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Project: Super POV
Date:January 2006

Summary:

There are many Persistence of Vision projects floating around on the web. I have links to my favorite, well documented POV projects at the bottom of this page. This particular project has a few features that the others do not.

  • only open source tools were used for the microcontroller programming (avr-gcc/avarice/avr-gdb), and circuit design (geda/pcb)
  • all active components are reasonably easy to solder surface mount
  • bluetooth header for updating content using a 4pin BlueRadio's "BlueSmirf" part
  • jtag header for easy in circuit programming (avarice) and debugging (gdb)
  • video showing the soldering of the entire circuit board, includes first powerup and programming in circuit
  • extremely low profile and lightweight design

Video:

Images:

Files:

  1. schematic (pdf)
  2. src (html)
  3. src (bz2 tarball)
  4. gerbers (zip)
  5. schematic (gschem format)
  6. pcb (pcb format)

Parts:

Part Vendor qty price SMT
AVR ATmega128 16AC digikey ATMEGA128-16AC-ND 1 $15.00 64-TQFP
ULN2003AD digikey 296-1368-5-ND 5 $0.64 16-SOIC
2xAAA Battery holder digikey 2468K-ND 2 $0.78 No
Resistors 33ohm digikey P33ACT-ND 32 $0.07 0805
Headers (jtag) digikey 929836-02-36-ND 10 (5x2) $2.94 No
Headers (for Bluetooth Serial) - digikey 929400-01-04-ND 4x1 $0.98 No
Power switch digikey EG1847-ND 1 $1.11 No
Red LEDs 0805 LSDiodes S-R084530 32 $0.45 0805
BlueSmirf (Remote Unit) Sparkfun 1 $60 No
AAA Batteries NiMH 700mAh GP-700-AAA 4 $1.15 No

Tools:

I believe this project to be a excellent place to start for the UNIX geek who wants to get into microcontrollers. However, You will need to spend some money.
  • AVR JTAG MKII ICE - $300 digikey (in circuit hardware debug with gdb will save you days of pulling your hair out)
  • Keyspan USA-19HS USB/Serial adapter - $30
  • Soldering Iron, digital temperature controlled, must go over 800 deg. F., 1/64" tip. This will be a minimum of $100.
  • Solder - Radio Shack Silver-Bearing Solder 64-035 E
  • Curved metal tweezers to place and hold SMT components (plastic ones will melt)
  • Techspray Ecoline FLUX Remover - cleans up the flux that sprays about as you solder.
  • You will need magnification and lots of light. I use a combination of the desk lamps with built in magnifying glass surrounded by a circular flourescent light. I also wear that dorky thing that straps around your head and has glasses that pull down over your face that make you look crazy bug eyed.

Issues :

  • the battery holder via's are a little small, I've been using a carbin tip size 63 drill bit to expand them. next revision will resolve this.
  • the bluetooth support is not included in this version of the firmware. The "BlueSmirf" device works fine using a serial UART, I've just not written the necessary code to send updates to the POV device over bluetooth yet. (ETA: Feb 1st. 2006)

Links to some other POV projects