Test and Measurement

Hello, I have an assignment. I need to write a 2000-word blog on some common connectors that are used in embedded system-related projects. I have started my write up. So far I have included these connectors- JST connectors  :JST conenctors are commonly found in battery packs, small sensor modules, and embedded systems where space is limited. One advantage is their secure locking mechanism, which helps prevent accidental disconnection due to vibration. Dupont connectors : Dupont connectors are the standard jumper-wire connectors used in prototyping, especially with breadboards and development boards like Arduino or ESP32. USB connectors: USB connectors are extremely common due to standardization and availability. USB-C, in particular, supports higher power levels and faster data rates, making it suitable for modern embedded systems. The main limitation is that USB connectors are more complex to implement correctly on custom PCBs, especially for high-speed or USB-PD designs, which require careful layout and impedance control. Can you tell me what other conenctors I can mention in my blogs? I'd like to get more suggestions. I will include more names and descriptions.   

Hello, Is your Maxim Integrated EV System Development Kit for MAX86140 MAX86141  medical graded? Can we use it to make commercial Oxymeters and heart rate sensors?   

Choosing the right battery is never simple. Supplier profiles, your team's test data, datasheets that don't reflect real conditions — the challenge isn't finding data, it's making sense of it. The Battery Profile Manager in latest Otii SW release 3.7 gives you a dedicated place to do just that - manage and analyze discharge profiles. Here’s how it works: All your battery discharges done and saved in Otii with automatically end up in the Battery Profile Manager. Ready for you to start using them for emulation and analysis. You can import battery profiles into the Battery Profile Manager, whether you made them with another Otii or with other tools, as long as they use the supported JSON format. Open any profile to check its discharge curves. You’ll see one for open-circuit voltage (OCV) and another for internal resistance (Ri) across the full cycle. Select two or more profiles to compare them side by side in one view. This lets you see how different cells perform under the actual conditions. Export profiles to share with your hardware team, component suppliers, or external partners, so everyone is working from the same characterization data. Once you've identified the right profile for your use case, you can use it in Battery Life Estimator to run your product’s lifespan estimates. Full walkthrough ▶ https://youtu.be/Bn-OBGn6aw8?si=I7rPi6DKlLu19-Ya Try it free (Battery Toolbox trial) ▶ https://www.qoitech.com/contactOtii Ace Pro 257-3555Otii Arc Pro 256-4687

New Otii 3.7 is out – this is what battery life estimation should look like! The industry runs on datasheet assumptions. We just made that optional. Your device's power consumption and battery profile now work together in one seamless workflow. Real measurements in, defensible estimates out. Here's what's new: ▶ Battery Profile Manager - Browse your battery profiles database to see how different batteries perform with your device. Compare profiles side by side, and easily import or export to stay in sync with your team, suppliers, and partners.▶ Battery Life Estimator - Combine real measurements from your device with a measured battery discharge profile to get a reliable runtime estimate in seconds, along with the used capacity.▶ Custom Monitor - Watch your system in real time, choose only the variables that matter for your setup, and view channels from different Otii instruments together, all without starting a recording. Read the full feature breakdown Get started now. Otii Ace Pro 257-3555Otii Arc Pro 256-4687

Which design can pass the IPC warp test? My answer: Symmetric stacking is more likely to pass the IPC warp test; asymmetric stacking can also pass, but it requires careful balancing of copper amount/thickness and selection of appropriate materials and processes.

Just a curiosity question if I may. What brand of flux you are using to hand solider parts to PCB?

I'm having trouble with the following attach circuit, it keeps blowing the LED in the optocoupler.  So what is wrong with my design? The incoming signal is a 12V pules (1K to 100KHz), I need the zener to clamp the wave to a 5V     

Greetings,I am a researcher currently developing a study on the measurement of difficulty/complexity in electronic circuits. I am looking for books, scientific articles, instructional materials, or datasets that present sets of electronic circuits accompanied by some indication of difficulty, complexity level, or pedagogical classification, even if such indication is subjective or approximate.Any reference would be welcome, including classic textbooks, lecture notes, datasets, academic repositories, or materials used in technical or university-level education. If you are aware of works that organize circuits by difficulty level, or that could be used as a basis for comparative analysis, I would greatly appreciate your help and recommendations.On my ResearchGate profile, I have published some works on complexity measurement in other domains, such as industrial property patents and C programming language source code, which may help contextualize my research approach.Thank you in advance for any help or references you may be able to share.

Starting a perfect for someone. He wants to detect a TRIGGER and GATE signal (to control a solid state relay). . He says the TRIGGER is a pulse signal and does not know the peak voltage and does not know what the pulse wave form is. The gate accord to him is a square wave pulse that either logic 0 or 1. Pulse length can be serval seconds to minutes long.  Again, he not tells what the max voltage is.  Can someone tell me what this Eurorack CV wave formate is. Thank you. :)

Happy new year every one. I am hunting for a 30VA (PRI 120VAC SEC 12VAC) step down transformer for a project. Using a full bridge, recfire to turn the 12VAC to a 12VDC to power the circuitry, which needs at lest 2.5Amps.  Does anyone know of such animal?. 

Passivation in lithium batteries with liquid cathodes (like Li-SOCl₂, and Li-SO₂Cl₂) forms a protective lithium chloride (LiCl) layer on the anode, preventing internal short circuits and enabling long shelf life. However, this insulating layer increases internal resistance, causing a startup voltage delay that will worsen over time with storage. Using Otii Ace Pro 257-3555 and Otii Battery Toolbox developers can measure the effects of the battery passivation and better predict the battery life of their products.

A supercapacitor is an energy storage device that stores charge electrostatically, allowing for rapid charge and discharge cycles with high power density. Unlike batteries, supercapacitors have low energy density but extremely low internal resistance (ESR), making them ideal for handling short, high-current pulses and stabilizing voltage during load transients. In hybrid power architectures, supercapacitors are often used in parallel with primary cells (e.g., Li-SOCl₂) to absorb peak loads and minimize voltage drops. #OtiiAcePro 257-3555 with a 4-wire measurement setup, you can analyze supercapacitor behavior, tracking the storage efficiency and performance over deep voltage drops and repeated pulses.

Battery aging is the gradual deterioration of a battery’s capacity and performance over time due to chemical and physical changes within the cell. It results in reduced energy storage, higher internal resistance, and shorter operational life, and is influenced by factors like temperature, charge cycles, state of charge, and storage conditions.  Otii Ace 257-3555 /Arc Pro 256-4687 and Otii Battery Toolbox offers battery cycling to test aging and features a fully customizable test sequence, unlimited test cycles, multi-battery support, and a clean, intuitive user interface.

Hi everyone, I recently read a comparison article titled “ESP32 vs STM32 vs RP2040 vs Arduino Guide” , and I’m considering writing my own version of a comparison post focusing on these microcontrollers. The article gave me a good overview, but I’d like to bring in additional perspectives — especially from engineers and hobbyists here — to make the comparison more complete, practical, and nuanced. Before I start writing, I wanted to ask the community: What aspects do you think are most important when comparing microcontrollers like ESP32, STM32, RP2040 and Arduino — e.g. performance, power consumption, development ecosystem, community support, ease-of-use, peripheral support, cost, etc. Based on your own experience, which MCU(s) do you prefer for small-scale embedded projects, and why? Are there any pitfalls, trade-offs or “hidden gotchas” when choosing among them that a newcomer might ignore? What format or content would you find useful — for example: benchmark comparisons; code examples; power/performance tests; cost vs performance analysis; community-support summary; or application-based advice (IoT, battery-powered devices, robotics, etc.) My goal is to combine objective data (specs, benchmarks) with real-world usage feedback, to help others (especially less experienced engineers / makers) choose the most suitable MCU for their needs. If you have time and interest, I’d greatly appreciate your input — opinions, stories, suggestions, even criticisms. Thanks in advance!

Battery discharge profiles describe how a battery’s voltage changes over time (or over capacity) as it discharges under a load. They're crucial for understanding battery performance, and they are typically presented in battery data sheets as a plot of Voltage (y-axis) vs. Time or Capacity (x-axis). The load is also typically assumed to be constant. Pulsed loads better reflect the real-world conditions batteries face in sensor and IoT devices. If you are discharging batteries with Otii Arc 256-4687 and Ace Pro 257-3555 and Otii Battery Toolbox your battery discharge profiles for pulsed loads will include internal resistance information and can therefore be used to emulate battery behaviour.