Who wants a Kiwi?

[Chris]

Sinchai has been closed at the moment due to illness. I hope Donald gets well soon.

ah, that explains the delay.

There might be alternatives. If you search for Rocker Switches @Digikey you could try to find one with a similar footprint. I found some wich have almost the same footprint. I wanted to search more to find a better replacement though. I will have to compare datasheets for this: http://www.nkkswitches.com/pdf/M2rockers.pdf

It looks promising.

Have a nice vacation.

Regards

Chris

[simon]

Thank you! I used the free time yesterday and today to start soldering my Rev. 2 board. Here is a quick snapshot (I forgot time and now it's a bit too dark to take a better photo)...

Simon

[simon]

Wow, almost done. I am still missing a couple parts. Either really missing or in another part-box.

While soldering I stumbled on a few issues:

• C59 and C60 (the capacitors near the 30 pin SIMM) should be tantalum. Usual capacitors might be too slow (I didn't note this in the part-list).
• Jumper J7 which is used to input one SIDs audio-out to the other SIDs audio-in is far away. I probably moved it when re-working the revision. I never used it though, but wonder if it produces additional noise. For the next batch run, I can move it back to it's original position near the SIDs. There is enough space without traces to do this manually.
• It seems that I have used the wrong (mirrored) symbol for both audio amplifier transistors. I just finished another six hours soldering and can't/don't want to check this now, but document it here. Anyway, it's no problem as the transistors can easily beeing rotated.

For the capacitor C128 I decided to use another 1000uF (just like C113) and for inductor L1 I'll try a torodial coil with 35uH, 5A. Let's see if this is ok.

Simon

[Chris]

Thank you! I used the free time yesterday and today to start soldering my Rev. 2 board. Here is a quick snapshot (I forgot time and now it's a bit too dark to take a better photo)...

Simon

Rev2_1.jpg

Looks good, did you use your oven for the SMD parts?

[simon]

Yes, I did. But I found a few joints which weren't ok. The cause is probably too old solder paste.
An hour ago I powered the Rev up for the first time. Well, it seem to boot (as I can see the flashing IDE LED) but the screen stays white atm. Now I check every SMD connection. What a task...

[Chris]

Wow, almost done. I am still missing a couple parts. Either really missing or in another part-box.

While soldering I stumbled on a few issues:

• C59 and C60 (the capacitors near the 30 pin SIMM) should be tantalum. Usual capacitors might be too slow (I didn't note this in the part-list).
• Jumper J7 which is used to input one SIDs audio-out to the other SIDs audio-in is far away. I probably moved it when re-working the revision. I never used it though, but wonder if it produces additional noise. For the next batch run, I can move it back to it's original position near the SIDs. There is enough space without traces to do this manually.
• It seems that I have used the wrong (mirrored) symbol for both audio amplifier transistors. I just finished another six hours soldering and can't/don't want to check this now, but document it here. Anyway, it's no problem as the transistors can easily beeing rotated.

For the capacitor C128 I decided to use another 1000uF (just like C113) and for inductor L1 I'll try a torodial coil with 35uH, 5A. Let's see if this is ok.

Simon

Hi Simon,

If you are looking at layout tweaks, the 3.6Mhz Crystal I am using overlaps the capacitor pads next to it by a small amount, if they could be moved away by about 2mm that would make it more forgiving on the different HC/49s packages as there are slight differences in the widths between manufacturers.

Regards

Chris

[simon]

Hi Chris,

oh yes, I noticed that as well. It's no problem for me but there is enough space on the left though. Thus I could change this.
BTW, The reason for the white screen was caused by a short at the ethernet chip. I really need new solder paste... Well, my Revision 2 is up and running since 15 minutes. And the picture is much clearer than with my Rev 1. The rework was successfully so far.

Simon

The revision 2 board up and running.

[Chris]

Hi Chris,

oh yes, I noticed that as well. It's no problem for me but there is enough space on the left though. Thus I could change this.
BTW, The reason for the white screen was caused by a short at the ethernet chip. I really need new solder paste... Well, my Revision 2 is up and running since 15 minutes. And the picture is much clearer than with my Rev 1. The rework was successfully so far.

Simon

Rev2_2.jpg

Excellent news

BTW, I just dropped on utsource for some parts and the top references for the V9990 where from you and SteveMoody

[simon]

Yeah, I like the new rev. very much. Its running for three hours non stop now - without a crash.
Wow, I didn't know, they show who quoted/bought parts.

BTW, there are still two boards of the test batch available. If anyone want to try... Now for 100€ because it is successfully tested. Just kidding. The price is still 85€ including shipping (or 90€ if shipping around the world).

In the next days I'll test everything else, rework minor issues and release the schematics and gerber files to the public. The time to order the first ten boards for the upcoming Kiwi kit approaches.

[SteveMoody]

yep i bought a few the other day