iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

dj505 @5panel.dance · 09/01/2026

Major progress! I did have to cheat a bit using the internal layers to route some power traces, but that should be fine, I think. All the important stuff is routed over unbroken ground. But this makes my first real 4-layer design! Test batch coming soon, after I make the silkscreen look nice 💪

A top-down shot of a render of a densely packed circuit board. There's a USB C port on the top right, a button roughly in the middle, several jumper pads along the bottom left, and 3 status LEDs along the bottom middle.

A top-down shot of the same render, but this time it's the back. There's a battery connector on the left, a battery chemistry selection jumper on the bottom left corner, and footprints for both the LoRa radio and a Raspberry Pi RM2 wifi module along the right.

A screenshot of the PCB layout as seen in the editor. The red top layer is highlighted in this screenshot.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/01/2026

Meshlet v2 on the way!! I managed to shrink down the PCB plenty without losing features! Just no more unnecessary parts for debugging or testing (or because I misread the datasheet lol oops) This board clocks in at only 42*32mm -- and it shouldn't die as soon as the wifi module tries to transmit!

Top-down view of an unfinished PCB, featuring several nicely laid out jumpers and LEDs, alongside many neatly organized chips.

Alright, maybe not *that* neatly organized. But it's plenty better than the last one.

A screenshot of the back side of an unfinished PCB. There are footprints visible for a battery connector, power input, LoRa radio module, and Raspberry Pi RM2 wifi module. The battery connector is pointing away from the edge of the board, instead of towards the outside, to allow for easier and slimmer case designs.

A screenshot of the unfinished PCB being routed. It's a mess, and there are several light blue lines connecting pins that have not yet been routed. It'll look better soon! I promise!

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 31/12/2025

There's something extra satisfying about designing your own hardware. Not just the 3D printed shell, but the electronics inside, too. Like. I *made* that!! For once I didn't just put an off-the-shelf board into a neat little case!! Now that I know what needs revising, I can get started on v2 🥳

A photo of a Meshtastic node sitting atop a wooden surface. It's a basic device, in a nondescript black 3D printed shell. It has an antenna sticking out the upper left corner, and a mechanical keyboard switch (Kailh Choc red, in case you're curious) on the lower left corner. There's a screen in the middle displaying some information about the node. Above the screen, the word "MESHLET" is engraved into the shell.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 25/12/2025

For v0.2, I added dedicated LDOs for the RP2350, LoRa radio, and all the smaller peripherals - 3 in total! The WiFi module now draws power directly from the battery chip's output. Last but certainly not least, I added a bunch of decoupling caps that I somehow managed to miss the first time around.

A screenshot of the revised PCB in KiCAD's 3D viewer. The board is a black rectangle with rounded corners, about half the size of a credit card, with gold contacts for the components & solder points. It's pretty messy, but many of the decorative details previously present have been replaced with additional components.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 24/12/2025

Signs of life!! Just waiting on the radio modules...

A photo of a PCB sitting on top of a battery, which is sitting on the edge of a desk, in front of a keyboard. There are two bright LEDs on one side of the PCB, one white and one red, but they're so close together that they blend into one point of light. There's a yellow USB cable plugged in on the upper end of the PCB, and the battery is connected by a plug on the closer right end.

A screenshot of the Meshtastic Android application UI, showing the power metrics from the board. Channel 1 (battery) displays 3.98 volts and 88 milliamps. Channel 2 (solar MPPT/DC input) displays 0.7 volts and 0 milliamps, as it's disconnected. Channel 3 (USB input) displays 5.26 volts and -118mA. It's negative because it's charging, not discharging.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 22/12/2025

Almost there... 👀

A photo of the front side of a printed circuit board, unfinished, roughly half populated with components.

A photo of the back side of the same PCB. There are plenty of decorative details present, including stylized text showing the name of the board (Meshlet) and the hardware revision (version 0.1). There's also a QR code leading to the project page, and a few blocks of text listing battery warnings and describing functionality for several jumpers on the front side.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/10/2025

Obviously, you look up the sensor datasheet, do some light reverse engineering on the PCB, snip some traces, and pull the "DIR" pin listed in the datasheet high to reverse the output direction! Shoutouts to the manufacturer for not laser etching the IC part numbers out :)

The PCB from the first photo, but with the magnet sensor chip removed, sitting beside the board. It's an AS5600 IC, which is a programmable hall effect sensor that can communicate over I2C, as well as output an analog or PWM signal.

A zoomed in photo of the board with some scribbling on it. I've drawn a blue mark on the pin I want to identify, with a line leading to a circle, representing a trace going to a via, which grounds the pin. There's a red line and a small drawing of some scissors, indicating that I've cut that trace.

Another photo of the PCB. The chip has been reattached, and a brown wire has been soldered between two of the pins, pulling it high to positive voltage, instead of low to ground.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/10/2025

We have some games at work with bad steering potentiometeers. The old ones are discontinued, and the output range on the new model is backwards, which means the steering is also backwards. Turns out, they're not real potentiometers. They're hall effect sensors in disguise. How do you fix this...?

Two potentiometers from a Raw Thrills "Snowboarder" game. The one on the left is new. The one on the right is also new, but has been cracked open, and the parts are laying on the table. There's a small circuit board with a magnet sensing chip, a green insulating plastic piece, and a magnet.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 30/09/2025

I posted a lil teaser about this PCB last month but didn't really elaborate! This is the "Meshlet," a LoRa node I designed around the RP2350 that supports some super neat features. It's meant for use with #meshtastic, hence the logo and stuff, but it can be pretty versatile. Features include...

A screenshot of a 3D render of the top side of a circuit board. This board has a black base, with white silkscreen text, and yellow-gold pads. It's very densely packed with components.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 14/08/2025

Pebble Time 2 announcement dropped today and my Pebble Time Round decided its job here was done

A photo of a Pebble Time Round smartwatch sitting on a white table. The watch body is slightly open, separated in half.

A photo of the battery inside of the Pebble Time Round watch. The battery is noticeably inflated and looks kind of like an overstuffed pillow. This is very dangerous and an active fire hazard. Rip

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 07/08/2025

workin on a new pcb

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 01/08/2025

Back at it again. Wish me luck

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 07/07/2025

Not sure if this counts, but I own a genuine copy of Pump it Up PRO 2, a great game that sold very poorly and was heavily bootlegged (being built on the open-source StepMania engine). I've been told only ~20 real copies ever sold, and finding one with the button panel and marquee is near impossible!

A poorly lit photo of the entire Pump it Up arcade cabinet. There's a yellow-green underglow from the RGG lights I installed underneath the stages. The arrow panels are all placed with the arrow graphics pointed inwards towards the center, instead of outwards, to reduce and even out years worth of wear on the polycarbonate during play.

A photo of the HDD containing the game software. It's a Seagate Barracuda 160GB drive, with a large label stuck to it that says "PIU : PUMP PRO2
VER 12
2010.09.28"
The September date stamp marks this as a somewhat early copy, at only 3 months after the game's official release, with the typical availability window for Pump it Up games being 1-2 years.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 01/07/2025

I've released the files for this project at long last! Changes include: - Fun accents and text on the faceplate and lid - Upgraded to an 80mm solar panel; shockingly effective and easier to find compared to 70mm - Fitment/tolerance fixes Available on Printables! www.printables.com/model/134312...

Top down shot of the "Minimesh Solar" Meshtastic node. It's printed in dark grey ASA plastic for the main case, with a light blue PLA faceplate. I do not recommend PLA for the faceplate. It's just all I had :(

The display shows some basic information about the device and its stats. There is a screw missing from the upper left corner of the keyboard, which I forgot to install before taking the photo.

Top down shot of the "Minimesh Solar" with the lid sitting beside it. There is an 80mm square solar panel on the lid, taking up most of the surface area. Along the top is the text "Minimesh Solar." There's a neat detail around the upper right screw that makes it look kind of like a sun.

A top down photo of the lid on top of the main unit. Not a lot to see here, to be honest

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 25/05/2025

WIP solar capable #meshtastic messenger I'm working on! The idea is to let it charge via solar when outside if USB isn't accessible. The magnetic lid also protects the keyboard & the new 1.52" OLED. There's a CN3791 solar MPPT inside too, at the cost of a smaller 1100mAh battery (prev. 3000mAh)

A Meshtastic node resembling a grey plastic square with screws in 4 corners, and a solar panel in the middle. There's an antenna sticking out of the upper left corner.

Surprise, the solar panel is a removable lid! In this photo, the lid is sitting on the table upside down, on the left of the main body. There are magnets in 3 of 4 corners.

The main body, on the right side, is half covered with a green faceplate, containing a screen and speaker. There is a small white keyboard PCB on the bottom half.

The main body on its own, from another angle. The same parts are visible.

A comparison shot between the new node and my previous node. The screen on the newer one is roughly 2x the size of the previous one, and the body is slightly larger. The photo is taken at an odd angle, with the old unit on the left, and the new one on the right. They're both sideways, with the tops touching.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/05/2025

giving the coin pusher tokens a bath

A bin full of noticeably dull tokens that were once shiny

A few tokens in my hand, above soapy water. They are noticeably shinier than they were previously

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 20/04/2025

Falling down the #meshtastic rabbit hole has led me to the point where I'm learning Fusion 360 to design my own nodes, lol. This is the 1st prototype of the Minimesh! A compact portable node with a 3000mAh battery & M5Stack CardKB, running on an nRF52 fakeTec. Battery life is roughly 2 weeks!

A real-life photo of the assembled Minimesh sitting on a cutting mat atop a desk. The case is printed in an olive green. The display shows information about a node titled "5panel.dance Home Base". There is a long antenna attached to the upper left corner.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 20/03/2025

Hello there! I don't have a reliable connection from home, but I do see it pop up on my commute from time to time. I'm 5panel.dance (5p.d)! As of today I've seen 45 unique nodes around the city - we just need a few more setups with some good height to fill in the gaps for reliable messaging!

A screenshot of a node in the Meshtastic mobile app's node list on Android. The node's short name is displayed as "8088" in a small, pinkish pill on the left. The long name is "LAMBNet T-Deck". It is roughly 8.2km away, and 3 hops away. Last seen 13 hours ago. The battery level displays as 0% 0.00V.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 21/02/2025

It didn't even take me one month to upgrade to some nicer hardware LOL I also have 3 other working nodes, with parts for a 5th on the way. Been researching weatherproof cases and solar panels, too. Surprised how many other nodes there are here! Coverage is still poor, but I'm gonna try to fix that!

A fakeTec-based Meshtastic node, printed in matte olive green filament. There is a black dial at the upper right of the unit. The screen displays the text
"5panel.dance Home Base
3 minutes ago
Signal: 77%
? km"

The string "5P.D" is embossed vertically on the lower right side of the unit, which is the 4-character "short name" this node broadcasts to others nearby.

The same node from another angle. There is a USB C connector cutout on the bottom, with another cutout beside it for an M5Stack CardKB connector, which is currently unpopulated.

The back half of the case is printed in matte grey filament.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 30/01/2025

Woah hey that's crazy, still not used to being on a social media site where people actually see my content. Thank u everyone 💙

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 25/01/2025

The first run of my TechnoPico PCBs are here!! For those seeing it for the first time, it's a custom controller for most arcade-style dance games, with a customizable layout via hotswap sockets and way too much RGB. All designed around the brand new @raspberrypi.com #RP2350 microcontroller!

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 12/01/2025

Screencaps of the layers in KiCAD for the layer enjoyers. Routing is a lil messy and best practices™ are not always followed, as is the way of hobby electronics lol Really really hope these actually work!! I can only fit a single batch into my budget for the foreseeable future

A screenshot of the KiCAD PCB editor UI, showing the front layer of the board's copper traces, pads, and vias.

A screenshot of the KiCAD PCB editor UI, showing the back layer of the board's copper traces, pads, and vias.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 12/01/2025

Still waiting for @raspberrypi.com to make the RP2354 available to consumers, so for now, I crammed some SPI flash (U5) in what little room I had left on the TechnoPico main board so I could order a test batch. Super nervous about ordering this one, easily the densest PCB I've ever laid out!

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 29/12/2024

Anyone got canned coffee recs? Big fan of these two but it's really hard for me to find the Kirin FIRE coffee (only 1 store in the city that I know of carries it), and the Highlands Vietnamese coffee is only sold in more expensive 6-packs everywhere reasonably close by 😔

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 22/12/2024

No wonder this Balatro game won so many awards! And you're telling me I can play it on the go, too? Wow!

The Balatro title screen. The game is running on the stereo in my car.

The gameplay screen. I am on the ante 1 small blind. I haven't scored any points yet.

The game over screen. My best hand was 1,620 points. I was defeated by The Window. This was the "TUTORIAL" seed. Jimbo says, "what a flop!"

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/12/2024

How does this mixup even happen, when the switches are under the tiles and covered up? Players run out of balls but are desperate to hit the last tile for the bonus, so they throw just about anything in there! The tile breaks off, and the switches get bumped on the way down. Please don't do this!!

Two tiles have broken off of the game. The left one has come unplugged and is off. The right one is hanging by its wires and is on.

A football from the game "2 Minute Drill" is sitting at the end of the play area beside a tile that has been knocked out of place by whoever threw it.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/12/2024

Since two tiles currently share an ID of 4, the game gets confused, and can never recognize that all the tiles have been hit because the (now non-existent) third tile was never hit. Thus, no bonus round for you! Simply switching it back to 000011, denoting a 3, makes it work as intended!

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/12/2024

Every tile has a set of DIP switches underneath, with a binary representation of their unique ID, starting from switch 6 and going backwards to switch 1, with "ON" being 0 and "OFF" being 1. Weird way of doing it. When this one is read as intended, it reads 000100, which is a 4. It should be 3!

A set of switches in a red, 6-switch DIP package. The top position reads "ON" and the bottom lists numbers 1 through 6. This set of switches reads on, on, off, on, on, on, which is interpreted as "000100" in binary when read in the intended order.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 18/12/2024

If you're ever unfortunate enough to encounter "Let's Bounce" at the arcade & hit every tile, but it doesn't give you the bonus, this is likely why! See if any tiles stay lit after being hit & only dim when a different tile is hit. It could be any two tiles, these just happened to be adjacent. 🧵

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

At last, it's done! I skipped over several steps here; there are in-depth guides out there for that. Here's a rough before/after! The before photo isn't mine though, I'm a little surprised I never took any at any point owning this car.

A photo of the original 1st gen Honda Fit radio, borrowed from Google Images. The original stereo features a CD player, large volume dial surrounded by mode buttons, blue backlit LCD screen, and the usual seek/skip/tune buttons.

This particular photo is of the Sport trim, as can be inferred by the cruise control buttons present on the steering wheel.

A photo of my completed installation. The windows are fogged up, due to the lack of heating and air circulation during install, and it being the dead of winter.

The same photo as at the top of the thread, of the head unit powered on and showing the Spotify UI, playing "Running in the 90s" by Max Coveri.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

When putting it back together, I had to find an easy way to reattach the fan dial connector. It's the dead of winter, I'll need heat! I was lucky it wasn't colder during this install. Presenting... Zip ties!! No way would I risk damaging the cables w/ the old wire. It's a miracle it held up before.

The fan speed dial connector once again, this time held on by five zip ties. One is around the connector, two form loops around different spokes on either side below the connector. Another zip tie is running between those two loops, holding them taut. The last zip tie threads through the one around the connector, and around the one held taut. This pulls the connector down against the contacts.

It's rock solid, and just needs to survive the winter.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

Answer: it didn't! The connector on it was wrong. The Amazon listing said it worked, and my research told me the same, since I didn't inherently trust the listing. But no! 1st gen Fits are weird I guess. It took ~4 hours to splice all these! Very glad I had my Pinecil iron & battery bank.

A photo of the car's original wiring spliced together with the ISO cable harness. The original connectors on both have been cut off. It probably would've been cheaper for me to buy a generic ISO harness, tbh.

There's an extra long red wire snaking off at the bottom left of the photo. This is for the illumination signal, the pin for which was missing from the ISO adapter that came with the head unit.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

I thought at first that the original connector had been Frankensteined too, but taking a second look now, I don't think that's the case. All the electrical tape threw me off. I'm pretty sure that's just factory.

A photo of the connectors on the back of the original stereo unit. They're wrapped up in electrical tape.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

First things first... Someone's been in here. This is the fan speed dial connector, held on by some thin wire, because one of the clips that holds it in place was broken off by a previous owner/mechanic. I really don't like how it's relying on the ground wire for structural support like that!

A photo of the underside of the head unit after opening it up. Pictured is the fan control dial's connector, holding on for dear life by some twisted wires.

There is a slight gap between the black connector piece and the white tube. Visible through that gap is some copper, which is the contact for the fan controls. I'm pretty sure this should not be exposed!

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 15/12/2024

I installed a new head unit in my car yesterday! I meant to take more photos to make this a proper thread, but I don't have a garage, and it was like -10°C (14°F) out. Not *cold* cold, but I sure felt it over 5 hrs. Here are some things that were interesting enough for me to take pics of! 🧵

The head unit is powered on and showing the Spotify UI, playing "Running in the 90s" by Max Coveri.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 13/12/2024

Oh thank god, I'm starving

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Bonus gameplay, without the prizes, and with several errors thanks to the lack of card readers:

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

It's done! Thanks for coming along for this (rather short) ride! New games aren't as interesting to assemble as used ones that are taken apart in mysterious ways, but I hope it was still neat. Here are some nice, clean glamour shots, before it's met with the fury of a thousand drunk, rowdy guests:

An overview shot of the game, lit up, with prizes fully stocked.

A close up shot of the player 1 play area.

A side view shot of the stocked prize shelves.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Time for finishing touches! I removed the coin acceptors and ticket dispensers, since both of those are handled by the readers. The included metal plates get installed in their place. The manual and spare parts all go in the coin box area, as is common practice here - makes them easy to find!

A slightly blurry shot of the player 2 side's control panel. There is now a white metal plate where there used to be a coin acceptor. To the right is the mount for the card reader.

Two square metal plates, where the ticket dispensers used to be.

An overview of the area inside the coin box. The manual is between the two ticket stack slots. The coin box is pulled out most of the way, and contains the removed coin acceptors and ticket dispensers, alongside a bag of spare screws.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

They also included a bunch of prizes! How kind of them. Some of the prizes were uneven in number, but we did our best to organize them somewhat neatly and evenly. They'll probably get shuffled around a bit before the game goes out. There's even a shelf along the top for display, or extras!

A packing list, showing the prizes that were included for the game.

- Sonic Prime blind boxes: 25
- Among Us keychains: 28
- Stranger Things capsules: 32
- Disney blind boxes: 27
- Jujutsu Kaisen capsules: 23

A photo of the shelves loaded up with prizes. There are several extras on top.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Here's a rather satisfying video of the playfield filling up! I spent way too long looking for where they packed the marbles. Turns out they were in there the whole time, lol

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Now it's finally ready to power on and test! Looks like everything is in working order!

An overview shot of the game, powered on. Nothing is displayed on the screens yet, and no marbles are in the play area.

A close-up shot of the screen, going through the instructions. The instructions pictured are:

1. Wait for 2 arrows line up
[Graphic showing 2 arrows slightly misaligned]
2. Tap button
[Graphic of a hand hitting a button that says "Action"]
3. Drop marbles
[Graphic of a small chute that drops a marble onto the play area]

An overview shot of the playfield, closer up.

An overview shot of the prize dispenser area. Each side has 6 small prize slots, 4 medium prize slots, and 2 "grand" prize slots.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Once the control panels are on there, the coin acceptors have to go. We don't use tokens here! Shockingly, UNIS considered this! There are cutouts for standard smart reader mounts, and the wiring harness has a standard connector for them. Easy!

A photo of a mount for an Embed smart card reader, attached beside the coin acceptor.

An Embed reader wiring harness, connected to a standard connector inside the game, which is located to the right of the bundle.

The full mount piece for the card reader. The main cable that powers the reader and relays credit/ticket information is poking out the middle.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Next up are the control panels! I initially didn't look too closely and thought these were symmetrical. Took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize. Each is held on with 8 screws. I had to guess which kind specifically. The manual doesn't say! It doesn't even have real assembly instructions!

Player 2's control panel, freshly attached. I'm giving a thumbs up with my left hand.

Player 1's control panel, freshly attached. The front has been opened, in preparation for removing the coin acceptor. I'm giving two thumbs up with both hands. Both hands are my own.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Right, back on track. Next up is the header! This was technically attached from factory, but had been detached before it was dropped off so it would fit through the door. This goes on with 4 extra screws, up through the ceiling inside the game.

A shot of the "Over the Edge" header piece, installed on top of the game.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Using the included keys, we can open up the front panel, and-- oh, what's this? Some brand new, straight-from-the-factory rust? Thanks, UNIS!

A small spot of rust and rust dust on the left of the play area, just inside the door.

A small spot of rust and rust dust on the right of the play area, just inside the door. This time it's a little smudged.

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dj505 @5panel.dance · 06/12/2024

Here's what we had delivered this morning. The game comes mostly assembled, which makes my job easier! Separate from the game are the manual, coin/ticket covers for arcades that use smart readers, screws, prizes (they include 145 split between small & medium/large), and the P1/P2 control panels.

An overview shot of the game, pre-assembly. It's mostly out together already, but the control panels and header are missing.

A photo of the operation manual, as well as metal covers for the ticket dispensers and coin slots. There's a small bag of loose screws to the left, and 2 loose screws that aren't in the bag.

A box of prizes included with the game. Thanks, UNIS!

The player 1 and 2 control panels, sitting atop a bed of bubble wrap. The internals are visible with all their wiring and speakers and stuff.

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