Marine LED Controller Design

flux

Great idea. Short version: the ESP32 can expose many touch channels, but raw capacitive touch does not travel well over wires. Break out several local touch pads/connectors on the master, and if you need remote touch at slaves, use a small touch-to-digital converter locally and return a clean digital signal to the master.
What WLED/ESP32 can support
  • Hardware: U3 supports up to 10 capacitive touch channels (T0–T9). Safe-to-use pins (avoid boot strapping pins) are typically: T8=GPIO33, T9=GPIO32, T7=GPIO27, T6=GPIO14, T4=GPIO13, T0=GPIO4.
  • Software: WLED supports at least one touch/button input out of the box. Multiple independent touch inputs may require custom configuration/usermod. Plan hardware breakouts now; firmware can map them later.
Proposed touch breakouts on this board (through-holes or pads)
  • TOUCH1: GPIO33 (T8) on U3
  • TOUCH2: GPIO32 (T9)
  • TOUCH3: GPIO27 (T7)
  • TOUCH4: GPIO14 (T6)
  • TOUCH5: GPIO13 (T4)
  • TOUCH6: GPIO4 (T0) Notes:
  • Label each as TOUCHx and provide an adjacent GND through-hole for shield/frame wiring.
  • Place a small series resistor at the MCU side (100–470 Ω) and an ESD path near the connector (e.g., a low-cap TVS Diode). We can also tie these lines into the existing ESD array D1 if channels are available.
About long cables and multiple slaves
  • Raw capacitive touch over long leads is very sensitive to cable capacitance and noise. Expect unreliable behavior as length increases; shielding and careful routing help but only to a point.
  • Recommended for remote/slave locations:
    • Put a tiny touch IC at each remote point (e.g., AT42QT1010 or TTP223) and output a clean digital signal back to the master. Protect with series resistor + TVS at the connector.
    • If you only need an “any touch” signal from 6 slaves, wire-OR the open-drain outputs (or diode-OR) to a single input on the master with a pull-up at the master.
    • For long runs or noisy marine wiring, consider differential signaling (RS-485 transceivers) for robustness, still driven by the remote touch IC’s digital output.
WS driver data routing recap
  • Keep ESP32 D1 (selected GPIO) -> WS2805 DIN1.
  • Board “DATA IN” connector -> WS DIN2 (or selectable via solder-jumper).
  • WS DOUT -> “DATA OUT” connector.
  • This preserves master/slave chaining without needing the ESP32 populated.
Want me to add six TOUCHx + GND through-hole pairs (with series resistors and ESD footprints) and assign them to GPIO33, 32, 27, 14, 13, 4 on U3? If yes, also tell me:
  • Approximate cable lengths to the touch contacts.
  • Whether you prefer local remote touch ICs at slaves (recommended) or raw touch lines back to the master.
Define cable lengths
Choose remote IC approach
Ask about WLED limits
Request connector guidance
Ask about combining slave signals
Sign up to send
D4
D3
D4
D2
D4
D4
R11 P2 - D3 2
R1 P2 - Q1 G
Q4
C3
Capacitance
22 uF
C1
Capacitance
10 uF
C2 P1 - U2 LX
J1 2 - GND GND
Q3
C4
Capacitance
0.1 uF
C2
Capacitance
0.1 uF
Q5
J1 2 - GND GND
C4 P1 - U2 BOOT
D3 1 - D2 2
Q2
Q1
J1 2 - GND GND
J1 2 - GND GND
J1 2 - GND GND
U1 VS - U2 VIN
U1 VS - U2 VIN
Q1 D - R11 P1
D3 1 - D2 2
D1
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    20.5M
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    10 µF 16 V Aluminum - Polymer Capacitors Radial, Can - SMD 30mOhm 2000 Hrs @ 105°C #commonpartslibrary #capacitor #aluminumpolymer #radialcan
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    CTL1206FYW1T
    Yellow 595nm LED Indication - Discrete 1.7V 1206 (3216 Metric)
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    1.1M
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    1070TR
    Battery Holder (Open) Coin, 20.0mm 1 Cell SMD (SMT) Tab bate or batt #forLedBlink
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    700.5k
Led Design thumbnail
Marine-Grade 5-Channel PWM LED Controller with ESP32 and Integrated 12V→5V Buck

Properties

mm
mm

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