If you add another GPIO and make a silicone mold you could make an in-cable eavesdropper on USB connections that streams out the data via the wifi. That would be a pretty scary tool in the right circumstances.
This is a very cool experiment, even if the board doesn't end up being that practical (the antenna hack is going to be an ongoing issue I think) your documentation looks great at a glance!
You should take the metal of the USB connector into account. This will significantly alter the emission pattern of the antenna. Try to find a radio amateur in your area, we have equipment to measure and software to predict antennas.
If you want an ESP32 dev board with GPIOs exposed there are dozens (or hundreds, maybe thousands) of other options out there. It makes sense not to expose them when you're going for the smallest possible footprint.
Neat! I just sent out an order to JLCPCB for an ESP32 based board. I don't have a rework station or any experience with SMT so I decided to go for their assembly options. It's 80 per board, but would probably be cheaper per board if I got more than 2 (I also have more components on my board than you).
Question about the instructions in your README, you say that once you're done with the top side, repeat for the bottom, but when you're working on the bottom side, what stops the elements on the top side from falling off once the heat passes through the board and melts the solder on that side?
Working on the bottom side I only used the heat gun really carefully on the resistors then used a soldering iron with a fine tip for the usb-c connector since the leads are fairly large.
Really cool. I just ran into a situation where it would be handy to have a small Bluetooth device that plugs into USB-C. However soldering something like this seems a bit beyond me, is there a more turnkey solution?
The company that printed the PCB, PCBWay, also offers PCBAs. They're really not expensive, though you might need to order in batches of multiples of five.
Wow thanks!!! I've been trying to find a cheap flex pcb supplier but the cheapest i found was $150 for 10. They are way cheaper making my project viable!
Wouldn't 0402 be 4x larger (if comparing lengths) or 16x larger (if comparing areas), not 2.5x?
Edit: Nevermind, I was wrong. I see now that the sizes don't actually directly correspond to the number codes! 01005 is 0.4mm x 0.2mm and 0402 is 1mm x 0.5mm. That's annoyingly confusing, IMO.
I was a bit outdated with resistor sizing and I don't have a great sources but apparently there are:
inch 0402, 0201, 01005, 009005, 008004, $1
mm 1005, 0603, 0402, 03015, 0201, 01005
these sizes... and $1 is the one in your mind that shall not be written in inches. The "01005 imperial" is just 0402, so it's not going up to the metric 01005 scale or beyond. I think.
Me too, but that particular picture was confusing. Shouldn't the board be with the human, 120 ft from the wifi access point being connected to? Now it looks as if the human screams at the board from 120 ft away, or something.
Other than that, hugely impressive project of course, it makes any board I've tried to design/assemble look impossibly huge. :)
No, I think the human holds a smartphone, is standing 38m away from the board, and is still able to connect to the distant board via the open Access Point it makes available. It's a testament to the communication between the Access Point and the human connecting to it.
FTA:
> In a clear line of sight test with the f32 placed about 3ft off the ground I was able to connect and perform scans/control the LED at roughly 120ft!
Fun fact, at that size the whole f32 is smaller than the wavelength of the radio waves it's using for 2.4GHz WiFi. Not that this is unique by any stretch, but it's still fun to think about.
(Edit: formatting)
They are 4x the size though, almost exactly double in both length and width.
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/XIAO_ESP32C3_Getting_Started/
And this PCBA will be smaller than the battery in most applications anyway.
Its of format of original ESP8 so you get serial + 3 IO pins
Question about the instructions in your README, you say that once you're done with the top side, repeat for the bottom, but when you're working on the bottom side, what stops the elements on the top side from falling off once the heat passes through the board and melts the solder on that side?
Basically you're hoping the bottom side doesn't get hot enough for everything to move or fall off.
Very nice.
The Sense versions are pretty rad. Now I only have to add a battery and a touch sensor and I'm good to go.
I’m tempted to try a few of these just to see how disastrous my build efforts are.
https://github.com/PegorK/f32#building-the-f32
It looks doable, but of course a lot of carefulling is required when placing the components.
Edit: Nevermind, I was wrong. I see now that the sizes don't actually directly correspond to the number codes! 01005 is 0.4mm x 0.2mm and 0402 is 1mm x 0.5mm. That's annoyingly confusing, IMO.
I love this. Fun and insightful article. Thank you.
Other than that, hugely impressive project of course, it makes any board I've tried to design/assemble look impossibly huge. :)
FTA:
> In a clear line of sight test with the f32 placed about 3ft off the ground I was able to connect and perform scans/control the LED at roughly 120ft!
Fun fact, at that size the whole f32 is smaller than the wavelength of the radio waves it's using for 2.4GHz WiFi. Not that this is unique by any stretch, but it's still fun to think about. (Edit: formatting)
Seriously? For a tiny board like this also? Genuine question.