Here are some answers to FAQ's for 2016: All this is, of course, tentative - but also includes my 'best guess' for now.
Will there be a 2016 co-opI can't explicitly promise anything, though the plan is to introduce any new / revamped boards in the first quarter of the year, Gauge interest and get a co-op started around May 2016, ordering / payments completed by June, shipments would likely be late July / early August
What will be available in the co-opThat depends a bit on what the community wants. It 'seems like' there will be enough interest for the following:
uAmp - likely a slightly amended version with a bit more 'meat' around the strain relief holes, possibly with pre-mounted SMD LEDs. The basic structure / operation is already optimized and would be the same as 2015.
uSC - possibly a 'Version 2' Mega which would resemble the uSCV1 Mega but with SMD LEDs, 5V bypass for 5V operation (including some sag on the line...4.9V, etc), 170 channel output support, and possibly a 'flash through connectors' feature, meaning you would not need to access the ICSP header to re-flash firmware. The board could be totally / permanently encapsulated and still be flashed if needed.
Unsure how much interest there is for:
Additional Afterburners - this would likely be a very small production run, if any at all.
An as yet unnamed 'Strobe Board'. This is still in the 'drawing board' stage, but would actually be a board which could run one high power RGB LED 'node/strobe', or three 'white'/single color LED 'node/strobes'. The interesting note being - when you build a board like this, you've essentially created a 'dumb string controller' limited only by the choice of mosfet / transistor in the drive section. With an output current limit of 500-1000mA, the board can be pretty small, though if a person wanted multiple amps per channel, larger components and or passive cooling might be required. Considering ways to design this all into one board to maximize versatility and economies of scale.
What will the prices be:It is too early to tell. I typically look to every opportunity to keep the the prices as low as possible. Though considering price breaks across multiple components with for differing order quantities, price breaks on the fabrication and assembly of the different boards and order quantities - we've had anything from 80 boards to 1200. I will do everything I can to keep the prices at or below the 2015 levels, though if component / manufacturing prices go up, or order quantities / price breaks go down, we may have to adjust accordingly.
As the design of the boards becomes 'locked in', I can get some preliminary quotes and at least know what ballpark we're in to set a base price. As always, orders above/beyond the target quantity would have a chance to reduce the overall price. Orders under the target might result in cancelling that item or making alternative plans.
uAmp, uSC, ABC, PDQ - it's all alphabet soup to me, what does all this stuff do?Each item has a sticky-post at the top of the "u - Micro Family" forum section with an Owners / Users Manual, links to discussion threads, demonstration videos, etc.
http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/board,47.0.htmlI have a question / suggestion for 2016Please feel free to discuss thoughts on the 2016 co-op in this thread.
