Nuts and Volts - April 2014

NEW PRODUCTS ; HARDWARE ; SOFTWARE ; GADGETS ; TOOLS

16 April 2014

SOLAR PANEL BATTERY

CHARGE CONTROLLER

J2 LED Lighting, LLC introduces the Denryo SA-BA10 solar charge controller intended for solar-powered LED lighting applications. The SA-BA10 is a Japanese engineered controller with sophisticated battery charge control ability in a simple to use lightweight and robust module.

The SA-BA10 is rated at 10 amps maximum solar panel current for a 12 volt DC system. The controller can typically support up to a 170 watt

PCB ASSEMBLY

KIT

Beta LAYOUT Ltd. has developed a cost-effective printed circuit board (PCB) assembly kit enabling PCB designers, universities, labs, and home hobbyists to hand assemble SMD components utilizing a toaster oven. For less than $406, any small space can become a PCB assembly reflow workstation.

To control and establish uniquely designed solder profiles is the US generation Reflow-Controller (V3) Pro, which can be used in conjunction with a basic toaster oven to create the temperature profile needed to reflow components and create professional assembled boards. Other aspects include: • Learning the profile and having five pre-selected profiles digitally displayed.

• With the press of a button, a profile can be repeated time and time again promoting component soldering consistency.

• Base values can be easily adjusted for various reflow requirements.

The Reflow-Controller (V3) allows a desired pre-heat phase to solder paste melting phase, avoiding mechanical stresses on the PCB and components.

After preliminary heating, the temperature is increased to just under the soldering temperature. This allows the volatile components of the flux to escape, eliminating blistering. As the heat increases, the flux melts forming a connection between the components and PCB. The soldering temperature is accurately adhered to during the soldering phase, so that the PCB is not damaged due to overheating.

To complete the kit, users can take advantage of free laser SMD stencils offered by Beta LAYOUT. To secure the stencil and enable precise solder paste applications, a magnetic workbench is also available. The final result is components are easily assembled to the paste and reflowed in the oven.