Spectrum Next – controller Board Iterations, 3rd and counting

I Purchased 10 controller boards with the SMT components ready assembled There’s a few small bugs……But, that’s what prototyping is for.

First major annoyance – I’d goofed and left VCC on the arduino as 3.3v in the schematic. so, the board wouldn’t power up inside a next. Quick fix is to short RAW – to the VCC pin on the Arduino

(RAW is a 5V OUTPUT when plugged into USB, or 5 and a bit Volts INPUT to power the Arduino)

This has the potential downside of back-powering the Next via USB via the 5V Line when it’s sitting inside a Next and someone uploads a sketch

Another change needed – The Arduino’s USB port fouls the case when fitted inside. With a USB cable in, the lower part of the keyboard inlay blocks the port. – it’s ‘just’ about bodgeable however if you really wedge it in there. But, not ideal So, i’ve tried with soldering the arduino ‘upside down’ on the wrong side of the board – that seems to work. The board’s mounted just far enough ‘up’ into the case that a USB cable can sit under it.

For the production version i’ll re-arrange the board completely

Another further change –

Removing the RAW pin entirely from the Arduino and shorting the Next 5V directly to the VCC pin on the Arduino

That’s about it for these pictures,

From top to bottom –

Original board – has a resistor bodged in and the RED led installed on the wrong side. Also has my ‘impossible to solder straight’ PCB fingers.

Third board – upside down mounted arduino with missing RAW pin

Second board – my ‘go to’ working one right now – also has the first run of my ‘quick fit’ connectors……i’ve done about 20 cycles of inserting now and they’re still working!