Still battling the reflow oven heat profile - did I mention that after spending way over budget on the PnP machine I purchased a reflow oven from China....
Using a old Pro-Ject DAC PCB for testing, you can see that the solder on the components on the left have reflowed OK, but the right-hand area around of the PCB around the square IC) has not reflowed at all...
The PCB is only 95mm x 95mm - this really does not bode well for our larger boards.
I cannot afford to damage our DevDAC PCB's so I have to get this profile correct "first time"...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhih2hk4bqx5du4/IMG_3337.JPG?dl=0
I'm going to try modifying the oven by having the extractor fans (which normally run at full blast at the end of the cycle to rapidly cool down the board) operate at very low RPM during the entire reflow precess (heating stage) to circulate the oven air and hopefully this will help to even out local temperature variations across the board...
This all takes time I don't have
Thanks John
I guess there are almost always teething problems with new equipment ...if it's not fit for purpose in the end, can you still return it? 8-/
Please see to it that the flow of air inside the oven is evenly spread. and that before any modifications. I had such a problem with the heat spread.You might need well positioned deflectors, otherwise you risk overheating the components by slowing the airflow.
Hi John,
Could you put me down for a DevDac/USB board to tide me over until the FDAC release? (Is the plan still to have optical/coax inputs on the DevDac?)
p.s. Will it be the same streamer board for the FDAC? Is the USB daughterboard planned for before the MDAC2?
John
IIRC, you've said that the MDAC2s will be capable of being slaved to one another. That's of interest to people who have multi-channel active set ups. Will slaving synchronise the volume controls of the relevant units?
Hi John, everybody,
I was wondering why are we going expensive eMMC path instead of simple microSD card slot in streamer?
Modern microSD cards are becoming lighting fast and there are even capacities up to 256GB.
1. The CM3 module with onboard 4GB memory is nearly impossible to source - the CM3 Lite does not seems as to be as popular with Farnell has about 5K instock, and the 4GB CM3 on permanent back order. I ordered 4 modules earlier this year and they still have not arrived.
John, I’ve emailed you a link to a UK stockist with some 4GB units in stock.
4GB is on the low side so 64GB eMMC memory + CM3 Lite really is the better solution.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the links, I've been dealing directly with Farnell's RPi division WRT the CM3 module - partially because they are manufactured 5 minutes away from IAG SZ R&D centre.
Earlier in the year I tried to make contact with RS components RPi division but with no luck - but it looks like Farnell are useless so I need to work harder on RS. I also have the difficulty that RS will not ship to me in the Czech Rep. for a specific reason, but we can work around this if need be.
The standard CM3 (with onboard 4GB is OK for those who dont want local storage - while the CM3 Lite is needed for units with larger memory installed.
John
Happy to onward ship from RS in the UK if that helps.
I.
Here's the fully built DevDac Revision A01 - without RCA Audio output connections or SPDIF input board fitted:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ajdj72ygooqny81/DevDAC A01a Built.jpg?dl=0
The Devdac was designed as a simple DAC for testing / development of the Streamer software / system. The customised version for PFM will be modified with improved clock circuit and the high quality RCA's as used on the MDAC.
As it is, its a step sonic improvement over the MDAC in most areas - afforded by the dual ESS9038Q2Ms...
DSD is very impressive, and we will provide a DSD sample file on the streamer local storage when shipped.