BENCH ONLINE · 13.7°C · 24V RAIL STABLE REV 2.0 · BUILD 2026.05 · NODE/LUNDGREN-01
// INDEX · /tutorials 17 ENTRIES · SORTED BY REV

The full notebook.

Seventeen entries, each verified against a logic analyzer, a power profiler, and an oscilloscope before publication. Filter below — or read in reverse-chronological order, which is how I bench-test them.

// FILTER:
[ 17 ] VERIFIED

Deep-sleep an ESP32-C3 to under 12µA without losing Wi-Fi credentials

RTC memory, GPIO holds, the BOR brown-out trap nobody talks about, and the exact reason your "1µA" board pulls 800µA.

11.8µA @ 3.3V2026.04 · REV C
[ 16 ] VERIFIED

PIO state machines for people who think PIO is scary (it isn't)

A 24-line WS2812 driver from zero. Includes the logic-analyzer capture of the 800kHz waveform and where the typical example wastes 60% of CPU.

800 kHz · ±0.3%2026.03 · REV A
[ 15 ] VERIFIED

Six sub-$40 USB logic analyzers, measured against a Saleae Pro

Three lie about their sample rate. One is fine. One is suspiciously good. The fancy one isn't worth it under 24MHz.

6 boards · 24 captures2026.02 · REV B
[ 14 ] VERIFIED

Reading current the right way: shunt vs. INA228 vs. PPK2

Why your multimeter is silently lying below 1mA, and which of these three rigs gives the cleanest log of an MCU wake cycle.

3 rigs · 0.5µA floor2026.02 · REV A
[ 13 ] VERIFIED

STM32 DMA without the cargo-cult: when you need it, when you don't

The actual cycle cost of memcpy vs. DMA on G0, F4 and H7 — measured, not estimated. With the Cube config that doesn't hang.

3 MCUs · 9 benches2026.01 · REV A
[ 12 ] VERIFIED

Picking a buck converter that actually meets its datasheet at light load

TPS62840 vs. MCP1640 vs. RT8059. Same load curve, same scope, very different ringing. Charts inside.

6 ICs · 36 sweeps2025.12 · REV B
[ 11 ] VERIFIED

I2C pull-ups: the calculation, the heuristic, and what actually happens at 1MHz

Why 4.7k is wrong half the time. Includes the rise-time math, three captures at 100k/400k/1M, and the napkin shortcut.

1 MHz · 6ns rise2025.11 · REV A
[ 10 ] VERIFIED

Reflash protection on RP2040 — what "lock the bootloader" actually buys you

The real attack surface on a Pico W in deployment, OTP fuses, and the failure mode that bricks four boards. Don't skip this.

OTP · 4 bricks2025.10 · REV A
[ 09 ] VERIFIED

Schematic review checklist that catches 80% of first-prototype bugs

A printable 24-item checklist drawn from twelve years of catching the same five mistakes. PDF mirror inside.

24 items · 1 PDF2025.09 · REV C
9 ENTRIES · MORE BENCH-TESTED TUTORIALS IN THE PIPELINE
// REVIEWS · /reviews BENCH-TESTED HEAD-TO-HEAD

Side-by-side bench comparisons of the parts and tools that earn shelf space. Same fixture, same load, same logging — the only thing that changes is the device under test.

1 REVIEW · MORE HEAD-TO-HEADS IN THE PIPELINE
// LIBRARY · /reading-shelf 13 TITLES · 06 CATEGORIES

Books that shaped how this bench thinks.

A working list of references this bench actually reaches for — embedded systems, PCB design, signal integrity, firmware engineering, CAN bus. The books I would hand to a junior engineer asking where to start in each area.

Affiliate links route through Bookshop.org (supports independent bookstores). No book lands here that I would not personally recommend.

Open the library
// CATEGORIES
01 · Embedded systems
02 · PCB & hardware design
03 · Signal integrity & power
04 · Firmware engineering
05 · Protocols & networking
06 · Career & craft