The Pipistrelle family of devices

These have been developed by Phil Atkins from Wiltshire using the Raspberry Pi Pico. They offer advanced abilities at a truly market disrupting cost, with features previously only available on devices costing hundreds of pounds. They also have upgradable software on board, which means new features may be made available at a later date.

To achieve the low cost, they use a very simple construction, and hence the long term durability of these new devices is currently unknown, and may depend largely on use. For the handheld detector, the Mini Pipistrelle, examples of the simple construction include:

  • They do not have an in-built speaker. Instead they use a simple 3.5mm jack for connection to wired headphones or speaker.
  • An open battery pack is glued to the back of the device.
  • A small off/on switch.
  • The microphone may not be quite as sensitive as the expensive commercial devices.

It is not economic just to build one device, instead get together with a group to order parts to build 5, or ideally 10+, or attend a bat detector building workshop.

Process to build Pipistrelle devices

There are several stages, which we cover in the following pages:

  1. Buy any Tools needed
  2. Order from PCBWay in China (8-10 days)
    • Circuit boards (PCBs), stencils and 3D printed back covers
  3. Order from DigiKey in US (next working day!)
    • All components & solder paste. Phil has prepared lists by device
  4. Option: To save money, order components from Alliexpress (8-10 days)
    • Pico, battery holder, headphone jack, switch, broach clip … etc
  5. Prepare PCBs: Remove formers, countersink mic hole
  6. Make stencil framework: Supeglue PCB offcuts
  7. Flash Picos with Firmware: Download latest from pippyg.com
  8. Option: make up component kits for each device