Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?
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@Larson Are you able to get input to work on any of the 8 PPK2 sense pins? Mine isn't responding at all. They all read high, even if I connect one of them directly to PPK2 ground. Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin. If yours is working, then maybe mine is defective or something.
Where were you able to get yours from? The place I ordered from no longer has them in stock. I'm debating whether to backorder from mouser. Argh. I hope it doesn't come to that. Weird that the current portion of the PPK2 is working, but not the logic analyzer part.
I've submitted a ticket to Nordic and contacted the seller, but of course nothing happens very quickly and I probably won't hear from them anytime soon.
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@Larson Are you able to get input to work on any of the 8 PPK2 sense pins? Mine isn't responding at all. They all read high, even if I connect one of them directly to PPK2 ground. Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin. If yours is working, then maybe mine is defective or something.
Where were you able to get yours from? The place I ordered from no longer has them in stock. I'm debating whether to backorder from mouser. Argh. I hope it doesn't come to that. Weird that the current portion of the PPK2 is working, but not the logic analyzer part.
I've submitted a ticket to Nordic and contacted the seller, but of course nothing happens very quickly and I probably won't hear from them anytime soon.
@NeverDie The PPKII arrived yesterday! I've only cracked it out of the box and haven't tried. I'll do so next. Been spending my time in KiCAD tutorials, looking at your boards and taking care of family! I'm like an excited dog in a 3-D field of fire-hydrants! Never enough time for a slow-reader like me.
My PPKII source: DigiKey 5/24/22 order. Here is the scoop off the invoice (most importantly the part no): PART: 1490-NRF-PPK2-ND MFG : NORDIC SEMICONDUCTOR ASA / NRF-PPK2 DESC: POWER PROFILER KIT 92.50000 92.50 COO : POLAND ECCN: EAR99 HTSUS: 8543.70.9860 ROHS3 COMP REACH UNAFFECTED 25-JUN-2020
It sure came fast for being back-ordered.I also received a bunch of other solder stuff you recommended and a solder plate. Again, too excited, but life is getting in the way. Radio’s are on their way, mostly from AliExpress. Too bad they fractionalize one order; now I’ve got about a dozen different order-tracking email threads.
PPKII test: I’m planning on a vanilla ProMini with and without the conventional crystal – per your tutorial. I will throw in a signal cue on a pin to test the logic analyzer thing. Will that be sufficient to test? Hope to report by the end of the week if the distractions end.
Then I’d like to try the PPKII on the Darrah Trig Board; I know, I can’t read the deep sleep with a PPK, but it will be a good first-try for me with the Trig Board.
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@Larson Are you able to get input to work on any of the 8 PPK2 sense pins? Mine isn't responding at all. They all read high, even if I connect one of them directly to PPK2 ground. Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin. If yours is working, then maybe mine is defective or something.
Where were you able to get yours from? The place I ordered from no longer has them in stock. I'm debating whether to backorder from mouser. Argh. I hope it doesn't come to that. Weird that the current portion of the PPK2 is working, but not the logic analyzer part.
I've submitted a ticket to Nordic and contacted the seller, but of course nothing happens very quickly and I probably won't hear from them anytime soon.
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin.
Maybe a stupid question... but are you powering from the PPKII source, or the device-under-test battery? Does it matter? I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII. I have no idea if the LA is complicated by this.
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin.
Maybe a stupid question... but are you powering from the PPKII source, or the device-under-test battery? Does it matter? I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII. I have no idea if the LA is complicated by this.
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin.
Maybe a stupid question... but are you powering from the PPKII source, or the device-under-test battery? Does it matter? I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII. I have no idea if the LA is complicated by this.
I've tried it both ways, and I'm just not getting anything out of the logic port.
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@NeverDie The PPKII arrived yesterday! I've only cracked it out of the box and haven't tried. I'll do so next. Been spending my time in KiCAD tutorials, looking at your boards and taking care of family! I'm like an excited dog in a 3-D field of fire-hydrants! Never enough time for a slow-reader like me.
My PPKII source: DigiKey 5/24/22 order. Here is the scoop off the invoice (most importantly the part no): PART: 1490-NRF-PPK2-ND MFG : NORDIC SEMICONDUCTOR ASA / NRF-PPK2 DESC: POWER PROFILER KIT 92.50000 92.50 COO : POLAND ECCN: EAR99 HTSUS: 8543.70.9860 ROHS3 COMP REACH UNAFFECTED 25-JUN-2020
It sure came fast for being back-ordered.I also received a bunch of other solder stuff you recommended and a solder plate. Again, too excited, but life is getting in the way. Radio’s are on their way, mostly from AliExpress. Too bad they fractionalize one order; now I’ve got about a dozen different order-tracking email threads.
PPKII test: I’m planning on a vanilla ProMini with and without the conventional crystal – per your tutorial. I will throw in a signal cue on a pin to test the logic analyzer thing. Will that be sufficient to test? Hope to report by the end of the week if the distractions end.
Then I’d like to try the PPKII on the Darrah Trig Board; I know, I can’t read the deep sleep with a PPK, but it will be a good first-try for me with the Trig Board.
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Will that be sufficient to test? Hope to report by the end of the week if the distractions end.
I imagine so.
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@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Matter of fact, I'm not even getting any voltage out of the logic analyzer's VCC pin.
Maybe a stupid question... but are you powering from the PPKII source, or the device-under-test battery? Does it matter? I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII. I have no idea if the LA is complicated by this.
I've tried it both ways, and I'm just not getting anything out of the logic port.
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII.
And, I think I learned about the PPKII burden voltage from you!
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII.
And, I think I learned about the PPKII burden voltage from you!
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII.
And, I think I learned about the PPKII burden voltage from you!
The PPK2 seems to work fine when powering the circuit whose current it is measuring, but if externally powered then, yes, for some reason it seems to choke the DUT.
Because the PPK2 is out-of-stock everywhere, I decided that rather than be held prisoner by whatever lengthy return/warranty cycle for my PPK2 is likely to be, I would upgrade my o-scope to one that can do integrations and sell my old scope, which can't do integrations. New scope should arrive on Thursday.
If you're wondering how that works, this explains it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh0xYu8YvaEAs you can see, the UI is nowhere near as nice as the PPK2 for measuring current consumption. Perhaps offsetting that somewhat is that the o-scopes resolution should be better: the PPK2 has 100,000 samples per second, whereas these days a decent entry-level o-scope will commonly have 1 giga-samples/second.
I still like the PPK2, and I look forward to exchanging the one I have for one that works.
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@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
I know nothing about the PPKII, yet. But I have read that the burden voltage is an issue even on the PPKII.
And, I think I learned about the PPKII burden voltage from you!
The PPK2 seems to work fine when powering the circuit whose current it is measuring, but if externally powered then, yes, for some reason it seems to choke the DUT.
Because the PPK2 is out-of-stock everywhere, I decided that rather than be held prisoner by whatever lengthy return/warranty cycle for my PPK2 is likely to be, I would upgrade my o-scope to one that can do integrations and sell my old scope, which can't do integrations. New scope should arrive on Thursday.
If you're wondering how that works, this explains it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh0xYu8YvaEAs you can see, the UI is nowhere near as nice as the PPK2 for measuring current consumption. Perhaps offsetting that somewhat is that the o-scopes resolution should be better: the PPK2 has 100,000 samples per second, whereas these days a decent entry-level o-scope will commonly have 1 giga-samples/second.
I still like the PPK2, and I look forward to exchanging the one I have for one that works.
@NeverDie I have no experience with an O. Scope, or a PPKII. I presumed the OS gives one much more dimension of analysis. But as indicated my Harbor Freights DMM delivers nearly everything I need. Sure is fun to listen to Dave Jones. The man is a source of knowledge and excitement spiced with humor.
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Good news! My PPK2 works after all. After experimenting, I determined that '"VCC" on the logic port is not a voltage source, as its name would imply. Instead, it is a voltage sense pin. So.... the way to make the logic port work is to wire the logic port VCC to the VOUT (or to whatever VCC that's powering your project). After doing so, D0 through D7 work as you would expect.
Also worthy of note: there evidently are no internal pull-up or pull-down resistors on any of the D0-D7 logic port sense pins. So, if, for example, you give D0 a high pulse and then disconnect from it, D0 will tend to stay high until it receive a low pulse.
Happy I don't need to return/exchange the PPK2 after all. :-)
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@Larson Something I only just recently started using in the last couple of days that you may like: 0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder. It's ridiculously thin, but for soldering radio modules onto boards, I'm finding that I can more precisely put just enough solder exactly where I want it without having to apply solder flux to the module afterward.
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Good news! My PPK2 works after all. After experimenting, I determined that '"VCC" on the logic port is not a voltage source, as its name would imply. Instead, it is a voltage sense pin. So.... the way to make the logic port work is to wire the logic port VCC to the VOUT (or to whatever VCC that's powering your project). After doing so, D0 through D7 work as you would expect.
Also worthy of note: there evidently are no internal pull-up or pull-down resistors on any of the D0-D7 logic port sense pins. So, if, for example, you give D0 a high pulse and then disconnect from it, D0 will tend to stay high until it receive a low pulse.
Happy I don't need to return/exchange the PPK2 after all. :-)
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Glad to hear you solved it. I was hoping to help you, for a change. You are too fast for me. I just got home from a grueling day.
So, if, for example, you give D0 a high pulse and then disconnect from it, D0 will tend to stay high until it receive a low pulse.
By 'disconnect' do you mean sleeping? It sounds like Pull-Up/Down on the DUT pin would solve it. Ohhh, I'm thinking that disconnect means when the MCU disengages the PPKII. Or perhaps VCC pin is at play. I know so little of the PPKII, but I would imagine it couldn't have any Pull-Up/Down assignments or it would be fighting the DUT Pull direction. The result of double pulls would be a voltage divider and give some misleading indications.
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Glad to hear you solved it. I was hoping to help you, for a change. You are too fast for me. I just got home from a grueling day.
So, if, for example, you give D0 a high pulse and then disconnect from it, D0 will tend to stay high until it receive a low pulse.
By 'disconnect' do you mean sleeping? It sounds like Pull-Up/Down on the DUT pin would solve it. Ohhh, I'm thinking that disconnect means when the MCU disengages the PPKII. Or perhaps VCC pin is at play. I know so little of the PPKII, but I would imagine it couldn't have any Pull-Up/Down assignments or it would be fighting the DUT Pull direction. The result of double pulls would be a voltage divider and give some misleading indications.
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Glad to hear you solved it. I was hoping to help you, for a change. You are too fast for me. I just got home from a grueling day.
So, if, for example, you give D0 a high pulse and then disconnect from it, D0 will tend to stay high until it receive a low pulse.
By 'disconnect' do you mean sleeping? It sounds like Pull-Up/Down on the DUT pin would solve it. Ohhh, I'm thinking that disconnect means when the MCU disengages the PPKII. Or perhaps VCC pin is at play. I know so little of the PPKII, but I would imagine it couldn't have any Pull-Up/Down assignments or it would be fighting the DUT Pull direction. The result of double pulls would be a voltage divider and give some misleading indications.
By disconnect I just mean, for example, taking a wire that's connected to D0 and touching it to GND and then pulling the wire away so that it's no longer touching GND. It's not something you would do "in real life," but I was doing it just to confirm that the PPK2 was working.
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@Larson Something I only just recently started using in the last couple of days that you may like: 0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder. It's ridiculously thin, but for soldering radio modules onto boards, I'm finding that I can more precisely put just enough solder exactly where I want it without having to apply solder flux to the module afterward.
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away.
Ha, I just did the simple math. Since the cross-sectional area is function of the squared radius, 0.4 is vastly different (better?) than the 0.6 mm. The 0.4 mm will feed 2.25 times as fast as the 0.6 mm for the same volume - maybe even more if there is a higher evaporative flux component. That is a big difference.
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@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
I'm sure there are. Initially, I was not only occasional but also reluctant to comment due to my lack of credible contribution. You helped me overcome that. This thread will be a resource for a multitude of others that will be too late for contemporary comment. Keep on going, man.
Today's achievement for me: PPK2 software is loaded (not that simple) and it is funcitoning. Super cool metrics. I'll shortly post my crystal/non-crystal measurements for my own enjoyment.
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@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
I swear by the stuff in the picture below. It melts at a lower temperature(179 C) so, as an amateur, I feel safer keeping my iron at a lower temp and in place a little longer when I am working with IC's. I like that it's thin too as it is easier to control how much you apply. I have no issues with it, it flows well and doesn't create bridges (unless I use too much).
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
I swear by the stuff in the picture below. It melts at a lower temperature(179 C) so, as an amateur, I feel safer keeping my iron at a lower temp and in place a little longer when I am working with IC's. I like that it's thin too as it is easier to control how much you apply. I have no issues with it, it flows well and doesn't create bridges (unless I use too much).
@alphaHotel Thanks for the tip! I added it to my mouser shopping basket.
Like Dave from EEVblog I tend to run my soldering pencil hotter than I should but work quickly to compensate, so maybe with this Chipquik solder I can dial it down. For sure the Chipquik desoldering solder works extremely well.
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@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@Larson said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
@NeverDie said in Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?:
0.4mm diameter Kester Rosin solder.
I'll put it on my list. After the Male/Female antennae discussion above, I'm sure I got my order wrong - so I'll have a new running list shortly when everything arrives. I checked my solder with a caliper since the dimensions are listed in Chinese: it is 0.6 mm so I'm not far away. I do like the feel the smaller diameter has in comparison to my larger solder so I'm sure 0.4 mm will even be better.
Yeah, I was using 0.635mm MG Chemicals solder previously, but I found I had to drown the radio modules in rosin flux afterward to eliminate solder bridges, etc. Perhaps part of the difference may be that Kester uses a different formulation for its in-line flux than MG Chemicals? I suppose that could also have something to do with it. So, maybe it's not entirely diameter, but having now worked with the two different diameters, my gut intuition is that the smaller diameter is helping.
Anyone else reading this having any opinions on the matter that they are willing to share?
I swear by the stuff in the picture below. It melts at a lower temperature(179 C) so, as an amateur, I feel safer keeping my iron at a lower temp and in place a little longer when I am working with IC's. I like that it's thin too as it is easier to control how much you apply. I have no issues with it, it flows well and doesn't create bridges (unless I use too much).
@alphaHotel & @NeverDie: My ChipQuik kit arrived as did the SRA flux. Look forward to working with it. I find the "No-Clean" claim concerning but I am armed with my new 99% alcohol just in case.
@NeverDie: The PPK2 is great. I did a few tests and captures today - no logic-port evaluation yet. It will take me another day to learn the fuse settings. Yes, Gammon is the master of the fuse subject as I learned with PIC chips. More on PPK2: I’m using the LowPower library (Felix R. I think). After sleep, the PPK tells me that the current is 4 uA. Zeesh, with the 18650 LiOn battery decay rate of 28’ish uA, I’m not sure if I need fuse settings. Well, there is the optimization of the thing, so I will press on. -
@alphaHotel & @NeverDie: My ChipQuik kit arrived as did the SRA flux. Look forward to working with it. I find the "No-Clean" claim concerning but I am armed with my new 99% alcohol just in case.
@NeverDie: The PPK2 is great. I did a few tests and captures today - no logic-port evaluation yet. It will take me another day to learn the fuse settings. Yes, Gammon is the master of the fuse subject as I learned with PIC chips. More on PPK2: I’m using the LowPower library (Felix R. I think). After sleep, the PPK tells me that the current is 4 uA. Zeesh, with the 18650 LiOn battery decay rate of 28’ish uA, I’m not sure if I need fuse settings. Well, there is the optimization of the thing, so I will press on.@Larson Yeah, I think of "No Clean" as really being "easier to clean." There's still some residue with those that I have tried, but they really are easier to clean up after than the regular flux.
So I still prefer them, but I don't like to leave them uncleaned. Maybe the residue isn't corrosive like regular flux? At any rate I don't trust it either.
