Star tracker gears
About the Star tracker gears PCB
Star tracker gears is an open source ESP32 PCB design by MikeMontana1968, published on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board measuring 150 × 100 mm, with 68 components from 45 distinct parts.
Its main chip is the ESP32 L, from the ESP32 family. Other key parts include the LM2596T-5.0. By type, the board carries 19 resistors, 16 capacitors, 15 connectors, 5 transistors, 3 jumpers and 3 LEDs.
It belongs with the iot & wireless designs in this gallery.
From the project
Sidereal star tracker: a 2048:1 printed gearbox, an ESP32 controller that runs a GoPro night lapse unattended, and a through-hole PCB generated from Python.
A standalone device that turns a camera at one revolution per sidereal day (86164.0905 s) for wide-field astrophotography. It wakes at dusk, configures and starts a GoPro HERO6 night lapse, tracks until dawn, stops the camera, and rewinds ready for the next night.
1. Print scratch/BEARINGGAUGEpockets.stl, set $BrgFit, then print the tower. 2. Print pinion.stl + the two bore variants next to stage.stl; keep the one that slides onto the NEMA17 shaft without force. 3. Build the polar wedge. Before** the gearbox — see §2 below.
Main components on the Star tracker gears
Star tracker gears bill of materials (BOM)
68 components, 45 distinct parts — part numbers from the project's BOM.
| Qty | Part | Footprint | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LM2596T-5.0 | TO-220-5_P3.4x3.7mm_StaggerOdd_Lead3.8mm_Vertical | U2 |
| 2 | IRF4905 | TO-220-3_Vertical | Q1, Q2 |
| 2 | 2N3904 | TO-92_Inline_Wide | Q3, Q5 |
| 1 | 2N3906 | TO-92_Inline_Wide | Q4 |
| 1 | 12V IN | TerminalBlock_MaiXu_MX126-5.0-02P_1x02_P5.00mm | J1 |
| 1 | CAM USB-A | USB_A_Wuerth_614004134726_Horizontal | J2 |
| 1 | CAM 5V | TerminalBlock_MaiXu_MX126-5.0-02P_1x02_P5.00mm | J3 |
| 1 | MOTOR | TerminalBlock_MaiXu_MX126-5.0-04P_1x04_P5.00mm | J4 |
| 1 | DIAG | PinHeader_1x02_P2.54mm_Vertical | J5 |
| 1 | DS3231 | PinSocket_1x06_P2.54mm_Vertical | J6 |
| 1 | AS5600 | PinHeader_1x05_P2.54mm_Vertical | J7 |
| 1 | HOME | PinHeader_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical | J8 |
| 1 | GPS | PinHeader_1x05_P2.54mm_Vertical | J9 |
| 1 | I2C EXP | PinHeader_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical | J10 |
| 1 | SPARE IO | PinHeader_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical | J11 |
| 1 | ESP32 L | PinSocket_1x15_P2.54mm_Vertical | J20 |
| 1 | ESP32 R | PinSocket_1x15_P2.54mm_Vertical | J21 |
| 1 | TMC2209 L | PinSocket_1x08_P2.54mm_Vertical | J30 |
| 1 | TMC2209 R | PinSocket_1x08_P2.54mm_Vertical | J31 |
| 1 | 3A | Fuseholder_Clip-5x20mm_Littelfuse_111_Inline_P20.00x5.00mm_D1.05mm_Horizontal | F1 |
Show 25 more
| Qty | Part | Footprint | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PDN ALT | PinHeader_1x02_P2.54mm_Vertical | JP3 |
| 1 | MS1 | PinHeader_1x03_P2.54mm_Vertical | JP4 |
| 1 | MS2 | PinHeader_1x03_P2.54mm_Vertical | JP5 |
| 1 | CONFIG | SW_PUSH_6mm | SW1 |
| 1 | GRN 5V | LED_D3.0mm | LED1 |
| 1 | GRN CAM | LED_D3.0mm | LED2 |
| 1 | RED ST | LED_D3.0mm | LED3 |
| 1 | 1N4744A 15V | D_DO-41_SOD81_P2.54mm_Vertical_CathodeUp | D1 |
| 1 | P6KE20CA | D_DO-15_P3.81mm_Vertical_AnodeUp | D2 |
| 1 | 1N5822 | D_DO-201AD_P5.08mm_Vertical_CathodeUp | D3 |
| 1 | 33uH 3A | L_Radial_D12.0mm_P5.00mm_Fastron_11P | L1 |
| 1 | 470uF/25V | CP_Radial_D10.0mm_P5.00mm | C1 |
| 10 | 100nF | C_Disc_D5.0mm_W2.5mm_P2.50mm | C2, C4, C6, C8, C10, C12, C13, C15 +2 |
| 1 | 470uF/25V LowESR | CP_Radial_D10.0mm_P5.00mm | C3 |
| 1 | 220uF/25V LowESR | CP_Radial_D10.0mm_P5.00mm | C5 |
| 1 | 100uF/16V | CP_Radial_D8.0mm_P3.50mm | C7 |
| 1 | 100uF/10V | CP_Radial_D8.0mm_P3.50mm | C9 |
| 1 | 100uF/25V LowESR | CP_Radial_D10.0mm_P5.00mm | C11 |
| 7 | 10k | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R1, R3, R4, R9, R13, R16, R18 |
| 4 | 1k | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R2, R6, R7, R17 |
| 2 | 100k | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R5, R19 |
| 1 | 330R | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R8 |
| 3 | 4.7k | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R10, R11, R12 |
| 1 | 100k 1% | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R14 |
| 1 | 18k 1% | R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P2.54mm_Vertical | R15 |
Star tracker gears design files
The KiCad project lives in the MikeMontana1968/star-tracker-gears repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.
Star tracker gears: common questions
What microcontroller does the Star tracker gears use?
The Star tracker gears is built around the ESP32 L, from the ESP32 family.
How big is the Star tracker gears PCB?
The Star tracker gears measures 150 × 100 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.
How many components are on the Star tracker gears?
68 components, from 45 distinct parts, with part numbers taken from the project's own BOM. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.
Where can I download the Star tracker gears design files?
From the MikeMontana1968/star-tracker-gears repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout, the schematic and the BOM; the links under Design files point to each one.
Can I use the Star tracker gears design in my own project?
The repository has no license, so all rights stay with MikeMontana1968. Use it as a reference, and ask the author before reusing the design.
Can I test firmware for the Star tracker gears 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.
Similar boards
ESP32Open Book Abridged Edition
joeycastillo
85 × 115 mm65 parts2LCC-BY-SA-4.08.1k
ESP32Badge
atopile
56.3 × 39 mm239 parts4LMIT4.0k
ESP32Esp32 minimal
36.2 × 26.8 mm20 parts2LMIT4.0k
ESP32Racer
StuckAtPrototype
36 × 50.2 mm70 parts4LApache-2.03.8k
ESP32Controller
29 × 74 mm58 parts4LApache-2.03.8k
ESP32Bitaxe
skot
56.5 × 99.8 mm86 parts4LCERN-OHL-S-2.01.4k