Highlight Your Double Seventh Day with Free Colorful LED

2015 Chinese Valentine's Day is on August 20, 2015. It is also called Chinese Double Seven Festival. Because of the beautiful legend about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, the festival has been endowed with the meaning of great romance.

Chinese people in love like to go to the Matchmaker temple and pray for their love and the possible marriage in the old days. Now people usually celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day by giving flowers, chocolates, and other presents, like for Western Valentine's Day, to their loves instead of doing the traditional customs.

To highlight this beautiful moment, we bring some amazing colorful LEDs for people. This LED can light up into 3 colors and shine as a heart-shaped. It can be very romantic to be present or to decorate house for this special day! If you like it, you can leave a comment in http://www.elecrow.com/blog/qixi-happy-chinese-valentines-day/ to let us know, we can offer you for free! But the quantity is limited, so please be hurry! Have a good day! 

New products Launch in August from Elecrow

HDMI Interface 5 Inch 800x480 TFT Display

This 5 inch TFT Display with Touch Screen is a mini panel-mountable HDMI monitor. It is small and simple and the shape makes it easy to attach to a electronic product. You can use this display with any computer that has HDMI output and 800x480 common HDMI display can be also used in other places.

Component Kit for Arduino

These 3 kits include most common used components for the beginners. These 3 kits can be of great help you learning more about Arduino world for more great projects!

Remote Control Module

We have several RF remote control relay modules really convenient for your projects:

1 Channel RF Remote Control Module AC 110V - 220V, 1 Channel RF Remote Control Module DC 5V, 2 Channels RF Remote Control Module DC 5V, 4 Channels RF Remote Control Module DC 5V and 8 Channels Infrared Remote Control Relay Module for Arduino.

Basic Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi

This is the Kit for Raspberry Pi, especially for those beginners who are interested in Raspberry Pi. It has more than 21 kinds of components with proper materials. This do save you a lot of time so that you can focus on the projects and make more amazing and creative products.

SIM808 GPRS/GSM+GPS Shield v1.0

GPRS/GSM+GPS Shield is a GSM and GPS two-in-one function module based on the latest GSM/GPS module SIM808 from SIMCOM, supports GSM/GPRS Quad-Band network and combines GPS technology for satellite navigation. It has high GPS receive sensitivity with 22 tracking and 66 acquisition receiver channels and is convenient for Arduino Tracking projects.

Professional ways to start your own PCB design service

With more and more people are fond of creating, PCB design is now a global enterprise. PCB design services have got robust growth and are essential to the industry. At one hand, the market is manufacture and application and the other is innovation. However, the PCB design also becomes increasingly complex. To be a good PCB service supplier, one should understand the professional ways to be better.

The following tips can be of great help for the PCB supplier:

First of all, you need to make a research on the market. You can target developers of low-cost PCBs used in inexpensive mass-market products such as calculators, or you can go after those wanting the newest and most innovative designs. The former category can provide the most work, but often at lower hourly or project rates. The latter offers plenty of opportunity, usually at a more lucrative compensation rate. Both segments are competitive.

Then you need to understand the challenge. In addition to design and engineering capabilities, you'll need marketing, sales and negotiation skills. If you don't have them, you'll need to hire someone who can perform them. In launching a new design service, a seasoned designer likely will encounter fewer obstacles than a less-experienced person.

But before you do this, you should get educated. Unless you're already an electronics engineer with PCB design experience, you'll need to learn and master the process. Options range from full-scale educational courses in PCB design, to online tutorials. Lessons and training in PCB design. Understand how to convince potential customers you have what it takes to do the job right. Potential clients could be an original equipment manufacturer.

Investigate and select PCB design software. Because of the breadth and complexity of the PCB market, different software providers deliver different kinds of capabilities, sometimes targeted at a specific market niche. Exploit industries that are prevalent in your area. Three common areas of opportunity deal with power supplies, motor drivers and microcontrollers. Experience with analog and audio circuitry also applies to many industries.

What’s more, you have to create a detailed business plan. The electronics industry is complex and very competitive. To succeed, you need a detailed description of how you will address the market and make a profit. Unless you have business experience, retain an electronics industry consultant, preferably an electronics engineer with PCB experience, to review and challenge your assumptions and projections.

At last, you need to build a solid sales and marketing capability. Designing PCBs is only half the equation. Be aware that electronics engineers may need sales training. As a starting point, recruit an experienced electronics industry salesperson or hire a respected manufacturer's representative with PCB experience and a good reputation. Elecrow can do better in this area, and now, except for PCB, PCBA service, there are also other products such as 3d printer, crowtail modules are available.   

Awesome visual enjoyment from the excellent Maker Faire Shenzhen 2015!!

During the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, most people went out for travel or just stay at home due to the hot weather. However, they may miss an awesome show, a greatest event for electronic enthusiasts – The Maker Faire Shenzhen 2015!!! Elecrow, as an enthusiast and great helper for the makers, went to this show without doubt. Here we are grad to share this visual feast with you!!

The first day of Maker Faire Shenzhen 2015 should be the makers’ creations show. All the makers like tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors would come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned. 

Electronic Bug that can jump. This bug can be connected to the phone via a Bluetooth module. When the phone reach a message, this bug will jump up until the owner read this new massage. The software can be used in android phone and all the chatting software can make the bug jump! Very funny and useful, en ha?

This is the most interesting creation: a claw machine made of Lego, when you push a card in the beside card machine, it will give out a candy. I also had a try that day, very interesting! If you also like it, you can also make full use of some materials from Elecrow such as Arduino Lego case to DIY one for more funs in your spare time. 

Then you will see the most exciting part of this maker faire Shenzhen 2015. Yes, it is the Robot Contest on June 20^th to 21^st . the participating teams are from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and China. It was the most competitive and exciting moment, and through this contest, you will understand the enjoyment of owning a robot and the power of a robot, then become fond of making a robot. Just do it!! 

It does a visual feast for the makers and enthusiasts and worth of taking part in this Maker Faire Shenzhen 2015. Anyway, if you are also a maker, enthusiast or just a student who love to create, if you have any difficulty in collecting materials for your making, you can turn to Elecrow, we could be your reliable partner and helper to make your making easier!!! 

The significant role of motor shield for Arduino for successful project?

For the starter in using the Arduino products, most of them may not know the correct use or the role of every sensor or module in the project. actually, the role of every sensor in the project can be very important. For example, the role of motor shield for Arduino can be very significant that the beginners should not skip. Here is the detail info about the motor shield for you to know more.

Knowing the overall information about stepper motor can be of great help for your understanding. Stepper motors vary from regular DC motors in that, rather than just spinning in one direction or another, they can spin in very precise increments. Imagine a motor on an RC airplane. The motor spins very fast in on direction or another. You can vary the speed with the amount of power given to the motor, but you cannot tell the propeller to stop at a specific position.

Stepper motors can move an exact amount of degrees or steps when told to do so. This gives you total control over the motor, allowing you to move it to an exact location and hold that position. It does so by powering coils inside the motor for very short periods of time. The trade off is that you have to power the motor all the time to keep it in the position that you desire. All you need to know for now is that, to move a stepper motor, you tell it to move a certain number of steps in one direction or the other, and tell it the speed at which to step in that direction

There are numerous varieties of stepper motors as well as driver boards with which to control them. The methods described here can be used to infer how to use other motors and drivers not mentioned in this tutorial. But do you know the role of every motor in a 3d printer? One must take into account that any power coming through these pins has likely gone through the on-board voltage regulator on the Arduino if the board is being powered through Vin, and the voltage regulator is not designed to handle large amounts of current.

And if your board is being powered through USB, USB isn't designed to provide large amounts of current. Finding another way to power a motor where the current does not flow through the on-board regulator will greatly reduce the amount of heat generated and save board power for any other sensors or controls that might be necessary. And if you're not powering through USB, that makes it much easier to control the motor while the board is connected through USB to a computer for either programming it quickly or monitoring serial output for troubleshooting.

A motor shield often has its own lines for power input, allowing you to not only use significantly higher amounts of current, but a wide range of voltages too. Some DC motors run much better at 6V, 12V, 24V, or any other voltage that's not readily provided by the Arduino. This voltage can be provided by a standard off-the-shelf DC power transformer or an ATX computer power supply, both of which have appropriate protection circuitry. This would allow you to use a wider range of voltages and much higher current.

Another advantage of a shield is that they often make it much easier to interface with other components like motors, simplifying the wiring (and allowing features like motor direction reversal) - eliminating the need for a breadboard and reducing or eliminating any soldering necessary. That may not be particularly important in your application, but in a production environment simplifying assembly can be worth the additional cost.

Having a specially-designed shield can also isolate any problems that you might have. If there is a problem the motor shield may protect the rest of your project from damage, so you might just only have to replace a motor shield instead of spending lots of time and effort troubleshooting everything that you've put together. You can also choose a good PCB prototyping supplier such as elecrow motor to get rid of these problem. It’s believed that it can be your reliable partner for your project. 

What’s the importance of electronic module in daily life?

With the fast developing of technology and customers’ increasing creative projects, electronic modules become increasingly needed and essential in the protect. Technology is intended to make our lives easier and elecrow aims to make the making easier. With the fasting development of electronic product, most people may not know the reason of why the electronic product become so popular and some of them may ask that what’s the importance of electronic module in daily life? Here you can have some info about why.

First, you should know that electronic products can be things that almost everything that surrounds us has direct link to Electronics, from the very computer which has millions of tiny electronic components. Electronics truly molded our lives we have today, for without it, we might as well grimacing in the shackles of under. Electronics is the barometer of how far humans have gone through if we use the advancement in technology as a yardstick of progress.

Arduino, open hardware can be the most popular things in electronics. Besides, there are also vast companies offering wide range of electronic modules, sensors and displays and other services such as PCB, PCBA and PCB stencil service for the curious people who love to create to make their making easier. To see the important role of these electronic products in our life, here are some of the remarkable contributions of electronics to humanity.

Take several electronic things as example to summary the importance of electronics in our daily life. Communications systems for example, it is a broad field, traces its humble beginnings in 1876 invented to open the way for the wireless communications. Communications systems help us get in touch with the people around us. Most forms of communications will not exists without Electronics and its principles behind all of these necessities.

Computers can be the most essential and widely used products in our daily life. In 1948 a breakthrough in the history of electronics was eked out with the invention of transistors. This electronic components permanently replaced the bulky and expensive vacuum tubes. Transistors which has three lead terminals can amplify voltages, control flow of current and versatile to act as a switch which allows them to do the functions of various logic gates and soon were developed to microchips, which serve as a vital part in all computers.

Ok, if you still confuse about the important role of electronics and here are some practical uses of Electronics to help you out of the mystery. For example, the most common thing is the lights and LED that consists of LED display module around us.  The lights in your home is similar to the Electronics' resistors in series connection. The connection of lighting fixtures in your homes as well as your different appliances are connected in a fashion similar to Electronics' resistors in parallel.

The rectifier circuit is found in every power supply of your TVs, radios, mobile phones, amplifiers, and computers. Power supply is also used to supply voltage in small appliances or devices that uses 3V to 12V DC. Electronics components are used in clippers, limiters, clampers, multipliers, active filters, oscillators and many more. A series of Crowtail module can be available for better serve our life with different functions that can better make makings easier. 

Professional ways to reduce PCB prototyping spins effectively

PCB prototyping can be extreme popular among the electronic makers and in industry uses. However, there are also many products in PCB prototyping during projecting. The most common problem can be the PCB prototyping spins which may trouble people a lot. How to deal with this troublesome problem effectively? Here are 5 professional ways to help you out of this problem quickly. 

Firstly, You have to first of all research and select suppliers earlier in the design circle. The next logical step in the design process is to get back a working example of the prototype design for testing. This process consists of multiple steps—components must be procured; the PCB has to be fabricated; and the parts need to be correctly attached to the PCB. How this manufacturing flow ultimately occurs is up to the design team to select and manage.

Talk with suppliers’ customer service technical teams or sales teams, and determine just how well they can respond with quality across the whole range of your anticipated project styles. Fabricating the PCB that serves as the connection medium for all the components and connectors that make up your circuit design. In the process of getting to know your manufacturing chain, you should assess your contacts for their ability to consult on your design particulars.

Secondly, you should optimize for cost and performance before layout. In a general sense, the fewer components that are needed to implement your circuit, the more reliable your end product. Costs don’t simply refer to the number of components used in a design. They also tie into PCB real estate and design complexity, flying probe test times, and opportunities for design-related manufacturing issues.

Thirdly, develop your layout to the fabricator’s sweet spot. Regardless of whom you choose, your fabricator has a sweet spot—that place where designs are well inside the middle of the manufacturing process window. From this spot, minor variations in manufacturing still keep your design well inside manufacturing capabilities, and thus increase your yields and reliability.

Fourthly, verify your layout’s manufacture ability with a supplier DFM tool. A top-tier fabricator will make that report available to you when submitting your design for quotation. Using the contents of that report, which verifies if your design will fit inside the manufacturing process, is a valuable step to getting a properly fabricated board, and is the first measure toward developing a board optimized for production.

Fifthly, manage prototyping costs and hidden costs. Prototyping creates more robust designs from the first revision with proper preparation. While it may seem like a lot of useless preparation work, consider the hidden costs of a five-person design team, spending five person-days to complete the preparations mentioned here.

When the PCB design is simple, or far away from the current technological edge, these strategies have less impact on your design cycles. As you move to tight tolerances in circuit timing, then these strategies become more and more important.  If you don’t know what to do, you can also find a suitable PCB fabricating supplier for your PCB prototyping to save your energy and money.