My 2µF

Hi,

I’ve been planning to build a prototype driver for the Seeedstudio LED module (1, 2) for quite a while, but I just cannot get MSOP-DIP adapters that are reasonably priced. The cheapest single one I could find was 2.50€! The LT1618 boost driver chip I intend to use only comes in a MSOP10 package, and that is impossible to prototype on perfboard. The good thing is that I can use LTSpice to simulate the circuit. According to the simulation it is quite critical that the output capacitor is one with extremely low ESR. If I should make a DIY KIT out of this too, I might add an ATtiny13 (DIP) or similar to the driver, so it at least supports programmed dimming and up/down buttons.

So my question is this:

Is there anybody else out there in need of MSOP10/TSSOP8-DIP_300 adapters ? I’ve checked that if I had about 250 made, the price per board would be somewhere around 0.32€ or so. The boards would be green, 2 sided, silkscreen, no pins. First side: MSOP10, second side: TSSOP8. The price is what their website bot tells me, so I don’t know what they might do if they realize the amount of routing for this job ;-)

This is just in the planning phase and production may take a few weeks. You’ve been warned.

Interested ? Drop me a message!

→ Update 1: 19.10.2009:

I’ve just ordered 15 panels (4×3 pcs.) of the adapters at makepcb.com – my second order with them. Let’s see what they say about the tiny boards and the amount of routing required for them. I keep repeating… I expect the boards to be delivered in some weeks, as I chose the slow service to save costs. Some data on the boards: 1mm double sided FR4, traces: 11mil, 2x silkscreen, 2x solder mask (green), RoHS compliant. As soon as I get these, I’ll post again here and the ones I won’t immediately need for the LT1618 boost converter prototype(s) will show up in the KIT shop.

According to this post on the forum of Dave’s formidable EE VBLOG, I shouldn’t trust the LTSpice simulation of the circuit too much (regarding the oscillations of the output current) and just build that circuit and see what happens. I hope I won’t be seeing nasty current oscillations on my scope, once I’ve built the prototype. If push comes to shove, I’ll just use smaller caps and parallelize them to get the ESR down. More on that later.

Here are the gerber files, just in case you want to build a little stash (or heap) of your own ;-)

G’day mates!

Related posts:

1. MSOP10/TSSOP8 – DIP adapters — they’ve finally arrived
2. LT1618 at work — A versatile boost converter
3. V3.04 PCBs from MakePCB have arrived
4. 8×8 RGB Matrix — first prototype on perfboard

robert DIY., Electronics., PCBs 'n stuff. adapter, MSOP, SMD