Review on Velleman K8055 Experiment Interface Board by Jason Tinnen

I bought this set on sale, until I opened it I didn't understand it was a set. I had a lot of fun soldering and connecting all the parts onto the printed circuit board (PCB). It took me about five hours from unpacking to turning it on. I took my time and carefully inventoried the parts prior to assembly. I checked resistors and diodes before soldering. After that, it turned on and worked perfectly, using all the features available in the demo program. The documentation is spartan but contains all the information needed to build the board. A beginner might have some trouble understanding what the manual is telling you, but not too much. The resistance table and list of color bars used were very helpful for quick identification. I would take the manual's advice and note the resistances as I go. You close the resistor number on the board as you go. You can refer to the chart; but it's just easier. I didn't check the other components as they weren't enough to confuse me. The circuit board is clearly arranged and offers enough space even for those who are inexperienced in soldering, without having to worry about unintentionally shorting the connection with solder. The resistors were laid out one by one on a strip of paper tape, which was very helpful. I checked everyone anyway, but it wasn't necessary. I had two extra red LEDs and an extra rubber foot in the kit. Everything else was exactly as it should be. I like how the components are shown in the instructions. They have been illustrated very well to show the directions of the diodes and the position of the DIP chips. Even a beginner can easily identify the components. I recommend using magnifying glasses. I have flip-up ones that go over my reading glasses. I folded them down while soldering the connection and then lifted them back up when I was done. This was very helpful for getting strong, clean solder joints and reading the capacitor values printed on them. A magnifying glass on a stand should also work. Of course, if you're young enough to focus to six inches, you don't need magnification. I downloaded a demo program that turns the LEDs on and off and reads the potentiometers and switches on the board. This is an easy way to ensure everything works on the board after assembly. There are two different versions on the Velleman website, but they're not hard to find. They have a map page that lists all the available programs and documentation. You can use this card for almost any programming language and platform that supports USB. I even found a page with example code for a Python script; So I plan to test it on a Raspberry Pi computer. You can read the data directly into Excel or use your iPhone or Android device. The possibilities of this experimenter are endless. You can use it in the lab to collect all kinds of data and control external devices, or use it to create a whole house alarm system. It was easy to put together, has a lot of features, is well documented and just plain fun.