Pinecil Hall Effect Sensor

Instructions to Install a Hall Effect Sensor (HES)

Installation

1. The Hall Effect Sensor (HES) is an optional end user installed sensor that activates to put pinecil to sleep when it enters a holder or stand. This requires a magnet attached to the stand. The closet the HES in the pinecil is to the magnet, the more likely the HES will activate. This adds a feature to Pinecil that is often seen in high end pro irons.
2. See this article explaning how the Hall Effect Sensor (HES) works with Pinecil firmware, Ralim's IronOS.
3. Order an SI7210-B-00 HES here, also available on Digikey and Mouser.
4. Ordering 2-3 might be a good idea in case the first one is damaged during install (if all goes well, could mail the extra to a friend or Pine64 member).

Hints

1. It is recommended to update to the newest firmware before installing, see the Firmware article.
2. Try not to overheat the sensor as that could damage it and even cause a leg to fall off. This is a very small SOT23 chip. It is recommended to solder one pin on the 2-pin side to tack it in place before soldering the rest of the sensor.

Supplies

1. Borrow a second soldering iron (this is when 2x pinecils is a good idea).
2. Get some neodymium magnets, even just two 8x2.7mm at 8:00PM and 12:00PM on the stand could be enough. Experimentation is needed. Start with just one small magnet and increase the number places on the stand until 360° sleep is activated when the pinecil hits the stand.
3. Lamp with a Magnyfying glass or Jeweler's magnyfying glasses or a microscope is recommended.
4. If the stand/holder is not metal, one could hot glue or tape magnets to it.

Images

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  HES before photo, U14 location

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  HES after photo

Videos

1. Easy trick to Open Pinecil without damaging clips.
2. Installation (not available yet).

Go back to Pinecil article

Go back to Pinecil article.