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All files on GitHub now updated…
Both schematics and now board layout. PLEASE give me some feedback 
THIS is Open Source. Not afraid to give-away the “secrets”…
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A couple quick thoughts…
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There are only a few people, at the most, who could do a review of your design and layout. Any of them having the free time to do so is going to be tough. It’s not a small job to do.
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With no component designators on your PCB renders it’s much, much harder to figure out your layout.
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Rendering the board at an angle makes it impossible to check your traces/planes in some places. IMO, if you’d like feedback on your layout then show the copper layers and component designator (silkscreen) layers separately and also together. Posting PDFs or high-res bitmaps of the Gerber files is best IMO.
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Most folks are encouraged to create and populate the board, test it, and then come here (or one of the VESC design groups) with specific questions if there are any problems. I’m hoping someone can indeed take a peek at your sch/pcb here though.
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Board size is 66mm x 76mm
(2.6 x 3.0 inches)
Thanks for the thoughts
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WAOUUUU… total
FEET ORIENTED CONTROL
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Hi Linsus.
I’m not an experienced pcb-designer, however you seem to be… If you look at the board-layout shown in pictures etc… Will something like this work at all?
If have located the buck-converter part on it’s own Island of GND. Is it a good idea?
Also power-stage and 12V gate drivers on their own island…
Op-amps for current sensing together with 3.3v cpu though.
Oh no. 0402s? So much for hand soldering this.
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I might consider 0603, as there seem to be some space left. Thanks for FB.
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OK, I think I figured it out on my own. The gnd-island-thing is BAD… Maybe it’s ok for the buck-converter-area, because no signals run through this area. But definitely bad with a split between power and logic, because current and voltage sensing signals are routed through power-area. Will have to change this.
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OK. The layout needs another iteration…
Just thinking out loud here…
Slowly realizing the challenge of 2-layer-design for a “power” board like this, and why you need an “uninterrupted” ground plane.
Basically, running both a 12v trace and a 3.3v trace straight across the ground plane is BAD. But this is what you’re forced to do in a 2-layer design.
So, I have to start considering moving to 4 layers, OR getting really creative.
Am I right here?
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Yes, I am right. This is a learning process…
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bruh, 0402 is fine!
If you have a layout that you’re happy with then I can have a look. If you can forward something I can review guess gerbers is the easiest, or if you feel ok with sharing the projectfile then that works too.
If theres some major stuff to be fixed then I wont go into nitpicking on small details until the big stuff is sorted tho
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Would running wires above/around the board solve the problem?
I realize it would not be elegant, but if elegance is the only issue, perhaps that’s a reasonable tradeoff to keep it simple and inexpensive.
bruh, 0402 is fine!
There’s a pretty wide variety of experience levels here. If room permits, 0603 is better.
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For what it’s worth, Shaman ended up paying some fancy EE design firm to review his layout. I’m far from an expert, but I’ve come to learn that board layout (aside from design/schematic) can be critical - particularly on boards that carry a lot of current and are subject to a lot of electrical noise - as these are.
I don’t mean to take anything away from any of the knowledgeable folks here, but I think most of us are somewhere on the EE hobbyist spectrum.
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So I’ve moved things around, changed some components - and stuff.
No more 0402. Everything is 0603 now.
I’ve paid a lot of attention to potential sources of noise, and even used ChatGPT4 for advice. Dear child has many names, but I will eventually settle on something reasonable.
I will be ordering a few boards for testing very soon.
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Thanks. I will provide you gerbers soon
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GITHUB has moved to:
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