Hi Guys,
I have purchased 2 x lopy4, 1 x Pycom 3.0 Expansion board and Pioneer Platform from Core recently.
Thanks to Core’s very good tutorials, I have managed to establish a TTN nano gateway which works fine.
I now need to create a node device to communicate with the gateway. My problem is I only have one Expansion Board (which the nano gateway runs on)
My first question is: can I move my nano gateway lopy onto a breadboard and use the expansion board to develop the Lora node and associated application, or do I need to buy another Expansion board?
My next question is, and this may sound naive. I assume makers create a PCB for their lopy4 chips and associated sensors, relays, connectors and the like. Or is the accepted practice to use and expansion board in production deployments?
Thanks
Graeme
Hi Graham,
I would use the expansion board in your projects… It not only provides easy access to your GPIOs to connect your sensors to, it is also your usb connectivity pathway. One thing Ive learned along the way is that your projects are never finished… You always want to refine the code a little somehow or add some extra functionality, without ready access to the USB port, thats a PITA.
You could remove the LoPy from the expansion board and make it work, but for the sake of a few $ more on an expansion board, Id suggest its money well worth spending.
HTH
Jon
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your reply and I hear you…projects can always be better. As soon as you have made them, you think of a better way to do it!
I have been getting into Kicad and sending gerber files off to jlcpcb.com in China who are very efficient (boards delivered within the week and cheap). I don’t have a problem with buying another expansion board, I’d just like to produce a PCB with a Micro USB, keeping the footprint small, so a I can tweek production installs in situ.
Thanks
Graeme
Maybe I should have a look at Kicad!!
Dont forget also, other than the USB connector & chipset, the expansion board also contains battery charging circuitry.
