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We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

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Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#51

Post by sowbug »

I built something like this but more special-purpose. It just switches a USB-A power source on/off. I wanted it to control my 5-volt fish-tank lights. I didn't want to use a 120VAC smart switch for each light because I prefer to use a single USB hub to power them all, and a bonus feature was being able to PWM the lights so the fish aren't freaked out when the lights suddenly turn on 100% in the morning.

I ordered PCBs from JLCPCB and components from LCSC. I think each one cost around $5 in parts, and I hand-assemble them as I need more around the house.

https://github.com/sowbug/smart-usb-switch

Picture: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sowbug/smart-usb-switch/ma...

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#52

Post by polishdude20 »

I recently created a board for the nrf8001 Bluetooth low energy chip. I see your antenna section isn't fully open since that LED is in the way, have you considered rearranging things so that PCB antenna has an unobstructed path on the left and right sides?

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#53

Post by fullstop »

sowbug wrote: post #51

I built something like this but more special-purpose. It just switches a USB-A power source on/off. I wanted it to control my 5-volt fish-tank lights. I didn't want to use a 120VAC smart switch for each light because I prefer to use a single USB hub to power them all, and a bonus feature was being able to PWM the lights so the fish aren't freaked out when the lights suddenly turn on 100% in the morning. I ordered PCB…

I made lights using ws2812b leds and simulated sunrise, sunset, and a dim blue throughout the night.

I used ws2812b leds, wemos d1, and a level translator since the d1 has 3.3v gpios but ws2812b technically requires a 5v signal.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#54

Post by sagarm »

mianos wrote: post #25

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device…

Isn't the esp8266 much lower power than the esp32?

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#55

Post by R0b0t1 »

tripletao wrote: post #43
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your first point, the relay has 2,000V of coil-to-contact isolation: https://omronfs.omron.com/en_US/ecb/products/pdf/en-g5le.pdf Though it does look like the clearance/creepage distances on the PCB to the low-voltage ground plane are not any wider than 2mm or so, which is acceptable for 120VAC, but not acceptable for 240VAC per IPC9592. I wouldn't worry about sticking this in an enclosure and using it to t…

A digital device is defined as: > (k) Digital device. (Previously defined as a computing device). An unintentional radiator (device or system) that generates and uses timing signals or pulses at a rate in excess of 9,000 pulses (cycles) per second and uses digital techniques; ... https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol1/pd... This has Wi-Fi, so it's an intentional radiator, so it's not a digital devi…

Test and measurement supersedes intentional emission. If it were the other way no development boards would get sold, especially necessary things like low volume engineering samples. Should a one-off need certification before it can be transferred to the company that contracted the work to build it? No.

If you have never sought certification know that it is quite expensive.

What seems to matter the most is if anyone actually notices interference, and if they do how widely the device ended up being sold. If a test and measure product starts making it into everybody's house eyebrows will be raised.

If you misuse a test and measurement device and generate interference it is typically on you.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#56

Post by antoniuschan99 »

R0b0t1 wrote: post #55
tripletao wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A digital device is defined as: > (k) Digital device. (Previously defined as a computing device). An unintentional radiator (device or system) that generates and uses timing signals or pulses at a rate in excess of 9,000 pulses (cycles) per second and uses digital techniques; ... https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol1/pd... This has Wi-Fi, so it's an intentional radiator, so it's not a digital devi…

Test and measurement supersedes intentional emission. If it were the other way no development boards would get sold, especially necessary things like low volume engineering samples. Should a one-off need certification before it can be transferred to the company that contracted the work to build it? No. If you have never sought certification know that it is quite expensive. What seems to matter the most is if anyone a…

If it’s sold as a kit(eg. Devboard) or battery powered it doesn’t need to be certified. You also can get pre-certified boards, the wroom-02 being the pre-certified esp8266.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#57

Post by antoniuschan99 »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #36
pdabbadabba wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * Is it FCC-certified? It would certainly appear to lack the FCC ID label/marking it is required to have if it is FCC certified. So probably not. Thus, it also appears doubtful whether it can legally be marketed or sold in the U.S.

This is the exact reason why I didn't see through my plan to build and sell the EspUSB (a very small ESP board that fits inside a USB-A port). I got 3 units built for myself by PCBWay at a cost of $77. I got quotes of ~$500 for 100 units from Elecrow and Makerfabs, but didn't know what to do with the other 90. Although I really want this great little gadget to be easily available, I can't afford $10,000 for FCC certi…

What about using a pre-certified module (eg. Wroom-02 or wroom32)

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#58

Post by antoniuschan99 »

snarfy wrote: post #48
mianos wrote: post #25

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device…

Yeah, I'm regretting getting the esp8266 not knowing of the esp32. Besides being a better device for basically the same price, it has better tooling from espressif.

Esp-idf is amazing .

Esp8266 doesnt have flash encryption and secure boot. Esp32-s2 does though.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#59

Post by elcritch »

conk wrote: post #7
makerboardzz wrote: post #5

Cool - it looks like a well-designed board, although the timing is a bit unfortunate with the ESP32-S2 emerging as an ESP8266 replacement with USB. A few questions: * Should the relay have some sort of isolation, like an optocoupler? * Is it FCC-certified? * Like other people asked, any information on how the antenna was designed? I like the old-school dome LEDs. And it's cool to see another project with a CH340 USB/…

I don't see any benefit in using an optocoupler. Using a transistor with flyback diode for protection is acceptable. Both the relay and ESP8266 are powered from the same 5V source, adding an optocoupler is not really isolating anything.

Sometimes it’s easier to deal with a combined part than two parts. It can reduce assembly costs for small volumes, or if the person doing the design is just familiar with the opto.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#60

Post by elcritch »

Fun looking little board. Great to see people sharing these things!

It makes me wonder if there’s interest in more of these type ofESP* dev kit boards. One I haven’t seen is one with just Ethernet PHY but no Ethernet jack/magnetics. It’s been useful in my designs to have a ETH+/- that can be brought out to various Ethernet / PoE setups. Something like the wESP32 is handy for kits but not for integration.

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