Quarter Inch Squared BLE beacon

The boards arrived from PCBWay! They actually arrived a few weeks ago already, but I got caught up in the software side of things (ch32fun is awesome!) so I did not have time to test them yet. They were kindly sponsored by PCBWay so I could have a look at the build quality at least, next log will be a test with firmware loaded on them.

They look really awesome and are tiny! The build quality looks solid, the silkscreen lines blended together a bit which created a very nice look on this particular design, so I'm very happy with it.

Solder is all in the right places from first glance, and I was a bit afraid that I put the board edges a bit too tight for the tolerances in the manufacturing process (especially around the antenna), but that turned out great as well.

You can really easily order these for yourselves as well, just go to the project page on PCBWay and place an order, either with assembly, or if you feel brave do only PCB.

Version 1 of the PCB is finished, and I ordered the first batch on PCBWay which they kindly offered to sponsor! I'll be doing a review of the boards when they arrive.

I've changed the MCU from CH592 to CH591, since they were a lot cheaper! The BOM is now around $0.5 in quantity 20 to 30, depending a bit on which fab house you choose. The final PCB is only 11x11 mm, which is probably maybe the smallest BLE module on the planet :)

The repository https://github.com/biemster/qible is updated with the latest Gerbers, but the easiest is to go to https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Tiny_BLE_Beacon_11x11mm_d2e8fc11.html and just add it to you cart (don't forget to change PCB only to PCB+assembly).