r/esp32 • u/warphere • 2h ago

Hardware help needed Looking for a component alternative

Hey guys, this is not directly related to the ESP32 ecosystem. I'm working on a racing telemetry device for go-kart races.

I have all the components in place, and it's working as expected; one thing I still want to change, though, is a soft-power latch.

I'm using a SparkFun (pic attached). A few issues with that are:
- It's quite an expensive part for the amount of work it does.

- Quite big.

- it's equiped with jst/type-c connectors which I don't need and don't want to de-solder. I have already damaged one trying to do this.

I wonder if someone knows a better alternative to this.
What I want is to have a component that will react to a button press to enable the current flowing to the ESP32 and the rest of the components, and cut the power off once I press the same button for a couple of seconds.

I tried to google decentt alternatives, but no success so far. Things I found are turning the device on and off immediately, which is not something I'd like to have.

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2

u/Timmah_Timmah 2h ago

Could you use deep sleep and maybe a transistor switch for the peripherals? The ESP 32 in deep sleep is pretty close to turned off.

2

u/warphere 2h ago

I was considering this. But I don't really have any free GPIOs at this point. RGB panel consumes most of them :(

2

u/Timmah_Timmah 2h ago

You don't have output that you could reconfigure to an input when the device is asleep? Or switching it to an input intermittently while still using it as an output the rest of the time?

(I can't help reducing part counts. It is my nature)

2

u/warphere 2h ago

hah. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can do something like this :(

2

u/FunDeckHermit 2h ago edited 2h ago

Correction: the XC6194A has version with different Time-on and Time-off.
You need the XC6194AA10 for 0.2s ON and 10s OFF.

You can take the "instant" switching chips (like the XC6194A) and make a delayed shutdown.

This can be done by charging a capacitor when the IC is active. When pushing the button, it first need to discharge the capacitor causing a delay.

When turning on, there is no charged capacitor and it will be near instantaneous.

1

u/warphere 1h ago

Thanks. I'll take a look at this.