New & Reviewed

Altronics Catalogue Review

DIYODE Magazine

Issue 20, March 2019

There is always an air of excitement whenever we get our eyes onto an electronics retailers’ product catalogue. Everything from how creative is the cover to, more importantly, finding out what awesome products are within. It is like a fun treasure hunt, looking for those shiny new products that are stamped with a NEW logo.

We were fortunate to get a sneak peek of the new 2019 - 2020 Altronics catalogue, that our AU and NZ readers should see bundled with this month’s issue.

We’re sure you will go through and find your favourite new products, but we’ll show you which ones caught our eye as we browsed the fantastic 416 page book. We should also take this opportunity to shout out to our friends at Altronics. We’re sure many late nights went into producing this catalogue. On behalf of our readers, job well done!

If you’ve dreamt of making your own retro gaming console, then check out the Arcade style joystick. There’s also a range of arcade buttons and a USB interface to brings them all together. All described on page 225.

An amazing RGB LED strip described on page 252 is addressable, so you can control each LED on the 5m strip using an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. Imagine the cool lighting effects you could create!

If you have always wanted to upgrade to a reliable soldering station, then check out the new 100W Soldering Station on page 162. Soldering Stations have certainly come a long way. This one ensures you get a fast and accurate temperature, ESD safe for sensitive components, and look, it even has a touchscreen. Cool!

Something as simple as these Pin To Crocodile Clip Jumper Leads on page 220 can make prototyping so much easier. Very handy for the maker toolbox.

There’s new products across the board, and plenty for those of us into our hardcore electronics.

On page 218, you’ll find an awesome Arduino ATmega32U4 Touch Board. With built in capacitive touch and MP3 decoding, we’re keen to get our hands on one of these. It’s along the same lines of some other capacitive touch type interfaces such as the Makey Makey, Squishy Circuits and Makeblock interfaces. However, this one has the full power of an ATmega32U4 (that is, the same chip behind the Arduino Mega), which is sure to delight.

We just love any tech that goes on the workbench or into the toolbox. Check out the new 9999 Count DMM on page 144. Autoranging, snazy reversed backlit screen, non-contact voltage detection, and it’s True RMS, all for under A$90!. There are a few other new DMM in their range too if you want something sub $50.

The Smart Turtle Kit on page 235 looks like loads of fun, and look at all those features! Arduino based, easy to program, motorised wheels, ultrasonic obstacle avoidance, line tracking, Bluetooth and IR control, Li-ion rechargeable, 5 x 5 LED display, Wow!

Check out page 219 for the ADS1115 Analogue to Digital breakout board. Using simple 2-wire I2C comms, you can beef up your projects that are using simple microcontrollers with limited inputs.

We should also point out the generous amount of useful information for us Makers. Read up on Capacitors on page 309, LEDs on page 324, resistors on page 321, right down to the ATmega328p pinout on page 233.

For those of you who want to enter the exciting world of 3D printing, take a look at the Core I3 3D printer described on page 233. It has a build area to make PLA prints up to 200 x 200 x 200, has a heated bed, auto levels and pauses when the filment runs out (great to avoid ruined prints!)

Note: Catalogue offer includes all Australian-baed print subscribers and all retail purchases in March 2019.

Available as a Digital Download:

Download the PDF

Or grab it at your local Altronics store: