Widebands That You Would or Wouldn't Buy

[toalan]

Helmut,

Would you like to do a swap, I am interested in the PLX gen3 and the LM2 you have. How about I swap you a SLC PP2 unit + a SLC Free DIY kit for both. I do not need the sensors I just need the units. I will also provide the schematic for both products so you do not have to do much digging to know what is going on.

[toalan]

what other units do you have on hand?

[HelmutVonAutobahn]

In the big drawer are:

1 LM-1
2 LC-1s ( one opened )
1 LC-2
1 PLX SM-AFR GEN2
1 PLX SM-AFR GEN3
1 AEM 30-2310 ( opened )
1 Powerdex AFX

I was just going top order a "spartan" I figured it would be the cleanest representation ?

[peki]

That PLX board screams AUTOROUTER.... I wonder why wont those companies put some working hours to design a good layout since it will be mass produced. Nowadays its common to see better hardware desings from "hackaday" than real engineering offices. Makes me sad.

[toalan]

Actually, I just want about 2 weeks to bench them and take a detailed look at their design.

I would like to borrow or rent the your whole lot of controllers, I will bench each one with lab gas and post the results. In return, name your price.

[HelmutVonAutobahn]

peki : Yep, that would be an auto-routed board. This has always been a no-no for me for analog front ends. The LC-2 isn't a lot better.


alan: I'm sure we can work something out

[toalan]

Oh snap that sh*t is autorouted. My gen1 plx is also autorouted now that I took a closer look, usually I can spot an autorouted board a mile away but I guess I expected more from a larger company like PLX and it never occurred to me to look for signs of autorouting.

When I see autorouted sh*t it just screams to me that the company does not care enough about the product to take the few hours or days that is required to properly layout the PCB.

Even for early prototyping work I hand route everything, at the very least it does not look like sh*t even if you are only impressing yourself or a fellow workmate.

[toalan]

In the big drawer are:

I was just going top order a "spartan" I figured it would be the cleanest representation ?

I am a bit gun shy with spartan, my primary limitation with spartan was space constraints so everything is "spartan" however that can be mistaken for me trying to cheapen out on the number of components. My SLC PP2 unit better visually showcases the quality of my work, I think you could take a 5 second look at SLC PP2 and make a reasonable estimate of the quality.

Attached is an image of spartan (top side and bottom side) and SLC PP2 (without the display attachment, there are no components on the bottom side)
In the picture spartan has the calibration and programming header attached, I cut that off once the unit gets programmed and passed quality checks to get it to fit into the sensor connector.

[Fred]

Unsure if I already posted this, but I (with help/others did this) correctly wired up a Spartan on the WikiSpeed car and got a nice noise-free signal from it. Obviously I can't vouch for the accuracy, as it was the only sensor, but the response seemed crisp (from memory) and when wired correctly heater noise is a non-event. Looking forward to running more of these in future!

Alan, without asking you to give away secrets, you often mention protection circuitry and so forth when reviewing other designs. This is very much after my own heart when it comes to PCB design. Can you list what the Spartan is and is not protected against? IE, what can it withstand, and what might damage it? /me goes to check the site. Nope, fair questions, not listed. Could you give the same specs for the PP2 unit pictured above? These specs would make for a nice comparison with Helmut's findings, IMO.

Fred.

[HelmutVonAutobahn]

Merry xmas to all

Alan:

That looks like a MUCH more professional and thought out PCB design than either the PLX or Innovate parts. Congtrats on out-hustling the big guys The layout style is actually similar to the LC-1.

I can't read the part numbers. But, right away it loos like there is a big Schottky diode and TVS on the input power rail. And, what looks like a smaller TVS array near the USB header ?

I didn't notice a ferrite bead near the USB. Are you using USB power as a signal only ?

I am split on the use of modern automotive grade tantalums vs aluminum caps.

On the spartan, you must get a lot of functionality out of that CPU. I assume it is one with the switched capacitor analog front-end ?


Nice work