Notes

Too small to justify their own blog post but maybe just as useful: This page gathers a few smaller projects and tricks I came across.

USB-C to Micro-USB Adapters

I have a Seek thermal camera, which works by connecting it to a phone and using Seek’s app to display the image, take photos, etc. It’s an older model, from back when there were two variants, one with Micro-USB and one with Lightning. I’m on my third phone since I got it, which does not have a Micro-USB port any more. But it’s easy to get an adapter from USB-C, right?

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ESP8266 Programmer

For the software side of some ESP8266 development, I bought a cheap ESP01 to USB adapter from AliExpress, expecting a programming adapter. What turned up on my doorstep, however, was just a USB-UART adapter which wasn’t able to drive the reset and GPIO0 pins. Luckily, the missing circuitry could be added easily.

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Using Desoldering Braid Bobbins for Bodge Wires

Don’t throw spent desoldering braid spools away! The bobbins are great for hand wiring prototypes and doing PCB repairs. They have the perfect size, and unlike a regular spool, the magnet wire won’t uncoil itself all the time.

Breadboard Test Points

Take a piece of wire, solder one end into a loop and the other one onto a header pin and you’ve got a very useful test point for breadboarding. A piece of shrink tubing shrunk only on one end nicely insulates connected probe hooks and an extra shrink tubing ring around the breadboard end keeps this cover from sliding off.
The power bank in use: a small rectangular grey box is shown on top of a lead gel battery with a USB cable connected to one of the sockets on its left side. On its top right side, a small grey power switch and a green power indicator LED are poking through the case. The module is connected via the 6.3 mm contacts, which also holds it in place on top of the battery. The grey box with the top lid of the case removed, revealing a PCB with the USB A sockets, power switch, LED and a few electrolytic capacitors on top. At the front of the picture, the battery contacts (soldered to the bottom of the PCB) and their holes in the case can be seen.

Pb Power bank

In preparation for being off-grid for a few days, I quickly built this ‘power bank’ around a 12 V 7 Ah lead gel battery. The circuit is simply pushed onto the battery’s 6.3 mm contacts and provides 3 USB ports. Charging circuitry is not included but the battery terminals are still accessible anyway.

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