Category: Electronics

Quick hack: Add native (user) USB to ST’s Nucleo boards

I recently bought myself one of ST’s cheap Nucleo development boards with an STM32F072RB controller on it to quickly start developing one of my projects. The microcontroller has native USB support even without an external clock which makes it quite attractive. The downside is that this board does not come with a USB connector that… Continue reading Quick hack: Add native (user) USB to ST’s Nucleo boards

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 6: Validation and conclusion

This is a follow-up post to my previous project page Part 5 (PC software). This is the last post concerning this project. I have done some tests with the final hardware and software. Furthermore I have written a small conclusion to this project. Transient response An interesting test is the transient response on a sudden… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 6: Validation and conclusion

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 5: PC software

This is a follow-up post to my previous project page Part 4 (Firmware). One way to interface with the active load device is to use a terminal program and query the state of the device or send commands to it manually. But this is of course very cumbersome and not very user-friendly. That’s why I… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 5: PC software

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 4: Firmware

This is a follow-up post to my previous project page Part 3 (Schematic, layout and pictures). At this point the hardware development is finished and fortunately nothing blew up as I had plugged in a voltage source for the first time. 😉 But of course there is no functionality yet. The load sinks (nearly) no… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 4: Firmware

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 3: Schematic, layout and pictures

This is a follow-up post to my previous project page Part 2 (Hardware design details). In this post I briefly present the full schematic and PCB layout of this project. As a proof that I actually built this device, there are also some pictures included at the end of the post. 😉 Full schematic and… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 3: Schematic, layout and pictures

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 2: Hardware design details

This is a follow-up post to my previous project page Part 1 (Requirements). In the last part I laid out the requirements and specifications of my active load without going too much into detail. This is about to change while I write about the different implementation details. The main task of the active load is… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 2: Hardware design details

Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 1: Requirements

This time I would like to write about a project of mine: A (simple) active load with support from a microcontroller. There are times when you need a dummy load to test and validate some equipment or part of a schematic, e.g. a power supply. In the past I just used some power resistors as… Continue reading Project: Active load with microcontroller – Part 1: Requirements