Walid Issa's TikStation Mini Power Station Offers Considerable Flexibility for Powering Breadboards

from hackster.io

Electronics engineer Walid Issa is looking to bring flexible power to your next breadboard project with the TikStation Mini Power Station, a clip-on power supply that can run from 3.7V to 24V inputs.

Designed to clip to one end of a standard solderless breadboard, the TikStation Mini Power Station accepts a range of inputs: USB Type-C with Power Delivery support from 5V to 20V, mini-USB at 5V, lithium-ion batteries at 3.7V or above, and lead-acid batteries from 6V to 24V.

The input voltage is then regulated to something suitable for breadboard use — but where most rival devices concentrate on 5V or 3.3V outputs, the TikStation offers multiple simultaneous outputs: 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V, and two user-adjustable outputs which can scale from 1.2V to 25V — plus support for up to 1.5A loads.

"During the corona[virus] pandemic, all learners have to stay at home and use online resources to gain knowledge," Issa writes of his inspiration for the project, "but this limited their practical skills and hands-on. The available affordable power supplies are not cheap, not portable and offer one output.

"The available mini kits in the market can’t provide high currents or multiple outputs simultaneously. Kids can’t use complex or Mains-powered power supplies at schools or STEM clubs. Limited availability of negative voltages with decent currents."

The TikStation aims to solve all of these problems — and its crowdfunding campaign comes with a few stretch goals, too, including the addition of an OLED display for voltage and current monitoring, a bundled electronics kit, educational materials, and if a £200,000 (around $264,000) stretch goal is reached the design files will be released under an open-source license.

The TikStation crowdfunding campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at £30 (around $40) and delivery expected in March next year.