Raspberry Pi Pico is a fun and powerful development board, but the pin labels are printed in tiny letters on the bottom of the board. Since we’ve been on a silkscreenkick, we put a RPi Pico pin silkscreen on 2.54mm female header. Available in vertical and right angle.
We added a bunch of new “speedy” shipping methods that cost $4-$6 for small packages delivered in 1-2 weeks. It should be similar to AliExpress, Temu, etc, but it’s untested at this point.
Please be patient while the shipping prices load, it can take 30-60 seconds for a fresh country/weight combo. We make a bunch of API queries into the great firewall and it will take some time to fill our cache with prices
If you look really close at paypal after ordering from DirtyPCBs, there should be a (little tiny, hidden almost) way to proceed without a paypal account. I know it’s annoying, they want their signups
We are in the process of getting Bus Pirate 5 REV10 in the Ali shop. Ali hit us with new labeling requirements for the EU, so we are submitting the stuff and waiting for approval.
This new labeling extends to the cable kits too, which will need CE certification. I never considered that some jumper wires need certification, and it’s a pretty big expense that will take a LOT of cable sales to break even. This is on the back burner at the moment, maybe progress next week.
There is also a store installed here at Bus Pirate.com. I can configure it to use credit cards instead of paypal, but I will need to figure out how. I plan to poke at the store later today, but it will also take a bit.
First off all: Thank you for your extensive reply.
I tried to find the option to proceed without creating an account but they seem to have changed that. Tried several devices and browsers, just in case. In the past I indeed have ordered from other sites using PayPal without needing to create an account.
Although I probably really like the products I’m not really sure I could reach the $1000 minimum for a wiretransfer .
And needing CE approval for a low current wire is just bureaucratic nonsense, but I can understand the hesitation regarding the costs to get it done. Really wanted to see the dyed connectors IRL though.
The PayPal “login required” issue is fixed. However, PayPal seems to reserve the right to deem some people dodgy based on profiling, in this case login is required. We’ll see how it goes, I saw the payment without account view from my IP as well as several VPNs.
Second batches in progress
The first batch of Bus Pirate REV10 and the Probe cable kit are sold out. Parts for both are at the assembler, they should be done by Friday (26th Jan, 2024) or Monday (28th Jan, 2024).
Updated AUX kit
We received the color coordinated Y splitter cable and jumper cables. These are being kitted up now with the color-coded auxiliary connector cable. We think they look better than expected.
REV3 milled breadboard pins
The pogo pin factory is arranging the next batch of milled breadboard pins at this very moment. Their engineer didn’t like my idea for preventing the “too balanced, rolls off the table issue”, but suggested something else. Will know more shortly.
Update: for some reason the pogo pin people have a batch of our pins in stock. For an extra 0.04RMB each they will mill a flat on the side. This seems promising.
Batch 2 production is on schedule, but a week before Spring Festival is the worst possible time to push something new out the door. I really didn’t plan for this much interest, thank you all so much.
Next week we’ll ship everything we get, but after that China is on holiday until February 19th.
Batch 3 is now listed at DirtyPCBs. Parts and PCBs are ready but production won’t happen until after Spring Festival. If you get tired of waiting or change your mind, you can refund yourself on the order page.
I’ll post production updates in this thread. I spent a big chunk of this week setting up an ERP system. There’s so many little details in the production scaling has been a bit more difficult that I’m used to.
A lot of stuff is arriving at the office today. We purchased parts for the large batch to be made after spring festival. There are some holiday related shortages, but we’re prepared.
LMV331 - We prefer HGSemi HGV331. HGSemi is too big for us to have a direct relationship. All our distributors say no more until after the holiday. GSV331 by gainsil is the exact same die, but it costs a bit more. The gainsil part will go in the next few batches.
All the single op amps on the board are from Gainsil, the quad op-amps are from HG Semi. I like both manufacturers. The parts seem basic and reliable.
Batch 2 didn’t show up at the office today. We will have it by Wednesday at the latest according to the assembler. They’re doing hand finishing now (LCD and connector attachment). The two week Chinese Spring Festival starts next Monday, so factories are already short staffed from people returning home.
We’ll keep the office open as long as the logistics company is still doing pickups. If it’s a real mess/backlog I’ll go to Shenzhen to help sort it out over the holiday.
Mine is at customs so 1-3 days more and I will get it as well. BusPirate firmware is early but I see the possibility what it might become. Also super excited to get it. Rev10 people!
The second batch of Bus Pirates arrived at the office late last night. They’ve been programmed, tested, and packaged. A bunch of backlog orders will ship tomorrow, if they haven’t already.
Failure rate was ~6%. Mostly shorts on the 0402x4 resistor arrays. These gave me the most issues when assembled them on the Neoden too, stenciling them is a nightmare.
The volume production volume factory making batch 3 & 4 after Spring Festival says it shouldn’t be an issue, they have better process control than the quick turn prototype factory. I imagine they’ll adjust the paste stencil on the arrays to work with their setup.
I wanted to reply that this was not fixed for me but when I posted a screenshot about this on the forum I saw the “hidden” option to not create an account. I checked again and sure enough, I could (and did) order without creating a account. However, I had to use a different e-mail address in order to do so. With the original address the option was just absent.
Thank you for the update. I’m sorry it’s so annoying.
Im in the process of getting the shop straightened out. I’ve setup a headless e-commerce back end to handle the bus pirate.com shop, and will eventually migrate dirtypcbs there too. It will be able to offer multiple payment gateways, and also collect VAT for Eu orders which is a thing now. Were also moving to a new logistics company, our old one doesn’t seem to be growing much.
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