[time-nuts] Vaperware Parts and pulse stretching circuits

[Ben Bradley]

Adafruit and Sparkfun sell a remarkable number of SMT parts already on
breakout boards for moderate prices. I looked up the three parts and
found the DS3231 on a board (two different boards even), in stock and
ready to order from Adafruit (most Adafruit and Sparkfun products are
also sold through Digikey):
https://www.adafruit.com/?q=DS3231

These links bring up the others, each site has hundreds:
https://www.adafruit.com/?q=breakout

https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=breakout

On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 7:47 PM John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Perry --
>
> The circuit in the FatPPS is really simple and would be easy to duplicate.
>
> Frankly, the reason we had to significantly increase the cost is because
> we provide the board fully assembled (it's all surface mount parts), and
> with the low volume we've had in the last few years, the per-unit
> assembly cost has gone way up.
>
> John
> ----
>
> On 4/24/20 7:19 PM, Perry Sandeen via time-nuts wrote:
> > Learned Gentlemen,
> > Several poster wrote:
> > TAPR offers a FatPPS kit to stretch the pulse out, and it looks likethey're back in stock. I have one but haven't assembled it yet.https://tapr.org/product/fatpps-pulse-stretcher/
> >  OK no problemo. But it's $55. It's probably a great device, but does this application warrant such expense?
> > I looked up *pulse stretcher circuits* and found over a dozen inexpensive circuits.
> >
> >
> > DRV8662and is available from Digikey for $3.35. It is a small-pitch device(0.5mm) but not impossible to solder.
> >
> > RV-3028 is 3.2x1.5 mm in size, 1.5ppm, additionally trimmable, 45 nAstandby current, under $3 USD in price and in stock at Mouser andDigikey.
> >
> > Aswonderful as the DS3231 is, there is a newer chip from Micro Crystalthat is smaller, more accurate than the DS3231M, much cheaper, anddraws less power
> >
> > These three chips fall into the *Vaperware Parts* category. Yes, they are great chips and I don't mind someone posting their advantages.
> > I believe It is a bit disingenuous to say: *It is a small-pitch device but not impossible to solder*.
> > Really?  If you've dropped $750 to $1K for a stereo microscope and other specialized soldering equipment then you can probably do it without too much difficulty.  Or some may access to such specialized equipment.
> > But for us *Po Folks* hobbyist we have to stick with older but larger parts.
> > Now if there was a service where you could order the part soldered to a breakout board with .1 inch breakout pins for say, $20 then using many of the latest chips would be feasible.  But until then I believe 99.9 percent of us have to find a commercial product or some other workaround.
> > Regards,
> > Perrier
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
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