PCB fabrication part shortfall, & query surrounding multiple wired controllers?

[THISAdamC]

Good Afternoon,

Have come across your project and think it looks wonderful. I'd like to consider doing this on the units at my home.

I am looking at the "hardware-tiny" route, as ESP32-DevKitC-32E are pretty cheap.

I've followed the instructions on JLCPCB, however, there is an item shortfall of a part:

Is there a suitable alternative?

Also designator J2 and J3 have an ! mark and it says "Multiple lines in the BOM have been matched to the same part. Please check if the matching is correct" - is that to be excpected and acceptable?

I'm in the UK, so I don't know if anyone may have any other recommendations where these could be fabricated a little closer to home?

Also, my brother is interested in his projec, but already has hardwired controllers to each of his ducted units. The controllers in use are PREMTA000 - is it possible to implement this project and retain the physical controller as well? as the PCB has only one controller input connection.

Thanks

[cure]

Answering what I can (hopefully someone else can chime in on your other questions):

• C1: I've used a different capacitor (10uF, C_1210_3225Metric) to replace it. The footprint will need to be adjusted too. I have a branch at https://github.com/cure/esphome-lg-controller/tree/hardware-tiny-kicad-9 that does this, if you want to see how. Just so you know: I have not had the board from that branch manufactured. But I used the same replacement for C1 in the hardware-FeatherS3 variant, which I had manufactured and it is working perfectly.

• J2/J3: That warning is expected; it just means that they are both the same component.

[megamacy]

ChatGPT says this will fit without changing footprints. can anyone confirm?

RVT1C100M0405 10UF 16V C970654
-55℃~+105℃ 10uF 15mA@120Hz 16V 2800hrs@105℃ 4mm 5.4mm ±20% SMD,D4xL5.4mm Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - SMD ROHS

Its not cheap with 73$ to order for a "test" :P

[Adam1986]

I'm just wanting to move with this as I am getting sick of the intermittent LG ThinQ Integration API Throttling.

@cure, I've used your modified branch and it checks out fine on JLCPCB and I'm sure it will work OK if it's worked fine on the Feathers variant.

Just wanting some clarity on connecting the cable up though, everything says about using an Adafruit 4873 cable, but it seems that one end is bare wire and not a connector/adapter, does this mean it cannot plug straight into the CN_REMO cable connectorthat is present on my unit?

Can anyone recommend any specific ESP32 boards from eBay/AliExpress etc?

[Adam1986]

Just wanted to say that all the components arrived over the last couple of weeks and the fabricated PCB using your modified branch works fine :-)

The only slight hiccup is I have received a slightly different ESP32 variant, so the board is slightly narrower in width and so you can only connect one set of pins to the fabricated PCB. Looking at the PCB details on the readme of the repository, it looks like one side is only used for additional ground points, so I don't think it is an issue? The ESP32 still sits nice and snug and rests on top of the connector anyway, so it's not going anywhere.

Cheers