Lab Notes

Development updates, engineering notes, and design insights.

Lab Note #002 — Is USB 5V Good Enough?

Published: February 2026

I’m working on something that started as a small circuit and is slowly turning into something more serious.

It runs from USB.

At first, I did what I always do — route VBUS to the 5V rail and move on.

That’s how most dev boards work.
It’s simple.
It usually behaves.

But this build isn’t meant to be “usually fine.”

The more I looked at it, the more I realized USB 5V is really just “close enough.”

Different ports sit at slightly different voltages.
Cables drop a little under load.
Switching relays or driving outputs can nudge the rail just enough to matter.

For quick prototypes, that’s acceptable.

For something that’s supposed to behave like a bench tool — predictable, repeatable — it feels like cutting a corner.

So instead of trusting VBUS directly, I added a current-limited input stage and a buck-boost converter to generate a steady internal rail just under 5V.

It might be overkill.

But I’d rather eliminate variables now than debug strange behavior later and wonder if it was the cable.

Small decisions like this are starting to define whether this stays a prototype — or becomes something more refined.

If you’ve built something similar and have strong opinions about USB power architecture, I’d genuinely like to hear them.

Reach out at odderonlab@protonmail.com.

— Odderon Lab

Lab Note #001 — The Board I Built After Frying Too Many Dev Kits

Published: February 2026

If you prototype long enough, you’ll eventually do it.

Reverse polarity.
Hot-plug a supply.
Grab the wrong wall adapter.
Move a jumper one pin over.

And something quietly dies.

I’ve done it enough times to stop pretending it wouldn’t happen again.

So I built a small inline protection board that lives between my power source and whatever I’m testing.

Nothing fancy. Just:

It does not regulate voltage.
It won’t save you from intentionally feeding 24V into a 5V board.

But it will absorb the kinds of mistakes that tend to happen when you're moving fast, tired, or swapping supplies mid-debug.

It’s basically a small layer of insurance between you and an avoidable failure.

No firmware.
No measurements.
No blinking LEDs.

Just something that sits there quietly and takes the hit instead of your board.

If that sounds useful, you can find it on our Products page.

More small lab tools coming soon.

— Odderon Lab