Category Archives: Asset

Demo #3: Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video we put the Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer through its paces.

My notes about this device are on my personal wiki, here: Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer.

The DCA75 can measure triac and thyristor devices but the Peak Electronic Design Atlas SCR100 Triac And Thyristor Analyzer can do a better job of it.

If you want to measure zener diodes the DCA75 can do it but the Peak Electronic Design Atlas ZEN50 Zener Diode Analyzer can do a better job of it.

While reading the manual we learn about the PCA23 SOT-23 test adapter, while searching for that I found this behind-the-scenes deeplink from Peak Electronic Design: https://www.peakelec.co.uk/resources/pca23.html

The manual mentions the International Electrotechnical Commission – IEC 60617 – Graphical Symbols for Diagrams, which is an international standard for graphical symbols of electromechanical devices.

The support page is DCA75 (DCA Pro) Support, from there you can download software/firmware.

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Yum Cha CrowbarThis is an image of the product.

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Unboxing #21: ATPK3 – Atlas Pro Pack – LCR45 + DCA75 + Case | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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In this video I unbox my ATPK3 – Atlas Pro Pack – LCR45 + DCA75 + Case which I ordered recently from element14. This bundle includes:

I will do a demo of the DCA75 and LCR45 in future videos.

I haven’t seen GP23 batteries before, but apparently they are 12V and can deliver 23A. Seems like rather a lot!

I’m not sure what is special about the specific test frequency of 14.9254 kHz, but I have asked on the EEVblog forum.

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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

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Unboxing #20: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I unbox my new METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station which I ordered recently from element14.

I keep my notes about this equipment on my person wiki, over here: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station.

Before I purchased this equipment I made some notes about my research and decisions and element14 had the best price by far.

As I mention in the video my new PS-900 soldering station uses the METCAL SmartHeat technology. You can read more about SmartHeat over here:

Per the above links the Metcal SmartHeat technology is available in various solutions:

The PS Series (which I got) is the entry level system. You can spend much more than I did!

I found this document Metcal – Tip Temperature Guide which describes the various tip options (Metcal calls the tips “cartridges”) along with their temperature specifications.

As promised the link for my electric scissors is here: Jackcat Electric Scissors.

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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

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Mail Call #16: METCAL PS-900; Peak Atlas DCA75 Pro, LCR45, ESR70; ESP32; Pi Zero, Pico; and More!

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You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I receive the following equipment in the mail:

As I mentioned the open-source architecture books are available free online: The Architecture of Open Source Applications.

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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

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Electronics Project #10: TJ-56-428 4-Digit Digital DIY Clock | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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Silly Job Title: Switch Sleuth

Happy New Year!

In this video, my first video for 2025, I construct a 4-digit digital clock I recently purchased from AliExpress: TJ-56-428 4-Digit Digital DIY Clock Kits with Acrylic Shell, DIY Alarm Clock Soldering Practice Kit for Learning Electronics.

I thought it might be nice to kick off the new year with an actual electronics project, as that is what this channel is supposed to be mostly about!

I translated the instructions from Chinese to English, and those are here: TJ-56-428. These include instructions for use of the complete and fully assembled clock.

This was a great chance to try out my new METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station and I am pleased to report that I am very happy with my new soldering iron! It is a pleasure to use.

The heart of this circuit is the STC15W404AS which is a microcontroller! It has been pre-programmed with the clock functionality, there was no software or source code that shipped with the kit.

Update: my mate @sadata777 pointed out that there was a protective coating on the acrylic and I remove that in this video: https://youtu.be/y9btakLOCHc

Update: my mate Joe pointed out that I had the case on back-to-front which you can see me fix here: https://youtu.be/IyJ3IHgRfiw

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha IC Chip Pickup ToolThis is an image of the product.

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Equipment from Peak Electronic Design

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The British company Peak Electronic Design has a wonderful range of Test Instruments.

Today I purchased these ones:

Still on my wish list is this one:

The reason for this particular splurge is that after I purchased my METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station element14 sent me an email with a coupon for 15% off. Since these Peak Atlas devices were on my wish list I figured I might as well get them while I can get 15% off.

METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station

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Update: my notes about my METCAL PS-900 soldering station are on my personal wiki, over here: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station.

The other day I was doing some soldering with my Horusdy Soldering Station but I got the feeling its soldering iron was under performing. I just wasn’t getting good solder joints even though I was using good solder and plenty of flux.

So today I did some research and found myself a new soldering station: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station. I found one for sale on element14 for AU$458.59 which as far as I can tell was a really good price. They were going for more like AU$700+ on Amazon, eBay, and even AliExpress.

I did also research and consider some other options from JBC, Metcal, Weller, and Hakko.

I also picked up a couple of spare tips:

The tip it came with was the METCAL SFV-CH10, 30° Chisel, 1.5 mm Soldering Iron Tip.

I am expecting that the 1 mm chisel tip is going to be my weapon of choice, so I got two of those. (Update: this was a mistake, the 1.5mm or 2mm option would have been a better choice.)

Conspicuously absent on this soldering station is a temperature setting. That’s because these METCAL irons come with SmartHeat technology, as ChatGPT explains. For the SFV-CH10 the Curie point is designed to maintain a nominal tip temperature of around 380 °C (715 °F) under typical load conditions.

Mail Call #15: iPhone 6s, USB Accessories, Software Books, IEC Power Adapters, and More!

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

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In this video I open the stuff that has arrived in the mail recently:

I mention that I’m working on a new book teardown for God Created the Integers.

The epaper modules I’m working with are these ones: WeAct 2.9” 2.13″ 2.9 2.13 Inch Epaper Module E-paper E-Ink EInk Display Screen SPI Black-White Black-White-Red and the microcontrollers I’m experimenting with are these ones: WeAct ESP32 ESP-32 ESP32C3 ESP32-C3FH4 Development Board Wireless WiFi Bluetooth-compatible Module Micropython.

The Arduino Nano you see is one of these: Mini / Type-C / Micro USB Nano 3.0 With the bootloader compatible Nano controller for arduino CH340 USB driver 16Mhz ATMEGA328P connected to an OLED display like this: 1.3″ OLED Display Module White/Blue Color Drive Chip SH1106 128X64 1.3 inch OLED LCD LED IIC I2C Communicate.

The video I mention about the test clips is this one: Unboxing #9: Unboxing of Sudake SDK07 and SKD08 IC Clip SMD Gripper Test Probe | In The Lab.

If you’re interested in the old iPhone 6s you can find more information at Wikipedia: iPhone 6s or from Apple: iPhone 6s – Technical Specifications.

My iPod touch is 7th generation, you can get more info from Apple: iPod touch (7th generation) – Technical Specifications.

I mention that I listen to di.fm. If you’re into electronic music, check it out.

I keep my notes which I display on my bench iPhones on the web, over here: https://www.jj5.net/display/

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

3ELIGHTING 10″-26″ VESA Wall MountThis is an image of the product.

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