[sdiy] Looking for CEM5530 or replacement

[Tom Wiltshire]

On 9 Mar 2007, at 18:42, Cary Roberts wrote:

>> In the long term, I think the electro-diy
>> (http://electro.diy.free.fr/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=24)
>> solution has to be the right way to go.
>
> I don't believe a solution built around an IC available only from a
> single source is long term viable.  This is going to have the same
> issues as solutions built around PDA508s (CEM5508).  The electro-diy
> solution uses the MAX5167 which is $40US.  I also don't understand why
> electro-diy folk hacked up the power regulators on the VS board just to
> implement their CEM5530 fix.  They could have easily used LDO 
> regulators
> on their board and tapped the unfiltered +12V and +5V lines available 
> on
> the VS board.

Fair points. Anything that minimises the damage you have to do has to 
be a good idea. I got the impression they weren't that impressed with 
the original power supply, though, didn't you?

With respect to the chip, the Maxim one wouldn't be the only option. 
There are also some 32-channel Analog Devices chips and you could 
probably design something very similar around one of those. Maybe 
they're cheaper too, who knows!

Ultimately, I suppose I think that there just has to be a way to put a 
few modern surface mounts on a little board and finish up with a 
pin-for-pin replacement - and that's what the electro-diy solution is 
aiming at, even if it isn't perfect yet.

Tom

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