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i like my aliexpress

vague blade
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Me too, it's way better for parts especially

olive basin
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Yup

severe halo