#PCB

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

undone lily
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Nice PCB, are you using WLED to control this? I see what looks to be a Wi-Fi chip

devout jungle
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Not yet. I use Arduino sketches with the FastLED Library

undone lily
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I made a similar board but it uses a Pico and works with signalrgb

devout jungle
undone lily
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similar in function to a icue commander without the PWM fan control which I'm trying to figure out how to do and still have it compatible with SRGB

devout jungle
undone lily
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Nice

devout jungle
undone lily
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It's just a nice to have since my motherboard sucks when it comes to software fan control, LibreHardwareMonitor only recognizes 3 of the fans to be able to be controlled via software

devout jungle
undone lily
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100x better than anything the manufacturer gives

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WLED has sick effects built in but it appears you have the effects figured out

devout jungle
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Lian Li has a new controller with at least somewhat customizeable software

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I'm still working on it

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my cousin is a much better artist than I am but she doesn't program

undone lily
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Guessing she makes the effects?

devout jungle
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she came up with a few designs that I need to implement

undone lily
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or are you talking about PCB design

devout jungle
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effect designs

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Need to code and randomize them without taking away from the design

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i did this too

undone lily
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the fact you managed to program that on a strimer is impressive

devout jungle
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The "font" is my design if you can call it that. 6 pixels is enough for legible text

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What's the library use you to emulate a CUE device?

undone lily
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This is the project I use, it's essentially a USB led controller powered by the RP2040

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I'm gonna use it to power LEDs at my desk and some unconnected LEDs in the case since I don't feel like running a bunch of LEDs in parallel

devout jungle
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FeuerSturm had a link to it

devout jungle
undone lily
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primarily because I know how to use it and EAGLE is not for me

devout jungle
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I need to learn it. My boards were done in easyEDA and it's a toy. It falls apart when you have a lot of components

undone lily
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KiCAD is relatively easy to use for simple boards

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I learned it in about an hour crash course by someone

devout jungle
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Who makes your boards?

undone lily
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JLCPCB

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also if you need help with KiCAD lmk

devout jungle
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I kinda do. Any pointers?

undone lily
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Yea, instead of making messy wires everywhere use labels

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If your components are not listed, you will need to find a symbol and a footprint

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actually, I’m not sure how to describe a bunch of stuff that needs to be done

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But if you come up with a schematic I can show what can be done

devout jungle
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I I've never done a Schematic. I kinda just wing it

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I guess I can duct tape one together

undone lily
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Ah, in KiCAD a schematic must be made first

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PCB and component arrangements come second after assignment footprints to parts

devout jungle
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Version 2 installed in 2.5 in SSD mount. Still a bit thicker than I would like

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If I can have the ESP 32 module directly on the board without a dev kit, that will lower the overall height as well as allow me to use shorter standoffs. My goal is to have as broad compatibility as possible with 2.5 in drive mounts that use the holes on the bottom of the drive. If your case doesn't have that type of Mount, you can still use a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter

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All right let me whip up a schematic

undone lily
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are you doing some kind of level shifting with whatever those black surface mount chips are?

devout jungle
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yes. 3.3 -> 5V. They are both 74HCT245.

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16 total output pins. ATX24P Strimer gets 6 pins. 3 x 8 PCIE Strimer also gets 6 with 4 shared by 2 x 8 PCIe. Then there are 4 VDG outs

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Pin 35 is used as an input pin with a pullup resistor to 3.3v and a debouncing cap. I have my PC's reset switch connected to that.

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Next version will have a header for pin 0 to replace the onboard boot button

undone lily
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You only need 1 pin

devout jungle
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for what?

undone lily
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like level shifting only requires 1 pin

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The neopixels or ws2812bs don’t like 3.3v logic so you just need to convert it up

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I don’t believe there’s a need to use 6 output pins

undone lily
devout jungle
devout jungle
undone lily
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So each row = 1 connector coming out of it?

devout jungle
undone lily
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wtf

devout jungle
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pinout is VDDDDG

undone lily
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huh interesting

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I need to read up on transistors I can use because putting BSS138s all over is a bit expensive

devout jungle
undone lily
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Except I need 4 of them for 4 LEDs

devout jungle
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doesn't the pico run on 5V?

undone lily
devout jungle
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Oh it's probably like the ESP32 where it has a 5v > 3.3v linear regular, but the MCU itself is 3.3

devout jungle
undone lily
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It’s just a difference in voltages for logic that makes the neopixels go crazy

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Some people say keep the wires short or add a resistor but those are okay options and don’t work all the time

undone lily
devout jungle
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It's really easy to wire

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You connect VCC to 5V. OE is output enable, which must be held low for the output to work. Connect all the OE pins to ground. the A pins are input. The Y pins are output

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The board i used this on only had 3 channels used so I left the 3 pins form the unused channel floating

undone lily
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I assume this one is 4 outputs?

devout jungle
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I connected each output pin from my ESP32 to the A pins though a 100 ohm resistor, but that's supposedly not necessary

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I used a 300 ohm from the Y pins to the output headers

devout jungle
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OE is held low (AKA ground) to enable the input.

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I didn't use channel 4 so I left everything floated but you should probably connect it to 5V through a pullup resistor

undone lily
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How do I give it a reference high voltage? Through the VCC?

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Or does it not need that

devout jungle
undone lily
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Right, I feed 5V through vcc?

devout jungle
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but you're not holding any logic high on your design because you have 4 outputs

devout jungle
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Where do you get your parts?

undone lily
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well I have 8 outputs technically but I probably won’t use them all

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The parts come from the in house assembly line

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LCSC

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Otherwise digikey for stuff I solder myself

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Only $4 per pico

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Amazon scalps at $8 each

devout jungle
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74HCT245 has 8-channels and is wired differently

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I used that on the board I showed you. That was soldered by JLCPCB

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I used a through hole package, but you could use SMT

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The 74HCT245 wiring is simpler

devout jungle
undone lily
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Well for some reason that link is invalid

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But if you want to use lcsc parts, you can simply the bom with the fabrication toolkit plugin

devout jungle
devout jungle
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any unused channels need both sides tied to ground or 5V (both sides need to be the same)

undone lily
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Oh wow that chip is perfect

devout jungle
undone lily
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Alright thanks

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lemme just implement it now

devout jungle
undone lily
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Definitely easier than this

devout jungle
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here's my layout with the 2 chips. I have one running A -> B and the other B -> A based on access to 5V

unknown.png
devout jungle
undone lily
devout jungle
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yeah

undone lily
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you can give 5v to all pins on the layer with a copper pour

devout jungle
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look at U8. U7 is an embarrasment

devout jungle
undone lily
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no

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top layer has a 5v copper pour and bottom layer is just ground

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Red = RGB_PWR Blue = GND

devout jungle
undone lily
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CTRL+Shift+Z when on the PCB editor

devout jungle
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I'll try it but I'm still trying to figure out the schamatic part

undone lily
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what part are you trying to figure out?

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Also I don't think your chip is in KiCAD so you're gonna have to download a symbol and footprint for it

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The footprint and symbol have no knowledge of each other though so you're gonna have to assign the symbol to a footprint

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basically if your chip has like 8 pins there's nothing stopping you from assigning a chip to a connector with 8 pins aswell

devout jungle
undone lily
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oh well I guess KiCAD does have that chip built in

devout jungle
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it does the same thing, but the input can only go down to 3.6V

devout jungle
undone lily
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Single row? 2 row?

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Just look up Conn_01x04
Where 01 = row 04 = pin count per row

devout jungle
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no Raspberry Pi Pico tho

undone lily
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Yep

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gotta install it