PCB Design Discussion
Worked for 3 mins 54 sec
Built the complete T‑Embed CC1101 RF/IR Backpack: 41-component schematic, dual nRF24 sockets, second CC1101 socket, high-power IR TX/RX, protected power supply, 100 × 45 mm four-layer PCB, placement, routing, BOM metadata, and bring-up documentation.
Open item
- One false GND airwire remains on an inaccessible generated stitching via; all functional nets are connected, dangling traces are 0, and ERC power errors are 0.
- Direct GPIO stacking, ESP32 U.FL, and carrier SMA were omitted because the real T‑Embed exposes only GPIO8, GPIO18, GPIO43, GPIO44, 3V3, and GND. The carrier therefore uses I²C bridge/expander ICs and avoids invalid parallel RF connections.
Project files
Scrap the carrier board. Design a standalone PCB from scratch with the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U module directly on the board. Use all available GPIOs directly — no I2C expanders needed. This gives us full control over pin assignments and avoids the T-Embed's pin limitations.
Use the pin mappings from the HIZMOS project which already proved this works:
- Full SPI bus for CC1101 + nRF24s
- Direct I2C for display + PN532
- Direct GPIOs for buttons, IR, SD card
I accept the extra design effort. Proceed with standalone design.
Thought for 9 sec
I’ll replace the carrier architecture completely with a standalone ESP32‑S3‑WROOM‑1U board, reusing the specified direct GPIO mapping while rebuilding power, charging, display, NFC, storage, dual Sub‑GHz, dual nRF24, IR, controls, and RF layout from first principles.
Worked for 1 min 16 sec
The standalone redesign was planned, but no project mutations were completed because the account ran out of available ACUs. The existing 41-component carrier design remains unchanged.
Remaining work:
- Remove the carrier/bridge architecture.
- Verify ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U-N16R8 GPIO conflicts—especially GPIO35–42 used by octal memory—and finalize a direct-pin remap.
- Rebuild the schematic, power/charging system, radios, display, NFC, SD, controls, and IR.
- Create and route the four-layer 100 × 45 mm PCB.
- Run ERC/DRC and update BOM, firmware, bring-up, and regulatory files.
Document architecture requirements
Identify carrier components
Validate GPIO pin map
Waiting for input
