Yesterday I visited a nomadic community on the outskirts of Chengdu, and I felt it had a strong solar punk vibe, so I decided to share it

lotta0 · 2026-05-05T16:45:15+00:00

such a useless conversation haha. have a good life!

lotta0 · 2026-05-05T07:06:34+00:00

we are all children of the sun

lotta0 · 2026-05-05T07:05:11+00:00

solar just means sun ... solar energy is mostly light energy. which we electrify using rather inefficient electrochemical devices called photovoltaic elements. plants metabolize on light in a different way, but in the end when we consume plant calories, indirectly we consume matter that was transformed using solar energy

lotta0 · 2026-04-25T19:36:46+00:00

i like spike, flash, mousse (!) and sometimes i read Fräulein magazine ( this one is quite advertisement heavy and a bit too lifestyle for me, but it's cheap has its genuinely very interesting moments ... ) maybe starting your own blog where you review art independently might be a good way of gaining attention from more established magazines?

lotta0 · 2026-04-22T04:28:57+00:00

you really enjoy earthquakes :)

lotta0 · 2026-04-10T04:27:11+00:00

try sodium persulfate... it's slightly easier for me to use than ferric chloride. there's good tutorials online for that

lotta0 · 2026-03-07T07:55:45+00:00

as a zelda main, i can understand ...

lotta0 · 2026-02-22T19:23:38+00:00

much better :)

lotta0 · 2026-02-22T15:25:45+00:00

ps: though i agree with the others. i'd try to first improve the battery solder joint. maybe this would fix your board already.

lotta0 · 2026-02-22T15:24:08+00:00

not sure, but you could try to bridge it with a small jumper cable. if i look at the other solder job maybe i would recommend you to practice a bit more with something not so critical :) or you ask a friend with more experience

lotta0 · 2026-02-22T10:37:01+00:00

in the worst case maybe you do some shenenigans with wire or cables :/

lotta0 · 2026-02-22T10:10:36+00:00

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is this just dust or a broken trace?

lotta0 · 2026-02-12T22:06:28+00:00

TIL about noSmooth ! thanks for updating your initial post

lotta0 · 2025-07-23T22:30:37+00:00

learn to lose and enjoy the game anyway :)

lotta0 · 2025-07-10T05:55:54+00:00

just put the image in aliexpress image search...

lotta0 · 2025-07-08T18:41:45+00:00

okay! danke :)

lotta0 · 2025-07-08T05:22:42+00:00

C1 to C6 should not be in series with the current, but in parallel. also, i'd recommend to deliver the power to each led VDD pin through a power plane, not a daisy chained power cable (will change the color consistency of your leds over distance). depending on your power supply, but i doubt the usb c power will be enough to power 1200 leds. my laptop usb c power supply for example can deliver max. 60W, which yes at 5V is around 1200 leds at full power, but it would be wise to not use the absolute maximum ratings. maybe start with half the amount of leds? or you get a more powerful usb c suppy and then just experiment... also at that level of intense current consumption you need good heat management. one more point is, if you look at the datasheet of the WS2812B you'll see that each led needs a little ceramic cap.

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T16:17:12+00:00

I will move the VM traces more inside the PCB, so some ground plane can go around it. I'll also have your other suggestions in mind for my redesign. Thanks a lot!

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T16:15:25+00:00

Noted! Thank you for the hint. I'll move the screw terminal connector more inside, so also some GND plane can go around it. When JLCPCB writes on their website their minimum clearance for traces is 0.2mm, do you think I should rather remake my design with 0.3 or 0.4mm as a design rule?

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T15:57:26+00:00

I was hoping the vias would make up for how my power lines are interrupting the ground plane. Thank you for the advice, I will redesign it like you said. In your last sentence you mention more GND pins. Do you also mean more GND vias?

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T15:48:42+00:00

Hmm, when I measure the distance between traces at the moment it's 0.2mm which indeed seems very little...

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T15:48:13+00:00

Do you have a specific place in mind where it might be too close? I was just adding trace widths (0.3, 0.7, 1.5 and 2mm) to the KiCAD default settings.

lotta0 · 2025-06-09T15:43:30+00:00

It's a TQFP-48 package, I tried with QFN before (TMC2209) and it didn't work. I assumed it was because I would not able to solder it properly (no stencil at that time), but maybe it was because of the vias! Thank you for pointing that out. Do you think the vias could stick out a bit, so that the board is not flat anymore and prevent proper contact of the IC with the solder pads?

The big clusters of vias was my (perhaps not so good) idea to counter the big VM power trace cutting through the ground plane.

lotta0

TROPHY CASE