Small incident at the labs almost turned major. Let's go with order.
Just received the special neodymium magnets we ordered last week (1 square cm x 1mm thickness). They are strong. Very strong. Too strong. This is the HIGHEST grade neodymium that can be produced. They don't sell these in shops - you have to custom make them because at this strength they are brittle - in fact some broke in half being quite thin.
We compared them with the round magnets that David (rubber strap guy) supplied. The purpose for ordering these was to check if stronger magnets can make the conductive strip method viable.
Seems like the PCB house can get the job done professionally and do the necessary import/export procedures. Spoke to two people in the company and they are both professional. We have their import/export registration documents and they're checking with the boss about how to import the components (either we order, or they order directly). We will visit their factory soon and bring PCB samples for them to copy exactly.
Sent and will arrive on Wednesday. This cable has special materials for the inside and the outside and it had to be custom created for us. It should allow the surprise to be overmolded at the right temperature and pressure for waterproofing.
- SURPRISE: Wait for cable & re-test overmold (ETA 1 week max)
- WATERPROOFING: grommets still leak, change again (ETA 1 week max)
(the two points above will likely be solved in a last full-day factory visit when the cables arrive there)
- PCBS: find reliable assembly house, we are getting an answer on component duty refund on Monday, but if this ends up taking too long we can hand assemble the first units
The only reason for this tiny update while we wait for everyone to get back to us is that the RGB LED was shining on only one half of the device due to the fact that it's mounted sideways to save space - but now this has been resolved by applying a piece of reflective material on the LED to "center" the light. The final receiver color will be black and only a small triangle in the center will appear to shine. Note that the LED is too bright to record properly, so the video is not an accurate representation of what it looks like.
The Canton fair will be held from April 15 to May 5th less than an hour away.
"Held each April and October, Canton Fair is China's largest trade fair with a complete product range of Chinese Commodities. It is divided into three phases, with the first phase focusing on Machinery, Electrical and Electronic products, the second phase focusing on Home and Decoration, while the third phase focusing on textiles, garments and fashion accessories."
