Astral Driver - Boost, Buck, & Sepic

[DrMario]

paul1598419, I am thinking of making some test boards with some microwave components on it so I can test whether the PCB houses do it right. I need to find the balance in price and performance, so I don't have to shell out hundred dollars on something that's not that big.

 

[Lifetime17]

mario ,
Go to the OSH Park website and you can design your own boards, This website is awesome.

Rich

 

[paul1598419]

paul1598419, I am thinking of making some test boards with some microwave components on it so I can test whether the PCB houses do it right. I need to find the balance in price and performance, so I don't have to shell out hundred dollars on something that's not that big.

Oh, I get it. When you get into the GHz range, stray capacitance and inductance can be a nightmare.

 

[DrMario]

I'd give them another look. Yet, I am concerned about the footprint and circuit traces used by parts under EAR restriction. I'd not want to get in trouble if the schematic design and Gerber file are under EAR restriction - I had to do a paperwork rather recently on a few parts, including the processor I picked for this oscilloscope.

EDITED:
paul1598419, yup - that's why I have to be careful with my options. 100 MHz may be nothing to sneeze at, however what I am worried about is the harmonics since the FPGA I will be using to handle the capture have to collect everything and submit to the Cortex M7 CPU or if I wanna a bit more kicks, Texas Instruments C67x VLIW DSP - which can then show up in the screen as suprious harmonics noises. It is hard to filter that noises out unless I can use software FFT filtering which tend to cost a lot of CPU time. So, I have to use hardware and software filtering somehow to reduce CPU usage so it can stay focused on ADC signal capture and measurement.

 

[Gadget]

I got him in email early this past week. He's out of pocket somewhere and having a signal issue with reaching the forum. I ordered his 20w LPM and exchanged a couple of emails, and he accepted my paypal. Hopefully his signal issues won't last much longer.

G

Hi, Yea whats going on with astral i sent him some money to cover for shipping on some drivers and never heard back from him in a long time. Is he MIA ?? They were boosts ..

Rich

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Thanks G was wondering if he went MIA well hope all works out for him so we can get some boost drives .
Rich

 

[paul1598419]

I have two of the pico boost drivers. One came to me wired, so I've been testing it, but it may have been damaged as I got it from another member here who was doing some testing too. The adjustment doesn't seem to work on it. Hope it is just this one and not all of them. Sure do need a low current boost driver for all these new Sharp diodes.

 

[dden4012]

I have two of the pico boost drivers. One came to me wired, so I've been testing it, but it may have been damaged as I got it from another member here who was doing some testing too. The adjustment doesn't seem to work on it. Hope it is just this one and not all of them. Sure do need a low current boost driver for all these new Sharp diodes.

One of each came wired from astralist. Never really got the juice out of the boost drivers. The pico drivers seemed to jump from high to low with nothing really in between. No issues from the buck drivers other than really fast ramp up towards the high end of the pot adjustment. Paul what did you experience with the LV boost drivers?

 

[astralist]

Hello guys I'm back! sorry for the MIA.
Just got back from remote place handling some issues.
Unfortunately the LPF has so many resources, it can't be loaded using weak gprs signal
Fortunately i'm able to reply some which contacted me through the email though.

Let me take a look at your discussion,
i'm missing so many things in here :cryyy:

BTW about the new drivers, it's already on my hand and i currently testing it right now.

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
I need them !!
Rich

 

[astralist]

I'll send yours asap!

There are 3 new drivers:
Buck-boost
Generic boost (two different IC)

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi thanks boost driver all the way.

Rich

 

[astralist]

Here is the test result of the Omnidrive:


Bucking with 8.2Vin
@max pot (850mA), Vo = 4.8V, current measured across 1Ω resistor, simulated using 5 diode as drop voltage:

Boosting with 4.1Vin, current measured across 1Ω resistor, simulated using 6 or 7 diode as drop voltage:
@minimum pot (72.5mA); Vo = 6.36V

@100.4mA; Vo = 6.51V

@152.7mA; Vo = 6.68V

@201.3mA; Vo = 6.83V

@max pot (490mA); Vo = 6.53V

 

[Alaskan]

OK I'll ask, I see it maintains a solid current without wriggles, but isn't that a snap to it on without soft start? I know you build soft start into them, so I'm puzzled.

 

[astralist]

it has an internal soft start which is fixed, if i zoom close enough (about millisecond per div range) we can observe the soft start.

But there is another thing, which is a delayed start, not to be confused with soft start

 

[Alaskan]

Thanks, that explains it. Looks like a great drive! I'm interested in buying some. Not that I'd buy you out, but what is your amount of stock and price for each right now?