There was some interest expressed in a low-cost TPA6120 breakout board in another thread. I have a breakout that I designed that I have been using for a while and thought I'd share that here. These boards are small breakouts with the minimal components included to get decent results from the TPA6120. They cost $3.60 to fab 3 of them through OshPark with free shipping.
I have included the Eagle files for this board, so feel free to modify it to suit your needs. There is a PDF in the ZIP file that explains the board and how to use it (not that it's complex). I have used these boards in countless configurations and have yet to run into a problem with the board itself. The components are all 0805 (except the bypass caps which are 0603) so anyone with decent soldering abilities should be able to assemble the board. The thermal pad on the bottom DOES have solder mask, so you can't wick the solder through the vias onto the thermal pad of the chip. I recommend a hot air station or a toaster over to solder that pad.
Feel free to remove my name from the board in the Eagle files. I am providing these files free of charge and with no expectation of any recognition (let's be honest, this is a breakout, not a ground-breaking product 😉 )
Also, feel free to post any projects you use this board in. Post any mods or improvements you make as well. I'd love to see how others modify and use this board to make it better and more useful.
I have included the Eagle files for this board, so feel free to modify it to suit your needs. There is a PDF in the ZIP file that explains the board and how to use it (not that it's complex). I have used these boards in countless configurations and have yet to run into a problem with the board itself. The components are all 0805 (except the bypass caps which are 0603) so anyone with decent soldering abilities should be able to assemble the board. The thermal pad on the bottom DOES have solder mask, so you can't wick the solder through the vias onto the thermal pad of the chip. I recommend a hot air station or a toaster over to solder that pad.
Feel free to remove my name from the board in the Eagle files. I am providing these files free of charge and with no expectation of any recognition (let's be honest, this is a breakout, not a ground-breaking product 😉 )
Also, feel free to post any projects you use this board in. Post any mods or improvements you make as well. I'd love to see how others modify and use this board to make it better and more useful.
Attachments
got a board from testep02 and have it working.
the thermal pad was not easy. what I ended up doing, for now, is just to use some white cpu heatsink grease and coat a thin layer on the chip and the pad. make sure none runs to the pins.
then just solder the chip as usual.
the chip gets a tiny bit warm but only very very slightly. the heatsink grease is not the right way, but its one way and seems to work.
the thermal pad was not easy. what I ended up doing, for now, is just to use some white cpu heatsink grease and coat a thin layer on the chip and the pad. make sure none runs to the pins.
then just solder the chip as usual.
the chip gets a tiny bit warm but only very very slightly. the heatsink grease is not the right way, but its one way and seems to work.
In order to solder the chip to the pad, you're supposed to preheat the chip in an oven first.
I don't know if any other DIYers do this with surface mount power chips, but I don't. I use clip on heat sinks if I can adapt one to fit.
Surface mount devices just aren't that DIY friendly.
Hello,
Easy, you just make a one big hole instead of several via. You solder the chip first than flip the board and solder the bottom large pad of the chip through the large (like 3mm) plated hole. You need decent soldering iron since the large copper surface will absorb heat. I use weller wsp80 and it works fine.
In this was it is actually takes the heat off the chip more efficiently than several small via. As DIY it is easy to do. You do not see it on commercial stuff because you can not apply enough paste to fill the hole with screen printing. When I made it, I took the board and inspected the result with X-ray on my workplace. It is just fine, the soldering material wetting the whole pad of the chip nicely to the top PCB pad and there is a large column of solder connecting this all to the bottom copper layer.
Regards,
JG
Forgot to mention, there is minimal heat with the TPA, but I used the same thing at AD DDS chips where the papckage was much smaller and there was way more power to be dissipated and it was proven.
Not as nice from the bottom as with via, but it is O.K.
JG
Not as nice from the bottom as with via, but it is O.K.
JG
It's not a big problem to solder the PowerPad, just fire up the soldering iron to 450 deg C and burn for 10 seconds or so.
http://sjostromaudio.com/hifi_pics/hifi_100pr/qrv09r0_detail_bot.jpg
http://sjostromaudio.com/hifi_pics/hifi_100pr/qrv09r0_detail_top.jpg
In my pcb I have 15 via holes through the PowerPad.
http://sjostromaudio.com/hifi_pics/hifi_100pr/qrv09r0_detail_bot.jpg
http://sjostromaudio.com/hifi_pics/hifi_100pr/qrv09r0_detail_top.jpg
In my pcb I have 15 via holes through the PowerPad.
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Thanks to Giordano and peranders. All I know is what the instructions that came with the devices said. Of course the "Power Pad" package is designed for industrial use. I was not about to heat them up and attempt to solder them to the board. I used some TO-220 clip on heatsinks that screw to the board. They work fine and the chip doesn't even get warm.
I might try your method next time.
I'm working on another headphone amp that uses DIP-8 BUF634 devices. I'm trying to come up with a "generic" headphone amp solution that I can make small enough to fit inside CD players, preamps, etc. Once the design is parsed I will make several copies. Anyway, it works great but the buffers get pretty warm if run on 20 volts or more. The circuit works fine on 12-15 volts but works better (sounds a little cleaner) off 20-25 volts. Even at 12 volts it's way better than built in headphone outputs.
I might try your method next time.
I'm working on another headphone amp that uses DIP-8 BUF634 devices. I'm trying to come up with a "generic" headphone amp solution that I can make small enough to fit inside CD players, preamps, etc. Once the design is parsed I will make several copies. Anyway, it works great but the buffers get pretty warm if run on 20 volts or more. The circuit works fine on 12-15 volts but works better (sounds a little cleaner) off 20-25 volts. Even at 12 volts it's way better than built in headphone outputs.
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