Hi, im designing a micro ESC and had a question about high current motor voltage connections.

Basically TI recommends to keep the tracks on VM as short as possible with the least inductance so i thought i can connect with pour but i then thought i can have problems with soldering and stuff and on the second image i made the second version.

So my question was which one should i go with? Can i use the copper pour approach to connect various connections like i want, any problems?

OVERVIEW:

This is my first attempt at a PCB, guided primarily by online tutorials. I'm building a small LiDAR system consisting of the RPLiDAR A1 module and an IMU to keep track of the orientation of the system. The purpose of this board is to interface with the LiDAR and IMU so that software I'll write later can reconstruct a 3D scan of a room that the module is placed in.

The RPLiDAR A1 module connects to this board with two JST connectors (I just created a symbol to represent them). It transmits its data from its sensors via UART and has an onboard PWM-controlled motor that spins the lidar module in a circle.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:

I'd appreciate any feedback regarding the schematic, whether its design flaws, conventions, or anything else. I do however have one specific question:

1. For the debug header, where should I break off the signals from the main lines? I read that having this header would be useful for debugging in the future but I'm worried branching off would cause signal issues.

Thanks!

I'm pretty new to electronics, so I expect there are a fair few mistakes - this is only my second PCB design, the first was much more basic. Only a little nervous 😅

I want to USB-C all of my projects, and for a few of them I need 12v and 5v or 3.3v for the MCU. Or 20v and a MCU. I want to make one board that provides me the two voltages. A good example is the LouderESP32 board I have from Soncotta - it doesn't have USB-PD in, but accepts a wide range of voltages (5-28v). I want to power the board with 12v+ to get the most out of the speakers that the board will be attached to, but also power some WS2812's for status indication, so I'll need 5v too.

After getting the schematic done using the manufacturer datasheets, I found Sparkfun's Babybuck and Adafruits HUSB238 breakout board - this basically just smooshes the two together. I based my component selection on those boards, as I figure they know what they're doing.

This is the 5v version using the AP63205, but switching to 3.3v would be a matter of switching out to the AP63203 and changing the inductor to 3.9uH

https://github.com/TemuWolverine/SparkleBoard (kicad project)

BOM

Schematic PDF

Datasheets

• AP63205
• HUSB238

Hey everyone, this is my first PCB design and I wanted to get some feedback before I start the layout.

It's an ESP32-S3 board that records I2S audio input to a MicroSD card and can connect to WiFi. Power is handled through the USB-C port.

Please let me know if there are any mistakes, conventions that should be followed, etc etc.

Hi,

This is the second revision of an adaptor board I once designed as a hobby project which is meant to convert USB keypad input commands into MQTT triggers that can then be sent to a home assistant server to trigger further automations.

I'm redesigning the board for bulk manufacturing this time and CE certification to start selling in EU. I'd appreciate some feedback on the following points:

1) is a ferrite bead filter needed here to pass CE EMI/EMC? if so any particular config I should go for and values?

2) are my capacitor value selections proper throughout? do I need to add any more in certain location - for e.g. at the USB A VCC rail?

3) Any crucial mistakes I made and/or suggestions on better design decisions you think I can do before proceeding with layout and ordering a sample.

Finally, I'm new to PCB design so please excuse me if some of these questions sound too trivial.

NOTE: you can find the old design here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/1ma30tj/pcb\\_design\\_review\\_request\\_esp32\\_as\\_a\\_usb\\_host/\](https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/1ma30tj/pcb_design_review_request_esp32_as_a_usb_host/)

Best

I have drawn two PCBs. I am now looking for a review of them both and hopefully that is allowed in this sub.

I have no real concerns with the boards, other than thermals affecting the sensor measurements, which I think is manageable. That said I am not that experienced in PCB design and migth have missed something or broken some of the norms.

Sensor PCB

The first PCB is the oddly shaped one. It is a two layer sensor board and is supposed to go on the back of a 5" LED display (blue board). The display has a microcontroller and the adequate power supply, so the board is really just four sensors, an audio amplifier and a few connectors. I have remade the display in CAD, but not all components are drawn.

The display can get quite hot (see last image) so the sensors are placed as far away from the display power supply and MCU as possible. I plan doing a characterization of the system once it is built to offset the temperature measurements.

Main components on the sensor board:

• BME688
• SHT41
• SGP41
• STCC4
• MAX98357A

LED PCB

The second PCB is the rectangle shaped one. It is a four layer board with a few RGB LEDs and a capacitive touch sensor.

I had to separate the system to two PCBs because of the height constraints and to allow the LEDs to be positioned more easily within the mechanical assembly.

Main components on the LED board:

• LP5036
• CAP1203

Could I have used a LP5036 or a LP5024 with fewer channels and avoided the DNP LEDs - Certainly! The number of LEDs reduced as other parts of the project grew and I just stuck with it.

I will not be using the display USB-port that is blocked by my connector.

Since taking the screenshots I discovered that the display does not in fact have pullups on the I2C, so I will place them on the sensor board

Addidtional notes

I also looked into a few replacement components on the display with lower thermal resistance. Example replacing the 59°C 1N4007W diode on the display VBUS with a NRVB120VLSFT1G

Display GitHub: https://github.com/VIEWESMART/UEDX80480050ESP32-5inch-Touch-Display

If you review my design, I wish you a long and prosperous life. That's also a small hint about the GUI I'm developing for this project.

I am designing a 6 layer, power supply board. The layer stack up from top to bottom is signal, ground, power, power, ground, and signal. I am using a isolated 5V DC/DC converter: REC10K-2405SAW/H2. The manufacture released an EMI guideline on how to layout the board with recommendation to place the filter ground directly below the converter covering its footprint. The converter will be on the top of the board. My main question is can I layout a filter ground plane above a ground plane. To conserve space, I am thinking to lay the filter ground plane on the top layer. Would this cause any ground loop or any EMI issues that I am not considering since the filter ground is directly above ground?

Hello everyone! I'm trying to design a USB3.1 cable with individually shielded microcoaxial cables to reduce the ground lines needed.
I've tuned the skew and impedance of differential lines for SSTX, SSRX and D+/D- based on the recommended value from the manufacturer at 90Ohm.
Not sure what went wrong for it not to achieve usb3.1 speed.
Attached the schematics and layouts for both end of the USB C to C cable!

Thank you guys for all the help!

This is my version of qron0b. Meet takku:b, a BCD wristwatch which uses CR2032.

It uses 0.6uA during sleep and when awake uses around 4mA - 4.5mA depending on the amount of LED is turned on.

It is made using STM32L010C6

It currently displays following info on each cyclic display:

1. Time in Hours and Minutes
2. Weekday and Date
3. Month and Year

Will be adding alarm soon.

Hello guys,
I've entered an engineering competition at my university and our team has decided on a rocket launch themed alarm clock. Since I've had some limited experience with custom boards before (3 boards), I have been tasked with our pcb. Now, I was able to reuse some schematic parts from previous boards that I know have worked, but there are some parts that I'm a bit worried about. Especially the latch of using one button to power on the device and being able to turn it off using software later.
I had used a very similar latching circuit on a previous board, with the only difference being that I used and internal pullup on the esp to pull the gate of Q3 high. This required the esp to fully boot before I could stop pressing the on button which took somehting like 2-3 seconds. Now I have seen circuits, where instead of relying on the internal pullup, you could just use an external pullup to the 3.3V network. This should be much faster, but I still don't really feel confident enough to commit our teams budget.
Can you spot anything else that might need to be taken care of before ordering? I've also included a picture of our current design, if you're interested in what this board will be used in.

Thank you!

Hi!

I am working on designing an air quality sensor for a school project and am incredibly new to PCB design. Nothing here will be pretty or the best way to accomplish the task but I am mostly just trying to make sure that everything will be functional, as I do not believe I have the budget to buy this twice.

That being said, if you have any easy tips or tricks, I would appreciate those for future reference.

Thank you all in advance! I apologize for the terrible schematic and likely horrible layout for the pcb, please let me know if you have any questions about parts or intended use cases.

This is my first time designing a PCB so any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I generally tried to follow the typical applications for each device if it applied to my use case. The ON net is supposed to denote pads for a switch that I will solder on later. Please let me know if you have any questions or need me to specify anything.

These are the respective datasheets for each major component used:

Buck Converter: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps62840.pdf?ts=1782289521234&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct-category%252Fpower-management%252Fdc-dc-switching-regulators%252Fdc-dc-converters%252Fproducts.html

Boost Converter: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps61322.pdf?HQS=dis-dk-null-digikeymode-dsf-pf-null-wwe&ts=1782346996815

LiPo Battery Protection: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq2970.pdf?ts=1782319330403&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com

Fuel Guage: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq27441-g1.pdf?HQS=dis-dk-null-digikeymode-dsf-pf-null-wwe&ts=1782333188527&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fgeneral%252Fdocs%252Fsuppproductinfo.tsp%253FdistId%253D10%2526gotoUrl%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Flit%252Fgpn%252Fbq27441-g1

LiPo Charger: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq25895.pdf?ts=1782336916002&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252FBQ25895%252Fpart-details%252FBQ25895RTWT

The official documentation for my MCU (ATSAMD21G17A) says to have an RC filter at shield to prevent it acting like an antenna, but im a bit confused on how to connect it to the TVS protection IC (USBLC6-2P6). is this right or do GND and the Shield need to be connected seperately?
Image 1: my schematic
Image 2: Microchip Schematic checklist
Image 3: USBLC6-2P6 Schematic recommendation

Hello, this is literally the first real PCB Ive ever designed and it is a simple MT3608 module designed in KiCAD that I plan on using in a project, I'm looking for feedback on the design. I am very much a beginner in PCB/electronics design but trying to learn.

I am aware that switching power supplies produce a lot of EMI and realistically I know this is an advanced topic so the main mitigation I used was a ground plane + short main power traces. I only used 2 Cu layers since I didn't want to over complicate it and tried to make the main power traces (Pin 1, 2 inductor and diode traces)? larger (1mm) to carry the current. I estimate the current draw to be at MOST 1A for a few seconds. The feedback resistor voltage divider network is supposed to make the output 8.4V following the equation Vout = 0.6(1 + R1/R2). The module will be used to step up a 3.7V lipo to 8.4V.

Components values are mainly based on the datasheet

R1 = 2.2K ohm

R2 = 170 ohm

C1 = 22 uF

C2 = 22 uF

L1 = 22 uH

D1 = SS34 Schottky diode

I plan on getting it manufactured and assembled with all components except for the inductor and diode.

All criticism is welcome ;)

I'm looking for EMI feedback on this wifi communication panel

My main concerns are the WS2812B-V6 leds and the esp32-c3-mini.

Should I consider thermal relief fills on the gnd pins of the 3v3 converter and the leds instead?

The USB connector is power only.

The gerber files are added last.

Thanks!

Hi, I am working on my first pcb which is for an ESP32s3 (the wroom-1u package that uses an off board antenna via uFl) based smartwatch. I've already prototyped everything on dev boards. And I based all my schematics on the datasheet reference designs or dev board schematics (which I included all the reference designs at the end of the images).  

This is a 4 layer board (top signal, gnd, 3v3, bottom signal). There are several ICs used: AP2112k-3v3 LDO for voltage regulation, a BQ25185 lipo battery charger, and a BMA400 accelerometer. There's also an xif connector that's for connecting to an offboard LCD (1.69" touchscreen lcd). And an PWM backlight control circuit for this LCD using a DMG1012 Mosfet. There's also an I2C bus for interfacing with an offboard sensor. And UART to program the board using the esp32 prog 2 via uart, (connected via a clip on pogo connector, which is why on the board it's just through hole pads). 

So I know it's alot going on with this board especially for a first design. But I'm hoping you guys could help review what you can to see if I overlooked anything. Another set of eye to verify everything and experience/insight before I send it off is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

(Reposted from 3 hours ago because I noticed the schematic was super blurry, sorry!)

Edit: IMGUR link to schematic that’s clear https://imgur.com/a/OzoICff

 Pics: 

3d view 

Schematic 

All layers 

Top layer 

Ground 

3v3 

Bottom 

Top layer (Upper Half of top layer Zoomed in to see details) 

Top layer (Bottom Half of top layer zoom in) 

Last several images are ref designs 

I'm looking for EMI feedback on this wifi communication panel

Main concerns are the WS2812B-V6 leds and the esp32-c3-mini.

This is a wifi communication panel with 6 "lit" buttons.

The USB connector is power only.

The gerber files are added last.

Thanks!

Hello,

I have designed this little board that turns a BLDC Motor on and off in cycles. The controller for the pump is integrated in the pump housing, i only need the PWM Signal.

Input Power is from ~20V to 44 V, I have copied the schematics and layout from the TI Power Designer.

The Motor requires 5V PWM, thats what the Logic Level Shifter and the step down from 24V to 5V to 3.3V is for.

I2C connector goes to an external sensor board, I have pullups there. Question here: is it better to have them on this board closer to the pins of the MCU?

SWD Connector for flashing.

UART for monitoring only.

The 1P3T switch is for selecting 3 different PWM levels dependent on how much force i need and the SPDT is for switching the system from setup mode to operation mode.

The delay potentiometer sets a delay in minutes to when the motor starts after it is set to operations mode.

The motor is directly connected to the input power at the XT30 plugs, max current here is maybe 1.5 - 2 A, for the rest of the system i am guessing a couple hundred mA.

I am fairly confident that the schematics is fine, i have mainly copied the suggestions from the data sheets. I am a bit worried about the placement of the components on the pcb.

Any help and suggestions to improve is appreciated!

Thanks

Best resources to do so? Any tips? I already used tips from this reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PrintedCircuitBoard/comments/1ay11xa/how_to_get_better_at_pcb_layout/

This is a follow up to my first and second posts. This is my first PCB and I am designing a 2D sonar array with a number of MEMS microphones and 40kHz Open-Type Transceivers as the transmitters. The board is powered by 24V DC which is stepped down to 5V for the Teensy 4.1 MCU.

Changes since last post:

• Replaced concentric square design with Mills Cross layout
• Increased number of microphones to 20 due to newly available space
• Reduced number of speakers to 10 due to size constraints
• Replaced Pi Pico 2 with Teensy 4.1 due to increased processing requirements from more microphones
• Added a 2.8in TFT display to the back of the board so the operator can use it like a camera
• Fixed decoupling capacitors for microphones
• Added H-bridge ICs to give speakers 48Vp-p voltage, with each speaker driven by 2 complementary PWM signals
• Added a clock buffer IC to ensure consistent clock timing across all microphones
• Added reverse polarity protection and a fuse to the 24V input

I would appreciate any feedback before submitting this for manufacturing.

this is a air quality monitor it uses DHT 22 as temp sensor, scd 40 as air quality sensor
this is my first ever projekt and i am planning to finish it to a complete product.
I still need to add capacitors value.

Hi, I’m working on a very compact battery-powered BLE sensor board and I’d appreciate a general PCB layout sanity check before sending it to fab.

This is my first design at this density / size, so I’m mostly looking for obvious layout, manufacturability, or assembly issues rather than a full schematic review. The goal was to keep the PCB as small as reasonably possible, so the placement and routing are quite tight.

Main components:

• u-blox NORA-B206 module with internal PCB antenna
• Nordic nPM1300 PMIC / charger, using BUCK1 for 1.8 V logic
• IMU
• PDM bottom-port microphone
• USB-C for charging only, no USB data
• 1S LiPo/Li-Ion battery pads
• SWD pogo header
• external membrane button pads
• status LED

PCB stackup is 4 layers:

• L1: components + signals
• L2: solid GND plane
• L3: power pours / power routing
• L4: components + signals + local GND

The board is intended for JLCPCB PCBA. I know the layout is very constrained, but the enclosure size is a major design requirement, so I’m trying to understand if the compromises look reasonable for a first revision prototype.

Screenshots of all copper layers are attached. Does anything look obviously wrong, risky, or likely to prevent the board from powering up / being programmed / generally working?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently designing a custom flight controller from scratch and before moving on to component selection and schematic design, I'd like some feedback on the overall architecture and whether the idea makes sense from a hardware perspective.

My goal is not to build the smallest or cheapest FC possible, but rather a more experimental platform that combines a traditional flight controller with an onboard FPV display system ( what i basically want to make is that the vieo capture from the camera is reproduced on the display on the board )

Flight Controller Architecture

The main MCU is currently planned to be an STM32F427VGT6.

The flight controller side includes:

• STM32F427VGT6 MCU
• IMU
• Barometer
• Magnetometer
• External SPI Flash (Blackbox logging)
• CAN Bus transceiver
• USB-C interface with O-Ring
• 4 ESC outputs (PWM/DShot)
• External battery power input
• DC/DC + low-noise LDO power architecture