PCBWay review

As mentioned in part four of the STM series, that development board was sponsored by PCBWay. For this review, they agreed to allow for assembly of two of the boards which is excellent as I can compare their assembly service. Since the Elecrow review, I have used their assembly service a few times for projects and generally been very impressed with the quality and contact. At a high level, the PCBWay ordering process was a lot more personal than I have worked with other unnamed vendors; which is fantastic if you are unsure in your designs and would like someone to review the design to make sure it’s actually manufacturable....

May 29, 2020 · 5 min · Ben V. Brown

MDP-XP 90W extendable portable lab supply

The MDP-XP combo MDP by Miniware This is an interesting idea, taking the conventional power supply system and giving it the “Miniware treatment”, which I like to think of as, a nice aluminium housing and a jump in portability. I have reviewed a few Miniware designs recently, and generally I have found all of their products to be a really nice premium feel and quality. Probably the lowest quality (and cheapest unit) is the TS100, which has become rather well known as a portable soldering iron....

July 20, 2019 · 17 min · Ben V. Brown

DS213 Mini oscilloscope review

The DS213 DS213 15MHz 4 Channel Scope The DS213 is a very small handheld scope from Miniware. Its marketed as capable of up to 15MHz on two of the channels, and 1MHz on the other channels. However, at 15MHz input, it is starting to round off and struggle with the signals fairly badly. At 8MHz (somewhat common for SPI), the SPI signals are easily understandable, and I generally use the two high speed signals for CLK and the signal I care most about from MISO and MOSI....

June 29, 2019 · 6 min · Ben V. Brown

TS80 QC3.0/QC2.0 cousin to the TS100

The TS80 TS80 by Miniware The TS80 is an interesting spinoff from the TS100. Origionally called the TS200, it was intended to fill the market gap for an even more portable solution for soldering in the field. The soldering iron is designed to be powered using QC power banks at either 9V or 12V. The markings on the unit state 9V 2A (~18W). Which is a really low wattage for a typical soldering iron....

April 20, 2019 · 3 min · Ben V. Brown