uCurrent in store - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Wartex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2011, 10:11:05 pm
content: Dave, could you please remove the listing because every time I see "In stock: 0" (it's been like that for AGES) it's like being punched in the face over and over and over. I don't understand why don't you just order a shit-ton of PCBs, parts and just sell them as kits, without soldering anything. I'll gladly pay $25+shipping for the kit and make it myself. Otherwise I have to make the PCB, find a company to print it, find all the parts etc etc. I know a lot of people want them, and the fact you ignore this creates an impression that you bathe in cash and could care less about some side profit.TL;DR: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2011, 11:12:31 pm
content: Quote from: Wartex on July 10, 2011, 10:11:05 pmAt least make a Bill of Materials with links to every part (you should already have done that) and give the gerbers away.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 10, 2011, 11:46:47 pm
content: SMD kits like this are a PITA to kit up for. You have to cut up individual fiddly SMD resistors etc.It's actually cheaper and easier for me to just send them to my assembler.The BOM is in the Silicon Chip article.I'll see what parts I have left, maybe I can make something available.You'd be surprised, there is NOT a big demand for this kit.Dave.

author: Wartex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2011, 04:27:55 am
content: QuoteBecause you are selling it in the wrong store. Sell it via Sparkfun and Ladyada and you will see demand, no one knows about your store.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2011, 05:51:12 am
content: Quote from: Wartex on July 11, 2011, 04:27:55 amOnly the 15,000+ people who read the silicon chip article, probably more again who read the recent EPE article, and another 10,000+ of my own viewers...I don't know if there is enough margin in the kit to sell it via a third party channel.Dave.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2011, 08:45:55 am
content: outsource it to another "third party" dealer/supplier (business minded), let them do all the thing and you get only royalty or such. better than nothing imho.

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2011, 05:50:00 pm
content: Quote from: Wartex on July 11, 2011, 04:27:55 amI don't know the typical Sparkfun/Adafruit customer, but I suspect that many of them wouldn't need or care about a microcurrent. However, I could be wrong, and Adafruit sells a lot of kits. If anyone can convince the average Arduino user that he or she needs a microcurrent, Limor could. They'd sell like hotcakes.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 03:48:05 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on July 11, 2011, 05:51:12 amAbout Sparkfun: I once tried to sell one of my designs on their site. They actually evaluated it extensively. Dave, I sent you an email about it a few months ago. It was a PICAXE controller. It looked like a relay control board on steroids, with opto-isolated inputs, PS/2 port for a keyboard, a breadboard area, an RTC and EEPROM, some analog inputs and the list goes on. One of the reasons it called their attention was the documentation. I did a block by block explanation mentioning every component and it's function. It took me like 3 days to get it right. Dave is very good at that. Unfortunately they rejected it because they though there was no market for it.Do a brief description so beginners can understand the uCurrent. I think there's a good market for it. If you use microcontrollers then you use the uA range frequently.I don't see any reason for one of these retailers not to make a deal with you. Sparkfun actually produces their own boards, but Dave uses very specific components I'm certain they won't have in their inventory. Maybe you can send the reels or the finished product.Sparkfun is very friendly, I have to admit. Now I am collaborating in an english to spanish translation of one of an Arduino "Introduction to physical computing", if my memory serves well. I'm in charge of proof reading and checking the grammar and coherency of the text. It is an open source project, so I get not money, what I do get is attribution. At this stage this is more important for me.Sorry for sounding like a Sparkfun advertisement or a personal story. I just want to point out this guys can really take you in consideration.Ivan

author: insurgent
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 04:47:33 am
content: Why not put it on KickStarter where you won't have to do anything until the demand has accumulated to thedesired level?I'd like to have a uCurrent on the bench to make myself "cool" but I don't necessarily need it enough to order all the parts and board myself (shipping is evil).Once you get enough pledges (with enough margin to compensate for the wimp-outs at the last moment) you can make a profitable run. Be sure an announcement finds it's way onto HackADay for extra oomph.Perhaps in the uCurrent case, it should be a kit-only form to save your lungs so you can see the Sagan Project mature into a commercial projectAlien Cortex project as an example (not affiliated):http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/794668827/aliencortex-avJust my devalued, defaulting and inflated $0.02 worth.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 04:58:42 am
content: I don't take other people money unless I have something to ship. So I won't use Kickstarter.I'm in the process of ordering another 50 kits now.Dave.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 05:09:55 am
content: Quote from: ivan747 on July 12, 2011, 03:48:05 amPeople seem to forget that the uCurrent was a magazine project, it has an entire magazine article devoted to it:http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/I think people overestimate the popularity of this thing, really!It ain't going to sell like hotcakes on Adafruit or Sparkfun.People also think they sell thousands of kits, yeah, for a few of the popular mass appeal ones they do, but otherwise it's in the dozens.That's why they only stock up on and carry dozens in stock at a time.Dave.

author: insurgent
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 05:40:51 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on July 12, 2011, 04:58:42 amDidn't think that any money changed hands on KickStarter until the Goal $$$/Time was met. I could be wrong though.I'm in for a uCurrent. Kiriakos is in for 3I'll pay an extra $5 if a Dave Jones signature is rendered in the solder mask/copper traces. In for an extra $15 is the signature is genuine hand-crafted Sharpie! Sorry, nothing for auto-pen

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 05:47:45 am
content: Quote from: insurgent on July 12, 2011, 05:40:51 amCorrect.But the whole idea of Kickstarter is that you don't have the money upfront to do something, so that's how you get they money first to then produce the product.During that time taken to produce means you have people's money, and they get nothing until you "come though".I don't like owing anyone anything, so that's why I don't take backorders, and I don't take money up front for a promise I'll deliver later.Dave.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 06:14:31 am
content: There was a recent post on the sparkfun website which alluded to "modules" rather than kits being a big seller for them.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 06:53:11 am
content: Quote from: gregariz on July 12, 2011, 06:14:31 amLike all those little plug-in breadboard module?That's not surprising.Just a pcb with a few components on it is not expensive to make and sell.Full kits on the other hand need cases and other stuff that makes them generally more expensive.Dave.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2011, 06:57:56 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on July 12, 2011, 06:53:11 amThat's what I usually get .. saves a lot of time I find.. things like a lithium charger module etc.I'm not a fly on the wall... but they must be selling something, he mentioned they would be turning over a cool $28MIL this year... thats alot of something.

author: Eric
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 04:14:41 am
content: Dave,Glad to hear you're making another run of kits. Believe it or not, the uCurrent is why I stumbled in here. For me it falls in the useful enough to pay $50 for it but not enough to devote all the hours it would take to build one from scratch category. Besides, I would probably have more than $50 in it by the time I was done with S&H from multiple vendors to get all the parts and the board made.One question though, (for Dave or anyone else) it seems from the article that the current limit in the mA range is due to the maximum rating of the switch. If the switch was replaced by a higher current switch (or a jumper or just a soldered short) the upper current limit in the mA range would be extended to the point where the amp output saturates, which should be about 1300mA based on the power-supply and low battery detection design. Is this a correct estimation or am I missing something? Thanks.-EricEdit: The mu in uCurrent was rendered correctly in the post preview but not in the final post, it showed as a ?, so I changed it to a Latin u.

author: Eric
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 31, 2011, 09:57:12 pm
content: Dave,Any progress on the kits? It's been about six weeks now since you said you were in the process of ordering another 50 and I was curious what the status was. Thanks.-Eric