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ADVANCED
ADVANCED
TEST
TEST
SMD
SMD
T EEZERS
EEZERS
Part 1 by Tim Blythman
The SMD Test Tweezers and their successor, the Improved SMD Test
Tweezers, are both simple but useful tools. We have developed an enhanced
version with many more features and other improvements, such as a larger
screen and an easier-to-use interface.
I
f you have not already built an SMD
Tweezers kit, you may be wondering what the fuss is about.
After publishing our simple design
from October 2021 (siliconchip.com.
au/Article/15057) and the following
refresh in April 2022 (siliconchip.au/
Article/15276), we were left with no
doubt that both variants were very
popular, with hundreds of kits sold.
Both these designs used a tiny 8-pin
8-bit microcontroller run from a single CR2032 coin cell to probe components by applying voltage via a resistor. The original Tweezers measured
resistance, capacitance or diode forward voltage and displayed the readings on a tiny OLED screen.
The Improved Tweezers used the
same hardware but a microcontroller
with more flash memory, allowing
us to add extra features, such as the
ability to flip the display to suit being
used in either hand and an expanded
capacitance range.
Advancements
Both those variants of the Tweezers
were designed with small size, low
cost and simplicity in mind. They both
used just about the cheapest microcontroller and smallest display possible. Given their popularity, we had
to produce a follow-up, and knew it
needed to be good.
To be clear, this is not an incremental change over the first two designs,
but a vast improvement. You can
see from the list of features that the
Advanced Tweezers will do much
more than its predecessors.
One of the things we looked for in a
new microcontroller for the Advanced
Tweezers was a 12-bit ADC (analog-
to-digital converter) peripheral. This
would provide extra resolution over
the 10-bit ADC that is standard on
most 8-bit PIC microcontrollers, such
as those we used for the previous
Tweezers.
We reviewed some of the newer
8-pin PICs in the October 2022
issue (siliconchip.au/Article/15505),
and have since started using the
PIC16F18146 in some projects. However, we chose not to use an 8-bit PIC
for our Advanced Tweezers.
Instead, we have chosen a 28-pin
16-bit micro, the PIC24FJ256GA702.
It also has a 12-bit ADC peripheral, so
we still get the improved resolution. It
also has some other interesting peripherals that we’ve put to good use.
The Advanced SMD Test Tweezers are a bit bigger than
the earlier version but only because they incorporate a larger
display and extra pushbuttons. They also have new measuring modes,
including an oscilloscope, voltmeter, I/V curve plotter and a tone/square
wave generator.
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It isn’t much more expensive than
an 8-bit micro, but it is undoubtedly
a lot more capable. Importantly, it has
much more RAM and flash memory,
so we can include many more modes
and settings. That extra memory also
means that the blocky font used on
the earlier Tweezers has been replaced
by one that is larger and much more
readable.
We’ve also used some interesting
techniques for probing and sensing. So
let’s introduce the various test modes
that are available.
Modes
The earlier Tweezers variants only
had a single mode which would try to
identify the device under test and display its value. For a resistor or capacitor, it would show resistance or capacitance. For a diode, it would work
out the forward voltage and polarity
and display both. Dual anti-parallel
diodes, such as bi-colour LEDs, would
not be detected as they conduct in both
directions.
The Advanced Tweezers add many
more modes, which we will briefly
introduce before going into more detail
during the usage section of the article
(in the second part).
Like the older variants, several
modes are for characterising components such as resistors, capacitors
and diodes. Instead of attempting
to identify a device under test, the
Advanced Tweezers reports all of its
assessments together. This is made
possible by using a larger OLED display and removes the possibility of
the Tweezers identifying a component
incorrectly.
There are still dedicated modes for
resistors, capacitors and diodes, which
each display only one value in a large,
clear font, but you need to select them.
These modes are especially handy
when dealing with surface-mounting
capacitors, which typically don’t have
any distinguishing markings.
The diode mode also provides a low,
steady bias current which is only interrupted by the reading cycle. This has
the advantage that you know immediately that the LED is working and what
colour it is when it lights.
Checking the value of hard-to-read
surface mounting parts is one of the
great advantages of the Tweezers format. It is especially handy for capacitors and LEDs, which often have subtle polarity markings.
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Features & Specifications
❎ 10 different modes (see modes & options lists)
❎ Runs from a single CR2032 coin cell
❎ Sleep current <1μA
❎ Resistance accuracy ~1% when calibrated
❎ Voltage accuracy ~2% when calibrated
❎ Capacitance accuracy ~5% when calibrated
❎ Adjustable sleep timeout
❎ Adjustable display brightness
❎ Sleep timer can be paused for continuous operation
❎ Display can be rotated to suit left- and right-handed use
❎ Cell voltage displayed in all modes
❎ Auto calibration of some parameters
❎ Works down to 2.4V cell voltage
❎ Standby cell life: equal to shelf life
❎ Operating cell life: typically several hours of use
Modes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Resistance: 1Ω to 40MΩ, ±1%
Capacitance: 10pF to 150μF, ±5%; gives readings up to 2000μF
Diode forward voltage: 0-2.4V, ±2%
Combined resistance/capacitance/diode display
Voltmeter: 0 to ±30V ±2%
Oscilloscope: ranges ±30V at up to 25kSa/s
Serial UART decoder
I/V curve plotter
Logic probe
Audio tone/square wave generator
Oscilloscope options
❎ Voltage ranges: 0-5V, 0-10V, 0-20V, 0-30V, -5 to +5V, -10 to +10V, -20
to +20V, -30 to +30V
❎ Trigger on rising edge, falling edge, both or continuously (auto)
❎ Trigger level settable in 1V intervals
❎ Timebase (per div, 4 divs visible): 1ms, 2ms, 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 50ms,
100ms, 200ms or 500ms
Serial UART decoder options
❎ Baud rate: 110, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 14.4k, 28.8k, 38.4k, 57.6k or
115.2k
❎ 8N, 8O, 8E and 9N data length/parity
❎ 1 or 2 stop bits
❎ active high or active low
❎ text (terminal) or HEX display
I/V curve plotter options
❎ six-point sampling, live update, centred on 0V/0mA
❎ vertical scale (per div, four on screen): 1mA, 500μA, 200μA, 100μA
or 50μA
❎ horizontal scale (per div, four on screen): 2V, 1V, 500mV, 200mV or
100mV
Tone/square wave generator options
❎ frequency: 50Hz, 60Hz, 100Hz, 440Hz or 1kHz
❎ nominal amplitudes (pk-pk): 300mV, 600mV, 3V or 6V
❎ on/off control (defaults to off)
Australia's electronics magazine
February 2023 45
Fig.1: while the 28-pin microcontroller chip is about twice the physical size of the SOIC-8 parts used for the earlier
Tweezers, there are many advantages to having so many available I/O pins. 10 pins are used for probing the tips, giving
much more range. Three more I/O pins handle buttons for control and calibration, while the OLED display can be
powered down completely using another spare pin.
There is now also a digital voltmeter
mode, which shows the voltage across
the probe tips, up to ±30V.
In oscilloscope mode, it can sample
at up to 25kSa/s with varying voltage
and time scales. It also offers some
basic trigger modes. It’s not likely to
make your bench ‘scope obsolete, but
it could be handy for probing signals in
the audio range. The ‘scope mode uses
the same ±30V-capable input stage as
the voltmeter mode, so it offers the
same range.
The recent digital oscilloscopes we
have reviewed offer a serial decoding
utility, and the Advanced Tweezers do
too. There is only one input channel,
so we can only decode a UART data
stream. The Advanced Tweezers can
accept and decode a variety of baud
rates and data formats.
To overcome the limitations of the
diode checker only being able to handle single diodes, we have implemented an I/V curve plotting mode.
The I/V curve shape will also allow
you to categorise many ‘mystery’ components.
The logic probe mode can differentiate between a high logic level, a low
logic level and a high impedance. It
also provides a digital trace so that
transient signals and digital waveforms can be seen.
Finally, a Tone Generator allows
square waves to be delivered at several frequencies and amplitudes. It’s
ideal for injecting test signals into
The arrangement of the arms and tips is much the same
as that for the Improved Tweezers, using the
same arm PCBs and gold-plated pins
as simple, practical tips.
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audio equipment or a clock signal into
a digital IC.
If you’re working with audio gear,
you might consider having two sets
of Advanced Tweezers; one to inject
a tone and a second to trace it. The
Tweezers also have the great advantage of being battery-operated, allowing them to be used without needing
to be referenced to ground.
We’ve provided three pushbuttons,
giving more control over what the
Tweezers are doing and making them
easier to work with. This also allows
us to add more extensive calibration
and configuration options than the
earlier variants.
Circuit details
Fig.1 shows the circuit diagram of
the Advanced Tweezers. It has some
improvements over the earlier versions that give better accuracy over a
wide range of component values and
provide better protection to the microcontroller.
IC1 is a PIC24FJ256GA702 microcontroller, and its numerous I/O pins
allow us to connect to the device under
test (DUT) in various ways. However,
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guaranteeing it draws no current when
the Tweezers shut down.
We had problems with some apparently faulty 0.49-inch OLEDs drawing
too much current in standby mode, so
we’re eliminating that possibility with
this new design.
Measuring resistors & diodes
Fig.2: the Advanced Tweezers uses IC1’s internal ADC to measure voltages,
using the voltage divider equation to calculate resistances and voltages across
diodes. This works much the same as the earlier Tweezers, but with the addition
of extra resistances and a 12-bit (instead of 10-bit) ADC to provide more range
and accuracy.
the design heritage shared with the
earlier Tweezers is evident. Like the
earlier Tweezers, a coin cell holder
(BAT1) provides the nominal 3V supply to the circuit.
The three capacitors, and the single
10kW resistor connected to IC1’s pin
1 are essential for any application of
this microcontroller. The 10kW resistor pulls up the MCLR pin, allowing
normal operation unless a connected
programmer/debugger overrides it.
This pin and the other pins associated with programming IC1 are
connected to CON1 for this purpose.
You’ll note that the PGED and PGEC
programming pins (pins 4 & 5) are not
shared with any other components,
making development and debugging
much easier.
The 100nF capacitors bypass the
main chip supply, while the 10µF
capacitor bypasses an internal regulator responsible for powering the chip’s
processor core.
The remaining ten resistors provide
the interface between the DUT (connected to the Tweezer tips at CON+
and CON−) and the microcontroller.
You might note that there is no direct
connection between the tips and the
microcontroller; any path is always
via at least one resistor. This is another
improvement to the design and affords
the microcontroller greater protection
from the outside world. That’s especially important since we envisage
users probing active circuits with the
Advanced Tweezers.
The 1kW resistors to pins 2 and
26 provide the lowest-resistance
path between the microcontroller
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and external circuitry, so we have
protected each of these with a dual
schottky diode clamping each to the
two supply rails. These shunt excess
current away from the I/O pins before
any semiconductor junctions within
IC1 can conduct current.
The three tactile pushbuttons, S1,
S2 and S3 also connect to I/O pins on
IC1. These pins are normally pulled
up weakly to the positive supply internally to the microcontroller, but they
go low when the button is pressed so
IC1 can sense that.
MOD1 is the 0.96-inch (24mm)
diagonal OLED display. It is nearly
twice as wide and twice as tall as the
0.49-inch (12.5mm) OLED used in the
earlier Tweezers, making for a much
more legible display packed with more
information.
Two I/O pins are required for its I2C
control interface with the microcontroller. We also use another I/O pin
to power the OLED’s VCC pin. That
means we can completely disconnect power from the OLED module,
Naturally, much of the operation
depends on the firmware. Still, before
we get to that, we will explain how the
microcontroller uses the sensing resistors in different ways to measure various components and voltages.
The microcontroller has an internal 1.2V bandgap voltage reference.
We measure this using the ADC (with
the supply as a reference) and invert
the result to calculate the supply voltage. For example, if the 1.2V reference
is measured as 40% of the reference
voltage, the supply must be 1.2V ÷
0.4 or 3V.
Since the internal bandgap reference
can vary by up to 5% from nominal,
the exact value of the reference needs
to be determined during calibration
for improved accuracy.
Fig.2 shows the arrangement that is
used for probing resistors and diodes.
Resistors Ra and Rb could be any two
of the 1kW, 10kW and 100kW resistors
available, while Rc and Rd have the
same options. The micro’s pins can
be driven high, low or left floating (in
a high-impedance mode).
Ra is typically pulled to the supply
voltage by driving it high, while Rb is
left high-impedance. Similarly, Rd is
connected to ground by driving it low,
and Rc is also high impedance. Current
thus flows from the micro via Ra and
into the DUT via CON+, then back to
ground via CON− and Rd.
Tests are then performed with CON+
pulled low and CON− pulled high to
account for reverse-biased diodes. For
This view shows the spacing of the OLED module above the main PCB. Note
the header pin acting as a reinforcing spacer at one corner of the OLED. This
prevents the assembly flexing and causing a short between the two PCBs.
Australia's electronics magazine
February 2023 47
Screengrabs from part two, showing the Advanced SMD Test Tweezers in operation
Screen 5: the AUTO SET tunes three
calibration parameters by performing
internal measurements with the tips
open. It depends on the previous
calibration settings being entered and
correct.
Screen 14: the initial Meter display
mode, which can read up to 30V with
both negative and positive polarities
(with respect to CON+ and CON-). The
resolution is 10mV to 9.99V and 0.1V
above that.
Screen 15: Scope mode is handy, even
though there are only 100 horizontal
and 48 vertical pixels in the trace
area. It samples at up to 25kHz,
is suitable for audio use, and has
adjustable trigger settings.
the following explanations, you can
assume that any pins not mentioned
are left in a high-impedance state, so
they do not affect the calculations.
The microcontroller’s ADC (analog
to digital converter) peripheral is used
to read the voltages on the pins connected via Rb and Rc. With the ADC
scaled to use the supply voltage as its
reference, the actual value of the supply is not important for resistance calculations.
The calculations are made with raw
ADC values. For the 12-bit ADC used
on the PIC24FJ256GA702, there are
4096 steps, four times as many as with
a 10-bit ADC.
The calculations make use of the
voltage divider equation. Six tests are
performed using various combinations
of the 1kW, 10kW and 100kW values.
These have 2kW, 11kW and 101kW total
in series with the device under test for
both polarities.
The best resolution is when the test
and unknown resistors are similar in
magnitude, so our algorithm discards
invalid results and selects which of
the measurements will give the most
accurate final value.
The two tests with 2kW series resistance are also used for diodes. In this
case, the readings are scaled by the previously calculated supply voltage to
determine the diode forward voltage.
If the DUT voltage is close to the
supply voltage, it is assumed that the
DUT is not passing current. This will
be the case for reverse-biased diodes
or when no device is connected. So
a diode is only detected if a voltage
notably less than the supply voltage
is seen in one direction and a voltage close to the supply in the other.
In this case, the polarity and voltage
are reported.
While the CTMU has many applications, what matters to us is that
it includes a programmable current
source that can be delivered to an ADC
pin during sampling.
The ‘charge time’ naming comes
from the fact that it can be controlled
by external triggers and used to measure intervals between those triggers
by measuring the amount of charge
delivered to a known capacitor.
Instead, by delivering a known current over a known interval, we can
apply a fixed amount of charge, and
with the equations shown in Fig.3, we
can measure capacitance.
That means we don’t need to resort
to complex calculations involving
logarithms which are often needed to
analyse RC circuits.
The 8-bit PIC devices we used for
the earlier Tweezers avoided logarithms by using an approximation and
limiting the state of charge to regions
where the approximation would be
most accurate.
For this test, Rd is connected to
Measuring capacitors
Fig.3 shows the different arrangement used to measure the value of
capacitors. One of the features of the
ADC on this microcontroller is the
CTMU or charge time measurement
unit.
Fig.3: the constant current source of the CTMU peripheral greatly simplifies the measuring of capacitances. It eliminates
the need for the processor-intensive logarithmic calculations needed to derive a capacitor value from the time constant of
an RC circuit.
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Screen 16: we find the UART Serial
Decoder indispensable at times.
Like the Scope mode, it is highly
configurable in terms of baud rates,
bit depth and data polarity. This
shows the TXT view.
Screen 17: the Serial Decoder also
offers a hexadecimal mode, useful for
seeing binary data and control codes.
Framing or parity errors are shown,
which can help to determine the data
format.
Screen 18: while Diode mode cannot
report dual diodes such as bicolour
LEDs, the I/V Plotter shows both
polarities. The current and voltage
scales can be zoomed in for more
detail.
ground and Ra is connected to the
CTMU current source. An initial ADC
sample is taken, followed by a second
sample after a known interval, with
the current source active between the
two samples.
In both cases, 1kW series resistors
are used. This is because the resistors
will drop some voltage due to the current flowing, and the 1kW resistors will
drop the least voltage. Fortunately, it
will be the same for the first and second readings, so it will cancel out.
Five different currents can be
applied, so we can take multiple
readings. To extend the range further, shorter and longer durations are
used, giving six readings over different orders of magnitude.
Like the resistor measurement, the
readings near the middle of the range
are chosen. High readings are ignored
as the current source tends to saturate
as its output nears the supply voltage. That would result in inaccurate
readings.
Since the voltage is the denominator
of the equation, lower values are disregarded because this will diminish
the resolution. Higher values lead to
closer steps between their respective
reciprocals and thus better resolution.
The capacitance calculation depends
on the supply voltage, CTMU current
and time, so the expected accuracy is
not as good as for resistance or diode
voltage. Still, with calibration, it
should be within 5%.
Between measurements in the resistor and capacitor modes, the 1kW resistors in each group are pulled low, and
the remaining pins are left floating.
Apart from minimising current flowing in or out of floating pins, this also
serves to discharge any connected
capacitor, so it is ready for the next
measurement cycle.
One exception is in diode mode.
In this case, the CON+ terminal is
pulled high instead of low to provide a bias to light an attached LED,
allowing it to be visually checked.
A light-emitting diode connected in
the forward direction will illuminate
except for the period when the reading is done, when it will appear to
flicker off briefly.
Fig.4: the Meter and Scope modes use a set of four fixed resistors to provide a
biased divider capable of measuring voltages above and below the Advanced
Tweezers’ supply rails. The circuits on the left and right are equivalent.
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Australia's electronics magazine
Scope and meter modes
Another arrangement is used for the
scope and meter modes that allows
them to read voltages outside the
Tweezers’ supply rails. Four more 1kW
resistors are put into play. Of each pair,
one is pulled high at the micro end and
the other low. This situation is shown
on the left of Fig.4, with the simplified
circuit to its right being functionally
equivalent.
Each tip is thus subjected to a 20:1
voltage divider biased to half the supply voltage. Readings are taken by
measuring the difference in the voltage between V1 and V2 and multiplying by 21. With a nominal 3V supply,
we can measure up to around 30V (differential) between CON+ and CON−.
Biased differential inputs allow positive and negative voltages to be measured.
It’s possible for current to flow
With three pushbuttons, calibrating
and changing modes is much easier
than earlier version of the Tweezers.
February 2023 49
Screengrabs from part two, showing the Advanced SMD Test Tweezers in operation
Screen 19: the Logic Analyser shows
whether it detects a high, low or high
impedance logic level. A scrolling
chart also shows a brief history,
making it easier to see transients and
repeating patterns.
Screen 20: like Scope mode, the
Tone Generator is handy at audio
frequencies or as a simple clock
generator. It can produce square
waves at five different frequencies and
four different amplitudes.
Screen 21: the Auto screen is only
one of ten pages but encompasses
and surpasses the abilities of its
predecessors. It shows resistance,
capacitance, diode polarity and
forward voltage.
through the unused 1kW and 100kW
resistors if the applied voltage is
greater than the supply voltage. The
current through the 1kW resistors is
shunted to the supply rails by D1 and
D2. The 100kW resistors will conduct
much less current, and this will flow
through the microcontroller’s internal
protection diodes.
These unwanted currents dictate the
useful upper voltage limits of the scope
and meter modes. Voltages beyond
those limits could cause damage to
the microcontroller.
Damage could also occur if excess
voltage is applied while the pins are
being driven (as for resistor, capacitor
and diode modes), since these currents will now flow through the chip’s
internal output transistors instead of
the external and internal protection
diodes.
We found that one of our earlier
prototypes was running cells flat
even when not being used; this was
because the damaged microcontroller
was drawing excess current in sleep
mode. If you find your Tweezers are
going through cells excessively, that
could be why.
So care must be taken only to apply
higher voltages in modes when the
Tweezers expect it. This was not a concern with the older Tweezers designs,
as they did not have any modes to
measure externally applied voltages,
and were only designed for use with
passive devices.
Modes that expect digital signals,
such as the logic analyser and serial
decoder, simply pull CON− to ground
via its 1kW resistor. CON+ may be left
floating or weakly pulled up or down
by the 100kW resistor to detect the difference between high, low and high
impedance logic levels.
self-contained program that is called
upon during the program loop. Each
makes the measurements it needs and
displays the results.
The buttons are checked and flags
are set for each mode to process in
accordance with its operation.
Firmware
The firmware program on IC1 is
responsible for initialising all the
peripherals and the OLED display. It
coordinates the measurements, reads
the pushbuttons and controls the display as needed.
Apart from the main program loop, a
timer interrupt is set to fire about three
times per second, triggering display
updates at a comfortable rate.
The code is modular, and each of
the individual modes is much like a
Power consumption
The processor runs at a modest
4MHz instruction clock (down from
the maximum possible 16MHz) to minimise power consumption and thus,
the load on the coin cell. We could
not maintain the desired screen update
rate at lower speeds than this.
During some of the scope mode’s
sample periods, the clock is sped up
to 16MHz to allow faster ADC sampling rates.
There are also periods where no
urgent processing is needed, in which
case the DOZE feature is activated. The
processing core runs at an even lower
fraction of its maximum speed, reducing power usage even further.
There is a timer counting off the
timer interrupt. When this expires, a
routine is called to power off the OLED
and put the peripherals and I/O pins
The hole at upper left is for a Nylon M2 screw to prevent children from removing the coin cell. While it would be quite
difficult for them to remove it anyway, we want to ensure it is safe.
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Screen 22: the Res screen provides
the same resistance information as
the Auto screen but in a larger font,
which is handy for checking and
sorting through different resistor
values.
Screen 23: the Cap screen works
similarly, displaying just the
measured capacitance in large text.
It’s perfect for working out which part
is which amongst a pile of unmarked
SMD capacitors.
Screen 24: the diode screen is similar
to the Diode display on the Auto
screen but a bias is applied from
CON+ to CON− between tests. This
lets you quickly check the polarity
and operation of LEDs.
into a low-power state, after which the
processor goes into the lowest-power
SLEEP state.
By completely powering off the
OLED, we avoid any possibility that
it is not in its lowest possible power
state. The OLED modules we used in
the earlier Tweezers have a sleep mode
that initially appears quite effective
but sometimes had a current draw that
crept up higher than expected.
Interrupts triggered by a change
in the switch states are used to wake
up the processor while it is stopped.
It resumes by doing much the same
as when it first initialises, since the
peripherals have all been put into lowpower modes too.
The SLEEP mode keeps the RAM
contents, so resuming from sleep will
retain all the same mode settings and
parameters.
Our measurements during SLEEP
recorded a consistent current draw
around 700nA, much lower than the
earlier Tweezers variants. At these levels, the cell’s self-discharge is likely
to be more significant than the actual
circuit current.
We also sought to minimise current
draw during normal operation; this
is typically in the single-digit milliamps, depending on the operating
mode. This is critical, as the amount
of usable capacity for a coin cell (as
measured in mAh) is higher with a
lower current draw.
So higher consumption not only
reduces the time that a given cell
capacity can be used, but also tends
to reduce that capacity. The internal
resistance of a coin cell is of the order
20W, so a current in the milliamps
will also reduce the voltage available
to the circuit by a noticeable amount,
around 0.1V.
Apart from its internal controller,
the OLED only draws current for lit
pixels, so there is the option to adjust
the brightness and thus compromise
between visibility and power consumption. The OLED is typically the
greatest drain on the battery.
The OLED dictates the 2.4V minimum voltage as it tends to fade and
flicker below that level. The microcontroller will work down to around
2V, but running this low also limits the
effective sampling range of the ADC.
We initially used a pretty thick font
for some of the displays. By changing
to a lighter font with thinner strokes,
we reduced the current by over 3mA
in some modes!
We found that the display was
perfectly visible indoors at a reduced
brightness, so we have set the default
brightness to be somewhere in the
lower end of its range, prolonging cell
life and reducing the voltage drop. You
can increase the brightness via the settings if necessary, eg, for use in very
brightly lit areas.
siliconchip.com.au
Next month
Because this is a reasonably complicated instrument (at least in terms
of its modes and features), we don’t
have space in this issue for the full
construction, calibration and usage
details. That will all be covered in the
final article next month. Some screengrabs showing the Tweezers in operaSC
tion are shown above.
Parts List – Advanced SMD Test Tweezers
1 double-sided main PCB coded 04106221, blue (28 × 36mm)
2 double-sided arm PCBs coded 04106212, blue (100 × 8mm)
3 gold-plated header pins (for tips and OLED support)
1 PIC24FJ256GA702-I/SS microcontroller programmed
with 0410622A.HEX (IC1)
1 0.96in 128×64 I2C OLED module, blue/cyan or white (MOD1)
2 BAT54S dual series schottky diodes, SOT-23 (D1, D2)
2 100nF 50V X7R ceramic capacitors, SMD M2012/0805 size
1 10μF 6V X7R ceramic capacitors, SMD M2012/0805 size
2 100kW ⅛W 1% SMD resistors, M2012/0805 size
3 10kW ⅛W 1% SMD resistors, M2012/0805 size
6 1kW ⅛W 1% SMD resistors, M2012/0805 size
3 small SMD two-pin tactile switches (S1-S3)
1 surface-mount 32mm coin cell holder (BAT1)
2 100mm lengths of 10mm diameter clear heatshrink tubing
1 5-pin right-angled header, 2.54mm pitch (CON1; optional, for ICSP)
1 label (optional; see Fig.8 next month)
1 M2 × 6mm Nylon screw
2 M2 Nylon nuts
1 CR2032 or CR2025 lithium coin cell
Advanced SMD Test Tweezers Kit (SC6631)
The kit includes all the parts listed in the parts list (except coin cell & CON1),
with the microcontroller pre-programmed. It is available for $45 + P&P.
Australia's electronics magazine
February 2023 51
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