BOM and sourcing components

[mandreko]

Firstly, I love this project. Not just from it's sole purpose, but also for someone trying to learn electronic engineering better. I am studying the PCB to try to figure out how everything was done and the purpose of each yet.

I figured I'd start to build at least one of these. I created a BOM here: https://octopart.com/bom-tool/xXZMKVQA

The issues I have thus far, are:

1. Making sure everything on that BOM is correct.
2. Sourcing specific components that seem to be obsolete or not readily available.

Can you check that this BOM is correct, or supply one separately, to address issue 1?

For 2, I'm finding that SFH4346 is considered "obsolete" and not readily available anywhere that I can find. I think that SFH4546 might be a replacement, but I'm unsure. Additionally, trying to source the CH340C is tough as far as I can tell outside of LCSC. Is that where you got yours, or did you find it (or an alternative) elsewhere?

Thanks!

[thenicnet]

Just a heads up, the MIKROE-1120 is US Only from Mouser and DigiKey. Anyone outside the US might have to source a comparable battery.

[mandreko]

That's definitely a good note. I didn't specifically look for availability per country, but it's likely wise. I imagine there's a similar battery for other countries, but we may have to search for it some more.

[CoretechR]

Hi @mandreko , I've added a BOM to the project now: https://github.com/CoretechR/OMOTE/blob/main/PCB/BOM.csv These are the parts that I ordered when I built the remote. Maybe you can check that against your list. The IR LED should not be an issue. You can probably use any 3mm IR LED.

[retorquere]

If anyone in Europe is looking to sell an assembled one, I'm interested.

[syntaxerr66]

For those trying to source the CH340C, I just ordered some from this aliexpress vendor. Fingers crossed they're legit and work, but it was only $8 total, so it's worth a shot.

Ali express store for CH340C

[bjoerns1983]

If anyone would sell assembled PCB's i would be interested. 3D Printing is not a problem. Love the Idea of an remote you could also use for MQTT!

[moserja]

Did R1,R38,R39,R40 get removed? I don't see them in the BOM.csv file.

[CoretechR]

Did R1,R38,R39,R40 get removed? I don't see them in the BOM.csv file.

@moserja Good that you noticed, R37 was missing as well. Should be fixed now.

[dekiesel]

Is there any way to subscribe to see when somebody decided to sell a ready made pcb (in the EU)? I'd love to have one of those, but my attempts at smt soldering have been very fruitless so far.

[CoretechR]

@dekiesel If something comes up, I will definitely post it on Hackaday.io and Twitter.

[JediMongoose]

I'd also be very interested in buying an assembled PCB.. had a look on tindie.com, but nothing yet :)

[mandreko]

@JediMongoose Give it a couple weeks, and there likely will. I’ll be at least buying components for enough boards to put up there in small quantities. (US based)

[JediMongoose]

@JediMongoose Give it a couple weeks, and there likely will. I’ll be at least buying components for enough boards to put up there in small quantities. (US based)

I ended up here due to the hackaday feature (https://hackaday.com/2023/07/15/hackaday-prize-2023-omote-universal-remote/) - I'm sure there'll be more :smile:

[hypercube33]

I'm doing a struggle to see if I can get PCB's made and see how impossible this is to solder myself. I've never done more than through-hole so this should be interesting. I have an immediate need for at least 2 of these, ideally expanding them with a hub when that is finalized. Also would love to help in any way! My life is a void now that Logi dropped Harmony.

[mandreko]

If it’s helpful, I’ve purchased the PCBs and components for about 10x remotes. Once they come in, I’m more than happy to build some for others. I enjoy soldering.

[ramonflores08]

I would do the same but don't have the funds to buy so many 😕

[Dark1886]

I will also have a few boards that I will have left over, but they will not have the screen or battery installed. Those are easy additions though.

[ramonflores08]

I will have 4 pcbs left over from the batch I ordered.if someone wants one and is willing to buy the components I can solder them.

I'm from the US

[Wolverine-14]

I will have 4 pcbs left over from the batch I ordered. if someone wants one and is willing to buy the components I can solder them.

I would be interested.

I'm also in the US. what would be the best way to contact you?

[tnph]

If it’s helpful, I’ve purchased the PCBs and components for about 10x remotes. Once they come in, I’m more than happy to build some for others. I enjoy soldering.

I'm interested in buying a populated PCB, and willing to pay in advance if required. I live in Sydney, Australia if you're willing to post to Aus

[dekiesel]

It would be helpful if the people that are offering to help others would say where they are located.

[GaryTill]

I'm also in Australia if anyone is selling partially or fully assembled PCBs.

Or if anyone has uploaded it to PCBWAY or another service?

[demartinoj]

I will have 4 pcbs left over from the batch I ordered.if someone wants one and is willing to buy the components I can solder them.

I'm from the US

Hey! I'm located in the US and am happy to buy a pcb in whatever state it is currently in so no additional work for you. I'm happy to source and populate whatever components aren't already there.

Thanks so much! Feel free to dm me!

Amazing project by the way!!!

[bjoerns1983]

Anyone has already ordered the PCB from JLCPCB? Are there any special settings to be made, or just trhowing in the gerber.zip for PCB and Stencil and you are done?

[ramonflores08]

I ordered them from jlcpcb, I should get them today. I will let you know how it goes. I didn't add any special settings, and got the stencil as well as the pcbs.

[bjoerns1983]

Great, looking forward to hear from you

[mandreko]

Anyone has already ordered the PCB from JLCPCB? Are there any special settings to be made, or just trhowing in the gerber.zip for PCB and Stencil and you are done?

I did nothing special. I just have them the gerber file and they look perfect. I’ll be soldering them once my last component arrives soon.

[bjoerns1983]

Looks good. Are there any services where you can order the other parts supplying them the BOM or did you order every parts seperately? Maybe letting JLCPCB solder at least one side would also be an idea.

[mandreko]

I ordered from Newark, Mouser, Digikey, Adafruit, and one part from AliExpress (the one I’m waiting for). I used octopart to identify the cheapest part locations. I used this BOM that I made from the official BOM: https://octopart.com/bom-tool/xXZMKVQA

[Dark1886]

Single sided soldering at JLCPCB could be pretty good guidance for most since it allows for many of the small components to be added and only requiring the buttons to be soldered on later. Although I noticed when I entered my parts into JLCPCB that many of the parts didn't have the correct orientation or placement, so you need to be very careful before ordering.

[bjoerns1983]

Checked it with JLCPCB and i dont think that you can have them to solder the PCB for you. The Problem is that they solder the ESP only with their standard service, gut that requires a min 70mm width PCB.

[GaryTill]

PCBWay are telling me it can be done, double sided assembly, they can source parts if needed, very good price and a decent discount for first time customers, but gotta get 5 done as a minimum I believe.

[bjoerns1983]

Wasnt PCBWay also the guys with the shared project feature?

[Dark1886]

@bjoerns1983 You can have JLPCB source and solder the components to the board for you, either single or double sided. If the board width is too thin they will add additional breakaway tabs to the side to meet the minimum spec.

[GaryTill]

I decided to give it a shot myself rather than getting it pre-assembled and have ordered 10 boards a paste stencil and components to build up a couple of units.

Haven't done a more complex board like this myself for about 10 years so I have to buy some new gear and drink less coffee but after looking over the board it looks like just a small hotplate will do and it shouldn't be too hard.

[mandreko]

I also bought separate components to diy. I’ll have to check the price breakdown but I feel like it’s much more expensive to diy for some reason.

[Shad0wPhax]

I will have 4 pcbs left over from the batch I ordered.if someone wants one and is willing to buy the components I can solder them.

I'm from the US

I'm interested, I'm in the US as well. Let me know how to best contact you.

Thanks!

[tnph]

I have a similar experience to Dark1886 trying to order a fully populated PCB from JLCPCB, several components incorrectly positioned/orientated. eg J2 TFT header was 180 degrees rotated and a long way from the solder pads. Q1,3,4,5 diodes were 180 rotated, also some capacitors seem to be 180 rotated (I'm assuming the SMT ones have a polarity?).

I was wondering if anyone had successfully ordered from JLCPCB and had an order they could share?

Example of Q4 180 rotated:

[gacekk]

I will also have a few boards that I will have left over, but they will not have the screen or battery installed. Those are easy additions though.

Interested in EU

[Dark1886]

I have a similar experience to Dark1886 trying to order a fully populated PCB from JLCPCB, several components incorrectly positioned/orientated. eg J2 TFT header was 180 degrees rotated and a long way from the solder pads. Q1,3,4,5 diodes were 180 rotated, also some capacitors seem to be 180 rotated (I'm assuming the SMT ones have a polarity?).

I was wondering if anyone had successfully ordered from JLCPCB and had an order they could share?

Example of Q4 180 rotated:

I did just receive my boards from JLCPCB, I can try to share my order if that is an option on the site. I had to check orientations and position of all components just to make sure it came back as expected.

[mandreko]

If it's helpful to anyone, I had PCBWay do a quote for 20x boards with components and assembly (minus 2 parts I couldn't find in their database). It was $1,698.31 USD for the 20x, or roughly $85 per board. My previous statement about DIY being more expensive is incorrect now with their updated quote.

[GaryTill]

Got a package of 10 PCBs and components to get started on a couple of units today. Probably wont be actually assembling for a few weeks but I will have some bare boards leftover if anyone in Australia wants some for the cost of shipping.

[Dark1886]

@mandreko Have you built up one of these boards yet? I noticed that the connector on the MIKROE-1120 battery does not actually match what the bom calls out for the on-board battery connector. The part on the board will need to be changed or a connector modification may be needed to use correctly.

[mandreko]

@mandreko Have you built up one of these boards yet? I noticed that the connector on the MIKROE-1120 battery does not actually match what the bom calls out for the on-board battery connector. The part on the board will need to be changed or a connector modification may be needed to use correctly.

I have not yet. I'm still waiting on my CH340C to arrive :(

I did go through my box of components, and you're absolutely right. I completely missed the connector type! The MIKROE-1120 uses the JST-XHP-2 connector, and our OMOTE connector needs a JST-PHR-2 connector. Those definitely won't match.

I suspect that the easiest things would be:

1. Return the battery and order a new one with JST-PHR-2
2. Modify the battery's connector to be a JST-PHR-2 with a crimping set

I can't really return my current batteries, so I guess I'll be going with option 2. I luckily have some PH2 connectors here that should hopefully work. If you are able to return yours, I think one of these may be an option for US:

• https://www.amazon.com/2000mAh-Battery-Rechargeable-Lithium-Connector/dp/B07S75L945
• https://www.amazon.com/2000mAh-123545-Lithium-Rechargeable-Connector/dp/B0C2KMHD5H

For outside the US, you may have to search in your local retailers.

[ramonflores08]

I just soldered the battery to the pads directly. Guess that's option 3

[tnph]

Just thought people might be interested to know I just ordered 5 fully populated boards (minus batteries and TFT displays) from PCBWAY and it came to $228.58 AUD which is $145.71 USD. I got a $30 discount for my first order and another $5 discount voucher which randomly popped-up! Seems reasonable...

I too am concerned re component position and orientation so asked them to confirm with me before assembly, and they replied with "We will match component with BOM and board before production. And send you sample picture for confirmation before production".. so I'm a little more confident now..!

[MikRED97]

I will also have a few boards that I will have left over, but they will not have the screen or battery installed. Those are easy additions though.

@Dark1886 If you have any preassembled boards available shoot me an email. Otherwise if someone in the US has any or is going to put some boards together I'd be interested in one.

[mandreko]

I've also now found that the USB ports in my Octopart BOM are incorrect. Without waiting a long time for China to ship, I found that the specific USB adapter (TYPE-C-31-M-12) appears to be used by mechanical keyboard enthusiasts and I grabbed a few from here: https://keeb.io/products/usb-c-port-12-pin-hro-type-c-31-m-12

The pricing is likely still better if you go from a major distributor, but for US-based shipping, that was the quickest way I could find last night.

[ramonflores08]

I got the USB port from Mouser. Not much cheaper, but might help.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/640-USB4105-GF-A

[tnph]

I really want this project to be a success! On order are 5 fully populated PCBs from PCBWAY "build time 23-25 days".. So far all I have in my possession is one TFT screen and one LiPo battery from (Little Bird Electronics Australia) ...and I'm already excited!

Hoping to replace these :-) (at least the major functions)