Hi
I notice that many commercial products tend to use TI micro-controllers rather than the ATtiny. The ATtiny isn't that pricey, so why isn't it popular in the industry? Because of the lack of hardware I2C? TI's budget ones like the MSP430 hasn't got hardware I2C either though.
Can depend on all kind of factors
number of reasons.
first off is training . if you are in a position of deciding what to use, you have to have years of experience to get up the corporate ladder. that means you went to school a dozen years ago, and were trained on the latest technology at that time. The PIC was the choice.
Also, the cost of software was very high, so you did not jump around once you got proficient on one language that your company uses and you have used for a decade.
It is only recently that the Arduino brought the world of free C to the masses
It is not that corporate moves slow, but why bother to use something you have no experience in, when you ca get the results you want with what you have and what you know and is already working ?
It is like asking why you program in your language and not Mandarin?
Learn Mandarin, learn the nuances of the language, learn to read the manuals, then create a product that will not fail, can be easily produced. Alas, none of the machine are able to use mandarin, and we cannot have it checked with an independent company because no one else supports it.
Oh, can have a prototype working by Friday.
septillion:
Can depend on all kind of factors
- Price per many
I deal with facility maintenance.
a 100 watt metal halide ballast costs $93.
you cannot wire it hot as it has internal circuitry that self protects against open load, shorted load, too high amp draw, too low amp draw, etc.
you have to wire them in, then shut off the circuit, then wait up to 20 minutes for the fixtures, to cool, then turn the power back on, and wait 5 minutes for them to start up to find out of the ballasts are good.
I spoke to an engineer about the addition of a re-set switch.
in the $93 product, the 4 cent switch was an added expense and risked them not being cost competitive.
when you see the price line that has 4 decimals, you laugh. others make buying decisions on that 4th decimal place. for thousands or tens of thousands of parts.
dave-in-nj:
I deal with facility maintenance.
a 100 watt metal halide ballast costs $93.
you cannot wire it hot as it has internal circuitry that self protects against open load, shorted load, too high amp draw, too low amp draw, etc.
you have to wire them in, then shut off the circuit, then wait up to 20 minutes for the fixtures, to cool, then turn the power back on, and wait 5 minutes for them to start up to find out of the ballasts are good.
I spoke to an engineer about the addition of a re-set switch.
in the $93 product, the 4 cent switch was an added expense and risked them not being cost competitive.
when you see the price line that has 4 decimals, you laugh. others make buying decisions on that 4th decimal place. for thousands or tens of thousands of parts.
That's the problem with "spreadsheet thinking". It's hard to quantify the effect of inconvenient features like that on sales and brand value. It's certainly plausible, but the bean counters would rather shuffle their production numbers around than try to incorporate knowledge outside their ability to model. Unfortunately, often the customer falls prey to the same narrow thinking.
Because, the same arithmetic can work in the opposite way... a design improvement that saves say, 25 service calls at $500 apiece, or gains one valuable customer (who heard about such a catastrophe and chose your brand over a different brand as a result) could easily surpass the $0.04.
When brains look at it, they often figure it out. But they're trying to automate it. Also there is not enough communication between departments.