modified through-hole cm15a

[dhouston]

Dave, I'm really looking forward to your product!

I think it will be 6-8 weeks before I can have it ready. Most of China shuts down next week for their New Year so I'll wait until they are back to get prototype boards made.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought this board...
https://www.tindie.com/products/ceech/wireless-sensor-board-w-atmega328p/#
from a vendor in eastern Europe. He gets them made in China, in small lots and is able to sell them for $10. My board is smaller and with similar complexity so I'm hopeful I can get assembled boards at a reasonable cost. While I can assemble a few prototypes, I cannot do much beyond that.

I have a recently widowed niece who could use a bit of extra income so I'm trying to design so that she (electronically clueless) can do the final assembly and handle distribution. If that doesn't work, I'll look for someone here willing to take it over.  I doubt it will generate much volume as most X10 users seem reluctant to modify 120V devices.

[dhouston]

We could get one of the new ones, and then take one of the old ones, and use a force gauge to compare how hard it is to break the antenna off each one!

I can attest that the old antennae on the newer SMD version of the CM15A are easily broken.  

[Noam]

Dave, I'm really looking forward to your product!

I think it will be 6-8 weeks before I can have it ready. Most of China shuts down next week for their New Year so I'll wait until they are back to get prototype boards made.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought this board...
https://www.tindie.com/products/ceech/wireless-sensor-board-w-atmega328p/#
from a vendor in eastern Europe. He gets them made in China, in small lots and is able to sell them for $10. My board is smaller and with similar complexity so I'm hopeful I can get assembled boards at a reasonable cost. While I can assemble a few prototypes, I cannot do much beyond that.

I have a recently widowed niece who could use a bit of extra income so I'm trying to design so that she (electronically clueless) can do the final assembly and handle distribution. If that doesn't work, I'll look for someone here willing to take it over.  I doubt it will generate much volume as most X10 users seem reluctant to modify 120V devices.

You could call it the "FrankenX10" (pronounced "fr-ANK-en-ksten")

[dhouston]

...unless Dave Houston finishes his "ZBasic Arduino on crack" mod...

I prefer "ZBasic Arduino on inhuman growth hormone".  

[dhouston]

You could call it the "FrankenX10" (pronounced "fr-ANK-en-ksten")

Have you been peeking at my design?

[Noam]

Actually, no (I only skimmed the summary a few posts up) - is that what you called it?

[dhouston]

...is that what you called it?

No, I call it CM15A2Z but it is a two layer board with a New Pro Mini atmega328 5V 16M Arduino Nano Compatible stacked atop my daughterboard and some might think your name more fitting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Pro-Mini-atmega328-5V-16M-Replace-ATmega128-Arduino-Compatible-Nano-F5-/111754305216?hash=item1a05135ec0:g:7tsAAOSw0vBUjotz

[Brian H]

Dave Houston said the later ones have surface mounted parts and the RF sections are on the main PCB.
I believe that was done by X10WTI before the new owners took over.
So a present model may look different inside from what the older ones we may have look. Though the new owners may have never updated what X10WTI had in production. At the time of the business collapse.
Could be X10WTI also got a deal on cheaper brittle plastic antenna tubes.  

[racerfern]

So my old CM15A has an antenna tube broken about 3/4 inch from the top although I cannot pull the top piece of plastic off the wire since it seems the little bubble end is glued on. In a KISS effort to improve reception I'm thinking of cutting off just the glued end then peeling back the wire and soldering to a longer piece of wire. Thoughts? I'm not keen on nor capable of opening the unit and making involved repairs.

[dhouston]

So my old CM15A has an antenna tube broken about 3/4 inch from the top although I cannot pull the top piece of plastic off the wire since it seems the little bubble end is glued on. In a KISS effort to improve reception I'm thinking of cutting off just the glued end then peeling back the wire and soldering to a longer piece of wire. Thoughts? I'm not keen on nor capable of opening the unit and making involved repairs.

Take a look at the CM15A photo at...
http://web.archive.org/web/20150811194402/http://davehouston.org/X10_feng_shui.htm

While my preference would be to use some heatshrink tubing to hold it all together, tape will work, too.

[dhouston]

I'll order bare prototype boards today. When they arrive (in a few weeks) I'll build a couple for testing and, if there are no significant changes needed, will get quotes on assembled boards. Once I know the cost, I'll need to gauge how many are interested before placing an order or abandoning the idea.

The added hardware in the picture below are a 50-ohm BNC connector (for an antenna) and two 3.5mm stereo sockets (for serial ports).

[dhouston]

12 boards are on order. They will come via Air Mail when ready.

Perhaps, this thread should be moved to User Modified Devices.

[racerfern]

Put me on the wish list please.

Thank you!

[Tuicemen]

12 boards are on order. They will come via Air Mail when ready.

Perhaps, this thread should be moved to User Modified Devices.

Done.

[dhouston]

I've heard back from the PCB fabricator - I should have the boards in about 10 days.