These two boards are designed to work together. The new board takes 12V input and outputs 4.15V. Smart folks might be able to guess what this is for. I’ll keep it a secret for now and reveal it in the next post :)

The reason I started this project is that my final load can draw up to 20W at full power, which translates to just under 5A at 4.15V.

I tried a few TI solutions, but while working on the PCB layout, I came across an interesting module from the ZXDN10 series. It doesn't seem to be available for individual purchase, but I managed to get some stock through a business-to-business channel.

Unfortunately, there’s no public documentation available for this module. Based on the PCB silkscreen markings, it appears to use a TPS40192-based synchronous, non-isolated buck converter design.

By tracing the visible PCB connections and checking them with a multimeter, I was able to reverse-engineer what I believe is the pinout. Pretty exciting!

The module is supposedly rated for up to 10A of continuous output current, but I have my doubts about whether it can actually sustain that much under real-world conditions. I added a heatsink to the PCB and tested it myself. So far, it can reliably sustain 6A continuously, with efficiency staying around 94%.

I also added an ideal diode circuit on the output side of the module to prevent unwanted reverse current from flowing back into the converter.

More to come in the next post! :)

Developed a 5V-3.3V Voltage Regulator Breakout Board, requesting for y'all suggestions and opinions. Thank you 😄

This circuit can generate PWM pulses from 1Hz to 1 MHz with a duty cycle from 0% to 100%. You can also switch the PWM logic level between 5V/3.3V.

The schematic and PCB were created using Altium Develop.

The firmware was developed using the MounRiver Studio IDE (MCU: CH32V003J4).

More Details: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cdu3wlyYDU

I'm building an STM32F103C8T6 development board and would appreciate feedback on my layout and schematic.

Key components:

• MCU: STM32F103C8T6
• LDO: LDL1117S33R
• HSE Crystal: ABM3-8.000MHZ-D2Y-T
• LSE Crystal: ABS07-120-32.768KHZ-T
• USB ESD protection: USBLC6-2SC6

Crystal component values were calculated using equations from ST's AN2867 with parameters from the respective datasheets.

I'm using 0805 passives for hand soldering, with 0603 for sensitive traces (crystals, USB data lines). ERC and DRC both pass with zero errors.

Any feedback on the design or links to best practices would be appreciated, Thanks!

Hello, thank you for taking the time to read my post.

I completed my first-ever board recently, and while testing it and trying to connect the ESP to the IDE, I realized that it wasn't even turning on. I looked around and realized I'm only getting 2.7 V instead of the 3–3.6 V I need from the switching regulator.

I'm using an ISL854102, and I have two theories, but I'm not sure. The most plausible one, in my opinion, is that the distance between the chip and the voltage divider (R6-R7) is too large, so it ends up regulating the output to 2.7 V instead of the 3.3 V I want.

I used this formula to calculate the correct values: VOUT = 0.6 × (1 + 100/22.1) = 3.32 V

I'm thinking I could fix the issue by changing the resistor values so that the regulator reads the correct voltage and provides the expected output.

My second theory is that it's some kind of brownout loop, but I don't know how to fix it.

I'm using a bench power supply for testing, and I should also mention that the power indicator LED never flashes at any point while the board was getting power.

I've attached a picture of the board in KiCad, the schematic, a 3D model of the board, the relevant section of the ISL854102 datasheet showing the circuit, and a picture of the schematic for an example module I found from Pololu.

I am working on this PCB for an glider plane. The goal is to have an esp32 with usbc boot and reset button and 2 sg90 servos running on 2 AA batterys. I thought it would be simple at first but yeah it wasn’t . Therefore I think there must be a mistake can anyone spot it before I start making traces. Thanks for taking your time I really appreciate it.

Hey guys,

have been wanting to design boards a lot more lately, but one of my biggest “gripes” with software is getting parts from DigiKey / Mouser into my schematic / layout.

Now, OrCad / Cadence has a great system with a built in manager / component search with SamacSys, UltraLib, SnapMagic, etc.

Altium has Octopart (which IMO blows) ( At least in comparison with UltraLib and SnapMagic ).

Now, KiCad has been speaking to me a LOT recently. I want to build boards on my laptop, because it’s portable, and I’m at school a lot. It’s just the parts.

I would really like to hear some work flows for getting these parts.

Like, I really love that in OrCAD (which we use at work (but I don’t want to pay for personally)) you can put in the part number and it will place / download / and organize everything for you. SAVES SO MUCH TIME in the workflow.

So, in KiCAD, is there something similar? Of course, you’ll have to be on DigiKey / Mouser anyways to find the parts, so anyway to just, find the part needed, and then click of a button, it downloads symbol, footprint, and model? Pretty much plug n play?

I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on both
- The workflow for getting parts
- your thoughts on the toughest aspects of a workflow for PCB layout / design.

A couple of days ago i posted my first DIY pcb testing results.

And because the resutls were way better than i thought it'll be i was motivated to try and make my own Stm32 dev board hence i had some STM32F030C8T6 laying around. I bought to train on soldering LQFP packages.

And..... it works! Finally. My first attempt sucked because i made all traces 10mil and i had to drill 0.8mm holes 25 holes to be exact each by hand and connect it to the second layer that works as a ground plane. That attempt was horrible. Time consuming but i got it to work power wise and it was functional. But while i was fixing the power issues i accidentally broke all the lines connecting to boot button and SWDIO and SWCLK wires.. so it was a complete disaster. I honeslty choose to redo it again but with better design from the beginning rather than fix that contraption.

And the second attempt worked flawlessly!

But oh boy soldering that LQFP 48 without solder mask was a pain in the butt. A hell of a experience. I almost thought i over heated it like.. look at how deaminated the fr4 layer is from extreme heat.

Honeslty super gluing another bottom layer was a good idea. I regret not buying double layer fr4 boards from the beginning. But it is what it is

But thank god it works. So is the i2c lines. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Specially that that's my first pcb ever. To come out of my software!

What you guys think?

I use Hyperlynx for SI and PI simulation.

If anyone has a PCB design they'd like to analyse, I'd be happy to explore it as a learning exercise and share my findings. I'm particularly interested in learning from real-world designs.

Just looking for practical experience and knowledge sharing.

Feel free to comment if you're interested!

Hi guys. For reference, I do not know anything about PCBs, im just a car guy trying to install an aftermarket keyless lock on my really old car. With that being said, I spent the past 2 weeks pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my door locks fail to properly lock/unlock when I press the key. Turns out, the reason is that my old car uses a pneumatic system, and i didnt set the control module to have a longer pulse so the system can build vacuum. Great, so I take apart the module, and I lose my hair another 3 hours trying to figure out what the damn instruction manual means, but I came to the conclusion that I need to DIY this and its not a simple button to change the pulse time. But now I am at this next headache where the silkscreen is complete dog and the user manual is unclear. Ive located JP1 and JP2 as what I need, but where do those lines go? Where do I bridge the wire? Your help would be greatly appreciated

Tldr: which two points do i solder a jumper to so I can make my vacuum actuator go for 4.5 sec as per instructions

Hi everyone!

I'm designing an ESP-controlled relay driver using an optocoupler and a transistor, and I have a question about the pull-down resistor.

In the reference circuit I'm planning to attach, R6 is the resistor right after the optocoupler, while R4 is located before the transistor.

Is a pull-down resistor needed in this part of the circuit? If so, where should it be placed — on the optocoupler side (R6) of the series resistor (R3), or on the transistor side (R4)?

I'd appreciate any advice on the correct placement and whether a pull-down resistor is necessary at all.

Thanks in advance!

Made some PCBs for purely artistic purposes, and result came out better than expected. Got some interesting fab house questions from JLCPCB lol.

Hi guys, so these boards are from a taillight and I’m trying to learn how to fix it.

I’ve not removed it yet from my own but I have some experience doing that as I replace lenses/housing etc on headlights so there’s no issue get the board out. The issue I’m having is identifying how to find the problem.

The issue with the tail light is the brake lamp when on the car (which is the inner ring of LEDs on the board) flashes once then turns off. What steps you think I should take to identify the issue?

Hi, I am new to this and a family member got me this to discover how it works, I don't understand how it's supposed to work. Any tips?

First working PCB! Went through one iteration because I bought a stm32 clone and realised all the issues I had was with both the I2C busses just not working on the chip, not a pcb design issue. Guess the few more bucks for a genuin MCU is worth it.

Hey guys, your help was amazing on my post for the schematic, I was hoping I could get some advice on the layout too. It’s my first time making a board this big (and 4 layers) so it might look a bit messy. Here are some informations:

Layers: Signal-GND-PWR(3.3V)-Signal(with GND pour around traces) 
 
Traces size: the 12V input has 2mm traces (which is way overkill for what I expect (not more than 150mA I think), the Q1-R2 traces are 0.9mm because the pins were smaller, I had to reduce the size. Every other traces are 0.6mm. 
 
Vias: all vias are 0,8 pad 0,4 drill. honest thought: I have no idea why. I know if they're too small it can increase cost, but I don't know if too big is a problem. I'm also unsure of the placement. I tried to follow the datasheet for the buck converter (LM51420, TI) 
 
The DRC doesn't show any errors, except for some silkscreen overlap with pads.

Order of the pictures I joined: Top, GND , PWR, Bottom, zoom-in of the buck (top and bottom), zoom in of the microcontroller (top and bottom)

Let me know if you need more info, I’m not sure what is necessary for a proper review/understanding

This is my first PCB that I’ve had professionally manufactured. It was made by JLCPCB and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. It’s just a simple traffic light sequence using an ATMEGA328p.

My next project is a bit of a step up, I’m designing a board for an STM32F103C8T6 that will have 4 isolated input and 4 outputs running on 24V like a PLC.

This may be a very vague question, but in EasyEDA, how do I tell if the net is a global or a hierarchical net?

In the screenshot, what does the Parent value mean? I see some values are sheet names, but in this case, does it mean that MCU_3V3 is a global net?

I'm going to manufacture my first PCB at JLC in a few weeks. I heard that for it to be correctly assembled by a pick and place machine, each component footprint must have it's reference centre point (like the one you can set automatically in Altium) in the exact geometric centre. Is that true and it I make a mistake here will JLC correct it by themselves or not?

Over the last months I designed and assembled this PCB!

Although I've designed some boards before, this was the first one I did entirely on my own, without anyone "proofreading" it. I used this project to try out KiCad. It took some getting used to at first, but I think I like it.

So what does it do?

Some time ago I was at a festival with friends and we thought about a beer bong that tracks how much everyone drank throughout the festival.

And that's pretty much what this is doing. A flow sensor is attached at J7, an STM32 reads from the sensor, processes and stores the data, and a cheap display module is used for displaying the stats and taking user input. The device can keep track of multiple users, how much each of them drank and their speed record. For power supply I went with USB-C, so that a random power bank can be used.

When I got the boards I noticed that there where some small things I messed up:

• I didn't carefully read the STMs datasheet and didn't notice that I can't really use the UART bootloader to flash its firmware :| Fortunately there where some spare pins, so I scraped of some copper and added a couple of wires... Now I'm able to flash it via SWD.
• The power switch does not fit the footprint I created (Guess who didn't look at the datasheet careful enough... Again xD)

But I could fix those problems and as you can see in pic #6 the board is working :D

So what do I take away from this project? Don't just skim over the datasheet lol

Bldc foc is my nemesis. This was my first shot. I was surprised i got the motor to even spin smoothly at 30v. Then I wanted it all and gave it the beanzz at 48v and the mcp died just as I hit maximum Voltage on the phases. Only 3v at gate drive pins :( was 11v once. #roastme or #helpme