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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's not an iPhone charger. The device is the USB Type-C Downstream Facing Port (DFP) controller. What's that? Imagine you are a car designer and you want to put a SAFETY USB Type-C port on the dashboard.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I've been listening to this phrase again and again: KiCad is for hobbyists. You can't lay out a high-speed design with DDR. Length matching is difficult. What else? Rumour has that there is an old proverb "The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it"

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Partsbox invented ID Anything™️ , and it works like magic with your component bags. When you export the CSV file for ordering your components, DigiKey and other distributors will follow and add the unique ID Anything™️ code to the bag or box label. See the magic? youtu.be/VEf27744Kk0

youtu.be

Partsbox - Upload your BoM and use Magic 🪄

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In the Preliminary Report, the hidden schematic issue was R43 and R44 resistors. I didn't know about that library error. 👉 tomachie.com 👉 Use code DVORAK15 for 15% off 👉 Link to the schematic review report tomachie.com/v/d1c4eefe2d... youtu.be/kmo5Y9ho5iA

youtu.be

Design for Testing is my biggest weakness. Tomachie knows what manufacturing testing is about.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I built a small evaluation board around the Microchip Technology Inc. USB2422, a USB 2.0 hub controller, and finally got to test it on camera. The board is compact: one USB input goes in, two USB-A ports come out, each backed by its own 1A load switch. youtube.com/shorts/QgFFE...

youtube.com

https://youtube.com/shorts/QgFFE1EJV1E

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The board itself came from AISLER 🧡 Fast, reliable EU manufacturing is what makes a throwaway eval board like this worth building in the first place. P.S. All my posts are under #thatkicadguy -> type it into the search field above.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I found this little chip in a Bose portable speaker, and I fell in love with it. So deep that I had to design a board around it. Here it is: • 2-Cells 18650. • Gas Gauge with Protection. • I2C bus communications interface. • 12-pin VSON package. • Cell balancing.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

KiCad footprint from a datasheet drawing. Step by step. Part 4. youtube.com/shorts/5KjJr...

youtube.com

https://youtube.com/shorts/5KjJr9PQdgA

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Untitled files eat your disk drive. In the KiCad footprint editor, each new file is called Untitled. When you accidentally hit Save instead of Save as, the file is saved as Untitled or Untitled_x. When I filtered all the files with the phrase Untitled, I saw this. Delete them all!

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

You shipped CH334 boards you can't reorder. Nice work. My designs started turning around the USB thing. Not intentionally, but not completely randomly. I've noticed we sometimes stick with components when better alternatives exist.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

My designs with MCUs oscillate. All of them. I don't want to clickbite you. They really do. My designs with MCUs oscillate between three states: 1. STM32 of any flavour and color 2. ESP32 3. Raspberry Pi MCUs

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Sub-µamp signals got me harder than I expected. I took ten Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. VEMD4210FX02 ambient light sensors, a single op-amp, and an I2C ADC and built an evaluation board Why ten of them? I wanted to create four groups of them with a single one, two, three and four sensors in paralel

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I only had to connect a small speaker. That was the plan, anyway. PSOC™️ Edge E84 AI kit. youtube.com/shorts/dUn68...

youtube.com

https://youtube.com/shorts/dUn68HAZnuk

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It's not perfect, but who is? It has one small feature that I can't understand. I accept it, though. It's the Texas Instruments TSP25730S USB-PD sink controller with quite a long feature list. It has: • I2C • 6 GPIOs • Dead battery flagging. • Cable attach and orientation detection. • PD3.1

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Nobody jumps into complex routing and gets it right. You get there by routing something simpler first, all the way through, with the calculations actually done instead of guessed. LINK = fedevel.com/courses/kica...

fedevel.com

KiCad for Makers

This hands-on video course takes you step by step through the complete process of designing, building, and testing a custom electronic board in KiCad. Building on the fundamentals covered in KiCad…

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I know that a hubby is not a hub. I still love it. I wanted to find a Western replacement to the famous CH334. And I did. Microchip USB2422. It has all I need and ...hell yeaaaah, available to all of my Western customers who don't assemble in Asia. Hell yeaaah.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I've been looking for a Western replacement for the popular, easy-to-use USB-PD sink controller HUSB238. I chose the TPS25730S. When I focus on simplicity, the HUSB238 is hard to beat. So far, the TPS25730x is next to it. The disadvantage is the IC's single-source nature.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

All Makers and DIY design engineers know the CH334 device family. It just works. But what to do when we want to use it in a "Western" device? Hold my beer. I have something for you. I have been working on this Hardware design template for Beny-devices for a while and now... it's finished.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I bought my Bose SoundLink Mini about 12 years ago. Or so. The old boy has started losing juice recently. Even charging to full was an issue. But I love it so much. The dense sound of this little thingy is amazing. So instead of buying a new one, I decided to give it a new chance.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I have to admit, this solder paste print was kind of tricky. But not because of the component size. The reason was different. The smallest component here is 0402, which is not a big deal. Just the opposite. Even the IC is rather big. It's UFQFPN-32-1EP_5x5mm_P0.5mm, as KiCad calls it.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I was always fascinated by quadrature encoders. Old-school rotation detectors used two Hall-effect ICs placed at specific locations. Each detected only a vertical magnetic field. Each required precise mechanical positioning The new ABLIC Inc. S-5791 changes the game. youtube.com/shorts/bHQ37...

youtube.com

The tiny chip that killed old-school encoders overnight

I was always fascinated by quadrature encoders. Old-school rotation detectors used two Hall-effect ICs placed at specific locations. Each detected only a vertical magnetic field. Each required…

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I've been looking for a Western replacement for the popular, easy-to-use USB-PD sink controller HUSB238. I chose the AP33771C. When I focus on simplicity, the HUSB238 is hard to beat. So far, the AP33771C is next to it. The disadvantage is the IC's single-source nature.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Build your own symbol. Own your schematic. That is what Lesson 1 is about. In this video, I show you: = How to create a new project with its own folder = The difference between a Global library and a project-specific library youtube.com/shorts/WeEYS...

youtube.com

https://youtube.com/shorts/WeEYSYfyqJk

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

USB2422 is my Western competitor to the famous CH334/5 devices. One has to accept that the HUSB238 and CH334 are well-designed chips. I can't compare the insides. I'm short on intel about that. What I can compare is the ease of use. And the HUSB238 and CH334 are hard to beat.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

My first time with PSoC. It's so new to me that I don't even know the part number. The box reads PSOC™ Edge E84 AI board. This is what I found in the user manual of the thing: The PSOC™ Edge E84 MCU = an ultra-low-power, true programmable embedded system-on-chip (SoC) designed by Infineon

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

What I love about my side projects is that I've been using them in my customer designs. The templates are verified and minimise mistakes. Using my template designs is a safe space. Absolutely safe.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

There's a well-known USB-PD IC from the East that a lot of beginners reach for by default. I designed a PCB and tested the alternative. The Texas Instruments TPS25730S. youtube.com/shorts/LbI9-...

youtube.com

https://youtube.com/shorts/LbI9-jV5xAU

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

It hasn't been long since I rearmed to 4 channels. This time, I enjoy the freedom of using an integrated functional generator and 4 analog channels. There is only one thing that can be improved. The scope's trigger can't be set to the generator. It means you have to sacrifice one analog channel

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

My first time with PSoC. It's so new to me that I don't even know the part number. Th box reads PSOC™ Edge E84 AI board. Hm, so it really is an Edge-AI thing. Three cores there... + Quad-SPI NOR Flash and Octal-SPI HYPERRAM™ So no DDR or something fast. Well, let's get back to work.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

PCBite is #1 at a probe-holding job. Only a few know that it also excels at a completely different job. PCBite is the best solder holder. I was looking for a small solder holder for years. Then I realised that the PCBite is amazing even for this job. What do you think?

youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

PSoC Rocks. PSoC Rocks. PSoC Rocks. You should know these words are not mine. The thing speaks to me these words. First things first. Without Claude Code, I would stop with the unboxing. Or just after.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Imagine the freedom to use between one and eighty keys. This IC can handle all of this, plus it has plenty of GPIOs. I want to share my latest project: a keyboard controller using the Analog Devices ADP5587. This compact device can handle an 8x10 keypad matrix and track key presses and releases.

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

That is the idea behind Lesson 3. In this video, I show you how to initialise a local Git repository inside the library folder commit your first changes and track updates over time push everything to a private GitHub repository so your team can use it

youtu.be

Your KiCad library is only as good as the version control behind it.

That is the idea behind Lesson 3. In this video, I show you: = How to install AISLER Lovely Library using the Plugin and Content Manager = How to initialise a local Git repository inside the…

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The shocking truth about why beginners never finish their first board. Nine years ago, I was in your shoes. I opened KiCad for the first time and felt that mix of excitement and total confusion. Where do you even start when the canvas is blank?

youtu.be

KiCad for Beginners teaser = what you can expect

The shocking truth about why beginners never finish their first board. https://www.fedevel.com/courses/kicad-for-beginners Nine years ago, I was in your shoes. I opened KiCad for the first time and…

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

No App, Browser Tab. My headline muscle is flexing now! It's kind of genius. Not me, the CAPUF Terminal. No App needed. I'm on Brave, which is a more secure Chrome. New tab, open the capuf.in/serial-terminal and you are ready to rock. BTW, PSoC Rocks there!

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

My first time with PSoC. It's so new to me that I don't even know the part number. Th box reads PSOC™ Edge E84 AI board. This is what I found in the user manual of the thing: The PSOC™ Edge E84 MCU • an ultra-low-power, true programmable embedded system-on-chip (SoC) designed by Infineon

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Petr Dvorak @thatkicadguy.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Sub-µamp signals got me harder than I expected. I took ten Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. VEMD4210FX02 ambient light sensors, a single op-amp, and an I2C ADC and built an evaluation board.

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