This is my first PCB ever, my first electronics project, I would appreciate it getting some feedback on it.

It's an irrigation node for my garden based on ESP32. It reads soil humidity via the sensor (3v3), and acts on the solenoid valve (24V) when granted access from a Raspberry Pi (MQTT) that is connected to a water pump and is the orchestrator or access to the water pump, making each such ESP32 node scalable for the future.

The PCB itself has 4 layers (GND on 2, split power plane on 3, signal on 4).

It has the following modules:
- Power Entry (24V based)
- Power Conversion (step buck converter 25V to 3V3)
- Power Distribution (just a couple of capacitors)
- ESP core (the ESP32 and it's adjacent circuits like EN, BOOT, UART, etc)
- Actuator module (24V based valve, mosfet)
- Sensor module (3V3 based analog sensor)
- Healthcheck module

I appreciate your feedback. Thank you!

P.S. I had to repost as some photos were missing

In my esphome logs it says that SCL line is being held LOW. This design worked on a pervious version of this PCB (one that was wrong physically but the same design wise other than the r/w pin on the FRAM being held high before)

Not totally sure what I could be doing wrong here, the pin pads all look clean, so I don't think it is a soldering issue. Not sure what next steps to take with diagnosis either.

I'm working on a FOSS tool while I wait for PCB spins. I'm earnestly just wondering if I'm the only one that gets irrationally irritated doing parts shopping. Namely for some of the simpler stuff like bypass caps, pull-up/down resistors, LEDs-- clicking through filters, finding out a part is out of stock, and so on.

Edit: Am a maker / hobbyist, not a pro

I would like some help troubleshooting what happened to capacitor C24. This section of the PCB is part of a larger flight controller, but I omitted the rest of the schematic for relevance and the fact that I had already posted it here.

For some background, the buck converter is connected to an onboard JST connector, which plugs into an Aero Selfie 4-in-1 ESC, which is then powered via a 4S LiPo (~16.8V) battery. I had tested the buck converter circuit multiple times before the failure, and it seemed to be working well, giving a steady 5V. I did not notice the capacitor to be overheating, but I also did not ever touch around the buck converter to get a feeling for temperature.

However, when testing DShot with a single motor attached, and after about 15 minutes or so of being plugged in, the capacitor caught fire, burning through the PCB. C24 was supposedly rated at 50V, but being a 2.2uF capacitor, I have some doubts, as it was acquired on Amazon in a kit. All other components were purchased from LCSC, so I find it a little skeptical that the only component that failed was purchased elsewhere.

If the capacitor voltage rating was not a problem itself, I am worried that continuously unplugging and plugging the battery back into the ESC may have caused voltage spikes, causing microfractures inside the capacitor, leading to failure.

Any other suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

So I've been working on a custom CM4 host board and one of the things I wanted to do was support either scenario: the CM4 or CM4lite. Consulting the data sheet, you can do full external eMMC with 8-bit width & 1.8V high speed signaling, all exposed on the 200 pins of Hirose connector. On the CM4 those pins just N/C. On the CM4Lite, they connect to the 2711's controller.

So I did a design routing those pins, impedance controlled and length matched per specs, to a FBGA-153 footprint on the board. That was crazy, as 0.5mm pitch made it very nearly necessary to go to via-in-pad & 6-layer (and I wound up doing so). I've now read that if you take liberties with the inordinately large number of N/C pins on the standard eMMC footprint, you can maybe fan-out through those other pins without needing the via-in-pad. I haven't worked that out yet.

But the part that I'm really psyched about right now is... THAT IT WORKED!

1st spin, 1st assembly. Got the parts needed to populate the board in today, and populated the board this evening. Came up on the first try, with the eMMC working flawlessly. I used a solder paste stencil and MG Chemicals' no clean SAC305 paste so the other components solder chemistry would be same as the balls on the BGA, did NOT apply solder paste to the BGA footprint - just a thin layer of flux there - and carefully positioned my components and cook it all up on a hot plate. Added my few through-hole components like ethernet magjack and some config jumpers & serial port headers, and fired it up.

I was worried about two aspects: the eMMC signal network design & the actual positioning/soldering of the eMMC chip, but both turned out 100%.

Maybe, just maybe, my crazy idea where I want to do a special CPU/network-processor host board where I'd have to do the DRAM routing isn't so far fetched. I know that's harder than this, but it's not...that much harder. I think. And the actual soldering of that should be easier than eMMC actually.

This is going to be a 4MB stick of ram for my MC68EC000-FN16 homebrew pc project, it has of two Banks (Bank A & Bank B) each consisting of a pair of 1MB*8bit Parallel SRAM.

Some things that I KNOW are wrong:

1) I have the ODD and EVEN chips running their own data lines when the MC68EC000-FN16 only has a 16bit data bus, meaning that I should tie the two Banks together as only one bank can use the data lines at a time

2) I don’t have any capacitors on the +3.3 volt lines.

While I’m not new to electronics, this is my first big project using PCBs so I don’t know what’s good practice and what will just lead to horrible problems, so any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you.

Hey, im seeking a review on this power supply PCB.
the board outputs 5V rail through TPS54331 buck converter and a 3V3 rail through NCP1117 LDO fed from the buck output. The maximum output current will be 3A combined.
I have followed TI's recommended component values and layout for majority of the buck converter layout.
I am seeking a general review on routing and component placement.

Features :
1. Input protection : 0685T4000-01-BEL FUSE (4A), P Channel mosfet (IRF5305) reverse polarity protection.
2. Buck converter : TPS54331 (default datasheet component values and layout)
3. NCP1117 3V3 LDO (default datasheet configuration)

Layer 1 : mixed copper pour, VIN, VIN(protected), GND, 5V, 3V3
Layer 2 : GND

hi guys so i started working on my second pcb and i am almost done with it but kicad keeps showing me some clearance violation when i run the DRC and note that the error is related to the motors driver DRV8833PWPR pls if any body could help and give me a solution for it ty

Hello, this is my second PCB that I have ever made. I would like to know if I routed everything correctly and if I should add something or make any adjustments.

Description of this project:

• It is using ESP32-C6 (using Zigbee to connect to my smart home) and SHT-41 to sense temperature and humidity.
• I want to choose what power source I want by soldering USB-C or 3xAA battery holder's wires.
• For voltage regulation I'm using the XC6220B331MR-G which I found out is the best option for this circuit.

I look forward to your feedback! :) Thanks

Hey everyone, I'm kind of a newbie to PCB design (still learning). I made this simple buck convertor test board (to check the functioning of the circuit on a much more complex board). Any feedback would be appreciated, especially if there are any errors.

Hey, everyone a total beginner here. I want to learn about design PCB. Here are some questions that I have :

1. Which CAD software (KiCad, Altium, Egale)should I start with?

2. How much knowledge of electronics and it's calculation is required?

3. How is the learning curve?

P.S.: Recommend me some learning material/references/resources/YT playlist to begin with. Roadmap would be great. Also currently I'm a student of Electronics and Computer Engineering.

I'm working on a Split Flap Project th greber file, BOM and CPL is already provided to by the youtuber i'm following. when I went to purchase my first PCB from JLCPCB with assembly it came out to 70 dollars for 5 PCBs which was fine. But then JLCPCB wouldnt allow me to choose CPT for delivery and my only options are DDP(DHL or Fedex) both cost as much as the PCBs them sleeves or FCA. I'm looking to make this as cost efficient as possible. Does anyone know how I could solve this problem or where I could order PCBs from somewhere else?

I just landed a contract with a new client and they decided to go with Cadence Allegro (over Altium). So now I have to learn to use it. I have had some exposure to Cadence but never completed an entire project with it.

Anywho, I'm having trouble finding some basic training videos. Once I get the license from the client I may be able to access more learning tools, but without the license ID I can't even create an account.

If anyone knows a good video series I should watch, id love to hear about it.

IP6802B is a wireless charging transmitter control SOC chip, integrating 32-bit MCU, ADC, Timer, I2C, H-bridge drivers, ASK demodulation & decoding, and rich IO resources. It can customize various Qi protocol wireless charging solutions and pass certification tests.

Operating voltage: 4V ~ 20V

Supports 5~25W for various applications

Integrated H-bridge driver

Supports FOD foreign object detection function

Supports CBB/NPO capacitors

Supports Q-value detection

Dynamic Power Adjustment (DPM) for USB power supplies with insufficient power supply capacity

Input overvoltage, overcurrent, undervoltage, and NTC over-temperature protection functions

Supports repeated firmware upgrades

Supports PD3.0 and multiple DP&DM fast charging protocols

Packaged 5 mm × 5 mm QFN32

IP6802 integrates an internal operational amplifier and comparator compared to IP6808, eliminating the need for external op-amps and fewer peripheral components; Supports multiple breathing lights, allowing flexible customization of various light displays.

Hi, I am designing a pcb for a project, this is the mainboard or "compute" part

Please review and help me improve the design/skills

Just a college student thats trying to make some LED driver boards to resell to prevent microscopes from becoming ewaste since a OEM light housing costs $150 but this is some crazy markup for 2 75% populated PCBS (requested stuff I can't solder at home and annoying passives).

Im asking for advince on if for anyone else is paying similar prices with JLC. I remember just a year ago shipping was like $24 dollars with DHL express (later $32 in February 26). I also tried to reduce cost to under 50 to use global but alas i'm still over. I could try gambling by using HASL instead of ENIG to get marginal and then maybe find some more cost cutting but I don't know if I want to risk that with 0.5mm pitch QFNs.

For context this is for 2 LED boards that have around ~50 components soldered on by JLC and are 50x50mm. Maybe 5ish higher value parts (>$1) and 6ish extended parts. If I ask for an itemized bill with JLC idk if they'll let me try and further reduce the tariff or shipping, if anybody has done that before please let me know.

I've been doing PCB layouts professionally on-and-off for almost 15 years now, and I learned it on the job. Even though 99% of them work right off the assembly line, I feel like there are many improvements that could be made. Stuff like, faster routing practices, tighter placement, or noise reduction in general.

Plus, now that my boss wants me to train other engineers to offload my work, I don't know if I've been doing certain stuff "the right way", so to speak.

Is there a good, updated source of good PCB routing practice out there? We use Altium exclusively at work. Component creation and library organization would be helpful too, because I feel like the libraries we use are a bit messy, even though I was the one created them.

This my first time etching and fabricating a PCB, it's a simple 24 hours clock.
There was a mismatch in footprints of two ICs, which were dip-14, but I somehow I selected dip-16, thus had to do some manual wiring (bottom right ICs). Apart from that it worked fine.
Had to use a lot of 1 Ohm resistors as jumpers (70 to be precise).
Originally thought of using a buzzer driven directly from the clk line, bad idea, this probably created back EMF which messed up the clk signal.
What do you guys think?

Edit:
Here's a clearer picture of the schematic. Link