Category Archives: Projects

Prop Dev Stick REV 0B

Finished REV 0B for the Prop Dev Stick. I minimized the size of the board from 1.5″ to 1″ wide. It is now thin enough to plug into a bread board. Width between the two rows of headers is 0.9″.

Some quick specs. Running the propeller at 96MHz, Micro SD card slot, 4 channel 8-bit ADC, built in USB, and all I/O brought out to the edge. A power MUX controls whether or not the Prop Dev Stick uses USB power or power from an external source like a battery. This way you can have the unit running off battery or solar and still use the USB connection for serial data. When an external power source is absent the mux switches over to USB power.

Prop Dev stick…a PCB?

In this case PCB stands for Phoenix Circuit Board. I have not worked on this project since September 2011.

The Prop Dev Stick is a Parallax Propeller development platform that is designed to just plug into a computer like a USB thumb drive. The old design was just the Propeller MCU with no frills. This time around I added a micro SD card slot and a ADC for reading sensors.

Super Boost

This is the how to page on how to build the SUPER BOOST pcb. Please refer to the disclaimer first. For hobby use only. This design is completely open source. Check the Super Boost project page for the file downloads.

Since the board contains almost only SMD parts you should be familiar in soldering them. If not SparkFun has a really nice SMD soldering guide.

You will need the following parts.

Bill of Materials



Name:            MFG P/N:               Mouser P/N:             QTY:
U1               LM2700MT-ADJ/NOPB      926-LM2700MT-ADJNOPB    1
L1               VLC5045T-100M          810-VLC5045T-100M       1
D1               B130-13-F              621-B130-F              1
C1               C1608X5R1A106MT        810-C1608X5R1A106M      1
C2               CC0805KRX7R9BB472      603-CC805KRX7R9BB472    1
C3               UCL1A471MCL6GS         647-UCL1A471MCL6GS      1
R1               CRCW060320K0FKEA       71-CRCW0603-20K-E3      1
R2               CRCW06033K01FKEB       71-CRCW06033K01FKEB     1
R3               CRCW06031K02FKEA       71-CRCW0603-1.02K-E3    1
R4               CRCW060375K0FKEA       71-CRCW0603-75K-E3      1
R5               CRCW060343K0FKEA       71-CRCW0603-43K-E3      1
R6, R7           CRCW060351K0FKEA       71-CRCW0603-51K-E3      2
USB Plug         87520-0010BLF          649-87520-0010BLF       1




Bill of Material list on Mouser

If you received the PCB on a business card you can cut the PCB out around the dotted lines or leave it as is.

Start by tacking the LM2700 chip down with a soldering iron in a single corner.

I usually tack down the pin 1 on the chip then apply some flux then finish the chip. After soldering the LM2700 down solder the resistors down.

Then the two small SMD capacitors.

The inductor, diode, and large 470uF capacitor should be soldered next. The inductor is non polarized but care should be taken with the 470uF cap and diode to make sure they are originated correctly.

The USB port is the last thing to install. Before connecting your device to charge it use a multimeter and verify that 5V is across the 470uF capacitor terminals.

Success! Android phone charging. It is charging at a steady rate of 750mA.