New Yellow PCBs from JLCPCB - Peak Detect Circuit

[@user-ym6wr1im7j]

These videos are great for helping me get off to sleep, keep up the good work.

[@petesclark]

When you tested the two bar graphs side by side, I could cross my eyes slightly to superimpose the moving graphs. The stereo effect is noticeable that way. I enjoyed your presentation. I can't wait for the vocoder to get finished.

[@JulianIlett]

Just tried that myself - and it does work well - cheers :)

[@stoojinator]

This project is the longest running project known to man. Rebuilding the Great Wall of China will take less time than for Julian to finish his Vocoder :)

[@JerryEricsson]

I picked up one of those crimping tools that works on those connectors, but most of the time, I simply crimp the one around the insulation first, then put the wire in a hemostat to hold it upright and with a sharp little needle type soldering iron tip that I usually use for SMD connections, I put just a drop of solder on the connection and wire, whilst heating the other side of the connector. I have had great luck with this method both with those little connectors and others such as the dupont type as well. So long as the spring connector is above where you solder gravity seems to protect the connection and the solder flows down

[@DigicoolThings]

Wow. Seeing the yellow PCB took me back to the early days when we made our own PCB’s from paper phenolic copper laminate. Kinda cool / retro look. Now you just need to route your traces in curves, like we use to do with hand-taped transparent film based PCB layout designs. :)

[@marioremyalmeida]

What is the reason you have the male header on the black PCB facing downward instead of upward which make installing the yellow PCab much easier

[@UpLateGeek]

Could you use the function generator on your oscilloscope to drive the displays into the red? Won't be as dynamic as the music, but you should be able to wind up the voltage in real-time to determine the exact points at which it hits the red line and tops out the display.

[@smbrown]

I will forever associate your soldering shots with your commentary about “older solder, and colder solder” 😀

[@JulianIlett]

He he, I remember that.

[@williamsquires3070]

Hint: cut about 1 mm off the pins, and it’ll make wiggling the peak/hold boards on to the bar-graph display boards a lot easier, and you’ll still have way more than enough pin length to go around! Happiness! 😊

[@greaser5691]

Down under where the magazine started, it was quite common to see direct use of the application note circuits in the ETI projects. the one that sticks in my memory was the ETI1410 bass guitar amplifier that used the NE571 compander as a peak limiter, pretty much straight out of AN174 (with the two errors corrected, of course :) )

[@duncanx99]

I still can't help thinking this is overkill for announcing the voltage on a solar-charged battery...

[@tinygriffy]

you do realize that this is the vocoder project and has nothing to do with solar charging ?

[@santosvella]

@@tinygriffy I'm guessing he was being humorous.

[@tinygriffy]

@@santosvella oh, right... i don't get that sometimes ;)

[@TKomoski]

Morning Sir Julian just a thought about the leds on the meter board. You have two red leds and one yellow, my thought is that yellow is a warning (2 leds) and red means to stop (1 led). It's great that the vocoder project is moving along very swiftly. It looks like your focused on PCB design lately and it makes the vocoder project very professional looking. Always a fanboy so *Cheers* for now and have a good one.

[@JulianIlett]

The original magazine article has 3 reds and seven greens. I kind of want to stay true to the original, but slipped in a yellow just for variety :)

[@TKomoski]

@@JulianIlett Cool

[@peterwooldridge7285]

ALAN PARSONS PROJECT...a bit of a fav of mine. Ain't got a clue what you're doing but notwithstanding that enjoyed it thoroughly....Cheer J

[@GeorgeWMays]

So cool. Thanks for sharing your progress on the project. Really appreciated....

[@gcewing]

For future projects you could base your revision numbering on the resistor colour code, giving you a bigger range of numbers.

[@JulianIlett]

Would love to, but there are no brown, orange, purple or grey PCBs available. JLCPCB did offer purple for a while, but not anymore.

[@TheDIYGuy999]

Yes, you finally labelled your connectors 👍

[@JulianIlett]

I did - good advice :)

[@TheDIYGuy999]

@@JulianIlett Yes, labelled connectors are a must have, if you don't have a schematic on hand later on and still want do connect the connectors.

[@MD4564]

@@JulianIlett Need cable management now :D

[@Roy_Tellason]

And polarity markings for the capacitors...

[@HazeAnderson]

Greetings! :) I love that power distribution bar you put together. Would you mind giving some recommends for crimping tools? What gauge, insulated vs non, suitable connectors etc. No big whoop. :)

[@jerric8267]

Hello Julian. I'm quite new to this sort of thing so i have question about capacitors and batteries. Is it possible to charge a capacitor with a lipo battery? If not please explain why not.

[@kennmossman8701]

yes

[@kennmossman8701]

IRKS me that the LEDs are not touching.....WHY leave a gap between them?????????????????????????????????

[@rimmersbryggeri]

When it comes to datasheets. I think you have to read the license details to see what exatctly the copyright entails. I tjhink it might be that you have to pay license if they are reproduced in textbooks etc.

[@JulianIlett]

That could get very tedious :(

[@rimmersbryggeri]

@@JulianIlett I do think there is very little enforcement of it outside printed media when it comes to datasheets. Might just be the id numbers that are copyrighted also.

[@Roy_Tellason]

I would expect that the reason for the copyright is to prevent some other device manufacturer from just copying the datasheet without any prior agreement. Otherwise you wouldn't have all of those websites full of datasheets, including mine. :-)

[@Blitterbug]

Why are you surprised that the signal didn't peak into the red? The producer's / engineer's job is to make sure that doesn't happen except for very fast transients! Looks to me as if your VU meters are spot on.

[@T2D.SteveArcs]

the over lap of the leds turned out to be a pain as i wanted to use this chip (well the 3914) as a tap changer in my diy power supply

[@massimookissed1023]

Couple of LM339 quad comparators and a chain of resistors to give 8 voltage reference points ..?

[@T2D.SteveArcs]

@@massimookissed1023 yeah i know i thought of building it up.. i still may, I am just running on the highest output winding and burning off the excess for now as needed to use power supplies but will revisit it. Thanks for the reply

[@comment2009]

Reminds me of a project I did for a TV production truck. Needed additional meters for the audio board. Company wouldn't spend $1,500 for a meter bridge, so I requestioned a bunch of DYI meter kits as "replacement parts" for $250. Installed trim pots on the inputs for calibration.

[@henrikjensen3278]

I wonder about the red levels, is it the OpAmps that cannot deliver enough output voltage? It would be fun to do this with a microprocessor and about 20 leds, programmable lin/log, programmable decay, programmable average time and the options to show peak, average or both (Light up the difference between average and peak) on the leds. A standard Arduino Mega328 processor could do it.

[@massimookissed1023]

You could simultaneously show a bar AND the peak as a separate or brighter dot. (Or even make the peak point blue by using RGB LEDS :)

[@GrafRucola]

I’m sorry, i dint really get why the effort of making an rca Adapter board? What did I miss ?

[@Markus0021]

It's so he can switch to other connector types if/when needed.

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

The RCA connectors he gets from eBay don't have a consistent pinout. So when he runs out of his current batch, and buys a new bunch of connectors from eBay, he just has to make a new adapter board to match the new connectors, and doesn't have to rebuild his main boards.

[@GrafRucola]

RedwoodRhiadra haha i See thanks

[@steverpcb]

There are too many standards used for 0db, normally it will be .77mv rms, 1v rms, or 1mw into 600 ohms. It looks like your player has a fixed output of 0db and the music had been correctly recorded at 0db.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

it's all too confusing without the third letter. 0dBv = 1V 0dBu = 0.775V or 1mW into 600 ohm 0dBm = 1mW, could be 1mW into 50 ohms, or 75 ohms, it's just a power ratio. 0dB is unknown as it's a ratio of nothing, that last letter gives it all meaning. the letter also lets you know if it's 20Log(v1/v2) for voltage or 10Log(p1/p2) for power

[@pulesjet]

Actually I like the Natural PCB like that. Visualizing everything is much better. Or you could have just used the Standard Color Code BBROYGBVGW ? Your little Audio Level Boards would be cool as stand alone. Liking the DOT mode. Just looks more precise ?

[@massimookissed1023]

IIRC JLCPCB only do red, yellow, green, blue, black, and white PCBs.

[@tinygriffy]

nice design thought with the mounting there ! maybe you could use a 1.6mm H-profile to fix the pcb between the others.

[@kennmossman8701]

No schematic? ........thx

[@nullerrno]

11:38 says the man making a vocoder?

[@DustinWatts]

You usually start your video's with "Good morning!". I also do my best work in the morning ;) Thanks for your video!

[@thomasw6169]

Blue for revision four!

[@andymouse]

If it's convenient to put a copper pour on both sides I do, because it requires less "etchant" and goes a tiny way towards keeping nasty liquids out of rivers and oceans...just a thought..Oh another great PCB, I can't wait for the real testing stuff as a unit. Have you given any thought to the enclosure at all? like wood or metal or rack mounting that sort of thing?

[@gregorythomas333]

"After a lot of very foul language..." Pretty much describes most of my projects :) These boards look great Julian! The copyright markings on the data sheets are most likely to prevent other companies from snagging their work.

[@UpLateGeek]

Pretty sure datasheets are fine to show in a video under fair use, since you're analysing the contents and commenting on them, so it's a transformative work rather than a copyright infringing reproduction. Obviously I'm not a lawyer, so don't take this defence all the way to court, but that's my understanding of it. I mean, Jenny Nicholson has videos basically reading through whole books and commenting on them, and she seems to get away with it, so I'm pretty sure talking about datasheets in videos is fine.

[@JulianIlett]

I think that's how I'm going to look at it. Most of my stuff is retro, so the data sheets are often 30/40 years old - not exactly commercially sensitive :)

[@rimmersbryggeri]

I thinkt that mp3 player doenst quite have line level outoput or the bargraph is sligned for studio line level.

[@sdgelectronics]

That funky tracking on the PCB is killing me. 0°, 45° and 90° only!

[@SidneyCritic]

I was going to say the same thing. Where's the OCD when you need it. lol

[@JulianIlett]

Why limit yourself to just those angles?

[@SidneyCritic]

@@JulianIlett Because the voices in my head say so. lol www.mediafire.com/convkey/642d/8s6nh4updbg8hz96g.jpg

[@SidneyCritic]

@@massimookissed1023 Fritzing has a shortcut that snaps to 45º, but I don't use it. I just put a plastic set square on the monitor and line it up by eye. When you have one trace at the right the grid snaps makes it easy to align parallel traces.

[@tonyfoster61]

Turn the volume up!

[@massimookissed1023]

The mp3 player might limit the volume to protect hearing. My phone warns me when I turn the volume up too much, but has no _I already have tinitus_ option.

[@T2D.SteveArcs]

doe Julians traffic light revision scheme...

[@jyvben1520]

to see parts of a datasheet for your own use is ok + you are promoting their hardware, you are not a company that makes an electronic component and copies the original datasheet + then pretend it is home-made.

[@pinterelectric]

I see it playing I Robot

[@jayherde0]

I saw 'tell-tale heart'

[@whatthefunction9140]

No rev 4 allowed

[@JulianIlett]

Absolutely not ;)

[@michaelstevens630]

Yellow? Looks more like Mustard Coloured to me...

[@michaelstevens630]

Oops you confirmed the same. So now messes up your colour scheme.

[@mikechartrand8648]

Another youtube killed by commercials

[@aiboffin295]

Mustard? No, Camino Gold!

[@massimookissed1023]

Hey Julian, how to crimp connector: kzbin.info/www/bejne/goHHo5ufZ9R0ecUm09s

[@UnexpectedMaker]

Not a fan of music?!?!?!? That yellow is ugly... way more mustard and dirty looking :( Whoever picks the colors at JLC needs to get their eyes checked!

[@JulianIlett]

I rarely listen to music - particularly in the car. I'd far rather have silence than music. Call me weird :)

[@UnexpectedMaker]

@@JulianIlett But then you redeemed yourself when you said you had the Alan Parsons Project on your MP3 player... !!! The birds started chirping, the sun came out, and all was good in the world again! How fricken amazing is Alan Parsons!!!

[@TKomoski]

Fume Extractor

[@JulianIlett]

I don't need it - the rosin flux fumes can trigger asthma in some people, but I've never had a problem with it. And I like the smell :)

[@HazeAnderson]

You can tell if a solder joint is going to be good by its odor ... 🍝🤗

[@massimookissed1023]

I trained myself into a habit of a big breath in before applying the solder, then blow at the joint when soldering.

[@mahlapropyzm9180]

Alan Parsons Project. No wonder you aren't really a fan of music.

[@JulianIlett]

Because all the good music was written 40 years ago ;)

[@ats89117]

That's not yellow. It's a disgusting mustard and will probably get even uglier with time...