sBITX V3 Enclosure gremlins #sBitx #sBITX_v3
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There was a point in my life, right after I received my sBITX V3, when I made the declaration that the sBITX is the very best radio that I have ever used. I have probably used around 50-75 different radios in my decade long life style where we do it with Frequency and until it Hertz. My biggest gremlin with the sBITX has been the enclosure. Neurologically I'm not back to the point that I need to be so my hands doesn't always work as they should. Over the last few months I have torn up some metal enclosures, plastic enclosures and some exotic wood in my attempts in putting some clothes on my little rig. That all is on me, not HF Signals or the sBITX.
I'm also in a little rush because as I have told Ashhar, my other passion is astronomy. In a few weeks we will be having a total solar eclipse (the last one in the USA until my 70th birthday, I'm 49 now). I am getting really lucky here. My brother just got some land that is literally on a state park and just a few minutes away from the path of the eclipse. My plan is to go down on the 28th and stay until the eclipse. I'm going to use the sBITX for POTA for 8 days and go see the eclipse. I expect the sBITX to be a wonderful workhorse and help me rack up my POTA Activator QSO's.? I have just over a week to go and I am making progress for my enclosure. I got a large plastic one that is twice as big as the stock sBITX V3 enclosure. Have to use what I have on hand, budget is blown for the little vacation trip. Because the enclosure is so large I will have to order a longer ribbon cable for the display and a longer ribbon cable for the knobs. I need some help with the cable for the knobs because I don't know what connector is used and how to install the connector on the longer cable. This morning I got my Dremel fired up and made the perfect cutout for the 7" display. This enclosure is so big that I can easily use a 10 inch display.? I used my copious amount of skills (Ok here is the truth, I have neurological damage so my hands are not that accurate anymore, the doctors got me jacked up on Oxycontin every 4 hours and mix in the use of powered hand tools, it can be pretty entertaining.) I got the perfect holes drilled for the board that has the knob encoders on it. Then I ran into my problem.? I don't know if this is a known problem or if it is just my luck. From my experience it is probably the later. On the encoder board the connector for the ribbon cable appears to be on the wrong side. For it to work in its current form, I will have to hack another hole in my enclosure to make room for the connector. I'm a little stumped and aggravated.? If anyone has a solution to this please let me know. I'm against the wall and I don't know how many days I have to where I will physically be able to work on it. Some days are good most are not. Should I just give up on an enclosure and keep it as a bare board?? Thank you for your help.? -- '72 Aaron? |
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Jack, W8TEE
I don't have a V3 sBITX so this might be totally wrong. That said, the IDE connector appears to be 1x5 (5 pins) connector rather than a 2x5 (10 pins). If it were me, I'd use some wire snips to cut the 5 pins from the board and remove the IDC connector. I'd then remove the snipped pins with a solder sucker, or some copper braid, or just some pliers to pull the pins out of the board while heating them. I would then replace those removed pins with 5 header pins. My guess is that the mating IDC cable will fit directly on the header pins. If that's not the case, then just solder wires to the header pins and route to the correct place. Jack, W8TEE
On Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 02:24:23 PM EDT, Aaron K5ATG <aaron@...> wrote:
There was a point in my life, right after I received my sBITX V3, when I made the declaration that the sBITX is the very best radio that I have ever used. I have probably used around 50-75 different radios in my decade long life style where we do it with Frequency and until it Hertz. My biggest gremlin with the sBITX has been the enclosure. Neurologically I'm not back to the point that I need to be so my hands doesn't always work as they should. Over the last few months I have torn up some metal enclosures, plastic enclosures and some exotic wood in my attempts in putting some clothes on my little rig. That all is on me, not HF Signals or the sBITX. I'm also in a little rush because as I have told Ashhar, my other passion is astronomy. In a few weeks we will be having a total solar eclipse (the last one in the USA until my 70th birthday, I'm 49 now). I am getting really lucky here. My brother just got some land that is literally on a state park and just a few minutes away from the path of the eclipse. My plan is to go down on the 28th and stay until the eclipse. I'm going to use the sBITX for POTA for 8 days and go see the eclipse. I expect the sBITX to be a wonderful workhorse and help me rack up my POTA Activator QSO's.? I have just over a week to go and I am making progress for my enclosure. I got a large plastic one that is twice as big as the stock sBITX V3 enclosure. Have to use what I have on hand, budget is blown for the little vacation trip. Because the enclosure is so large I will have to order a longer ribbon cable for the display and a longer ribbon cable for the knobs. I need some help with the cable for the knobs because I don't know what connector is used and how to install the connector on the longer cable. This morning I got my Dremel fired up and made the perfect cutout for the 7" display. This enclosure is so big that I can easily use a 10 inch display.? I used my copious amount of skills (Ok here is the truth, I have neurological damage so my hands are not that accurate anymore, the doctors got me jacked up on Oxycontin every 4 hours and mix in the use of powered hand tools, it can be pretty entertaining.) I got the perfect holes drilled for the board that has the knob encoders on it. Then I ran into my problem.? I don't know if this is a known problem or if it is just my luck. From my experience it is probably the later. On the encoder board the connector for the ribbon cable appears to be on the wrong side. For it to work in its current form, I will have to hack another hole in my enclosure to make room for the connector. I'm a little stumped and aggravated.? If anyone has a solution to this please let me know. I'm against the wall and I don't know how many days I have to where I will physically be able to work on it. Some days are good most are not. Should I just give up on an enclosure and keep it as a bare board?? Thank you for your help.? -- '72 Aaron?
-- Jack, W8TEE |
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On my problem with the encoder board, I plan on using some couplers to extend the coupler shafts. I will post if that works or not. This is the enclosure that I'm using:
I cut holes it it so it isn't waterproof anymore lol.? I think that this box is larger than the sBITX DE.? I have a question concerning the cooling fins on the back if the sBITX v3.? I want to know what you think about this.? The box is large enough that I have the entire sBITX inside the enclosure including the fins. If I do this I do plan on adding some vent holes and perhaps a fan to move the air around. I'm thinking of this for a few reasons. I won't have the fins poking out the back so it would be easier make a tilt stand for it and a mount to mount the sBITX on my recumbent trike or in a car. Having a flat back will just give me some options for the future. Also I have not been doing very good at constructing a box for this radio. This is my 5th attempt and the more I cut on this box the bigger the chance of me screwing it up.? So what do you think about having the fins on the inside?? P.S. Another option if anyone has a 3D printer capable of printing an enclosure for this radio email me at Aaron@...?to see if we can work something out..? Thank you -- '72 Aaron? |
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Hi, my opinion only, but fins on the inside would be fine if you had some means of forced air movement.? A small efficient fan on one end and holes at the other. Obviously that would add power requirements.? Perhaps low duty cycle modes would be okay,? but I would prefer to keep the heat sink cool if possible. (My experience with this radio is low right now, but growing.) Scotty WD4PYT? On Wed, Mar 20, 2024, 1:52 PM Aaron K5ATG <Aaron@...> wrote: On my problem with the encoder board, I plan on using some couplers to extend the coupler shafts. I will post if that works or not. This is the enclosure that I'm using: |
开云体育Aaron, that is a nice box. The printed V3 box OD is 10 1/4” wide, 2 ?” high and 5 7/8” deep. Hopefully this will give you an idea how your proposed project box stacks up to the printed box. ? My V3 build is in a ?all metal box. It has the heat sink enclosed with two fans pulling air out. My only complaint having the heat sink in the box is the noise from those two fans. I ran them off 12 volts but they were way to noisy,? thus, I installed an adjustable buck regulator and now power them from 8 – 9 volts. A little better but still noisy. These two fans are 50mm x 50mm. I wish I had a way? to automatically adjust the fan speed depending upon the temp of the heat sink. ? Barry K3BO ? Sent from for Windows ? From: Aaron K5ATG
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 1:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] sBITX V3 Enclosure gremlins #sBitx #sBITX_v3 ? On my problem with the encoder board, I plan on using some couplers to extend the coupler shafts. I will post if that works or not. This is the enclosure that I'm using: Aaron? ? |
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I just got my sBitx and the screen was a bit loose/something rattling inside. So I opened the case and found some loose screws (immediately fixed) and the same problem with the encoder board. Before I read this post and the answers, I also believed this to be an error. Well, I dont like how the board is mounted and how the encoder shafts are slightly skewed to the inside which I now cannot unsee. So I desoldered the connector and extended it a bit. A bit hacky, but it works and the encoder board is now nicely straight, everything fine :-) Now I only have to test the whole thing! |
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I fully agree?with you. The execution of the encoder board is pure stupidity. On Thu, Mar 21, 2024, 6:21?PM Andreas Schreiner via <andreas.schreiner=[email protected]> wrote:
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开云体育One. Someone could create a new printed circuit board that puts the connector on the opposite side and properly deals with all the wiresOr Two. ?Remove the existing encoders, probably destroying them in the process, and solder in new ?encoders with a bit of some height to their positioning enough to make the correct clearance.? Or Three. ?You might get a little more clearance by sanding off the top of the plastic of the Jack On Mar 21, 2024, at 18:26, Jon / W2JON <sigmazgfx@...> wrote:
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I got the basic sBITX which didn't come with an enclosure so I have been happily operating my sBITX for a few months and never knew that there was a problem with the encoder board. I did not notice it until I tried to fit it in my chosen enclosure. To be truthful In the time that I had had my sBITX I think that I used the knobs just a few times. Since I mostly live in bed I have my sBITX on a shelf about 8 feet from my bed. So I have operated with a wireless keyboard and mouse and with a long HDMI cable I have the display on a tv tray by my bed.? I was have been happy with that but i am going on a little vacation next week to do a POTA activation and watch the eclipse.?
With my large enclosure for my sBITX I saw a different route to a solution to the encoder board scandal*. Right now I'm trying to teach myself how to do fine stuff with my hands such as draw and solder so I'm not really trusting my soldering skills enough to modify the encoder board. So my plan is to put some couplers on the encoder shafts. I picked blue because I figure that since the sky is blue and my radio signals will go up to the sky so therefore it is obvious that using blue will increase my signal strength by at least 123 db, or i picked it because it is may favorite color, I can't remember lol.? So I just plan on using these couplers to extend the length of the encoder shafts past the connector. Then just use stand offs to attach the board. I'm waiting for the extra shaft material to come in the mail tomorrow. Once done I will post some pics of it...I think that I might paint my entire enclosure blue, I bet that would put my little sBITX on par with K3LR's entire station lol It tool me a while to save up for this sBITX, hopefully they can get this fixed before I can save up for my next one.? -- '72 Aaron? * I don't know the reasoning why HF Signals did the encoder board that way, I'm sure that they made the best choice that they could given the entirely of all of the circumstances.? |
Aaron K5ATG
Raj vu2zap
Scotty R
