Breakout Board: NCP1402 Boost Converter

I’m always on the lookout for interesting breakout boards to simplify hardware development. A recent post from @HybridAR1 showed a tiny breadboard-friendly breakout board for the NCP1402 boost converter:

The Wandering Engineer also has a very nice writeup on the NCP1402 at

Simple Boost / Step-up DC-DC Converter Using the NCP1402

including a board design with JST connectors which is good if you have a LiPo battery upstream. The Usual Suspects (Sparkfun, et al.) also have breakout boards for the NCP1402 but given that it requires two capacitors, an inductor, and a Schottky diode, the reference design is a good toy problem for learning to use KiCad or Eagle to spin up your own boards. Be sure to check your board fabricator for guidelines for your EDA files to reduce fabrication difficulties (here are Oshpark’s guidelines)

Hello world!

All websites are continuously under construction, this one more so.

It’s a big leap into consulting yet not really a big leap at all. Someone still has to balance the books, handle the administrative overhead, find work, do work, ensure staff is trained and engaged and focused, and keep one eye on the future and one on the present. For the past nine years I’ve done some of these tasks; now I get to do all of them.

Truth is, I love the technical work; understanding problems and finding solutions, helping clients make good evidence-based decisions and reducing uncertainty and cost. There’s satisfaction both in solving a one-of-a-kind technical challenge and in automating a complex process, in creating something completely new and in revitalizing systems to extend their capabilities.

Work should be more than punching a clock, chasing TPS reports, or ticking off items on a checklist. It won’t always be easy or fun but overall it should be satisfying. This satisfaction has kept me going for nine years and, with any luck, will keep me going for many more.