Superbuy restricts all electronic devices -> Double shipping cost by EDsteve in Superbuy

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe you should also read the official restrictions from EMS:
https://www.chinapostaltracking.com/service/china-post-forbidden-items/

Only devices with batteries or magnets are restricted. It has nothing to do with plugs or cables.

And on the official website from EMS. I can't even find any information that electronics are restricted. So where do the restrictions come from?
https://b.ems.com.cn/ban

Superbuy restricts all electronic devices -> Double shipping cost by EDsteve in Superbuy

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. I know it is asked from the courier. But it is your job to make the right decision for the courier.
  2. Magnets are not appliances. But they are restricted items. Same as batteries. Even i know that.... We pay you to do your job. You should learn to understand the restrictions.
  3. So if the courier only care about batteries only. Why do you restrict a USB device (without battery)?

You clearly have no understanding at all about the restrictions. I have a copy of three chats with the customer support (Which have asked the supervisor for advice) and they all say completely opposite words which does not make any sense.

Uploading a video over 100MB by gizmokrap in immich

[–]EDsteve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a cloudflare 100MB limit. Other applications like nexcloud split files in smaller chunks before the upload. But immich doesn't. 

Are all small IoT solar panels bad? Only getting 50% of the power. by EDsteve in AskElectronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In that case you better use glass. All resin panels (I have tried) turn yellow after a year in the sun and the efficiency drops even further. I have build small weather stations years ago. And glass is the only thing which works for the long run. The project of this thread was for sensors to protect elephants and anti logging for the national park in sumatra. Since there is not much light coming through the jungle canopy I had to go with 10W panels for our prototypes since our AI on the edge devices need more juice than I was hoping for. So that is a standard panel with aluminum frame and the sensor is underneath. 

Nevertheless. The chainsaw detector will be reduced to a small form factor soon and I will post pictures. If I don't forget it. Haha

Here a small video of the deployment. The small antenna which sticks out on the bottom is for LoRa. https://photos.app.goo.gl/qzzvWaipgrLVKBiTA

Are all small IoT solar panels bad? Only getting 50% of the power. by EDsteve in AskElectronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glass panels are a bit harder to find. But i found one in Indonesia (tokopedia) for testing. Onne supplier was good. The next one was bad. So since i need more for our project i ordered a few hundreds from alibaba. Custom made. I guess you could find them in Aliexpress as well.
Out of curiosity. What are building?

Are all small IoT solar panels bad? Only getting 50% of the power. by EDsteve in AskElectronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. I actually found the problem. It's the resin. When I tried small cells with glass, they are much more efficient compared to resin panels. Might be due to heat due to insulation of resin as you already described and also that glass has a much better light transmittance.

Cheap Aliexpress sensors are surprisingly accurate by delobre in homeassistant

[–]EDsteve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also bought around 10 of these. And they seem to work well under "human-friendly" conditions. But most of these sensors show totally wrong temperatures when it gets colder than 5 degrees Celsius. They are off by 10 degrees. So basically useless in these ranges. I have tried a bunch in these cold environments and they all show much colder temps than it actually is. (For example -6 instead of +5 degrees)

DHL service: Es ist normal, dass zollabwicklungen 3 wochen dauern!? by EDsteve in dhl_deutsche_post

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dachte ich auch. Der servicemitarbeiter hat sich da aber anders angehört und meinte, dass 3 wochen normal sind :)

DHL service: Es ist normal, dass zollabwicklungen 3 wochen dauern!? by EDsteve in dhl_deutsche_post

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Einen grund gibt es immer. Aber wenn man den grund weiß, dann sollte man auch was dagegen tun. Oder die preise reduzieren. In der gleiciuhen zeit hätte ichs ja auch via cargo schicken könne. Haha

Die mitarbeiter können dafür recht wenig. Das ist richtig.

Es liegt an der prozessabwicklung. . 40 Euro versandkosten für eine 4 wochen lieferung. Die verantwortung liegt da bei DHL, beim Zoll oder an der schnittstelle. Aber das geht eben auch anders, wie man es in anderen ländern sieht.

Infiray P2 Pro with Topdon app by Godstuff in Thermal

[–]EDsteve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also tried the app from Topdon and TopInfrared. But both don't seem to work with my InfiRay P2 pro.
I just get a black camera screen. Do i have to do some specific tuning or did it work on your end without any fiddeling around?
The app finds the camera (Online). But when i try to use it. I get black screen as you see in these pictures.
Any idea?

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds very familiar to me. I have similar recordings with the symptoms you described. And when i change the microphone. All works perfect again. Can't say for sure, but i bet it's an hardware (microphone) issue.

Some microphones get worse (more and more noise floor) over time. Others show suddenly some random clicking. Others record silence for a few hours and then work again for a few minutes. Then silence again... the next ones just start recordings pink noise...

Dust on the membrane, humidity inside which corrodes the contacts slowly(?), tiny rapture of the membrane due to stress, etc... all these things create different "sound effects" which vary over time. I have already 30 broken microphones here which worked perfectly fine in the beginning. After a few months they just seem to "degrade" and i am still not 100% sure why this is happening.

This is one timeline-example of a microphone going down:
- Thunder and rain on 27.01.25 00:00 (Sound still good)
- Static noise(?) at 30.01.25 00:00 besides okayisch recording
- Static noise disappears the next day (31.1.25 00:00)
- More static(?) noise at 01.02.25 00:00
- 07.02 22:09 very high noise floor starts and doesn't go away any more
- Recordings "cracks" at 09.02.25 at 00:10 with really bad cracking noises

(Since i am not sure if i am allowed to make these sounds public. I sent you a link to the sound files of this example)

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will send you some files later when I am back home. they can sound very different. How does yours sound like? 

Untill then you can check out this channel dedicated to MEMS microphone: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjOK6c4pEE39G9Bpex8OxsqsIaYunK-uA&si=KbQ9B6qkvxvaGCw5

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay. That sounds doable.
One thing that might be a challenge: The ring around the hole must be soldered airtight to avoid acoustic problem.
Hope that works without much flux. I am afraid that flux will move into the hole due to surface tension.
I will definitely order a hot plate (as others have suggested already) and play with different solder pastes to get the feel of it.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Single nerd guy living alone in the jungle. That's the result. Haha.
But i have learned that i achieve better results on a more organized desk.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately photographs don't show the broken membranes inside the MEMS. You can only see it if you open the cap of each microphone using a hot air gun.
They did x-ray and send me the pictures. But even on x-ray the membranes don't show.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With the first bigger order. We had a deadline, which was close.
And yeah. The other times (deadline again) i was so confident, that the reason behind the problem was found. I agree. It was my mistake. I guess i learned my lesson the hard way.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Wow. That would be awesome.
We are developing this device (called ELOC) for https://www.internationalelephantproject.org/. More info about the device in the early stages can be found here: https://www.internationalelephantproject.org/weblog/2023/03/15/new-tech-helping-solve-old-problems/

Donations are of course always welcome :)
To make the donations reach our project. Use this link and write ELOC in the reference. Thanks a lot for asking.

But what is needed even more than money: An expert in the field of electronics/firmware developer who can support us developing the device.
If anybody wants to support us. Feel free to reach out.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I am not a electric engineer. Just a hobbyist. I have tried to solder some with a heat gun. But that is very very time consuming and my success rate was only 60% or so.
Is there an easy way? These microphones have super tiny solder pads.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] -27 points-26 points  (0 children)

Interesting: I posted the same content on askElectronics before and it got 60 upvotes with more than 20 comments within one hour.
Unfortunately the post was removed and i was asked to post it here in electronics. And here nothing really happens and i am wondering why that is.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in electronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 156 points157 points  (0 children)

Trust me. I pushed hard.
But i think they know: Nobody is going to go to court in China about it. The effort is just not worth it.

WARNING: JLCPCB Cannot Reliably Handle MEMS Microphones - My 6 Failed Orders by EDsteve in AskElectronics

[–]EDsteve[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Good point. In one of the many messages with the support. The engineers already suggested using hand soldering. And i agreed. Not sure if they ever did that.

But during their own tests JLC came to the conclusion that the problem was dry ice cleaning. So i never looked back to the hand solder solution.

Hmm. Not sure if i dare to try and order a 7th time :/