HardLabs

Herox

arfanbabaucoder·Herox·PCB/Herox.kicad_pcb

Herox PCB layout, top view — open source Nordic nRF board by arfanbabaucoder

About the Herox PCB

Herox is an open source Nordic nRF PCB design by arfanbabaucoder, published on GitHub. It is a 4-layer board measuring 435.6 × 141.2 mm, with 348 components from 135 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the Seeeduino XIAO nRF52840, from the Nordic nRF family. Other key parts include the TCA9555DW / ROW DRIVE, TCA9555DW / COLUMN SENSE, MAX17048G+T10 FUEL GAUGE, DRV2605L HAPTIC DRIVER and 74LVC1G125GW,125. By type, the board carries 109 LEDs, 104 switches, 104 diodes, 9 resistors, 7 capacitors and 5 ICs.

It belongs with the keyboards and iot & wireless designs in this gallery.

From the project

A fully advanced full size keeb

HeroX is my custom full-size mechanical keyboard project, built around a Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840.

so basically i wanted a full-size board that could do Bluetooth and normal USB, but i also wanted to go further than just switches on a PCB.. per-key RGB, haptics, a media knob, battery tracking, multiple Bluetooth profiles, a proper 4-layer board and a custom case. i designed the electronics in KiCad, worked on the case in Fusion 360 and put together the firmware side too, which turned into a much bigger rabbit hole than expected lol

Main components on the Herox

TCA9555DW / ROW DRIVETCA9555DW / COLUMN SENSEMAX17048G+T10 FUEL GAUGEDRV2605L HAPTIC DRIVER74LVC1G125GW,125Seeeduino XIAO nRF52840

Herox bill of materials (BOM)

348 components, 135 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
TCA9555DW / ROW DRIVE
U1
1
TCA9555DW / COLUMN SENSE
U2
1
MAX17048G+T10 FUEL GAUGE
U3
1
DRV2605L HAPTIC DRIVER
U4
1
74LVC1G125GW,125
U5
1
Seeeduino XIAO nRF52840
A1
1
PROTECTED Li-Po 3.7V
J1
1
LRA ACTUATOR
J2
1
LOW-POWER DISPLAY
J3
1
AMBIENT SENSOR / EXPANSION
J4
1
SWD DEBUG
J5
1
MEDIA ENCODER
ENC1
1
PTC 1.1A
F1
1
0ZCJ0050FF2G
PTC 0.5A / USB RGB
F2
1
Esc
SW1
1
F1
SW2
1
F2
SW3
1
F3
SW4
1
F4
SW5
1
F5
SW6
Show 115 more
QtyPartRefs
1
F6
SW7
1
F7
SW8
1
F8
SW9
1
F9
SW10
1
F10
SW11
1
F11
SW12
1
F12
SW13
1
PrtSc
SW14
1
Scroll
SW15
1
Pause
SW16
1
`~
SW17
1
1!
SW18
1
2@
SW19
1
3#
SW20
1
4$
SW21
1
5%
SW22
1
6^
SW23
1
7&
SW24
1
8*
SW25
1
9(
SW26
1
0)
SW27
1
-_
SW28
1
=+
SW29
1
Backspace
SW30
1
Insert
SW31
1
Home
SW32
1
PgUp
SW33
1
Num
SW34
1
/
SW35
1
*
SW36
1
-
SW37
1
Tab
SW38
1
Q
SW39
1
W
SW40
1
E
SW41
1
R
SW42
1
T
SW43
1
Y
SW44
1
U
SW45
1
I
SW46
1
O
SW47
1
P
SW48
1
[{
SW49
1
]}
SW50
1
\|
SW51
1
Delete
SW52
1
End
SW53
1
PgDn
SW54
1
7
SW55
1
8
SW56
1
9
SW57
1
+
SW58
1
Caps
SW59
1
A
SW60
1
S
SW61
1
D
SW62
1
F
SW63
1
G
SW64
1
H
SW65
1
J
SW66
1
K
SW67
1
L
SW68
1
;:
SW69
1
'"
SW70
1
Enter
SW71
1
4
SW72
1
5
SW73
1
6
SW74
1
LShift
SW75
1
Z
SW76
1
X
SW77
1
C
SW78
1
V
SW79
1
B
SW80
1
N
SW81
1
M
SW82
1
,<
SW83
1
.>
SW84
1
/?
SW85
1
RShift
SW86
1
Up
SW87
1
1
SW88
1
2
SW89
1
3
SW90
1
NEnter
SW91
1
LCtrl
SW92
1
LWin
SW93
1
LAlt
SW94
1
Space
SW95
1
RAlt
SW96
1
RWin
SW97
1
Menu
SW98
1
RCtrl
SW99
1
Left
SW100
1
Down
SW101
1
Right
SW102
1
0
SW103
1
.
SW104
1
HARD POWER
SWP1
104
SK6812MINI-E
LED1, LED2, LED3, LED4, LED5, LED6, LED7, LED8 +96
2
XL-1608UGC-04 GREEN
LED105, LED106
3
LTST-C193TBKT-5A BLUE
LED107, LED108, LED109
104
1N4148W
D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8 +96
1
100n U1
C1
1
100n U2
C2
1
10u BAT
C3
1
10u MCU
C4
1
47u RGB
C5
1
1u DRV REG
C6
1
100nF X7R
C7
1
4.7k SDA
R1
1
4.7k SCL
R2
1
10k INT
R3
5
1k STATUS
R4, R5, R6, R7, R8
1
33R
R12

Herox design files

The KiCad project lives in the arfanbabaucoder/Herox repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Herox: common questions

What microcontroller does the Herox use?

The Herox is built around the Seeeduino XIAO nRF52840, from the Nordic nRF family.

How big is the Herox PCB?

The Herox measures 435.6 × 141.2 mm, has 4 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Herox?

348 components, from 135 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Herox design files?

From the arfanbabaucoder/Herox repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Herox design in my own project?

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

Can I test firmware for the Herox without the hardware?

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

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