That is indeed the case. Unfortunately I've been neglecting this thread as most news has either been relatively small or developing, and I prefer to post large updates here. In addition to that I've needed to work overtime at my day job to meet out current workload, which leaves precious little time to work on the project. Sorry everyone for the lack of updates here!
I will be posting a big update late next week or early the week after when the latest board revision arrives from the fab. There's been a lot of developments since my last big post here, and I'm now on Revision 11 of the design. Until that time, here are some key points and changes:
- The supercaps are out. They were able to manage one injection at best and had a standby time of less than half an hour, even when doubled up in series and charged with a special $5 charge-pump IC. The short of why this is the case seems that the reported capacitance (0.22F in this case) is only valid at a certain current draw, which is not mentioned on the datasheet. Documentation on this behavior is pretty sparse at best. While I still can't find any numbers for the caps I used, a similar cap from Elna touts a maximum discharge current of 0.05mA. The project draws 10mA, which breaks down the stored charge almost immediately.
- Return of the button cell! The project is now powered by a CR1216. It will not come with one so it can make it through customs, but they are common and inexpensive. Obviously, these aren't rechargeable. Some time in the future I'll look at a LiPo version of the DragonInjector, but it would be very difficult to ship I believe. That said, @stuckpixel on the Discord has found a way to control power of the gamecard slot which means I could now utilize it for charging as was originally intended! It wouldn't be for a few months at the earliest I could work on a LiPo version though, and the 200815 battery I'd need to use is rather expensive, so the cost would be about $20 more than the current version if it's possible to make.
- Injection count! I tested 250 injections out of a single CR1216 with a modified Trinket M0, and the voltage barely dropped 0.1V. It took a few hours of touching wires together over and over and after 250 I ran out of power before the battery did. I expect the final injection count per battery will be a good deal higher than that and I'll be testing that as soon as the newest prototype is soldered up!
- Colors! I will now be offering both green and black DragonInjectors at launch, with Blue, Yellow, Red and Clear to follow if there's enough demand. The sticker and the PCB color will match the case color.
- Kickstand! I haven't posted anything about it here, but about a month and a half ago I designed a kickstand (I named it the DragonKicker, surprise surprise) that can store 3 MicroSD cards at a time, and uses a magnet to keep it closed. This was a request in the discord as many had noticed after lots of use the stock kickstand didn't stay in place any longer, and the Nyko MicroSD-holding kickstand has some usability issues. It's thicker than the stock kickstand, but just thin enough the Switch will still fit in the dock. They will be going on sale for $5 alongside the DragonInjector, or for a little cheaper if you end up wanting both. I'll make a separate post for the kickstand at that time.
I'm probably forgetting something, but it's late and I need sleep. Attached are renders of the latest design in black, as well as some renders and pictures of the DragonKicker. As always they are high res at source!
Thanks again everyone for all the support!
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Please, just take my money already. I’ve got a day one switch that the kickstand is horrible on. I’ve tried replacement stands and even the nyko one. I’ll definitely will want at least two dragoninjectors and two kickstands when available.
Will the kickstand come in dild...uh, I mean, skin color