I know that my market is very cost sensitive, so I'm trying to figure out ways to bring the cost down. The application is simple enough that I should be able to port my code to any mCU platform relatively easy, so here's what I need:
</font>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">low power and able to run at 2.5 - 3v (2 cells)</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">ability to source or sink 20ma (for an LED)</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">6 outputs w/ some outputs able to be multiplexed as inputs - however at least 6 i/o must be capable of becoming an output</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">small package that can be hand soldered, for example soic</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">few/no external components needed</font></li>
Here's what I've found so far:
the Microchip PIC 12F629 can use all 6 i/o as an output, has integrated OSC (precision not necessary for me) can sink/source 25ma, can sleep and costs $1.02 when 100 are purchased at a time.
Question 1
Can anyone suggest another platform that I should investigate?
Question 2
If this were your product and you started out producing these by hand in batches of about 30 at a time and all of a sudden demand increased dramatically, what would you do?
</font>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What if the demand reached hundreds per month, or</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">thousands per month, or</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">someone said, "give me 10,000 quickly."</font></li>
What do you do? I realize this is wishful thinking, but I don't want to make mistakes early on that could limit the potential later.
When you outsource production, does your cost per unit usually go down because of the economy of scale, or does it go up?