The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast

[https://theamphour.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/700-beware.png] * Dave is starting a new project for a lab timer called the uTimer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQn-RUDZ3I] * Timelapse * Geerling videos about clocks [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT71UvUxhjU] * Mitxela clock [https://mitxela.com/shop/clock] * Transflective displays * Dave is looking at LCDs like this one [https://www.buydisplay.com/4-inch-cog-192x64-display-graphic-lcds-module-ist3020-black-on-white] * Dropping Rs vs Ls * Font chip * .5mm pin pitch on the connectors * Chris is making a new breakout board that is effectively a sensors shield for a Bluetooth chip. It’s the first time he’s using the service and it was a pleasant completely hands-off experience. * Mike Harrison USB C barrel jack [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BElU9LPbaA8] * JLC DFM plugin for KiCad [https://github.com/Bouni/kicad-jlcpcb-tools] * Python script to pull EasyEDA parts into KiCad [https://github.com/uPesy/easyeda2kicad.py] * Chris is designing around this $3 board with an nRF52840A [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807958420169.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.3aa91802SwxffY&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa] * de minimus tariff exemptions are gone in the us [https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-suspends-duty-free-shipments-temu-shein] * North Korea is putting forward software engineering candidates that are actually teams of workers [https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2025/08/05/world/north-korea-it-worker-scheme-vis-intl-hnk/index.html] * Mini PC production at BeeLink [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohwI3V207Ts] * Stephen Hawes on The Amp Hour [https://theamphour.com/686-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes/] * Stephen documented the process of getting the Opulo v4 through certification [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCjFhsOvi2I] * Chris has solar install issues * Dave is dealing with removing downpipes * Dave is getting battery extension 50 kWh

[https://theamphour.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/699-AndrewSeddon.png] Welcome Back, Andrew Seddon! Founder and CEO of CircuitHub [https://www.circuithub.com/]. * Andrew was first on episode 131 of The Amp Hour [https://theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-131-necessary-networked-novelty/] * CircuitHub has a partnership with Worthington Assembly [https://www.worthingtonassembly.com/] * Worthington and CircuitHub host the Pick Place Podcast [https://www.pickplacepodcast.com/] * Mimicing silicon manufacturing * Common parts library [https://octopart.com/pulse/p/introducing-the-common-parts-library] * Setting the factory up to have only 50k SKUs in house for speed of loading / attrition * Driving people to 2000 parts was the original intent, but didn’t hit the mark * Level of production needs to be high * Many parts need to work in conjunction * Reflow * PnP * Throughhole * Selective soldering * Inspection * Need to solve for the whole setup. Making smt 10x better doesn’t make overall 10x better * Starlink manufcaturing localy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iNtwHb7JBQ] * PCB fabs in the US, 50 left, getting rolled up under Private Equity (as are things like machine shops) * AI with VCs * How it impacts the electronics industries * KiCad * More AI stuff * Automation on checking * Still humans involved * PDKs for chip companies * File checking / JLC * Types of customers * 10 largest companies on the planets * It’s individuals who order and try it out, that often becomes a repeat business thing * Customers / types of boards / size of orders * More startups who also want production * Future serving lower cost areas * Proto service 2-4 layer black soldermask (unlisted) * See the CircuitHub capabilities [https://www.circuithub.com/capabilities/design-rules] * Going high volume * People making weekly or monthly units and spreading it out * Spinning up custom in-house high volume * Flattenting the price curve * Tariffs * New customers approaching them because of it * Can consumer be done in the US?

[https://theamphour.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/698-MattBrown-1024x1024.png] Welcome Matt Brown of Brown Fine Security [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3VDCeZYZH7mCihtMVHqppw/videos]! * Matt has been reverse engineering a “smart” smoker controller [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Z4XrNmW_M] that talks back to AWS IOT * Jeff Geerling talking about his dishwasher [https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/i-wont-connect-my-dishwasher-your-stupid-cloud] * Storing private keys on the device?? * Threat models [https://www.blackduck.com/glossary/what-is-threat-modeling.html] * Key rotation * What is the best case scenario for an IoT device? * Secure boot / trust zone [https://developer.arm.com/documentation/PRD29-GENC-009492/latest/TrustZone-Software-Architecture/Booting-a-secure-system/Secure-boot] * Keys encrypt flash storage * Chris has designed in the ATECC608 [https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/atecc608b] before * Replacing Certificate Authority (CA) cert in grill firmware * Matt has a Linux hardware / reverse engineering background * Flash is always external * Ghidra [https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra] / idapro [https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro] / binwalk [https://gracker.ai/cybersecurity-tools/binwalk] * Security cameras are 99% linux based (battery based cameras might be embedded) * Best practices * Encrypted firmware * hidden uart / jtag * Keys * Are linux devices “worth more” to a security researcher? * CVSS risk scoring system * Attack vector * Vulnerabilities are better if it can be a remote executed * Linux devices have more compute * Bluetoothe LE * Ability to enumerate * Scale reverse engineering [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqau6n6eW9s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqau6n6eW9s)] * Chris has discussed the silliness of a bluetooth toothbrush on the show before * Tools / Software of the trade * xgeku [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waz1GJF1P5E] firmware reader * picoemp [https://github.com/newaetech/chipshouter-picoemp] * PCBite [https://sensepeek.com/pcbite-20] * Saleae [https://www.saleae.com/] * SDR USRP B200 [https://www.ettus.com/all-products/ub200-kit/] * Universal radio hacker [https://github.com/jopohl/urh] * Stick-to-it-ness * Matt just came back from hardwear.io [https://hardwear.io/], one of his new favorite conferences * Find Matt at the embedded systems village at DEF CON [https://embeddedvillage.org/] * Follow Matt via his YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@mattbrwn] * Matt has a new IoT Security newsletter starting up [https://iotsecd.brownfinesecurity.com/subscribe]

[https://theamphour.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/697-TimMitxela-1024x1024.jpg] Welcome Tim from Mitxela [https://mitxela.com/]! * Introduced by Mike Harrison [https://www.whitewing.co.uk/], past guest of the show * Fluid pendant [https://mitxela.com/projects/fluid-pendant] * Volumetric display [https://mitxela.com/projects/candle] * London hackspace * https://matthias-research.github.io/pages/tenMinutePhysics/index.html [https://matthias-research.github.io/pages/tenMinutePhysics/index.html] * FLIP in Blender [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu_YxibkUn8] * CHNT36ta Pick and place doing 0201 * Precision Clock [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL2cZjO5IUY] * Sewing machine (check out that GIF!) [https://mitxela.com/projects/sewing_machine] * Secret life of machines – Tim Hunkin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Machines] * Isaac Singer * Tim has many Lathe projects on the hardware projects page [https://mitxela.com/projects/hardware] * Flag Steam Engine [https://mitxela.com/projects/flag_steam_engine] * Learn how to machine from MrPete222’s YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKLIIdKEpjAnn8E76KP7sQg] * Schlock Mercenary (Comic) [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/] * Sprite tm on The Amp Hour [https://theamphour.com/359-an-interview-with-jeroen-domburg-sprite_tm/] * Gameboy advance link cable * Writing a gameboy emulator  [https://mitxela.com/projects/swotgb/about] * Emulators got him into electronics * No$ (“nocash”) emulator [https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/No$] * AVR instruction set [https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/AVR-InstructionSet-Manual-DS40002198.pdf] * MIDI [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI] * CNLohr on The Amp Hour [https://theamphour.com/637-ch32v003-fun-with-cnlohr/] * https://mitxela.com/projects/slide2 [https://mitxela.com/projects/slide2] * Forcing * brainfuck (language) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck] * quop * movfuscator [https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator] * Puzzles * Spacechem (Game) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceChem] * Zach Barth of Zachtronics on The Amp Hour  [https://theamphour.com/332-an-interview-with-zach-barth-of-zachtronics/] * babaisu [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Is_You] * LED errings [https://mitxela.com/projects/ledstud] * watchdog timer allows ridiculously low power * 1 way loader  [http://jtxp.org/tech/onewayloader_en.htm] * autobauding * Find all of Tim’s projects on mitxela.com [https://mitxela.com/] * Watch the latest videos on the mitxela youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@mitxela/videos]

[https://theamphour.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/696.jpg] * Dave found a wrist mounted DMM that looks…inadvisable [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmpHour/comments/1l7lzqj/useless_product_of_the_day_award_winner/] * We’ll discuss the survey results next time! * Florin Cocos of VoltLog [https://theamphour.com/568-youtube-to-consulting-with-florin-of-voltlog/] * Great Scott [https://theamphour.com/284-an-interview-with-great-scott/] * Sam Aldaher on the show last week [https://theamphour.com/695-making-the-invisible-visible-with-sam-aldahar/] * Gerald Undone [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC09qASY4ixFS-KXIH6Nw0rg] did a studio tour with Captain Disillusionment * Short videos * Dave using a go-pro on a bike [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMeVqfeVxFQ] * Separate gyro file to stabilize * D-y hybrid inverter [https://www.deyeinverter.com/product/hybrid-inverter-1/] * Chart * Remote shell * Cline [https://cline.bot/] * Chris is finally getting solar * open energy monitor [https://openenergymonitor.org/] * Emporia vue [https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/emporia-vue-3?variant=46067941966079&country=US¤cy=USD&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21417046681&gbraid=0AAAAACwD-Kx_epCi5lhC7ZdkUy448VZkL&gclid=CjwKCAjwx8nCBhAwEiwA_z__04fXG_33IP2BRgyCYcB3XPjtA6WbYfqMl305RodyW7Hn5Qy5fWxXFBoCj8gQAvD_BwE] * Sense [https://sense.com/] * We talked with Joe Bamberg when he worked there [https://theamphour.com/371-an-interview-with-joe-bamberg/] * Driving back from canberra * Ben Krasnow makin’ magnets! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6XIgdS1rzs] * Bluetooth videos [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chrisgammell_soi-created-a-bluetooth-drill-not-only-activity-7330699360378224640-VrUv/]