Assembly Checks
- Verify no connector pins look soldered together
- Verify no pins on ESP32/SX1281 look shorted
- Solder on XT60-M and XT60-F connectors
- Solder on 2.54mm pitch header pins for 5V/PWM
- Verify pin 1 on chips aligns with indicator
Power Testing
DMM
- Make sure no power rails are shorted to ground or each other with DMM
From here on, power the device:
- Verify the 5V output rail turns on (buck functionality)
- Verify the internal 3.3V rail turns on (LDO functionality)
- Slowly increase voltage (with low current limit, 100mA max) on buck input
- Check for excessive current/power draw (ensuring no output load)
- Optionally, measure potential when EN pin activates buck IC
- Varies due to hysterisis, but ~5.2V
- Probe the output net for voltage stability with DMM
E-load
- Perform load test on buck converter: use an e-load to saturate a 5V line to 4A rated maximum.
- Optionally, load the 12V passthrough XT60-Fs.
Oscilloscope
- Load transient testing: Step the e-load and view the transient response from buck converter output.
- Battery inrush test: simulate hot-plugging a battery on the input terminal and view transient voltage spike/oscillations.
Firmware Testing
- Use USB to UART adapter/FTDI cable to flash the bootloader onto the stock ESP32-C3.
… more to be completed by EFS