HardLabs

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit

lhr-solar·VCAT-VehicleControlUnit·Hardware/VehicleControlUnit.kicad_pcb

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit PCB layout, top view — open source ESP32 board by lhr-solar

About the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit PCB

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit is an open source ESP32 PCB design by lhr-solar, published on GitHub under the MIT license. It is a 2-layer board measuring 86.6 × 71.8 mm, with 122 components from 47 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the ESP32-C6-MINI-1/U, from the ESP32 family. Other key parts include the LM74502HDDFR, TPS2115ADRBR and LT1963AEST-3.3#TRPBF. By type, the board carries 52 resistors, 24 LEDs, 22 capacitors, 11 diodes, 6 transistors and 4 ICs.

It belongs with the power & battery designs in this gallery.

From the project

Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) for the 2026 Longhorn Racing Solar car

This will place you in a nix shell with all needed dependencies. After the first time, you only need to run the below command to enter the nix shell.

To compile production firmware, simply run:

Test files are located in test/ and must have the prefix test or else the test won't compile correctly. If you want to run the blinky test, which is located in tests/blinkytest.c` you will run

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit

LM74502HDDFRTPS2115ADRBRLT1963AEST-3.3#TRPBFESP32-C6-MINI-1/U

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit bill of materials (BOM)

122 components, 47 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
LM74502HDDFR
IC1
1
TPS2115ADRBR
U2
1
LT1963AEST-3.3#TRPBF
U3
1
ESP32-C6-MINI-1/U
U4
4
IRLML0030
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4
2
NVMFWS1D7N04XMT1G
Q5, Q6
2
LED
Con1, Con2
1
USB_C_Receptacle_USB2.0_16P
J6
2
HB
LV1, LV17
1
FLASH
LV2
1
ERR
LV3
1
BLE
LV4
1
PC
LV5
2
PT
LV6, LV23
1
ST
LV7
1
MF
LV8
1
BF
LV9
1
SWOC
LV10
1
MW
LV11
1
HALL
LV12
Show 27 more
QtyPartRefs
1
LED1
LV13
1
LED2
LV14
1
LED3
LV15
1
LED4
LV16
1
Regen
LV18
1
Cruise
LV19
1
Safe
LV20
2
Driving
LV21, LV22
1
LED
LVPWR1
2
TVS
D1, D2
1
1N5819HW-7-F
D3
1
SP0503BAHT
D4
4
PWR
D5, D6, D7, D8
2
D
D9, D10
1
SMAF4758A
D11
11
0.1u
C1, C2, C6, C7, C9, C11, C13, C15 +3
6
10u
C3, C4, C5, C8, C17, C18
4
1u
C10, C12, C14, C20
1
220n
C16
24
1k
R1, R15, R24, R32, R33, R34, R35, R36 +16
13
10k
R2, R8, R10, R11, R12, R13, R17, R18 +5
2
5.1k
R3, R4
1
450
R5
7
120
R6, R7, R9, R16, R19, R20, R21
3
4.3k
R14, R25, R31
1
200k
R29
1
9k
R30

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit design files

The KiCad project lives in the lhr-solar/VCAT-VehicleControlUnit repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

VCAT-VehicleControlUnit: common questions

What microcontroller does the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit use?

The VCAT-VehicleControlUnit is built around the ESP32-C6-MINI-1/U, from the ESP32 family.

How big is the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit PCB?

The VCAT-VehicleControlUnit measures 86.6 × 71.8 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit?

122 components, from 47 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit design files?

From the lhr-solar/VCAT-VehicleControlUnit repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit design in my own project?

Yes, under the terms of its MIT license, which lhr-solar chose for the repository.

Can I test firmware for the VCAT-VehicleControlUnit 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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