YourITronics

Recently i received 2 computer motherboards and one broken laptop. So i started doing the best thing for them , taking them apart. First came the notebook, which was quite difficult to take apart, lots of screws in lots of small corners, pieces screwed together from both sides, etc.

But after a couple of hours i was left with a 15,4″ WXGA lcd panel, one 512 MB ram dimm(i used this to upgrade a friends laptop), a laptop keyboard, a laptop battery, a laptop cd-rom, a wifi lan board, and lots of different chips taken from the motherboard. In fact i will post a list with all the parts at the end of the article, because i have an idea

Next came the two computer motherboards, i took those apart too and saved allot of interesting chips.

And now the idea: since i now have a bunch of parts i want to give’em to someone so it can make something interesting out of it. I also want to give that person a PCB from BKRtech. So take a look at the list and if something looks interesting and you have an idea let me know, I’ll send you the parts and the PCB.

the list..

• LF-H80P – 1:1 ethernet transformer
• TEA5767 – single chip FM radio (1 x TEA5767 sent to Andreas Nilsson in Sweeden, there is 1 left)
• RTM660 – 109R Realtek soundcard
• ALC655 – six channel AC’97 audio codec
• CMI9738 – four channel AC’97 audio codec
• RTL8100CL – single-chip fast ethernet controller with power management
• W83627HF-AW – Winbond I/O familly chip
• W49V002FAP – Winbond 256k x 8 cmos flash memory with fwh interface
• Samsung 610 K9K8G08U0M – 1G x 8 Bit / 2G x 8 Bit NAND Flash Memory – Samsung semiconductor
• Samsung 616 K9WAG08U1A – 1G x 8 Bit / 2G x 8 Bit NAND Flash Memory – Samsung semiconductor
• SST39VF04 – 5124K x 8 CMOS Multi-Purpose Flash
• ATJ2085W – single-chip for flash-based digital music player
• ATJ2085H – single-chip for flash-based digital music player
• APL1087 – 800mA Low Dropout Fast Response Positive Adjustable Regulator and Fixed 1.8V, 2.5V and 3.3V
• GD75232 – multiple RS232 drivers and receivers – Texas Instruments
• TPS2210A – PC Card Power-Interface Switch w/ Reset For Serial PCMCIA Controller – Texas Instruments
• TPS5130 – triple synchronous buck controller with nmos ldo controller – Texas Instruments
• MAX1909E – Multichemistry Battery Charger with Automatic System Power Selector
• ISL6559CR – Multi-Phase PWM Controller
• 7407 – Hex Buffers/Drivers With Open-Collector High-Voltage Outputs – Texas Instruments
• IRF3704S – SMPS MOSFET – International Rectifier
• F3711S – HEXFET Power MOSFET – International Rectifier
• CEB6030L – N-Channel Logic Level Enhancement Mode Field Effect Transistor – Chino-Excel Technology
• FDD8896 – 30V N-Channel PowerTrench® MOSFET – Fairchild semiconductor
• FDD8880 – N-Channel PowerTrench® MOSFET 30V, 58A, 9mO – - Fairchild semiconductor
• 20N03L – Power MOSFET – ON Semiconductor
• PMBS3904 – equivalent 2N3904 NPN Epitaxial Silicon Transistor
• LM324M – Low Power Quad Operational Amplifiers – National Semiconductor
• ISL6227CA – Dual Mobile-Friendly PWM Controller with DDR Option – Intersil Corporation
• G1421 – 2W Stereo Audio Amplifier with No Headphone Coupling Capacitor Function – Global Mixed-mode Technology Inc
• G792 – probably fan controller – Global Mixed-mode Technology Inc
• 74LVC08A – quadruple 2-input positive-and gates
• 74AHCT125 – quadruple bus buffer gates with 3-state outputs
• 74AHCT08D – quadruple 2-input positive-and gates
• AO4407L – P-Channel Enhancement Mode Field Effect Transistor – Alpha & Omega Semiconductors
• AO4800BL – Dual N-Channel Enhancement Mode Field Effect Transistor – Alpha & Omega Semiconductors
• ISL6207CB – High Voltage Synchronous Rectified Buck MOSFET Driver – Intersil Corporation
• LVC14A – Hex inverting Schmitt-trigger with 5V tolerant input – NXP Semiconductors
• 74LCX00 – Low Voltage Quad 2-Input NAND Gate with 5V Tolerant Inputs
• APL5331 – 3A Bus Termination Regulator – Anpec Electronics Coropration
• 4431B – P-Channel 30-V (D-S) MOSFET – Vishay Siliconix
• 2951 – adjustable micropower voltage regulators – National Semiconductor
• RT9173 – 1.5A/3A Bus Termination Regulator – Richtek Technology Corporation
• AT93C46 – 3-Wire Serial EEPROMs – ATMEL Corporation
• 4422 – N-Channel Enhancement Mode Field Effect Transistor – Alpha & Omega Semiconductors
• 74HCT14 – hex schmitt-trigger inverters – Texas Instruments
• 74F32D – quadruple 2-input positive-or gates – Texas Instruments
• CV137PAG – Programmable FlexPC Clock for AMD K8 Processor ATI RS480 – Integrated Device Technology
• 10 KOhm thermistor
• SMD inductors – 15uH, 4,7uH, 6,8uH, 3,3uH
• SMD crystal oscillators and connectors

Today, while i was desoldering some parts from a laptop motherboard i came across a strange chip, at least strange for me because i never saw anything like this before. The chip is labeled LF-H80P, i did a quick search on google but nothing interesting showed up.

At first glance, the chip looks perfectly normal, but when you look on it’s back you can see four inductance windings:

This article is part of the PCB Giveaway program that we have running here at Youritronics. Morgoth will get a free pcb manufactured by BKRtech for submitting this project. If you’re interested in participating, read more on the program page.

These days most pharmacies use LED pharmacy crosses posted at their entrance to let people know there is a pharmacy there. The reasons are obvious, they look cool&hi-tech, they can be seen from distance and they can be customized really easy (well, easy customizing pretty much depends on how the manufacturer approaches things).

If you try to search the web about schematics or example codes for this kind of circuit you wont find any, and again i think the reason is obvious, the crosses are quite expensive and so is the profit for the manufacturer. So nobody is gonna post schematics for such a project, unless you’re a hobbyist and you’re having fun with electronics.

The project consists of one ATmega64, three ULN2003 and five 5×7 LED matrix from Kingbright(TA20-11EWA). I had the idea to build something like this but so far i haven’t had the time nor the knowledge to get it done. So i asked Morgoth if he would like to participate in the project. I sent him the LED’s, the drivers and the PCB and he started working. As you can see not many parts are involved , but the secret lies in the microcontroller, it’s the programming that does the job.

In the next pictures you can see the microcontroller board with the ULN2003 darlington arrays:

The circuit was designed to receive messages trough serial interface from a computer and than display them. Morgoth also designed a custom terminal for windows which provides easy access to the display.

In this test phase a serial interface by wire was used to transmit data between the terminal and the ATmega64, but a wireless or bluetooth module could be integrated with no problem.

Also as a note, the LED’s don’t light up really bright, for that to happen you need to use drivers on the positive rail. This also applies if you’re planning to take the project to another level and use bigger LED’s

And now, watch some videos with the LED Pharmacy Cross beeing controlled from the computer:

• LED Pharmacy Cross ATmega source code
• LED Pharmacy Cross terminal source code