New BlimpDuino board, now surface mount and RC compatible

The DIY Drones autopilot board factory is in full swing. We've got another cool board for you, a production-ready final version of the BlimpDuino board.

Changes include:

All surface mount technology, to make the board smaller, lighter and easier to manufacture.
Now with two dedicated RC channel input ports, so you can easily fly in RC mode (for testing) or autonomous mode.
A new power supply that can handle anything from 3V to 18v and output both 3.3v and 5v. This will allow you a range of battery options, from 2 or 4 AAAs (cheap) to a 7.4v Li-Po (expensive).
Includes a port for a servo, for the vectoring thruster
Includes ports for a Bluetooth wireless module and a magnetometer (compass)

The board is designed to fit in and work with both a modded toy RC blimp or a custom blimp gondola.

You can buy the board here.

Eagle 5 files are here: blimp_SMD_V4.sch blimp_SMD_V4.brd

Here are the components that you need:

SMD DIGIKEY parts:

Capacitors:
(C4)2x 22uF 495-1556-1-ND
(C1,2,6,7,9,10,11,12,13)9x 0.1uF PCC1828CT-ND
(C8) 1x 33uF 478-1715-1-ND
Diodes:
(D4,D5,D6,D7):4x Navi LED (green) 67-1357-1-ND
(D2):1x Power LED (red) 67-1359-1-ND
(D3) 1x Status LED (blue) 160-1643-1-ND
IC's:
(IC1)1 x Atmega168, ATMEGA168V-10AU-ND
(IC2) 1xLM3940: LM3940IMP-3.3CT-ND
(IC3) 1xL4049: 497-1404-5-ND

Resistors:
(R1) 1x 10kOhms P10.0KCCT-ND
(R2) 2x 1Kohms P1.00KCCT-ND
(R3-R7) 4x 30 ohms P30ACT-ND

3x LB1630 (motor controller).
4x IR sensors (Pololu)

Switch:
(S1) Switch SMD, sparkfun
A lot of pin headers

Arduino code coming soon

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Comments

ovidio aza rojas November 14, 2009 at 6:24pm

esta super el zepelin pero me podrian mandar los, planos de todo en español porfa se lo agradeceria mucho colombia presente
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson June 12, 2008 at 8:11am

Excellent. We'll get some and if they work well redo the board to replace the three 1630s with two of those. (Note to those following along--these chips are functionally identical. We're just optimizing the board for production efficiencies. Feel free to stick with the 1630s if you want)

In the meantime, I found a source for the 1630s (linked above), so the board component list is now complete.
Howard Gordon June 12, 2008 at 7:54am

I've used the Fairchild "stepper" part with several thousand N20 motors, so I'd have to assume that is just a marketing designation.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson June 12, 2008 at 7:43am

Sounds good. And it's okay to use a motor driver chip designed for stepper motors for small brushed motors like ours? In other words we can ignore the "stepper" designation?
Howard Gordon June 12, 2008 at 7:28am

The LB1836M is a 2-channel (i.e. 2 motor) driver that handles up to 1A per channel. I believe it is pin-compatible with the Fairchild FAN8200 which I've been using with all of my robots (and blimp controller) for 2+ years, and it has a lower pin count than the LB1630M. I haven't tried the Sanyo part yet, as I managed to locate a surplus stash of FAN8200's, but once that supply is exhausted, I will switch to the LB1836M.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson June 12, 2008 at 7:15am

I'm getting some LB1630M quotes that are now under $1. What's the main advantage of the LB1836M for you? I see it's aimed particularly at stepper motors, while we're just using small brushed motors. Does that make a difference?
Howard Gordon June 12, 2008 at 6:55am

Do a search on the Sanyo LB1836M. I imagine in volume these should cost less than $1. They are a fairly direct replacement for the discontinued Fairchild FAN8200 which I've been using.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson June 11, 2008 at 11:46pm

Thanks! I filed a RFQ and got back a few answers, at around $2.00 each. I suppose that will have to do for now, but in the production version we'll switch to a cheaper and smaller SMD motor driver.
Howard Gordon June 11, 2008 at 11:39pm

http://www.sourceesb.com/ProdSearch.asp?part=LB1630&mfrfilter=37200
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson June 11, 2008 at 11:02pm

I've added all the links to the components. The only missing ones are the Sanyo LB1630 motor controllers. I've got a few but can't find the supplier right now. Anybody got a link?

This reply was deleted.