Coming up in Silicon Chip
Altium Designer 2018 review
Advertising Index
Altronics................................ FLYER
We have been using Altium Designer to develop circuits and design PCBs for
many years now. In that time, quite a few improvements have been made to
the software. We'll describe the new features and also point out some of the
pre-existing features that have been improved or are particularly useful.
Dave Thompson......................... 103
Digi-Key Electronics....................... 3
Emona........................................ IBC
Introduction to programming the Cyprus CY8CKIT
Hare & Forbes.......................... OBC
This low-cost module incorporates a 32-bit microcontroller and a set of
reprogrammable analog circuitry which can be used for a wide range of tasks.
Jaycar............................... IFC,49-56
The Latest Agricultural Technology, Pt.2
LD Electronics............................ 103
In this issue we looked at agricultural robots. Next month we take a look at new
farm technology developments from two Australian universities.
LEACH Co Ltd.............................. 11
LiFePO4-based Uninterruptable Power Supply
Master Instruments........................ 7
Part three of the article which will be published in the next issue puts the finishing touches on construction, testing and interfacing with a PC.
Note: these features are planned or are in preparation and should appear
within the next few issues of Silicon Chip.
The July 2018 issue is due on sale in newsagents by Thursday, June 28th.
Expect postal delivery of subscription copies in Australia between June
27th and July 13th.
Keith Rippon Kit Assembly......... 103
LEDsales.................................... 103
Microchip Technology................... 71
Ocean Controls.............................. 9
Pakronics....................................... 5
Sesame Electronics................... 103
Silicon Chip Back Issues............ 79
Silicon Chip Binders.................... 31
Notes & Errata
6GHz+ Touchscreen Frequency Counter, October-December 2017: CON1
is described as an “SMB” connector in the text and an “SMD” connector in the
parts list. It is an SMA right-angle through-hole female connector. Digi-Key Cat
931-1361-ND is suitable.
800W+ Uninterruptible Power Supply, May-June 2018: in Fig.1 on page 32 of
the May issue, the wiring shown for RLY3 is wrong. A corrected block diagram
has been published in this issue, on page 65.
Frequency switch, May 2018: the +11.4V filter capacitor is shown as 10µF on
the circuit diagram (Fig.2, page 38) but it should be 100µF, as on the PCB overlay diagram and parts list.
USB Port Protector, May 2018: in the circuit diagram on page 58 (Fig.1), the
base resistor of Q2 should be 10kW and LED1’s series resistor should be 47kW
to be consistent with the PCB.
Ask Silicon Chip
. . . continued from page 102
duce “plug and play” devices to create
“CSV” files stored on an SD or micro
SD card which can then be imported
into a spreadsheet program such as
Microsoft Excel, Apache OpenOffice
Calc or similar.
My ideal project would not require
any soldering but the finished unit
would be able to operate sitting on the
passenger’s seat in my car during my
return trips from Canberra to Sydney,
say, with the card then being able to be
104
Silicon Chip
read using a device such as the Jaycar
Digitech “All-in-1 USB Card Reader”
(XC-4926). (P. M., Karabar, NSW)
• We suggest you have a look at our
Arduino Data Logger with GPS project
from the August and September 2017
issues. That will do pretty much exactly
what you want.
You can leave off the extra components for the analog and digital inputs
and just fit the micro SD card module,
GPS module and RTC module.
That’s all pretty straightforward to
wire up. See: siliconchip.com.au/
Series/316
Celebrating 30 Years
Silicon Chip Shop............. 42-43,84
Silicon Chip Subscriptions.......... 57
SC Radio, TV & Hobbies DVD.... 100
SC Reactance Wallchart.............. 76
The Loudspeaker Kit.com.............. 8
Tronixlabs................................... 103
Vintage Radio Repairs............... 103
Wagner Electronics...................... 75
USB I/O can be done
easily with Arduino
I read the “Open-USB-IO” article in
the October 2009 issue and it seems
that it is just what I need. I wonder
if it is still available as a ready-made
module or as a kit of parts. A bare PCB
would also be helpful if one is available. (K. G., Newcastle, NSW)
• That project is now obsolete. However, USB I/O can be easily done with
just about any Arduino board. It’s
cheaper than building a custom board,
and you can add shields for isolated
I/O, relay drivers etc.
Freely downloadable software already exists to turn an Arduino into
a universal I/O device. Here is one
example: https://code.google.com/
archive/p/ioduino/
SC
siliconchip.com.au
