Robert Brown Arduino dew controller build, step by step

[JamesF]

I tried filing down the leads on one of those diodes.  That was sufficient to persuade me to find another way :)

James

[fozzybear]

2 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I tried filing down the leads on one of those diodes.  That was sufficient to persuade me to find another way

James

nightmare

[fozzybear]

blonde moment what about soldering the diode to a jst pin then inserting that into the board or would that create any problems? 

[Seelive]

If it's just a double sided PCB then there is no problem with drilling out the hole providing there is still sufficient land left on each side of the PCB and it is soldered on both sides (the solder won't flow through the hole if the through hole plating is removed).  A problem would only arise if the PCB had internal layers that were connected to the holes.

[fozzybear]

4 minutes ago, Seelive said:

If it's just a double sided PCB then there is no problem with drilling out the hole providing there is still sufficient land left on each side of the PCB and it is soldered on both sides (the solder won't flow through the hole if the through hole plating is removed).  A problem would only arise if the PCB had internal layers that were connected to the holes.

As Robert is the owner and Author for the board he quoted "Whatever you do, do not drill the PCB. This is a double sided board with plated through holes - drilling is a no no. "

so as I do not know what can of worms I will leave as is and file the buggers down

[fozzybear]

awaiting on @Jonk on which diodes he used

[fozzybear]

39 minutes ago, Seelive said:

land left

are you referring to the soldered availability joint 

[Jonk]

1 hour ago, fozzybear said:

As Robert is the owner and Author for the board he quoted "Whatever you do, do not drill the PCB. This is a double sided board with plated through holes - drilling is a no no. "

so as I do not know what can of worms I will leave as is and file the buggers down

Nope not an issue, as it’s only a 2 sided board, soldering both sides of a component leg through the drilled hole is fine as long as there’s enough pad on either side otherwise you’ll need to scrape away the tracks and solder to those.

I’ve been asked to confirm the diodes I used but can’t check until Monday.

As long as a diode is capable of the current required and the reverse bias voltage is the same you can use what you want.

[Seelive]

40 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

are you referring to the soldered availability joint 

The land (or pad) is the annular ring of the PCB  pad surrounding the hole. I suppose the problem in drilling out the hole is that you won't be left with a sufficiently wide land for a reliable soldered mount and the manual enlargement of the hole with a hand held drill could result in stripping what does remain of the land from the PCB. I would only drill the hole out if it would be leave at least a 0.5mm width annular ring.

[JamesF]

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

blonde moment what about soldering the diode to a jst pin then inserting that into the board or would that create any problems? 

After I gave up trying to file down the diode leads I soldered fly leads to them (as suggested by someone else on SGL) and soldered the fly leads to the board (having covered the exposed parts in heatshrink).  I see no reason why using pins should be any different.

James

[Alien 13]

I would have just drilled a bigger hole, plenty of hardware such as eyelets etc out there to do this...common practice even on aerospace/military circuit boards.

Alan

[fozzybear]

No disrespect to Robert could this be ammended in the PCB build to the manufacture build zip fitzing  to increase the hole size on the diodes for future builders. As this is a good product...

[fozzybear]

6 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I would have just drilled a bigger hole, plenty of hardware such as eyelets etc out there to do this...common practice even on aerospace/military circuit boards.

Alan

old school and finding stuff here in France is well ????????

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Have you tried just applying a 'dry' heated soldering iron, as I found just applying heat to the holes, removed a small amount of the 'tinning' solder allowing the 10A 1N5822 diodes to be mounted ok... 

Also, I found it best to keep one leg straight, in-line, & the using pliers, form a U-bend for the other leg.  If you want I can post some pickies to make it more clear....  

[fozzybear]

52 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Have you tried just applying a 'dry' heated soldering iron, as I found just applying heat to the holes, removed a small amount of the 'tinning' solder allowing the 10A 1N5822 diodes to be mounted ok... 

Also, I found it best to keep one leg straight, in-line, & the using pliers, form a U-bend for the other leg.  If you want I can post some pickies to make it more clear....  

Julian,

I'll give that a go and see if it helps. whilst rummaging in my box of bits and pieces I did come across a packet of P6KE10A -DO15 diodes albeit they are rated at 10amps and would go in no problem don't know why i have these and a lot smaller than the 1n5822 rated 3amps  

Cheers

[CedricTheBrave]

On 12/11/2020 at 20:19, fozzybear said:

dismantled my stripboard version I was not happy with it and ordered some boards from JLCPCB well 10 to be exact all for the price of 22 euros, Ordered 1st Nov and arrived today from China fast delivery. Now to get this little project under way nice looking board. Only problem is with the diodes with the larger dia legs.

if you have a spare board would you sell me one?

[fozzybear]

5 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

if you have a spare board would you sell me one?

pm'd

[Seelive]

1 hour ago, fozzybear said:

Julian,

I'll give that a go and see if it helps. whilst rummaging in my box of bits and pieces I did come across a packet of P6KE10A -DO15 diodes albeit they are rated at 10amps and would go in no problem don't know why i have these and a lot smaller than the 1n5822 rated 3amps  

Cheers

The P6KE10A are transient protection diodes, totally different beasts from the 1N5822 Schottky diodes.

[fozzybear]

Just now, Seelive said:

The P6KE10A are transient protection diodes, totally different beasts from the 1N5822 Schottky diodes.

so back in the box they go. thanks for the info.

 

[Seelive]

I can only assume the 1N5822 Schottky  fast recovery diodes were chosen because the PWM frequency used in the design is in the 10's of kHz (which in my opinion is unnecessarily high for a dew heater). My homemade dew heater controller runs at around 50Hz and quite happily operates using 1N4001 standard recovery diodes for protection of the MOSFETS from any inductance induced voltage spikes.

[wormix]

On 12/11/2020 at 20:19, fozzybear said:

dismantled my stripboard version I was not happy with it and ordered some boards from JLCPCB well 10 to be exact all for the price of 22 euros, Ordered 1st Nov and arrived today from China fast delivery. Now to get this little project under way nice looking board. Only problem is with the diodes with the larger dia legs.

Have just been looking at JLCPCB and can get 10 boards delivered for £10! 
 

Not that I have any need for 10 boards whatsoever (or any for that matter) - but it’s useful to know for future projects that this company exists.  In fact I may build a focuser - cost for 10 of the recommended boards is only £7.65
 

 

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, wormix said:

Not that I have any need for 10 boards whatsoever (or any for that matter) - but it’s useful to know for future projects that this company exists.  In fact I may build a focuser - cost for 10 of the recommended boards is only £7.65

Ye gods!  That's insanely cheap.  I have one focuser already built and intend to build a few more.  At that price it's hardly worth the effort of trying to do it on stripboard.

James

[Dr_Ju_ju]

If you're willing to pay a bit more, they will also populate the board with components etc. to your specification....

[fozzybear]

Well update got the blighters in place sanding the legs down took ages now for the ancillaries to sort out their connections

[Seelive]

I admire your perseverance -  that PCB was never designed to take any of those diodes 🔨😊