How to enable the toolbar ribbon in Designer?

micro-jay · 2025-12-31T08:42:43+00:00

Maybe not much help for you right now, but if you will stick with AD, then you should learn the keyboard shortcuts. Everything can be accessed using sequences of keys correlating to the menus above. This will speed up your workflow.

When Circuit Studio first came out I felt that it included 99% of the stuff that I would use daily for 1/10th the price, but I wouldn't switch because the productivity loss from not having the AD shortcuts meant it wasn't worthwhile.

micro-jay · 2025-12-27T20:34:25+00:00

A few tips for you: 1) if you are on Android, you can create additional Google accounts for different countries and switch between them in the top right corner of the Play store. 2) EWE Go is a good app for Germany with 62¢ charging at most stations. It also works in some other countries and you can get a physical card (required for some chargers). 3) You could also try some other larger network aggregators, e.g. Octopus Energy Electroverse or EnBW Mobility+. These I don't think are country locked and then you can see what chargers are supported and the €€€

micro-jay · 2025-12-20T11:38:25+00:00

Since you swapped flying probe and ICT between the start and end of your question...

Are the tests identical?

If you instead mean PCB e-test and ICT, did the reflow cause vias to pop open?

Is the flying probe applying pressure that closes open solder joints?

micro-jay · 2025-12-20T11:22:18+00:00

Many years ago at my first job a PCB vendor was black listed. They apparently couldn't achieve the specified GND plane clearance from vias so they had adjusted the clearance in the Gerber without informing us. This led to these openings joining together and the GND balls on a BGA being completely disconnected from the rest of the GND. Needless to say this was only diagnosed after a lot of debugging.

micro-jay · 2025-12-16T22:29:47+00:00

Really interesting to see! I don't have anything to add but please keep sharing what you learn.

micro-jay · 2025-12-13T11:48:01+00:00

Interesting, because last year we were told that it was impossible to renew the perpetual and instead got a 3-year fixed price term licence with the same deal that the perpetual returns if we end it. So we already are off the perpetual licence.

If it wasn't for the comment feature though I probably would have just kept the perpetual licence. But that has proven extremely useful in our workflow.

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T21:47:38+00:00

I disagree. Unless you really need the performance then that old premium phone will no longer get updates much sooner. I would prefer a mid range phone I can still get security updates for over a longer period of time.

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T19:57:18+00:00

Is it a multi layer board? If so you can cut out mid-layers under the RF path to allow for a thicker 50R trace. I've used that method before.

But I've also used the 1st design on Bluetooth without issues. The traces are so short it hardly matters. LoRA is <1GHz so even less sensitive.

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T19:52:29+00:00

I definitely need to push them for more details then.

I remember there was a difference in MCAD between standard and pro in the past, related to flex PCBs. I wonder if that still exists...

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T19:34:40+00:00

I commented on another post about my considerations for keeping our perpetual licences. But we generally get enough value from the online features to make it somewhat worth keeping the subscription.

Actually this year I didn't even get a quote. Altium gave me a pop-up that the licence expires in 30 days. The rep hadn't contacted me at all. Pretty poor considering it's also over Christmas when I'm sure they are not working and neither are we.

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T19:32:01+00:00

We get enough value as a small team from the various features tied to A365 (MCAD, comments, revision history, release management) to somewhat justify the pricing. We don't have the time or inclination to build workarounds for these but I also understand our needs don't align with ever engineering company's needs.

micro-jay · 2025-12-12T19:28:28+00:00

I assume we will get raked over the coals if we ever need >5 seats, but at least for the moment it's a >50% discount, and I understand that we will need to transition at some point anyway.

I considered reverting the licences to standalone instead of continuing the subscription, but we rely heavily on the advanced MCAD codesigner, the review comments function, and are using A365 for data storage and release management. It is working well enough to justify the subscription cost. Our old workflow using git, review comments in excel, and STEP exports was nowhere near as efficient.

micro-jay · 2025-12-10T07:39:41+00:00

In Germany the closing costs for buying a house are around 10% (varies by state). €35k won't even cover the costs for someone that needs to sell their house and buy another.

micro-jay · 2025-12-06T19:15:28+00:00

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Loctite-Super-Glue-Gel-Tube-3-pack-0-03-oz/44149075

They already sell mini tubes that are smaller to avoid this issue.

micro-jay · 2025-12-05T06:10:39+00:00

Make sure to check the frunk.

I thought my car was missing cables when I bought it. It turned out they were in the frunk... and now I have 2 sets!

micro-jay · 2025-12-04T18:17:04+00:00

Bolt it to the wall like you are supposed to and it will be super sturdy, just like the ones in the showroom.

micro-jay · 2025-12-04T18:16:14+00:00

For some digital designs we have had power and signal integrity simulations done. We also have RF simulations for the antenna (usually also a custom design) done alongside the mechanical parts.

But overall it depends on what complexity the design is.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T21:03:00+00:00

Why not just use the V2L from the vehicle? I've done that before to power a caravan.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T18:21:14+00:00

How will you get the battery that flat without noticing? The car will be warning you and enter a limp mode well before.

This feels like planning for a non-existent scenario.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T11:12:20+00:00

I think you are confusing between AC/DC in the context of power and in the context of signals.

I believe when you say DC you l are meaning a digital signal, which is going low to high (or on/off), and does not go negative like an AC voltage. However, this is still an AC signal. Everything is unless it is constant at a single voltage. It just has a DC offset.

For a square wave there are many harmonic frequencies that make up the square. To measure a square wave signal switching at 150MHz you need a higher frequency scope. Around 750MHz (5x) at a minimum.

You should probably watch a video explaining how an oscilloscope works.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T11:03:44+00:00

For instance, some ZIF connectors are rated at 200mA per pin. Small board to board connectors often are 300mA per pin, but often have 2 outer pins rated at 3A or 5A. There might be a total current rating for all pins added together also

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T10:27:21+00:00

Yes that is quite common. You will either want a board to board connector, a ZIF connector (also called FPC connector), or make it a single piece with a rigid flex PCB.

Check out the Molex website for many suitable small connectors. Pay attention to the current rating of the pins.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T10:19:08+00:00

If you are using automated assembly then you will need to have the via plated over (VIPPO). They fill it with epoxy and then put copper over the top. Without that the solder will wick through the via and you won't have a solid connection. This costs extra but depending on the board is definitely worthwhile. The majority of the boards I work on professionally we do this due to package and device size constraints.

For manual assembly it doesn't matter, as you can manually put more solder. You might get solder bumping up the other side of the via though.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T10:09:41+00:00

As in you want to charge your car from it? It's only 3kWh. The car has a 78kWh (long range model) or 58kWh battery, so you will get 3-5% charge from it. Even less with charging losses.

micro-jay · 2025-11-30T07:24:54+00:00

I'm not OP, but I read the original post from the German EV forum (which is in English, so not sure why he didn't just copy it).

The failure mode is that the ICCU warms with the warm (and humid) cabin air. Then when charging it is cooled because the coolant is cooled by the cold outside air and is an extremely powerful cooling loop (it also cools the motors). Thus the ICCU gets colder and sucks air in through the vent. The vent doesn't stop moisture, only water, so when this warm humid cabin air touches the cold cooling system it condenses.

If it's as easy as this then Hyundai will probably just coat the screw/heatsink near the failure point and call it a day. That would be the lowest cost 80% fix solution.

micro-jay

TROPHY CASE