[ESP32] New dev board

Discussion and questions about boards that can run MicroPython but don't have a dedicated forum.
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devnull
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by devnull » Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:46 am

This is quite a nice idea, there are jumper pads, but it looks like the USB connector can actually be broken off !!

https://sg.element14.com/productimages/ ... 521-40.jpg

Yes, this is after the CP2014 etc usb controller, but being able to disable usb would be nice

seonr
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by seonr » Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:42 am

devnull wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:30 am
Hi;

Yes, that is precisely the problem I have with the weemos and similar eps8266 / esp32 breakout boards, they all have onboard USB which results in this power drain when running on battery power, and is fine if all you ever use them for is breadboarding !

The thing is, (maybe like others too), I would potentially use these boards in low volume production runs as well as for development, if of course it was medium or high volume then I would use the device directly and not use a breakout.

In another thread, I am asking about small, low power devices, with no LEDs or onboard USBs that such up power and this is why I am interested in this.

So maybe don't just consider this to be used for breadboarding only, it can also be integrated into a PCB in low volume production runs !

Ideally, it would also be good to be able to completely disable LEDs without resorting to unsoldering them from the board, as these also draw power and can draw unnecessary attention to the device when you want it to be silent and invisible !

Again, personally, I also kind of agree with @roberthh about not having 3v3 and gnd pins repeated, which is really great for breadboarding but again, if these are to be used in low volume production, then another one or 2 ports might make the difference between the device being usable or not

Just my two penneth :-)


Afterthought - why not add a jumper (pads or header) that will completly disable USB so that it can be used for both development and low production runs ?!
TinyPICO was designed to be breadboard friendly on purpose... Onboard USB/Serial and pin headers for breadboarding were a key requirement from the start. It's a proto-typing & development board.

I get that doesn't suit everyone, but I'm not really trying to make TinyPICO the "1 board to rule them all". Otherwise it would never ship... not everyone needs battery/charging... not everyone needs onboard serial... not everyone needs breadboard friendly header pins.

TinyPICO has come a long way since whats been shown here ( I just built my first rev4 30mins ago )... It has very optimised power paths, disabling onboard LEDs when no USB is plugged in, and reducing as much power draw as possible, for the components that are onboard.

Repeated 3V pins were removed in rev2, but there are still 2x GND pins on opposite corners of the board and that's mostly for extra heat dissipation as the pads are exposed. The PCB is super small, so not many places for heat to transfer to ;)

Also, something important to note... TonyPICO wont be RF certified, so it's not designed for any production runs... low or high. It's a development and proto-typing board.

I know this doesn't suit your requirements, sorry.

Cheers,

Seon
unexpectedmaker.com

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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by OutoftheBOTS_ » Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:21 am

If it is the UART to USB that is being a problem maybe the board could be made without this on the board and a cheap external 1 can be sourced to go with the board they r cheap as chips $0.74AUD see https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-to- ... 3df607197e

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devnull
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by devnull » Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:39 am

Hi;

OK, understood and no problem at all, it's your board and as you say you can't please all of the people....

Rather than just breadboarding & development, a small production run for me would be be between 1 and 100 pieces, so maybe 'production run' is not the right term and I should use the term 'deployment' instead.

seonr
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by seonr » Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:03 am

I live built TinyPICO rev4 today on my stream...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2azi7buR0

It has PSRAM on the back... @Matt is going to have a play with that tonight at the Melbourne MicroPython meetup.
Image

I've also been working on some mods for rev5 today... because I just can't leave this alone ;)

I've added an n-channel FET on the CP2104 driven by the USB power path, so *potentially* completely shut down the IC when no USB power is present. It's a pretty standard switch config, but I'm not 100% sure the CP2104 can handle this as it's way out of their supported powering cases :-)

If it works, then power consumption will go down well below 100uA when in deep sleep.. maybe even as low at 75uA, and with the addition of the HT7833 LDO I might be able to drop lower than 50uA... I wont know until I get the boards made and try it.

I'll keep everyone posted!

Seon
http://unexpectedmaker.com

seonr
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by seonr » Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:17 am

devnull wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:39 am
Hi;

OK, understood and no problem at all, it's your board and as you say you can't please all of the people....

Rather than just breadboarding & development, a small production run for me would be be between 1 and 100 pieces, so maybe 'production run' is not the right term and I should use the term 'deployment' instead.
Oh, your terminology wasn't the problem at all @devnull - Just using TinyPICO in a "production" run rings alarm bells for me.. as shipping non certified RF tech in any product is well... I'm not a lawyer, but you catch my drift. So TinyPICO will be 100% positioned as a development & prototyping board only :-)

But if you mean, deployment in your house, just for you, under 5 units (that's at least the local threshold I believe) then sure... deploy away!

Seon
unexpectedmaker.com

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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by OutoftheBOTS_ » Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:50 am

Nice :)

I watched parts of your video as it was a bit long to watch all of it but I did enjoy the bits that I watched.

It is interesting watching the improvements in each rev

seonr
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by seonr » Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:20 pm

OutoftheBOTS_ wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:50 am
Nice :)

I watched parts of your video as it was a bit long to watch all of it but I did enjoy the bits that I watched.

It is interesting watching the improvements in each rev
Thanks... yeah my streams are not short... it's amazing how quickly the time flies.

Seon
unexpectedmaker.com

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mattyt
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Re: [ESP32] New dev board

Post by mattyt » Mon Mar 18, 2019 3:04 am

The TinyPICO is Coming Soon!

Read more at the Introducing the TinyPICO forum post.

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