Difference between revisions of "Sourcing ZeroPhone parts"

Revision as of 01:07, 14 November 2017

This page is work-in-progress, not all the components are added - so don't yet use this page to make an order.

If you see broken links or have other improvements to suggest but don't have a ZeroPhone Wiki account, please let us know at wiki at zerophone org , or in ZeroPhone PCB GitHub issues!

PCBs

ZeroPhone Gamma PCBs panelized with mod boards, as ordered from DirtyPCBs

The last stable PCB release is Gamma release, with files available here.

Sourcing PCBs can be easily done using one of the various hobbyist-grade PCB houses. The PCBs you need are:

Describing these options in detail:

1. "4x_cm" are the board dimensions. Silkscreen on some boards might stick outside those dimensions, so the order form on some of the fabs' websites might tell you that the boards are larger than 10cm in height (10x10cm is the most common limit for hobbyist PCB orders, and it's usually a hard limit). Feel free to ignore it if it's just a warning, or contact the fab if that warning doesn't let your order go through (file an issue on GitHub if they can't resolve it).
2. "X layers" means number of copper layers. In our case, all boards have 2 layers, that is, they're double-sided.
3. "1.6mm "is the recommended board thickness for front&back boards, while keypad board can be 0.8mm. 1.6mm also happens to be the default thickness for most fabs, and 0.8mm is not as popular but still a popular option. Board thickness will affect many things - for example, just how well your ZeroPhone will fit inside the available cases, how thick the resulting board sandwich will be and how much the 2.54 header pins will be sticking out of the boards, as well as, more importantly, whether the PCBs will flex and bend under pressure (they're not supposed to).

Additional notes:

• Preferred copper thickness is 1oz (1 ounce), and it's the default for most fabs, so if you don't see copper thickness mentioned anywhere in the order form, that's what you'll likely get anyway. You can use larger copper thicknesses if you have no other choice, for example, 2oz, as it is with OSHPark "0.8mm&2oz" service (increased copper thickness is not going to cause any problems).
• It doesn't matter that much whether PCBs have ENIG or HASL plating (though ENIG is the nicer option for soldering). For the reference, HASL is when exposed pads on the board are solder-plated, and ENIG is when they're gold-plated.
• The color of soldermask also doesn't matter as much - you might as well stick to PCB colors suggested in the release README, but if you want to pick a different color, there are no problems with that.
• The boards are supposed to have both soldermask and silkscreen from both sides. While some PCB fabs might, for some reason, allow you to omit either of them, it's not recommended.

Here are the suggested places you can get the PCBs from (that is, PCB houses):

• OSHPark (front, back, keypad and 18650 PCBs), it's USA-based. You get three copies of each PCB.
• DirtyPCBs and Elecrow, those are China-based. You get about 10 copies of each PCB.

If you want to explore other deals on PCBs, there's pcbshopper.com that can help you compare prices (I also suggest you to see reviews for the PCB houses before you order from there).

If you're ordering from PCB houses where they have fixed-price 10x10cm panels and allow panelization (such as DirtyPCBs), you can panelize your boards to further decrease the cost of ordering - say, you won't spend $64 ordering 4 different boards, but only $32, ordering 2 panels with 2 boards on each. On the other hand, if you're ordering from places that charge by board dimensions, like OSHPark, that wouldn't be viable.

Note: while it's not impossible to make this kind of boards at home, it's going to require lots of skill and equipment that's not usually available to hobbyists, so unless you have a process in place that allows you to make this kind of boards, ordering them (or buying them from somebody who has ordered more than necessary and now has spares) is going to be more cost-efficient.

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Pi Zero

As of now, there are multiple resellers for Pi Zero - recently, about 30 more have been added. The site-to-go for looking up Pi Zero availability used to be whereismypizero.com, but now there's thepilocator.com , which has all the online resellers listed, so the latter is the recommended site to find a place to get a Pi Zero.

You can get either a Zero or a Zero W - the Zero W has Bluetooth and doesn't require ESP8266 (thus freeing some pins that can be used for mod boards). However, due to lots of metallic parts around Zero W antenna, WiFi range is slightly decreased, and Bluetooth is not yet supported.

Breakouts

1.3" SPI OLED screen

The officially supported OLED breakout (made by Heltec)

The screen for ZeroPhone. Do keep in mind that there are different breakouts for this screen which mainly are different by pinouts, you will need the 6-pin "VCC-GND-MOSI-CLK-CS-D/C" one ("MOSI" is sometimes called "D0" or "SDA", and "CLK" is sometimes called "SCL" or "D1"). There's a version that has "RST" pin instead of "CS", it might be cheaper but it won't allow SPI on the 13-pin expansion port to work properly, so if you want to use SPI on the 13-pin expansion port, avoid that breakout (it also has GND and VCC swapped, so make sure you connect this screen right if this is what you have to work with.)

• On TaoBao (seller: leehunter8801) Not yet verified
• On eBay (seller: horizon_electronic) Verified

SIM800

A SIM800 breakout (picture from an online retailer), along with a PCB antenna

A simple SIM800 breakout, doesn't give access to all the capabilities that SIM800 chips have, but still breaks out most important connections for ZeroPhone to work as a phone. Only analog audio is accessible, so that is what's used, with an analog microphone&speaker. The breakout has 12 pins, only 11 of those are soldered to the ZeroPhone board - 12th is an antenna pin, which, in addition to not being necessary (as ZeroPhone is supposed to use an u.FL-connected antenna), could probably decrease reception quality, because something something RF something something black magic.

• On TaoBao (seller: zhangyongweng998) Verified
• On eBay (seller: worldchips) Verified
• On eBay (seller: alice1101983) Verified

GSM antenna for SIM800

An antenna that's suitable for usage with SIM800 modem

If an external PCB antenna (like on the photo to the right) is not supplied alongside the SIM800 breakout you'll be getting, you'll also need to get an antenna separately, since the "gold-plated coil" antenna that's included by default doesn't fit the breakout as installed in ZeroPhone, and it's not clear whether its performance is good enough. PCB pattern of the antenna you get might be different from the antenna pictured on the right, as well as from the antenna in listings below, it's important that the antenna you get is an antenna suitable for GSM.

• On TaoBao (seller: shop469692262) Ordered but not yet verified

ESP12-E or ESP12-F

Suitable and unsuitable ESP12 types

It's important that you get the version that has 6 pins on the side opposite to the antenna (labeled "SCLK,MOSI,GPIO10,GPIO9,MISO,CS0"). ESP12-E or ESP12-F will fit ( -F is claimed to have a better antenna and would be therefore preferred)

• On TaoBao (seller: zhangyongweng998) Verified
• On eBay (seller: diybox) Unverified

TP4056 LiIon charging+protection board

Suitable and unsuitable TP4056 boards

There are multiple versions of this breakout, too - boards based on this schematic are popular, and it seems like there's a new version that was designed to decrease the panel space it'd take while manufacturing. Beta boards were designed around the old breakout, but Gamma boards were designed with old breakout in mind - and the new breakout proved to be problematic. So, Delta boards will be using the old version of the breakout - only get the new version of the breakout if you'll be using Gamma boards.

• Old version (for Delta boards) - on TaoBao (seller: tb314395) Ordered but not yet verified
• Old version (for Delta boards) - on eBay (seller: alice1101983) Verified (5PCS order)
• Old version (for Delta boards) - on eBay (seller: inglesab) Unverified (5PCS order) (ships from UK?)
• New version (for Gamma boards) - on TaoBao (seller: shop131282813) Verified
• New version (for Gamma boards) - on eBay (seller: c_enjoybuying) Unverified (2PCS order)

5V step-up DC-DC breakout

Suitable and unsuitable step-up DC-DC breakouts

This breakout is used to add a 5V step-up to ZeroPhone - for powering the full-sized USB port, as well as providing 5V on the bottom expansion header. This has to be a step-up, not step-down - pictured are suitable and unsuitable boards. You'll also need to desolder the USB port before using this board, as described here (TODO: describe in assembly checklist).

• On TaoBao (seller: d[s116297067]) Verified
• on eBay (seller: cici10086) Unverified
• on eBay (seller: chip_partner) Unverified

Arduino Pro Mini

Suitable and unsuitable Arduino Pro Mini boards

ZeroPhone uses an ATMega328P with a 16MHz crystal for reading keypad, as well as controlling the vibromotor and the keypad backlight, reading the system voltage and some other things. To avoid sourcing an ATMega328P and the corresponding crystal separately, then having to program the bootloader&firmware into the ATMega through SPI, you can get an Arduino Pro Mini board, then harvest both the crystal and the pre-programmed ATMega from that board. You'll need a hot air gun for desoldering these.

Make sure that the Pro Mini board you'll be getting will have the ATMega328P in TQFP package (not QFN!), and the crystal in CSTCE package (small rectangle with three SMD pins on the underside). You can also get same IC and crystal from an Arduino Nano. Moreover, you can use 3.3V/8MHz version of Arduino Pro Mini/Nano boards - it's not tested, but should work.

• On TaoBao (seller: zhangyongweng998) Verified
• On eBay (seller: chivazhu) Unverified
• On eBay (seller: cayin35) Unverified (3.3V/8MHz version)
• On eBay (seller: worldchips) Unverified (3.3V/8MHz version)

Active components

MCP23017

TODO: photo

• On TaoBao (seller: nuoyaxindz) Ordered but not yet verified
• eBay link
• Farnell link

RGB LED

• On Taobao (seller: shop102835340) Verified
• eBay link

ATMega328P

16MHz crystal

Passive components

Microphone

• Taobao (seller: zhangyongweng998)

100nF capacitors, 0805

10K resistors, 0805

100uF 16V tantalum capacitors, Case D (2pcs)

• TaoBao (seller: zhangyongweng998)

100uF 6.3V tantalum capacitors, Case D (2pcs)

• TaoBao (seller: zhangyongweng998)

Mechanical parts

2x20 2.54 (0.1in) female header (1pcs)

• Taobao (seller: zhangyongweng998)

2x20 2.54 (0.1in) male header (1pcs)

5-pin 2.54 (0.1in) angled female header (2pcs)

3-pin 2.54 (0.1in) angled female header (1pcs)

13-pin 2.54 (0.1in) angled female header (1pcs)

6-pin 2.54 (0.1in) male header (2pcs)

6-pin 2.54 (0.1in) male header (2pcs)

4-pin buttons

• TaoBao (seller: zoxmow)
• eBay link

2-pin buttons

TODO: photo

• TaoBao (seller: zoxmow)
• eBay link
• Farnell link

4-pin side buttons

TODO: photo

• eBay link
• Farnell link

Li-Ion battery holder

TODO: photo

• TaoBao:
• eBay link
• Farnell link