Pesky Products

5,404 orders since Jul 23, 2014

Danville, CA, United States of America

Ships from United States of America.

Custom Work Available

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Welcome to Pesky Products!

Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.74)

Documentation: (4.14)

Shipping: (4.80)

Communication: (4.60)

All Reviews

Rumen | March 8, 2021

Nothing Ultimate Here

For Ultimate Sensor Fusion Solution - MPU9250

A hardware without software is Nothing. This thing is a Development board, so before buying, ask yourself "Do I enjoy endless rabbit holes?". If the answer is Yes, then this IS your board. Prior to buying this thing i spent a month + trying to make MPU9250 produce accurate(!) results. There are plenty of people who would love to show you that they can make it work. This is good enough for a high school science club. Making it produce ACURATE results is a different level. Since i was using Kris' code to fight with the MPU i decided that buying the USFS is the logical next step. Mistake! The code is actually a hodge-podge of bits and pieces and it is not obvious to me that the "SOLUTION" (hardware + SOFTWARE) was ever properly tested. Kris tried to blame the poor results to improper calibration. Sure.....

So, if you are looking for a solution not sudoku challenge - you can consider Adafruit's BNO085 https://www.adafruit.com/product/4754

They have C++ and CircuitPython libraries for it. Don't know if they work because i did not use them but this is Adafruit ......

What i DID use is the MicroPython library created by Peter Hinch. https://github.com/micropython-IMU/micropython-bno055
If you are looking for plug and play - that's it.

Response from Pesky Products | March 8, 2021

Hi Rumen,

I am sorry you were not able to make the USFS work to your satisfaction.

We try hard to provide adequate documentation, see:

https://github.com/kriswiner/EM7180_SENtral_sensor_hub
https://github.com/gregtomasch/EM7180_SENtral_Calibration
https://github.com/simondlevy/USFS

We respond to customers' questions and complaints the best we can.

Most people who buy these (we have sold 1300 to date) are able to achieve the typical 2 degree rms heading accuracy with minimal fuss.

There are two essential ingredients to accurate absolute heading estimation: accurate sensors and adequate calibration. No amount of sensor fusion filtering will make up for sensors with high jitter or uncorrected offset bias or large cross-axis error, etc. In this regard, you might find that the BNO0X5 offers less than you hope.

Of course, since you are obviously unsatisfied with the USFS product, I can offer you a full refund upon request.

Kris

Peter | Oct. 16, 2020

Perfect microphone for Luftdaten DNMS project

For ICS43434 I2S Digital Microphone

The Luftdaten environmental monitoring project is in the final Beta stage of including Noise pollution. For this they selected the ICS43434 microphone as it has a low background noise and good frequency characteristics. This little circuit board, after some sanding, nicely fits inside a 1/2” thin-wall tube that can be sealed with resin. A foam cap over the pipe completes the outdoor microphone unit. I have built a few now and ordered more, very pleased with them.
Documentation and Communication are NOT APPLICABLE for this rating but something had to be entered so I selected OK

Sergio | April 30, 2019

Good product poor docs

For ICS43434 I2S Digital Microphone

Product arrived earlier than aspected!
Unforynately no PINs to connect it to breadboard.
It works well.

Response from Pesky Products | April 30, 2019

Not sure what the problem was that you had Sergio but it sounds like you managed to get the microphone working. Yes, there is no step-by-step tutorial on how to connect the microphone breakout to your microcontroller. But the I2S port is not complicated and once you have identified it on your microcontroller (I have listed the connections for many popular ones on the product page), hookup should should be straightforward. In any case, you can always ask me if there is something you want to know. Also the ICS43434 data sheet is an excellent reference for how these microphones work.

Arcangelo | Nov. 30, 2018

Can I have an example how I can Use "Ok" pin?

For BQ25504 Solar Cell LiPo Charger

Hi, good job!
Can I have an example how I can Use "Ok" pin on Arduino?
It can be useful.
Yank you!

Christopher | June 1, 2018

Good accuracy for the price, doesn't work in sunlight.

For VL53L1 long-range proximity sensor

For the price, the product is very good. The only problem I have is that they get completely lost in areas with sunlight.

Response from Pesky Products | June 1, 2018

Did you remember to remove the Kapton film protecting the lenses before use? This might cause the sensitivity to sunlight you mention.

I am somewhat surprised they would be very sensitive to sunlight since the sensor uses a chirped 940 nm laser source for the time-of-flight estimation; I would have thought this would be rather insensitive to sunlight and other ambient light sources. I have so far only tested them indoors though, so I will have to see for myself...

Jean-Christophe | Oct. 11, 2017

Very good product !

For BQ25504 Solar Cell LiPo Charger

Hello I use your product to power a radio modem with a minimum voltage of 3v and max of 3.6v. I added a voltage regulator (https://boutique.semageek.com/fr/642-regulateur-de-tension-33v-600ma-lm3671-33v.html)to provide a stable voltage of 3.3v.
Is it really useful ?

Thanks in advance for the answer.

Jean

Response from Pesky Products | Oct. 12, 2017

It is convenient to have the led to make sure the board is working in your application but it is also easy to remove the led from the board with a small screwdriver or other small lever. As long as the total voltage remains in the accepted range of the BQ25504 you may use multiple solar cells in parallel to increase the current.

Justin | July 23, 2017

Really handy little board once you figure it out

For STBC08 High-Current LiPo Battery Charger

The charger is exactly what I needed and has been functioning perfectly thus far. It would be nice if the seller included a picture of how it is expected to mount to the Teensy. It took me a few test fits to find, what I think is, the correct orientation of PCB and JST. Some documentation on the LEDs would have been nice as well. Shipping was prompt; I ordered it on a Sunday and the seller had printed out a shipping label by the end of the day.

Harry | June 11, 2017

????

For ESP8285 Add-on for Teensy 3.2

All I need it a single photo showing how the engineer who created this uses it on a Teensy and I'll be ready to go. However, all that he did was describe what to do. Show me a picture of your wiring on a Teensy 3.2 and all will be well!

Until then, I am guessing. I'm sure your products are great but not even posting photos of the product in its working state connected to a Teensy is HIGHLY frustrating. I thought I'd be able to figure this out when I got it. I was wrong.

edit: thanks for the clarification. Perhaps this wording could be used on the blurb in your product description. A photo says a lot. If I can see how you wired it, I can get a sense of everything.

Response from Pesky Products | June 11, 2017

Hi Harry,

You could have asked me, maybe you did and weren't satisfied with the answer, I don't know. In any case there is really only two ways to mount this, either above the teensy 3.2 or below the Teensy 3.2. And as fasr as I know, there is only one Serial2 on the Teensy 3.2 (pins 9 and 10). So the idea is to mount the add-on on the non-usb end of the Teensy 3.2 (I would choose the top). Looking at the top of the add-on, the TX2 hole goes to Teensy 3.2 pin 10 (TX2, oddly enough) and the add-on RX2 hole goes to Teensy 3.2 RX2 (pin 9). Then add-on 3V3 connects to the 3V3 hole between GND and VBAT at the top edge of the Teensy 3.2 and the GND of the addon connects to the GND at the Teensy 3.2 top edge. You should only need to make these four connections to get the device to work. Before you solder anything though, make sure you can program the add-on with the Arduino IDE, load whatever serial handling program you want onto it and make sureit works with your Teensy. If you are still having trouble, ask for help at the Teensy forum, dozens of people have been using these add-ons for more than a uyear and surely one of them can give you a hand.

If you still can't make it work, let me know and I will refund your money.

Kris

Masaki | Dec. 1, 2016

Significant effect, but a bit sensitive

For ESC for BLDC motors

Around 8% more thrust force than Mx-3A is obtained. However, I'm bothered by frequent low-power-reset while the Mx-3A has no problem with the same settings. I guess it comes from voltage drop-down through power supply wires, and the setting of the level is higher than that of the Mx-3A.

Response from Pesky Products | Dec. 1, 2016

Yes, we have noticed that with BLDC motors with large current draws there is a brown out issue with these ESCs. We have "cured" this with a large (400 uF) cap across the power port of the ESC but this is an ugly solution. For use with the small AP-02 and AP-03 motors this should not be an issue and caps unnecessary, but for slightly larger motors you might have to add capacitance as the voltage drop due to battery resistance alone at high current (the FETs have extremely low on resistance) can be enough to drop the voltage below the 3V3 required for stable F850 MCU function. This is the price for ultra-small; adding a SMT 400 uF cap to the board would require a significant increase in size.

David | Nov. 16, 2016

Wearable BNO055 Nano Board: Useful less-expensive option

For Wearable BNO055 Nano Board

This is the least expensive way to get the BNO055's excellent onboard fusion into my project. I didn't really need a barometer, external clock reference, or other fanciness. I would heartily recommend it to anyone in the same position. It boringly does exactly what it was supposed to, which is the highest praise I can give a breakout board, so I'm now going to spend the remainder of this review criticizing and nitpicking.

The mechanical design of the board itself could be optimized some. I know this is a "wearable" variant, but surely the convenience of full through-holes outweighs the extra 2 mm of board size. Gadgets with IMUs are often subjected to significant mechanical stress, and half-pin solder joints are significantly weaker than full-pin.
Also, given Pesky Products' emphasis on Teensy add-ons, it would have been nice if the board lined up well with the Teensy pins it uses. I'd rather not pay more for a board with features I didn't need, just for the Teensy-friendly footprint.

On the documentation front, the included Arduino sketch worked as advertised. However, I already had a codebase that used Adafruit's comprehensive library for the BNO055, with nice classes for quaternions and so on. That library didn't play nice with this breakout board, and I had to figure out some hacks on the Adafruit library to get it to work. For example, I had to force it to use i2c_t3.h over Wire.h, and I changed the default device address from 0x28 to 0x29 (This was because the ADO pin was not pulled down to ground, and the pin floats HIGH).
Given the wide reach of Adafruit's libraries, some compatibility documentation (and in the case of the ADO pin bug, possibly design changes) would be useful.

Seth | Oct. 3, 2016

Works as described

For ESP8285 Add-on for Teensy 3.2

I hooked both of these up but was a bit confused on the AT commands required to make them work. Firmware was installed correctly. Length of the antenna would have been nice - I asked an RF expert at work and he recommended about 3cm to 4cm...

Zack | June 17, 2016

The definitive project IMU - if you have the time

For EM7180 SENtral Sensor Hub + 9 DoF Motion Sensor

Upsides: Tiny. Can be overlaid directly on a Teensy 3.x, adding only a few millimeters of height. BMX055 IMU is accurate, repeatable, and has a comprehensive manual. Pressure/temperature sensor and motion coprocessor are nice bonuses. Provided code reads registers, configures coprocessor, and does adequate software motion fusion. Low current consumption. Open schematics and drivers. Coprocessor is preconfigured.

Downsides: No documentation provided for module or provided code. Provided code is not encapsulated into a driver or library. No guidance is provided for optimizing performance, configuring the client microcontroller, or converting quaternions to Euler angles. Unclear documentation about refresh rates and interrupt behavior. Absolute bare-bones guidance on reconfiguring the coprocessor. Solder jumpers are not documented. Default parameters poll unnecessarily slowly.

One of these arrived with a faulty EM7180 coprocessor. The developer was responsive and it turned out that I could use this module without it.

TLDR: The developer made a tiny breakout board and a basic library. You are expected to read a lot of manuals and do a lot of math yourself. The power is there, but you will need to spend time on the module.

Response from Pesky Products | June 17, 2016

I appreciate you taking the time to write a detailed review.

The BMX055+EM7180 modules you bought are the first generation of these orientation solutions and I it is true I haven't put lot of effort into their documentation. I would recommend a better solution in terms of usability and accuracy here (https://www.tindie.com/products/onehorse/ultimate-sensor-fusion-solution/) that answers some of your critiques.

That Tindie store page has a link to exhaustive documentation of the board design and operation of this orientation solution as well as comparison of the orientation results using the EM7180 with different sensors including the BMX055. You can see this documentation here (https://github.com/kriswiner/EM7180_SENtral_sensor_hub/wiki).

I would be surprised if you find any product offered at Tindie with more extensive documentation than this product.

It is unfortunate your experience with the EM7180 appears to be a negative one. May I send you one of the recommended USFS modules to try as compensation for your troubles? Please send me a PM at onehorse@earthlink.net to arrange shipping if you are interested.

Kris
Pesky Products

Zack | June 17, 2016

For advanced projects only

For BMX-055 9-axis motion sensor add-on for Teensy 3.1

Upsides: Tiny. Can be overlaid directly on a Teensy 3.x, adding only a few millimeters of height. BMX055 IMU is accurate, repeatable, and has a comprehensive manual. Pressure/temperature sensor is a nice bonus. Provided code reads registers and does adequate motion fusion. Low current consumption. Open schematics and drivers.

Downsides: No documentation provided for module or provided code. Provided code is not encapsulated into a driver or library. No guidance is provided for optimizing performance, configuring the microcontroller, or converting quaternions to Euler angles. Default parameters create unresponsive motion fusion results. Unclear documentation about refresh rates and interrupt behavior.

TLDR: The developer made a tiny breakout board and a basic library. You are expected to read the BMX055 manuals and do a lot of math yourself.

Response from Pesky Products | June 17, 2016

Thanks for the detailed review Zack!

I do not claim nor attempt to offer a complete solution to customers' orientation problems; everyone's application is different and will require some or a lot of customization.

I offer the hardware and enough code and documentation to give most people a big leg up on getting their problems solved.

And, of course, I will gladly answer specific questions about all products I offer.

David | July 27, 2015

Very good IMU

For BNO-055 9-axis motion sensor with hardware fusion

The BNO-055 is a very good IMU with its built-in fusion. This breakout's documentation could be better at explaining the minor pin uses, the desirability of the I2C pull-up resistors, and the need to do the figure-8s to calibrate the magnetometer. Most importantly, the documentation needs to address the BMP280 pressure sensor version -- there is no mention of this sensor's variation anywhere.

Response from Pesky Products | July 28, 2015

Thanks for the review David. There is a well-commented sketch that allows the full function of the BMP280 to be accessed as well as a link to the BMP280 data sheet. I am not sure what you mean by "sensor' variation" but if you have any questions about the breakout board I would be happy to try to answer them.

Richard | July 3, 2015

Great little product.

For EM7180 SENtral Sensor Hub + 9 DoF Motion Sensor

I have my Teensy 3.1 configured with three if Pesky Products devices: the LiPo battery charger, the SPI flash and the EM7180 SENtral Sensor Hub + 9 DoF Motion Sensor.

They all play well together.

The Hub relies on i2c and was well-thought through to include pads that can be shorted to place the i2c pullup resistors on SCL and SDA. I missed this and had some problems on i2c. Once I shorted them, all was well.

Richard | June 29, 2015

Very well thought out. Works great so far.

For LiPo battery charger add-on for Teensy 3.1

I mounted the charger on Teensy 3.1 . I missed, at first, the need to have a pin connecting the VUSB to the Teensy for charging. Once I got that, the device charges when plugged in and provides power when no usb is plugged in. This is ideal for a developer that is testing the software plugged into USB as it charges the battery during development.

A convenient switch turns on and off power. A red led indicates charging and a green led indicates power on.

No Teensy should be without one.

Nicolas | April 19, 2015

I may need a little help

For LSM9DS0 Teensy 3.X Micro Shield

I soldered it like the photo bellow and it works perfectly.
I had to modify the sample code on github to make it run on the teensy, but with the help of the seller, I was able to have it running after a few tries. For those of you that are interested, here are the modified files : http://stuff.knackes.com/dld/201504/LSM9DS0-MS5637-TeensyMicroShield_B6C99626.zip

Thank you for this great board ! Review Image

Response from Pesky Products | April 22, 2015

This is a common problem. The micro boards soldered to the back (yes, yours is mounted correctly) use the I2C port on pins 29/30, which requires using the wire1.begin(xxxx) and wire1.write(xxx) etc. The sketch you pulled uses wire.begin(xxx). You have to specify the correct I2C pins 29/30 in the wire1.begin call and you have to use the "1" in wire1 for these bottom pins with the i2c_t3.h library.

I hope this is clear. If not, please contact me using the "Contact Me" button on the Tindie site.

Sathish | Feb. 17, 2015

Good Work Kris

For EM7180 SENtral Sensor Hub + 9 DoF Motion Sensor

After ordering within 10 days it is shipped to India with the low cost, Nobody will do so...Great tindie.

Kris given Neatly designed low board space PCB, nicely soldered all components(BGA pads there). He already completed 70% of work. 1. EEPROM firware written and its correctly uploaded in the PCB itself.
2.An example program also he given.
3.Bonus he added altitude pressure sensor in the PCB.
Good work Kris. Thanks

Working on this sensor for my application.

Sathish | Feb. 17, 2015

Works fine

For BNO-055 9-axis motion sensor with hardware fusion

Received in right time. Designed PCB occupying very low space. Nice soldering . Board works correctly with my dsPIC.
Working on this sensor to get it my application.

Thanks Pesky product.

John | Dec. 3, 2014

Great Board, but Slow Software with a Yaw problem

For LSM9DS1+MS5611 breakout board

I was able to hook up and run the board with a Teensy 3.1 on a prototype board very quickly. For my project I needed to modify the code so that what normally went out through the USB serial connection, went to a i2c SSD1306 OLED display. I had problems trying to use the Adafruit SSD1306 library to do this. It blocked other communication on the same i2c bus. I solved the problem by using some of the functions from Mike Rankin's Test Code. Now every thing is working, but takes a while to settle out. Pitch and Roll go to zero first, but Yaw Takes a while longer and never quite gets zero. I want to modify the code to fix the Yaw problem, and adjust things so that everything zeros out before leaving setup. I have modified the code to send a 'Teapot' message stream through the serial port, and have the demo Teapot Airplane flying from the output. This also shows up the Yaw instability. I'm getting a cycle time of 0.97KHz and the altimeter shows the height of my desk is 6670 Ft, which is about right for my location. So no complaint at all with the board, and the software challenges are why I bought it.

Krisztian | Oct. 7, 2014

schematic error, slow shipping but nice website

For LSM9DS0 Teensy 3.X Micro Shield

We couldnt choose the way of shipping, thats bad. The scl and sda line names are swapped on th eagle pcb. Website and service is nice, I would recommend tindie to others. Keep it up.

Response from Pesky Products | Oct. 7, 2014

Thanks for the review! I'll check the Eagle schematic for the error but at least the board has it right.

International shipping via USPS is the least expensive option albeit slow. I think the cost of expedited international shipping is too high, but if someone wants this service please put a note in the order and I will comply and ask for payment for the difference.