A simple test platform is up and running that tests the LEDs and the three communication pins!  PMCv1 is that much closer to sales.  Remaining tasks include building the programming adapter (to program them quickly), testing the units, and getting the bubble wrap envelopes! A 15sec video of the simple test platform is included below.

PHR11 or GHR11?

Unfortunately when building the test platform, I could only find a PHR11 connector (Digikey, Newark, etc), which is the larger of the two.  The good news is that most models use the larger PHR connector.  Unfortunately however I cannot at this time test a PMCv1 with a smaller GHR connector.  As I approach sales, I will clearly indicate which models use which connector and its current state of testing..  I am not going to hold up PHR sales.  I have not yet decided if I am going to offer untested GHR connector units.  Even if I put a PHR connector on the board and test it, there is always a chance that changing the connector to a GHR connector introduces problems (bad solder joint, etc). Hopefully it will not be long and I’ll be able to track down a GHR11 board connector so I can build a GHR test adapter.

Yadda, yadda– What’s Your ETA?

A couple weeks?  Next week I’ll get the  programming adapter soldered, and the following week I will try to test at least 50 PMCv1 units with PHR11 connectors.  Once I have a number of units tested, I will put up the sale page!

cheers,
..dane

It feels so good to be working on the PMCv1 again!  The software feels ready for release, and I think I finally figured out how to to build up a test platform to test PMCv1’s “en mass.”  This has been a good day for PMCv1..  It may be time to place a bulk-order for those shipping envelopes from Amazon..

Software “Feels Ready”

Tonight I finished stepping through at least 80% of the code on my test PMCv1 board (loving labeled “#1”).  Since the new PMCv1 hardware arrived earlier this summer with buttons and LEDs and a different pinout than the little premade board I was using before, there quite a few code changes that needed to occur.  Splitting up LED functionality into red and green, adding dual toggle switch support (only one is being used in the current firmware), and then trying to place myself into the lay-person’s shoes trying to figure out how to install this thing..   All of these scenarios induce their own pressures onto the code.  LED colors and blink patterns need to make sense (and I hope they do); Switches need to be intuitive (and I hope they are); and it needs to be reasonably dummy-proof (and and I hope it is).  But as choppy as my time has been, even though I’ve been working on the software, I always felt fairly disconnected and “not fully with it.”  Tonight that changed and I am feeling very confident with the code now.

So far as I can tell, the code is ready for release.  It finally “feels ready.”

Test Platform Underway

My career background is in telecommunications (where “Five-9’s,” [99.999%] reliability is required), automotive (where 100,000 mile and 10 year reliability is required), and military (where things have to sit on a shelf for 30 years and still work when you need it).  Needless to say, when I set out to engineer something, my wife wonders (a) if we’ll still be alive when it’s ready, and (b) how many generations it will take to break..

Long story short, I need a way to test 98 PMCv1 units, and have been struggling all summer with test platforms ideas that each end up more complicated than the PMCv1 itself! But this isn’t telecom, automotive, or military.  I needed a paradigm shift in my thinking and the Lord finally gave it to me tonight while I was writing this update. With this new test concept, I may be able to have the Test Platform ready for use with just a couple hour’s work (using a few buttons, wires, and an oscilloscope)!  If all goes well, then we’ll have PMCv1’s shipping within a few weeks!

New Office Arrangement

I always think its fun to see where people work..  Today I rearranged my office, and thought it’d be fun to show it off..  In the lower middle you can see a PMCv1 with its Red (UNDO) light illuminated.. (and another one sitting next to it waiting to be tested)

On a Personal Note..

I wanted to thank those of you who have written through email and online forums asking for updates on my wife and sharing kind words regarding all the goings on in recent weeks with our personal life.  My wife’s recovery has been touch-and-go, but it seems that is actually normal when recovering from multiple pulmonary embolisms and pleurosis.  The pain has been ebbing and flowing even after being discharged from the hospital.  She’s not allowed to “overdo it” but also not allowed to “sit down all day.”  Overall we both feel things are improving however and her pain this week is less than last.

We had planned almost a year ago to go on a mission trip to Guatemala together, but with her condition occurring just one week before our scheduled departure, she had to give up her seat.  It was bittersweet however because we were able to bless someone else who took her spot who may not have been able to go otherwise (we don’t know, but we didn’t ask for a refund).  I still went and had a wonderful experience (and took over 600 pictures for my wife to enjoy) and look forward to going with my wife next time.

That’s all for this week..
..dane

I was out of the country on a mission trip last week, and did not realize that my hosting service was failing to renew..  I had renewed the domain earlier in August but apparently not the hosting service.  Sorry for those who could not contact the site.  All is well now and we’re back online.  Wife is doing better, mission trip is over, cold that I caught on mission trip is almost done, and I hope to have an update sometime next week..

cheers,
..dane

I apologize for the update delay.  In mid July (after my last update) I had a week long business trip, at the beginning of August I attended the Blackhat and DEFCON hacker conferences in Las Vegas, and tonight I am (hopefully) spending the last of five (5) nights in the hospital with my wife who was diagnosed on Friday with Pulmonary Embolisms (blood clots in her lungs).  To say I have been too busy to work on the PMCv1 is a bit of an understatement.  Here are some relevant updates:

Boards: I have received the repaired boards (as discussed in an earlier update, the red and green LEDs were swapped which would have caused you the customer endless confusion and me the designer endless questions and complaints).  I was able to work on the software some during my business trip in July and am anxious to get back to it. The software has been updated to run on the custom PMCv1 hardware and is just about ready for testing on my TV.  Unfortunately, I have not yet had time to develop a test scenario to easily and quickly test each unit before sale.  I am reluctant to ship units untested, so I am trying to develop a test as quickly as possible, but time has not been on my side lately.

Connectors: The connectors should be arriving any day; I received the shipping notification sometime while we’ve been in the hospital.

Availability: Some will curse me for saying that there has been another delay, some will understand that this labor of love is still, realistically, a hobby project and takes a back-seat to family and to work.  Either way, I’m trying as hard as I can to get it done, but lately I just haven’t had time.  I am disappointed and embarrassed.   🙁

Feet Selfie: Some folks post pictures of their feet overlooking the ocean or the pool.  Here is a shot of my wife and I doing our best to enjoy a rented DVD..  We are praying that we will be discharged tomorrow and allowed to return home.  We appreciate any and all prayers for continued and complete healing.. She’s finally feeling better, her fevers are gone, her pain is subsiding, and she’s finally sleeping next to me right now quite peacefully.  (At least for another hour until the nurse comes to change her IV.)

cheers,
..dane

Short and sweet update tonight..

Summary For Those Not Wanting to Read Any Further: Code is getting ready for final testing, boards are getting ready for final testing, and connectors are on their way.  The long pole in the tent is the connectors, which are not expected to arrive until mid-August.  I have one sample unit that I will use to get everything ready in the mean time.  I hope to “open the store front” as soon as the connectors arrive. Everything else should be done by then. Wahoo!

Board Details: Moving along nicely.  Red and green LEDs were swapped (the red is where the green goes, the green is where the red goes).  This wouldn’t normally be a big deal (they’re color coded, after all), except the board also has text printed on it to indicate meaning (for those who may be color blind, for example).   So a RED light blinking when things are GOOD can get confusing..  Likewise a GREEN light blinking when things are bad can get confusing as well.   So– the boards have been shipped back to have their Red and Green LED’s swapped.  Should be about a week or so.  I kept two (2) units to continue working while the other 98 units are being repaired.  I also have a little finger-edge connector to build-up to help me quickly program 100 PMCv1 units..

Software Details: Also moving along nicely.  The software has been updated to reflect the new LEDs (once they’re in the right locations) and the new switches, and the new micro-controller has allowed me a little more code space to do some code updates that make things nice on my end (easier to maintain down-the-road if I need to make changes).  I’ll be hooking up the first official PMCv1 hardware to my TV in a week or so and verify that the communications to the TV work properly and that I can both reset and undo the black level age counter on my set.  Once that verification is complete, I will go through a few times and try to break and abuse the PMCv1 and make sure it doesn’t crash, make sure it doesn’t cause problems, make sure it doesn’t get confused on the job it’s supposed to do, etc.  Once that’s done, the software will be complete and ready for loading onto the modules.

Connector Details: The connector snag has been corrected, and I submitted “1st article approval” tonight.  That means they sent me one of each (PHR and GHR) connector with pigtail wires for me to approve the assembly before they go build 100pcs of each type.  I will only be supporting the two most common 11pin connectors at this time due to cost.  The 20pin connector will not be supported at this time.  When I get the ordering page ready to go, it will be very clear which connector type you need.  So far I believe everyone can use one of the 11pin connectors (PHR or GHR).

That’s all for tonight!
..dane

A box of 100 PMCv1’s arrived at the house this week!  Woo-hoo! Wonna see one? I thought so!

Unfortunately, a supplier-snafu caused the order of pigtail connectors (that attach the PMCv1 unit to your TV) to not go through properly.  That problem has been remedied but starts the order over again, pushing out all the connectors until late-August.  boo. But that’s not going to stop this train!  I am pushing forward getting this little guy ready to go!  In the coming days I’ll blow off the dust from the code I wrote last fall and get it all working properly with the new hardware, including some new code to use the new fancy red and green LEDs.

Soon these bad boys will be ready for purchase!

cheers,
..dane

I am pleased and proud to report that the first 100pcs of PMCv1 are now officially in production.  Additionally, even though I’ve yet again slipped several weeks past my last target date for an 6-week order, I was able to place a much quicker 3-week order in an attempt to reduce the delays to first availability.

I have setup the PayPal “Buy Now” button for the ordering of the first 100 PMCv1 units (buying is not yet enabled, I’m just getting it all ready).  Depending on demand, this will be either the first and last run of PMCv1 units, or the first of many PMCv1 units. If it takes more than 6 months to sell 100 PMCv1 units, then I will probably retire the product. I am hopeful that there is enough demand to deplete PMCv1 stock within 60 days; that would allow me to place another order for 300 or even 500 units!

Once I receive the initial units and have tested them and am comfortable that they are functional, I will open up the website ordering process.  My current expectations are to receive the items in early July and put them up for sale near mid- to late- July. But as we’ve all learned through this process, “Semper Gumby,” or be always flexible.

Other Changes to the Site

I have begun the transition of these pages into to a product sales area. This transformation includes conversion of this development blog into a “Timeline” style capture of the history of PMCv1 and its predecessor discoveries at AVS Forum. You can find that page here, I hope you enjoy it.  Soon I will remove access to the development blog but will maintain the mailing list for future updates.

I have also begun to capture some S.T.E.M. resources as well as my perspective on how to harness things like the Creative Writing process in order to teach Engineering techniques to kids.  This is a woefully young and incomplete process on my site, but I’ve put some stuff together as a placeholder (if nothing else) for something larger in the future.  I hope you enjoy it.

thanks for reading!
..dane

Would an actual-size, scale-model cutout of the PMCv1 excite anyone?

The design was created using EAGLE, an amazingly affordable Schematic and PCB layout tool that I’ve been using since 2006. I printed out both front and back sides “actual size,” then cut them out and taped them together.  The image above shows the bottom side of the unit. As you can see, the PMCv1 is a little taller but narrower than a US quarter.  In more technical terms, it’s 1.15″ high x 0.500″ wide.  Not shown is the connector and its five (5) wires that will actually connect to the TV.

Production Programming Header Ordered

I placed an order tonight for a card-edge connector (for the curious, I’m using this little guy) that should connect to the thin card edge traces (aka “fingers”) near the top edge of the board in the above photo. It should be here in about two days, and I’ll use it to “test-fit” with the scale cutout in the photo. This is going to be the “mass” programming header (quick, easy, no-solder) for the PMCv1 units. This is the last check before placing the order for the first 100 PMCv1 units. If it fits, then I’ll start placing orders for boards, parts, 3 types of TV connectors, heat-shrink tubing, shipping envelopes, and mailing labels!

Pre-order Status

As soon as I get all the parts ordered, I’ll start working on the PayPal pre-order page.  That activity should start sometime next week. I don’t know yet how pre-orders will even work– I need to research that on PayPal and see what options exist. I don’t know if a pre-order will charge you at the time of pre-order placement, or at the time of order fulfillment.  But whatever it is, I will be sure to make it very clear on the ordering page.

Expected Availability

To keep costs low, I am opting for the absolute slowest production speed; that means it will take about 6-weeks for the first 100 PMCv1’s to be produced. Slow, but affordable. If all goes well, first units for sale will be ready about 2-weeks after that.  So, roughly 8-weeks from today.  During the 6-week production time, I will prepare the software for the new custom PMCv1 hardware, as well as prepare the custom programming header.

More next week!
..dane

My apologies to everyone who has been wondering if I fell off the face of the Earth. I had a really big project come through at work but it had huge amounts of tasks in only a 4-6 week window.  I was working all sorts of crazy hours trying to get it all done. The project went well, I think the customer is happy (so far), and it looks like I’m still employed for a the foreseeable future.  All those are good things.  However PMCv1 didn’t get any attention during that time, which is bad.  The silver lining to more PMCv1 delays is that I caught a bug in the PMCv1 hardware that needed to be fixed before production, and last night I finally had time to fix it.

Moving Forward..

So we had a 4-6 week delay in the project due to work, but I’m ready to move forward again now. The board problem has been fixed, and I also found a simpler way to program the boards in quantity which will really help. Because it’s been over 30 days, I have to get the suppliers to refresh their quotes, but a refresh shouldn’t take but a couple of days so it should go fairly quickly.  I am looking to finalize everything any place the order for 100pcs of PMCv1 hardware in the next week or so!

cheers,
..dane

This is going to be a bittersweet update for many of you.  The good news is that PMCv1 is nearing production!  The bad news is that I have not yet been able to get quotes to support my initial pricing goals, so the price of these first PMCv1 units has gone up, as I feared in an update earlier this year.  This is why it has been three weeks since my last update; I have been trying to find ways to reduce the cost.  This update reports where I’m at today, and my plan moving forward.

Why The Cost Increase?

Since I began the PMCv1 several months ago, I have had a great many people contact me from around the globe expressing their interest in the PMCv1.  While such international interest is exciting, it didn’t take me long to realize that my initial plans to build a few, by myself, by hand, just wasn’t going to cut it.  I already have a 9-5 day job, and just don’t have the free time to be soldering PMCv1 boards together every night! I will need to go straight to the custom board design even for the first units.

So immediately the cost went way up.  My initial hopes to have someone build a couple dozen units was going to cost me some 6 times more than my original price target!  So I went back and asked for quotes of higher quantities..  Pushing my initial order from 30pcs to 100pcs dropped the per-piece price tremendously, but it is still going to cost me twice my original price target.. boo.  At the end of the day, if my cost doubles, I have to pass that along.  Likewise if my cost drops in the future, I can pass that along too.  If I had enough capital to purchase 300-500 units in the first run, maybe that would have hit my initial price target.  I just don’t have that much money to spend up-front.

Preliminary Pricing

This pricing information is still preliminary.  I am still waiting for two last quotes to be updated.  There is a chance that one of these quotes will drop the price of the PMCv1.  If not, however, then the numbers in my spreadsheet are pretty clear.

Preliminary PMCv1 is USD$60/each.  Shipping to USA will remain free (USPS Flat Rate Padded Envelope).  International shipping is TBD.

Preliminary Availability

I hope to have the last two quotes returned back to me this week.  My original plan was to spend February getting cost estimates so that I can move forward. That is largely on-track.  So the plan continues to be that near the end of February, I’ll finalize all my costs and place the first order of 100 PMCv1 units.

The first PMCv1 units will then arrive some 4-6 weeks after I place the order, during which time I will be working on a PMCv1 test fixture.  Since I’ll have so many of them now, I need a way to test them quickly and reliably. I cannot afford to sell PMCv1’s that don’t work!  And 100pcs is far too many to be plugging in to the back of my TV.  So I’m going to adapt one PMCv1 unit with some custom software to test all the other units.  This one unit will act like a Panasonic Plasma television to each unit, and will pretend to be a TV turning on and off, with various different values “in memory” to properly test the functionality of the PMCv1 modules, including the “undo” switch and LEDs — cool, huh?

The first PMCv1 should ship in April.

Purchasing Method (USA)

I will be opening a PayPal Business account to handle PMCv1 sales.  The preliminary pricing above is based upon a direct purchase using a “Buy Now” button on this website.

PMCv1 ordering should open in March.

Purchasing Method (International)

I am considering using eBay’s International Shipping Program for international sales. The up-side to this approach is that it becomes MUCH easier for me to get these units shipped around the world without having to know all the details about each country’s customs and import laws.  The downside to this approach is that as with production costs, every dollar more that it costs me, I have to pass along to the buyer.  eBay charges 10% final value fee plus whatever their international shipping program costs.  So eBay customers will have to pay about $6-10 extra to handle the additional fees.

If any of you have any other ideas for international customers, please let me know!

What’s Next?

From here the plan is simple:

• Pray for a miracle on the last two outstanding quotes
• Finalize the total cost spreadsheet for a 100-piece order
• Place order for 100 PMCv1 units (ouch!)
• Setup PayPal Business account
• Start working on a custom PMCv1 “Test Fixture” to test each unit before it ships

Stay warm,
..dane