I made this compact AA boost circuit

Thread Starter

RoverDev

Joined Mar 23, 2016
7

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
I'm so confused with the "maker/open source" community..
Why build something to sell (ironic this post showed up with days left on the kickstarter campaign) AND release all its source code at the same time?
Silly makers.. many could be retired now if they weren't so.. "open" to everything..

Its like "free love" all over again :D ... Then came STD's :p

I guess I'm just old (and I'm not even 40 yet)
 

Thread Starter

RoverDev

Joined Mar 23, 2016
7
I'm so confused with the "maker/open source" community..
Why build something to sell (ironic this post showed up with days left on the kickstarter campaign) AND release all its source code at the same time?
Silly makers.. many could be retired now if they weren't so.. "open" to everything..

Its like "free love" all over again :D ... Then came STD's :p

I guess I'm just old (and I'm not even 40 yet)
Now that is an awesome post and I got a laugh out of the way you asked. Why release the source? I guess for a couple reasons. First, I'm not trying to get rich off of it and this was never going to be something with a market beyond guys like you and me. Second, I think there's some name value to having designs like this out there with your name on it. The Kickstarter is actually a mechanism for me to get my company name out more than it is a way to make money. The tiny amount of money I might profit doesn't make all the work worthwhile by a longshot, but the pride of getting my design in people's hands is. But perhaps most logically, this isn't *that* awful hard to design, so even if I didn't release the design, somebody could knock it off in a couple days, and then everyone would gravitate towards the one they could see the schematics for in case it does something unexpected or in case you want to make changes.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
First, I'm not trying to get rich off of it and this was never going to be something with a market beyond guys like you and me..
Tell that to Sparkfun/Adafruit/etc...
The "market" for guys like you and me is quite large..

There is very little in life that is "hard" when you have the knowledge..
Its the knowledge to do so that should get you rich..
Sure its probably a design right from the datasheet of that IC.. but still..

Of course yes.. China is already knocking them out by the thousands and soon to be on ebay for $0.99 shipped with battery..

I'd like to see the patent rights improved and "open source" replaced by "patented" (and have it hold up world wide) but that will more than likely never happen..

Its still confusing to me.. Having the designs open source makes it MUCH more likely that guys like you and me will just make them ourselves.. For $10 I'd buy one (If I needed it) simply because it would cost me more in time to roll my own..
But now for $20 I can build 10 of them because I don't have to spend the time and can just send your gerbers right to my board house of choice..
 

Thread Starter

RoverDev

Joined Mar 23, 2016
7
Tell that to Sparkfun/Adafruit/etc...
The "market" for guys like you and me is quite large..

There is very little in life that is "hard" when you have the knowledge..
Its the knowledge to do so that should get you rich..
Sure its probably a design right from the datasheet of that IC.. but still..

Of course yes.. China is already knocking them out by the thousands and soon to be on ebay for $0.99 shipped with battery..

I'd like to see the patent rights improved and "open source" replaced by "patented" (and have it hold up world wide) but that will more than likely never happen..

Its still confusing to me.. Having the designs open source makes it MUCH more likely that guys like you and me will just make them ourselves.. For $10 I'd buy one (If I needed it) simply because it would cost me more in time to roll my own..
But now for $20 I can build 10 of them because I don't have to spend the time and can just send your gerbers right to my board house of choice..
It will actually cost you about $10 to build one by hand because that boost chip is really expensive in low quantity. It's also a major pain to solder since it's a leadless package. Those two things sort of self limit the number of people that will want to do it themselves. But I did it, so others certainly can. As for patents, I'm a bit of an old hand at that. I have a bunch already, and I didn't really consider this patentable. Maybe I have too high a standard. I have never seen a battery boost circuit that plugs right into both rails before, but it seems obvious to me.

I'm actually trying to get Adafruit/Sparkfun/Hackaday to put it on their store. However, they pretty much all require it to be open source to be on their store. And not even the open source license I currently have on it that says that you can copy it for yourself but you can't sell it. They want full blown commercial open source. So that's another reason to open source it as a show of good faith to them as I try to get them to carry it.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
I was just saying those companies are making big bank with their "hobby" marketed products..

TI will easily do free samples and even so I can get them for under $2 for a single part.. and $2 more for the board and all other components..
Soldering DFN's is a piece of cake for me.. via hot air or toaster reflow

My initial comment wasn't necessarily about your specific product...

So yeah. best wishes..
 

Thread Starter

RoverDev

Joined Mar 23, 2016
7
I appreciate the thoughts. I believe you're saying you like the design but you think my marketing could use some work. Having a better design than marketing is the best praise I could hope for from a forum like this! ;)
 
Last edited:

MrSoftware

Joined Oct 29, 2013
2,188
For myself; if I need a couple of these to use, I'll buy them. It's just easier and cheaper than making them. I sell something on the side made from parts that are readily available to the general public. I sell a ton of them because most people are willing to pay for the convenience of buying a turn key solution and not having to hassle with making it themselves. There is the risk of it getting knocked off, but for most people the cost of a patent, plus the cost of defending it, are just too high to even consider.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
I appreciate the thoughts. I believe you're saying you like the design but you think my marketing could use some work. Having a better design than marketing is the best praise I could hope for from a forum like this! ;)
No.. I was saying nothing of the sort..
I have not judged your design nor marketing abilities..

except I'm thinking this post is just a plug for your company too..
 
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