ESP8266 Community Forum

Nice

One thing : how about thermal reliefs on the top layer groundplane? A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb
e.g. http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0168_tomb/

Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

Edit : ohh and i see vias in pads , I wouldn't do that. The vias ,unless they are tented (cheap but bad) or plugged (expensive but good) will suck away the solder

To be FCC'able they need a shield, a local regulator, a fixed antenna, and proper labeling.... and a better layout I am sure some chinese company is working on it and will make $0.50 profit from them, so just keep patient.

I am working on one, but its more than just a module like everyone is looking for.... and my company is in North America and we need more than $0.50 to live....

Thanks.

Claude wrote:Nice
A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb

this is < 2cm² PCB only, hmm

Claude wrote:Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

well, the module size (just ignore Eagle dimensions layer size) is 11.8x15mm. One can make it always bigger.

Claude wrote:will suck away the solder

originally they used plugged 10mil vias.

I forgot to mention, original designn is 0.8mm FR4

Claude wrote:One thing : how about thermal reliefs on the top layer groundplane? A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb
e.g. http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0168_tomb/

No, it won't, at least on such a small PCB. Thermal relief are helpful on much bigger PCBs with large copper areas, and when using TH components. All Chinese manufacturers I know of are not using thermal relief for SMT, especially on small PCBs, I was even asked to remove them!

Claude wrote:Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

No, it won't: these PCBs will be panelized anyway, so it doesn't matter if the components are close to the board edge. It won't cost a dime more, actually.

Edit : ohh and i see vias in pads , I wouldn't do that. The vias ,unless they are tented (cheap but bad) or plugged (expensive but good) will suck away the solder[/quote]
They ware probably plugged. If you do 4-layer PCB, they are not that expensive.