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 <[email protected]> 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 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, go to > > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > > and follow the instructions there. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com and follow the instructions there.
