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Plant as button

AlBarbe·Plant-as-button-PCB

Plant as button PCB layout, top view — open source ESP32 board by AlBarbe

About the Plant as button PCB

Plant as button is an open source ESP32 PCB design by AlBarbe, published on GitHub. It is a 4-layer board measuring 77.1 × 71 mm, with 58 components from 23 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2, from the ESP32 family. Other key parts include the AP63205WU-7, TPS2116DRL, AP63203WU-7 and CP2102-GMR. By type, the board carries 22 capacitors, 20 resistors, 5 ICs, 5 transistors, 2 connectors and 2 diodes.

It belongs with the power & battery and dev boards & breakouts designs in this gallery.

From the project

My first PCB design

Wouldn't be cool to use as a plant a touch sensor? Now it has a proper board to live on. This repo hosts the hardware side of the project — the companion firmware (the code that actually reads the plant's touch) lives in Plant-as-button.

This is my first PCB design, done in KiCad 9. The idea was to give the plant-as-button concept a real, standalone board instead of a breadboard: an ESP32-S3 module, its own power supply, and a driver stage so the "button" can actually control something (an RGBWW LED strip) when the plant is touched.

Main components on the Plant as button

AP63205WU-7TPS2116DRLAP63203WU-7ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2CP2102-GMR

Plant as button bill of materials (BOM)

58 components, 23 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
AP63205WU-7
U1
1
TPS2116DRL
U2
1
AP63203WU-7
U3
1
ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2
U4
1
CP2102-GMR
U5
5
AO3400A
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5
1
Screw_Terminal_01x02
J1
1
Screw_Terminal_01x06
J2
1
SMBJ15CA
D1
1
TPD4E05U06DQAR
D2
2
4.7μH
L1, L2
4
10μF
C1, C3, C9, C14
1
MA25V220M6X8
C2
9
100nF
C4, C5, C10, C13, C16, C17, C19, C20 +1
5
22μF
C6, C7, C11, C12, C21
1
47μF
C8
2
1μF
C15, C18
2
5.1KΩ
R1, R2
2
24KΩ
R3, R4
1
10KΩ
R5
Show 3 more
QtyPartRefs
3
0Ω
R6, R7, R8
7
22Ω
R9, R10, R12, R14, R16, R18, R20
5
100KΩ
R11, R13, R15, R17, R19

Plant as button design files

The KiCad project lives in the AlBarbe/Plant-as-button-PCB repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Plant as button: common questions

What microcontroller does the Plant as button use?

The Plant as button is built around the ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2, from the ESP32 family.

How big is the Plant as button PCB?

The Plant as button measures 77.1 × 71 mm, has 4 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Plant as button?

58 components, from 23 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Plant as button design files?

From the AlBarbe/Plant-as-button-PCB repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Plant as button design in my own project?

The repository has no license, so all rights stay with AlBarbe. Use it as a reference, and ask the author before reusing the design.

Can I test firmware for the Plant as button without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug ESP32 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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