I didn’t like things like that as it meant you had magnifying for all vision areas.
I got a local optician to make up some bifocals (old folks glasses as I call them) with plain vision on top and 3 and 4 x magnification on the bottom. I got 2 pairs. $40 each. Bloody great for close PCB work and you can look through the top at schematics and PC screen etc without having to lift your glasses all the time.
The 4 x is great for those 0.5mm pitch connectors.
PS… Nice work Jason.
One thing I’ve seen is that the STM pins sometimes don’t quite solder or bridge. Hot air gun and flux usually fixes that. The other as you have seen is the USB doesn’t fully solder. It’s quite large and if it has kapton tape on top it reflects heat so you get a dry joint. I’ve has at least three Threadneedles with exactly the same problem which was easily fixed as you found.
Top work fella
And finally, after a couple of days of craziness and probably a visit to the opticians I managed to get the BLE and I2C to both my LCD and EEPROM working. The WP8.1 app connects to the BLE, retrieves the on-time for the board, allows the frequency control of the LEDs and allows messages sent from WP8 to be displayed on the LCD. The frequencies are stored in EEPROM and retrieved upon power up to the timing can be set OTA and forgotten about. No more clumsy or expensive interfaces required. Just BLE and forget it.
Here’s the video. Let me know what you think.
Not to decide what to do next??? WiFi, Ethernet, more I/O. Actually, a board for the LCD is top of the list. with I2C I only need two wires, and can bus-share with other things too. Sneaky peak below.
Nice work, congrats !
Are you using Altium ?
@ PiWi - yes I am. It’s a lot easier than the software I use in the office.
Glad you like the post. Happy to share what I’ve learnt and been taught anytime you fancy getting your feet wet.
@ Jason -
What do you mean by “high-side switching”?
Also what firmware are you using?
You, Mr WikiLeaks and others have inspired me to work on my own mCu board again!
Thanks for sharing.
@ mhectorgato - Cerberus-family V4.3.3 firmware used.
This device for power switching - http://www.infineon.com/cms/de/product/discretes-and-standard-products/high-side-switches-for-industrial-applications/ITS711L1/productType.html?productType=ff80808112ab681d0112ab7036582ae2 I saves a load of discretes.
Just don’t forget to connect GND of both halves! You know who you are. :-[
@ Jason - :whistle:
@ Justin - I didn’t name names. :naughty:
These high side switching devices are great. Very robust and as Jason says, saves on part count. They may be a little higher in price but they make up for that in capability. I use them all the time when driving solenoids or relays external to my system as they can handle shorted outputs. You never know what the client is going to do with your system
Now if they only worked with AC.
Finally got he I2C LCD PCB finished, the interconnection lead made, and all works great.
That’s my first two boards done, and one more one the way https://www.ghielectronics.com/community/forum/topic?id=16567&page=4#msg164255
with several more being considered too.
Hope you like it.
That BG module looks like it got a bit toasty.
@ mhectorgato - I can honestly say that he BlueGiga BLE 113 module is the most difficult thing I have ever had to solder. Manual placement and all the pins underneath caused my stress levels to go into orbit. It took 4 or 5 attempts to get it right. In the end I used sticky flux and hot air and finally got all the pins I needed to adhere.
The mess of the top is actually flux, but you’re right, it did get very toasty on several occasions. A true testament to the quality of the BLE device from BG that it didn’t fall into pieces or melt into a puddle.
@ Jason - I thought you had an oven for this project. After seeing the marks on the BT, I was worried for my project, as I prefer to use Pb free solder. I was looking into getting some Kapton tape, but I guess I’ll give it a try without first time then.
I invested in one for this project, but it was my first MCU using STM32F so I approached it one step at a time. Once the MCU was working I added the BLE. I already had the connectors on so I did it by hand instead of using the oven.
I’m wondering how you got the soldering iron through the PCB, you turn into a miracle worker than … 
@ PiWi - Hot air, no iron. ;D
I’m not sure that I’m as brave as you! Bravo.
If I had a hot-air system, as Architect mentioned, I might give it a try. However, you prevailed, so maybe I’ll take the same tack!