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Top-level
 Another pitfall is the IPC-2221 standard in most PCB calculators. Its clearance requirement can get ridiculous for some use cases because of the stepwise definition, yet insufficient for other uses cases (reinforced insulation). "Friendship ended with IPC-2221, now IEC 60950 is my best friend!" #electronics 5 comments
PCB ordered. Added common-mode chokes at both sides of the isolated converter hopefully to suppress some noise across the barrier. Also removed the slot - the SIP DCDC module only has functional isolation, so increasing the creepage distance further is pointless... #electronics Hopefully I won't accidentally kill myself later in the dielectric withstand voltage test by the 3000 volts HiPot tester. LIke many on the Fediverse, https://ihatebeinga.live is a thing, but a HiPot tester is just a terrible way to die. #electronics My USB 2.0 isolation board is working. The Texas Instruments chip ISOUSB211 works as advertised, it really is the first USB 2.0 high-speed (480 Mbps) galvanic isolation chip on the open market. I'll release all the design files tomorrow. #electronics #usb TI ISOUSB211 development board design is now public. This TI chip is the first ASIC capable of doing USB 2.0 High-Speed (480 Mbps, not 12 Mbps) galvanic isolation on the open market. As always, #Lain must be loved. https://notabug.org/niconiconi/isousb211 #electronics #usb |
Gregory's Server
UL sucks too. Their Recognized Component certificates are essentially useless. All they tell you is a certification exists, but without any information about the rated working conditions, which are critical to safety. A vendor can say its power supply works up to 1000 volts, and claims the power supply is also UL certified (without telling you it's certified only for 100 volts, the 1000 volts spec is only a functional rating and cannot be used for safety-critical applications).
The real information is in UL's Conditions of Acceptability, and it's often nowhere to be found. You can either try asking the vendor nicely and hope they don't ignore your request. Or pay (possibly thousands of dollars?) to purchase that information from UL. https://www.ledsmagazine.com/company-newsfeed/article/16690659/ul-conditions-of-acceptability-now-available #electronics
UL sucks too. Their Recognized Component certificates are essentially useless. All they tell you is a certification exists, but without any information about the rated working conditions, which are critical to safety. A vendor can say its power supply works up to 1000 volts, and claims the power supply is also UL certified (without telling you it's certified only for 100 volts, the 1000 volts spec is only a functional rating and cannot be used for safety-critical applications).