Thank YOU!
Firstly, a HUGE thank you to our awesome early backers! Thank you for your interest in tiq and your support. It's not always easy to be an early adopter! We had a very strong start, thanks to you - please do let your friends know about tiq - in person and via, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and your favorite forums!
Production Version Enhancements
We've received great inputs on tiq from hundreds of supporters, via Kickstarter and several forums, and we're working hard to incorporate the most-desired features and changes into the production version of tiq - to make it even more useful and easy to use!
In the coming weeks we will update you all regularly about the progress and exactly what production units will look like.
In this update we'll give you an overview of some of the key enhancements on the drawing board (screen?!) right now - we'll post more details and pictures as we get parts and prototypes built.
Probe Tip
We've had several people ask for sharp tips, and for ability to change tips (in case they are damaged etc. and to be able to change out for other types of tips). The prototype tiqs have permanently attached tips, and they are more of the "DMM" type than "sub-mm SMT type" (they're supplied by a very well known US test clip manufacturer).
Current plan for the production probe tip is to rigidly mount and recess a standard 4mm banana plug inside tiq so that it can accept a variety of off-the-shelf probe tips. The housing will support the tip body, so the tips will be very solid.
We plan to supply tiq with a very nice replaceable probe tip, with a slender and SHARP stainless steel pin - which is also replaceable. And we will supply spare pins, too! We're testing and evaluating other off-the-shelf tips that will be compatible with tiq.
Power, Ground and Pulse Generator Connectors
Some supporters have asked for auxiliary power connectors on tiq, apart from the standard USB power connector. In cases where tiq is powered directly from the device under test this could be more convenient, and auxiliary connectors would allow flexibility in cabling and connecting tiq.
Prototype tiqs use standard 0.1" pin headers for auxiliary ground and pulse generator outputs, and we've found these to not be robust enough for heavy use, we're planning to change these out for something much more robust.
So, we're planning to add compact, robust, standardized connectors for auxiliary power (+5V) and ground, for the auxiliary grounds (2x) and the pulse generator output pin. We'll have some pictures soon for our next update.
Enclosure
The tiq enclosure is a large part of the KS production plan - involving injection molding tooling and lots of detailed design. Supporters have given many inputs on this, including "make it as small as possible", "keep it light", "make it comfortable to hold" - so we're pushing hard on all these issues!
Looks like we shouldn't have to increase volume, despite burying a 4mm plug, support and tip housing "channel" in the enclosure (it's quite a bit of volume that was previously mostly outside the enclosure). We'll know in the next few days, and of course, we'll post progress on this in future updates.
Thanks again to our supporters and backers - please keep the questions coming, and please remember to share tiq with folks you know will find it useful!
Keep on tiq-ing!
Mark
Follow tiq on Twitter: @Innavatus
