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Next hardware rev. underway!

A project log for LZRTag - Flexible DIY Lasertag

An easy to build, program, modify and use AVR and ESP based Lasertag system for everyone!

xasinXasin 09/02/2019 at 19:540 Comments

Alright!
Seems that now that I am out of the confines of my last project (who made DShot and drone ESCs so damn uncooperative :S), things have been moving very smoothly!

As of today, I've already ordered enough components for 4 whole Lasertag sets off of DigiKey, with the PCBs following shortly, courtesy of Aisler.
If you want your own, you can find them right here: 
https://aisler.net/Xasin/xasworks-lzrtagpcb/mainboard-esp32

The whole thing has turned out a little more pricey than expected, with about 50€ worth of hardware per set, but this does include all sensors, batteries, speakers, etc., so it is a price I can accept!

Anyhow, enough talking, let's have a few pictures rolling in~

The backside
This side has been put chock full of any SMD, QFN and LGA components, making for easy hot air soldering, if you got it!
The front
Here we have all the beefy components - ESP, 1A 3.3V regulator, FT231 UART Bridge, etc. - get out your big soldering iron!

The new board is a thing of beauty - and not just because the first revision was pretty nice~

It features a self-programming setup instead of RST and GPIO0 push buttons (which turned out to be pretty annoying to use), a much bigger regulator than the previous version, as well as a thicker supply capacitor near the ESP32 to prevent WiFi Brownout at higher power.
We also have the MAX audio amp on-board now (though soldering a breakout board on is easy), a LSM6DS3 IMU to play hot potato with your device or detect crashes, and a beautiful new navigation switch to change your weapon selection mid-game. That's right, you can have your SMG AND a pistol!
Or ... Well, whatever.

There's also a little more protection like resistors to the external cable and a 3.3V ESD diode to make these boards tough as nails, and let's hope the new battery charge IC does not blow up like the previous ones did :S

Also, fun little side-note:
The ESP32's GPIO pins are now 100% maxed out! 
Buuut I bet you can squeeze in more pins if you're smart enough ... Somehow <.<
For now we don't need any of that - and if we do, we use a I2C expander :P

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