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Showing posts from February, 2014

Clock kit Part 2

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With the schematic in hand I was itching to get my solder on.  The board itself appears to be somewhat generic, in that not all components labelled on the board need to be fit for this clock to be complete.  Using the schematic and the parts received list we were able to figure out what needed to go where. Before I go through what goes where, a general note is that I soldered all of the SMD components on the back of the board, starting in the middle working my way out.  Then all of the SMD components on the front.  And then the large components on both sides as it made sense. As mentioned, the board is two sided.  The back of the board is the tricky one of the two.  All of the big components are labelled clearly and so are straight forward.  The only exception is the power supply components - which can go at either end of the PCB, it's completely up to what suits you.  The SMD components needed to be worked out using the schematics and then a ...

Clock kit Part 1

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So I decided I wanted to some sort of small digital desk clock to build.  After looking around people seemed very impressed with clocks using the  DS3231  chip, so I googled around for clock kits using that chip and came across  this kit  from Ali Express. Looking pretty cool, being about the right size with the right chips and with some SMD components for me to practice soldering I ordered one and went to sit by the mail box. The kit did take several weeks to show up - but this was over Christmas - so i'm not sure if it was slow shipping or just that time of year. The kit itself arrived well packed but appeared to be missing one thing.  There were no build instructions or documentation anywhere to be found.  I emailed the seller thinking maybe they just don't bother printing them and would just email them through.  There was a bit of a language barrier with the seller, but after a few emails he sent me some zip files. Opening thes...

In the Beginning...

So I'm the type that has alway dabbled in electronics - but I don't do it for a living.  Thankfully one of my best mates is a seasoned engineer, and is always willing to give me a hand or answer any questions I have.  This blog is just intended as a place for me to write down some notes as I build/learn what the hell I'm doing. The first series of posts are going to be about me building a small clock kit that I recently purchased, and the ongoing experiences of getting it working.