Here are some pics of the "final" product:

Thanks to everyone for their input.

-AM

managed to add the OSH and mysensors silkscreen I was thinking. Here is the final silkscreen...

PCBs are in....

Time to populate them now and see if they work

-AM

Ready to rock n roll...

Packaging is done though I dont know how weatherproof this is going to be..

I had been following @LastSamurai RGBW development as that satisfied my needs but then he changed directions to making it smaller with lesser rating components!

Having never done a PCB, I decided to try doing one. I expect these nodes to be hardwired so power consumption is not as big a deal.

The goal will be VERY simple:

1. 3 channel driver with ~5A rating on each channel.
2. Selectable 5/3.3V arduino pro mini.
3. Cheap and easily sourced components.
4. MySX header to allow various sensor daughter boards.

I have done a schematic which I am putting up for review. Please take it easy on criticism as this is the first time I am doing a PCB.

I might be asking a lot of noob question so please bear with me.
Details to follow.

Thanks
-AM

I changed the banana plugs to regular DC 2.1mm plugs and it looks less cluttered now.

Deployed it yesterday. Looks good.

Will upload pics if someone is interested.

-AM

@Samuel235 - I just want to say thanks for taking the time to walkthrough a noob with his first PCB. Appreciate it!

For the resistor, just keeping them horizontal for now.

For the caps, I see Tanta1C_Size type and Discret type in my KiCad apart from SMD types.. Not sure what they mean

Let me google around to see what footprint people choose in KiCad.

-AM

So I deployed 5 more of these yesterday, so I have a total of 6 on the chain now.

The total current draw is ~5A at 12V...not bad!

Though I have an issue where the lights will go off for a little bit and then come back on.

Almost all of them are doing this and it doesnt happen at the same time so its not that the power is interrupted.

Makes me think as if the LED is heating up and shutting down and then when it cools down after a bit, it comes back on.

I tested them prior to deployment to make sure that they worked but didnt run them long enough that they would heat up. Plan on putting up one on the bench and leave it on longer to see if it does that.

But overall, not bad landscape light for 10 bucks!

-AM

Found an issue! The footprint I had for LE33 was wrong! pins 1&3 were reversed!

Fixing and rerouting now..

Update: The landscape light are programmed to come on in the evening and they did not turn on this evening. Further investigation yielded this:

The FET was touching the plastic case and melted it

-AM

@jeti Thank you. Unfortunately havent had a chance to assemble the boards yet. Have all the parts in but life gets in the way

-AM

Damn! Just realized some of my parts are still not in....

Anyways, looking at the PCB,

1. I think some of the text is just too small, like the cap values and OSH silkscreen. I need to make them bigger if I do a next rev.
2. The mounting holes are a little too big. This is lightweight PCB and should not need heavyduty M3 screw. I could probably go with smaller mounting holes.
3. Some silkscreen on the back would be nice...else it just looks naked

-AM

PCBs are in....

Time to populate them now and see if they work

-AM

Couldnt wait for the other (activeRGB) PCB to come back.

Sent this one to fab as well...

-AM

Ok, so the board is routed. This was fun....very crowded board...at least by my noob standards

Done all DRC and connectivity checks...looks good.

-AM

Another update from Itead...PCBs complete and shipped!

Cant wait to get my hands on my first PCB

-AM

Thanks @mfalkvidd for the link. I feel more confident that this might work.

Didnt get a chance to work on this for past couple of days. Maybe soon...

-AM

@mfalkvidd said:

@activemind those boxes are 56x95mm on the inside (I have lots of them). They have mounting points in the corners, about 1.5mm from the inner wall. The outer diameter of the mounting points is 5.5mm and the inner diameter is approximately 2mm.

Thanks for the measurements @mfalkvidd . I am still debating about increasing the PCB size though because I looked at one of my existing boxes with the DC connector I am planning to use, and I realized that I need little more space because the connector extend out.

Still playing with the placement on the PCB but looks like I have everything in place for now. Lets see what happens when I try to route it!

The only thing I am concerned about is will placing the comparator IC underneath the pro mini cause any issues?

-AM

@dbemowsk said:

A little off topic, but what PCB software are you using to do your illustrations and layout? It looks like nice software. Is it for windows only or is there a linux version?

I am a KiCad beginner. I started like a couple of days ago and this is my second PCB. Waiting for the first one to come back from fab house

-AM

Debating about changing the size to 5x9 size so that it can fit inside a 5x10 box like this

-AM