The first manufactured RS485 breakout with 48 V passthrough boards have arrived, followed by initial inspection, a silkscreen mistake, and the first basic bring-up checks.

Starting a new 8-channel low-side driver building block board for driving solenoids, relays, small motors, and other DC loads from logic-level control signals.

Thinking through how to position Protoworks’ small-batch open hardware building block boards, who they are for, and why open hardware makes sense.

Starting work on a digital IO expander building block board with 8 logic-level inputs, 8 logic-level outputs, output indicator LEDs, and shift-register-based control.

Publishing the USB-C breakout and 3.3 V regulator building block board as an open hardware KiCad project under the CERN-OHL-W-2.0 licence.

Sending the first RS485 breakout with 48 V passthrough building block board for manufacture, while refining the design around screw terminals, JLCPCB parts selection, and practical field use.

Load testing the USB-C and 3.3 V regulator building block board, including short-circuit behaviour, PPTC protection, and sustained 500 mA output testing.

The first assembled batch of my USB-C and 3.3V regulator building block board arrived from JLCPCB, ready for inspection, bring-up, and load testing.

Refining an RS485 breakout board with 48V passthrough by removing the RJ45 connector, switching to screw terminals, and separating the 48V and logic ground regions.

Designing an RS485 breakout board with screw terminals, optional RJ45 cabling, selectable termination and biasing, and 48V passthrough protection.