Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
1–10 of 43 posts
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#2When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing.
So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB.
Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN community!
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#3When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
I wanted to do a custom keyboard, at one point I tried to write some PHP code to parse a JSON definition of the layout, and generate a disposable Python script to feed into the KiCAD console to position the switches and diodes to order. (Mostly because I far comfier with PHP tooling) It sort of fell apart because I couldn't quite get the diodes to lay out where I wanted them.
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#4When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
A very simple thus unconvincing demonstration.
Real world board designs usually have critical placement, mechanical, EMI, test, assembly, anti-RE, supply-chain or other business-level constraints.
Without evolving the fundamental requirements definition to a language that holistically allows the parametric expression of these factors, generated designs are unlikely to meet real world needs in most real world (non-trivial) use cases.
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#5When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
Nice project. I'm interested in the cable tester itself. Why does each line require a different resistor? Also, in the gif at the top of the page, it looks like some of your cables only light up 5 LEDs. Are some cables out there really that bad?
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#6Why the board is photographed only from one side?
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#7When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
Nice project. I'm interested in the cable tester itself. Why does each line require a different resistor? Also, in the gif at the top of the page, it looks like some of your cables only light up 5 LEDs. Are some cables out there really that bad?
If LEDs share a resistor then they dim as more LEDs are turned on.
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#8When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
Nice project. I'm interested in the cable tester itself. Why does each line require a different resistor? Also, in the gif at the top of the page, it looks like some of your cables only light up 5 LEDs. Are some cables out there really that bad?
> Are some cables out there really that bad?
Some cables just connect the bare minimum for USB connectivity - +5V/GND. I've seen that one on vape charger cables. Others go a bit further and add the USB 2.0 D+/D-.
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#9When I started designing PCBs a few years ago (after some years of electronics prototyping and software engineering) I was somewhat shocked by the manual, repetitive tasks I kept doing. So, I tried to automate as many of these small tasks as possible in the simplest design I could think of - a USB cable tester PCB. Please share your thoughts, ideas, criticism - I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the HN…
A very simple thus unconvincing demonstration. Real world board designs usually have critical placement, mechanical, EMI, test, assembly, anti-RE, supply-chain or other business-level constraints. Without evolving the fundamental requirements definition to a language that holistically allows the parametric expression of these factors, generated designs are unlikely to meet real world needs in most real world (non-tri…
Yeah, but it's a good starting point for an MVP that reduces a lot of the tedious bullshit (like calculating LED resistor values). You can always re-route paths and replace components when you're going from MVP to product based on your constraints.
Re: Automating everything in a USB cable tester PCB design
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice project. I'm interested in the cable tester itself. Why does each line require a different resistor? Also, in the gif at the top of the page, it looks like some of your cables only light up 5 LEDs. Are some cables out there really that bad?
If LEDs share a resistor then they dim as more LEDs are turned on.
I meant to say why does each LED require a different resistor value?