Congrats on your launch! What's your moat? The big AI players are getting better at reading datasheets and providing contextual guidance and info. It seems like it won't be long until ChatGPT and others will be able to do what your tool does. Thoughts?
Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
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Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#12Congrats on launch. Two questions from a user perspective. 1) How do you handle spec changes across document revisions? 2) Can users export the analysis with links to the exact tables and figures in the PDFs?
Solid questions, you've clearly been burned before lol.
1) Document revisions can be a bit hard to handle, but we currently look for any dates or document numbers present, and when possible we just show the latest. However, plenty of times there are no dates OR revision numbers, and we'll get different documents from multiple sources. In this case we show all the documents, and have prompted the AI to flag this risk to the user if the question is answered differently between documents. Not the ideal approach, but working with what we're getting...
2) Hmm, not really. You can share the chat, and the specific response, but the only way to export the source would be to screenshot it... Adding it to our list of potential next features!
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#13This is awesome! Way better than DigiKey’s search.
Thanks, that's why we built it! We're big digikey fans, and have spent hundreds of hours on the site, but that doesn't mean it's without room for improvement!
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#14Congrats on launch. Two questions from a user perspective. 1) How do you handle spec changes across document revisions? 2) Can users export the analysis with links to the exact tables and figures in the PDFs?
Solid questions, you've clearly been burned before lol. 1) Document revisions can be a bit hard to handle, but we currently look for any dates or document numbers present, and when possible we just show the latest. However, plenty of times there are no dates OR revision numbers, and we'll get different documents from multiple sources. In this case we show all the documents, and have prompted the AI to flag this risk…
Appreciate the detailed response. Showing all conflicting docs and flagging inconsistent answers is a practical interim step. Long term, version tracking across sources could be a real differentiator since engineers live and die by revision history. On exports, even a lightweight “copy link to figure/table” feature would go a long way for collaboration.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#15How does this differentiate from Digi-Key’s parametric search or Octopart’s aggregation?
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#16I see the value here. The problem isn't just the search; it's the trust. The biggest hurdle for Zenode won't be the tech, but convincing an engineer that your AI's summary of a footnote is accurate enough to risk a $10,000 board spin. That's a high bar. I'd argue the core value isn't just a better search or a faster reader. It's about providing a verified, reliable source of truth. This brings up a key tension: you s…
Agreed - trust is the key! That's why we've built in sources with links to the exact location in the datasheet and part documents where the AI found an answer. We're working hard to make sure you can trust its answers, but we know most engineers 'trust but verify'. A (transparent) confidence score is a great idea to improve trust in the answer and sources.
To close the gap, we've built our own Q/A datasets and are training custom AIs how to search and read a datasheet (like a new engineer needs to learn early on). We're concentrating on teaching the AI how to identify key information vs noise as it relates to electrical engineering (differences like 'Voltage' in the Absolute Max vs Recommended section) and where information is likely to be found in a datasheet or app note.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#17Congrats on the launch! How much of the component selection pain is actually on the supply chain side? Like, engineers pick parts, but then procurement has to source them without really understanding the technical tradeoffs. Have you talked to purchasing teams about this?
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#18When normalizing specs across manufacturers, how do you handle cases where units aren’t directly comparable (e.g., different test conditions for “low power” claims, or different temperature reference points)? That’s often where human engineers end up second-guessing the catalog data.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#19Congrats on your launch! What's your moat? The big AI players are getting better at reading datasheets and providing contextual guidance and info. It seems like it won't be long until ChatGPT and others will be able to do what your tool does. Thoughts?
Yeah, Moat's are tricky in the age of AI. We think there's always room for a standalone interface in this niche sector, given the sheer amount of data that needs to get presented (with no room for hallucinations). But beyond the data curation (which is actually quite hard) and the custom UI, there's also all the tuning data to optimize for the workflows that come next, like Alternates, schematic awareness, etc.
But yes, OpenAI continues to be the 800lb gorilla 'boogeyman' crushing startups with every new update. Our goal is to remain cockroaches until we find solid distribution!
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Awesome, that was one of the top reasons we built it, tired of clicking on strings lol. What are you working on specifically? Would love to chat and see what we can do to help!
I'm playing with modifying a BitAxe design ( https://github.com/bitaxeorg ) by allowing for more chips on a single board. It's theoretically pretty simple, but locating a buck that can handle the current I want to support is tricky!
You should be able to drop the specs you need into the zenode search and get some options; there's always so many choices for buck converters!
Are you looking at a multiphase design? I think I've seen a few chips that control multiphase converters: You'd get a much higher current design with just one IC (and a few extra inductors).