This looks like such a game-changer — congrats on the launch! I’m curious, what have you learned from how engineers were handling these challenges before, and how they’re starting to use Zenode now? It feels like those insights could really shape the next steps.
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
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
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!
I was playing around with the search and AI tools and it's pretty sick overall! The speed of the search was ok, but the AI stuff seems to take a minute. I'm not sure if I've just been spoiled by ChatGPT or if this is a product issue, but it definitely could be faster. I like the sources that are shown in the deep dive search and the datasheet chat, but deep dive doesn't seem to be taking me to the actual page it refe…
ChatGPT has definitely spoiled us all, but we're working to improve performance every day. Thus far we've usually prioritized accuracy over speed since there isn't much room for error in this industry, but hopefully our current response time is still faster than reading everything yourself. The sources not linking is a bug, should have it fixed today/tomorrow!
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#33This looks like such a game-changer — congrats on the launch! I’m curious, what have you learned from how engineers were handling these challenges before, and how they’re starting to use Zenode now? It feels like those insights could really shape the next steps.
From all of our customer interviews, almost everyone used Digikey and the occasional manufacturer website to find parts.
Because of that, we're seeing many people put the parameters they're looking for directly into the search. After a few searches, it starts to be clear that you can add more information directly into the search, so queries get a little more complex.
We're getting ready to add features to the AI to help you (interactively) navigate the range of available parts to narrow down your choices and understand what's available when you don't know where to look or what parameters to use. You should be able to ask 'I need to convert a parallel RGB display bus into MIPI' and the AI will show you different families of parts that could do that.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 y…
Thanks for the candid response. I'd expect that because you're not one of the AI giants that you'd be able to work with the different suppliers more easily - licensing deals and even embedded tools in their websites. As far as I can tell, your business model doesn't rely on assimilating as much info as possible, so you're better positioned to work within suppliers' IP and sales pipelines.
That's the hope, but thus far we've been heads down building, and haven't had much time to chat with those folks.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#35This looks really promising. Datasheets are such a time sink and a common source of mistakes, so solving that pain point is huge. The Deep Dive feature especially stands out since searching across multiple parts at once feels like what engineers actually need. Curious how you’re thinking about pricing and availability since that seems like the missing piece to make this a daily driver.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#36Coming from the plant/facility management and process engineering side of things , the pain isn’t PCB parts but pumps, valves, blowers, sensors.
I'd be interested in the industrial-world application of being able to ask things like “which pumps are seawater-rated, 10 bar, 40k hr bearing life, share the same footprint, can run on the same VFD, have BSPT or BSPP threads?”
Do you see Zenode extending into that kind of industrial equipment/knowledge realm?
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#37Congrats on the launch! Deep Dive seems awesome. Curious how you deal with the fact that different vendors describe the same spec in different ways? That’s always been my biggest headache when trying to compare parts.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#38Congrats on the launch! Deep Dive seems awesome. Curious how you deal with the fact that different vendors describe the same spec in different ways? That’s always been my biggest headache when trying to compare parts.
Yeah, this was actually a nightmare . We had to create "canonicals", which ended up being a mix of regex, machine learning and good old manual human labor. Fortunately, we could usually rely on the datasheet as the 'source of truth', but even that approach failed when faced with the overwhelming amount of part data we were shifting through.
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#39Coming from the plant/facility management and process engineering side of things , the pain isn’t PCB parts but pumps, valves, blowers, sensors. I'd be interested in the industrial-world application of being able to ask things like “which pumps are seawater-rated, 10 bar, 40k hr bearing life, share the same footprint, can run on the same VFD, have BSPT or BSPP threads?” Do you see Zenode extending into that kind of i…
We've actually heard this from a few industries, there's definitely a lot of different vertical AI opportunities here! Right now we're very focused on just doing electronic components, but maybe someday!
Re: Show HN: Zenode – an AI-powered electronic component search engine
#40This looks really promising. Datasheets are such a time sink and a common source of mistakes, so solving that pain point is huge. The Deep Dive feature especially stands out since searching across multiple parts at once feels like what engineers actually need. Curious how you’re thinking about pricing and availability since that seems like the missing piece to make this a daily driver.
Thank you! Yeah, missing pricing and availability is a tough one, but I'm really hoping we'll be able to get it from the distributors in return to funneling better traffic towards their sites...