After a really long time I received the boards. I finished the assembly for one and uploaded some code to it. So far it seems to work but I need to perform some more tests. I attached some pictures of the finished product. .

The silkscreen text is a little bit blurry and it was a little bit too small for the fab to print it so in some places is not right...anyways this is not important but the functionality is.
One note: the board round edges may be a little bit off the limits but that can be corrected by using some abrasive paper to remove the excess material(which I did in the above pictures and then the board fitted perfectly).

@Nca78

Elecrow is a good fab imho and yes they are very generous - I received too my boards today and instead of 5pcs I received 11pcs !!!. And this is not the first time they deliver more than requested. The price - 5$ for boards and 3.5$ shipping(standard mail) - 8.5$ in total. And yes they are the cheapest and pretty good quality pcbs - I'm very pleased about their services so far. They beat all the Chinese fabs including shipping so far(and the quality is pretty good - at least for what I need my pcbs for it's well beyond my expectations).

@NeverDie

Thanks. Well because it was cheaper/smaller than all of the Aliexpress modules found so far and it's shielded also(talking about the PTR5518 module here). So I found it to be perfect for this solution when this project was created(almost 2 months ago). Other than that nrf51 even if it's older or not so powerful than its nrf52 counterpart I found it to be more "mature" when it comes to the software part - just like atmega328p is for the Arduino world. If I remember well it was among the first one supported in sandeepmistry's nrf5 core: https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5 or any other Arduino core for the nrf5xx modules so I assume its software support should be more richer than nrf52xxx.

@toyman

You can find it in my kicad repo: symbol and footprint

I didn't used it in any design so please double check.

@NeverDie

For me, elecrow is the best. But you can query this online tool which is very good: https://pcbshopper.com

OK...another remake for the classic Livolo 2 channels 1 Way EU switch and THE LAST ONE that I will make(well except for the 1 channel one which I need to work on it after this one) - @shabba I know that you waited for this. This is just the other Livolo hardware project of mine "ported" for the new hw revision that the Chinese manufacturer made. They made the 12V line available on the connector and moved it on the opposite side(the new connector is a 2mm pitch one and SMD - I choose to use the THT variant as it doesn't have any impact from a mechanical point of view and it's easier to solder for all of us the mortals around here).

The good news is that the power board is the same as the old one with some minor modifications(more or less):

1. the big MOSFET is in the same place but with a 45 degrees orientation
2. the power connector is a 2x7 pins one with the 12V line already supplied on one of the pins - less hacks for the board
3. the bistable relays are the same and drived by a ULN2003 IC(current buffer) in a TSSOP package

Thanks to @tonnerre33 for creating the new board outline which I borrowed from his project. The rest of the board is the same as the other one that I made with the dc-dc converter moved on the opposite side and with some rearrangements. Next I need to create the boards AGAIN using some external manufacturer(China of course) and then wait...and patience and... patience again and...wait.

And as always big thanks to the Mysensors community for their great effort and for maintaining this great project.

Oh...and for some reason the boards are not rendered correctly in the browser - I'm referring to the openhardware.io gerber viewer(both 2D and the 3D one) - maybe it has to do with the latest changes from KiCAD regarding the way the gerber are generated or maybe some bug in there? (I'm using the latest nightly version). The Linux gerbview utility displays them correctly.

@d00616

Hi,

This is a such great addition for this project. For long time I wanted something like this: a RF SOC with pretty good and usable software support and low power also(and a Cortex arch - pff..that's too much :simple_smile: ). I just wanted to congratulate you for your work and bringing this in to MySensors project - it's very neat and useful.

I tested it and it works just great so far. I would give you 100 likes on openhardware.io if it would be possible :simple_smile: . Thanks once again for your effort.

@NeverDie

For the swd connector - some simple wires soldered temporarily :simple_smile: and removed afterwards. The project doesn't support OTA - but can be added if desired as a DFU upload service - needs some extra work and research. But once the switches are flashed there's no need to reflash them as all the MySensors stuff is on the linux board node which can be reconfigured very easily through that web interface(the services behind it will restart automatically when the configuration file changes and the new settings are applied automatically also). I will prepare the required documentation about the whole system on my blog and there's a lot to write :simple_smile: .

Ok, so after posting some questions to CDSENET Aliexpress store(in regards to the E73-2G4M04S module):

1. Is the nrf52832 IC DEC1 pin decoupled with a 100nF capacitor as per Nordic datasheet recommendations?
2. Is the nrf52832 IC  DEC2 pin decoupled with a 100pF capacitor as per Nordic datasheet recommendations?
3. Are all the power pins of the nrf52832 IC decoupled as per  Nordic datasheet recommendations?
4. Are the external components already provided so that the internal DC-DC converter can be used?

I received this part of schematic:

The module that I bought is this one: CDSENET E73-2G4M04S

I hope that it helps demystify some things in regards to this module. Maybe @NeverDie can confirm this by checking his module connections as seen in the above schematic. I'm saying this because Chinese support is well..not so user friendly in my experience and I don't know if the above schematic is indeed what they used on their module or they just provided me an example schematic of how to use the NRF52832 IC in general instead.

nRF52832 2.4GHz Transceiver Wireless rf Module CDSENET E73-2G4M04S1B SMD 2.4 ghz Ble 5.0 Receiver transmitter Bluetooth Module

$2.84

@MiKa

I bought this switch(non-radio variant): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-White-Crystal-Glass-Switch-Panel-EU-Standard-VL-C702-11-Livolo-AC-110-250V/512770913.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.11.JqUULi&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10065_10068_10000009_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10062_10056_10055_10037_10054_10033_10059_10032_10099_10078_10079_10077_10000012_10103_10073_10102_10000015_10096_10052_10053_10107_10050_10106_10051-10050,searchweb201603_9,afswitch_5,single_sort_0_total_tranpro_desc&btsid=518f103c-2c52-4311-9b72-2375b87824c5

The power/relays board looks like this:

And the real product pictures now:

Short demo of touch functionality (will post later on the bluetooth mesh network functionality):
https://streamable.com/b52qb
https://streamable.com/dj3z7

Sorry for the solder bridge replacing the R20 inrush current limiting resistor..that's just temporary until I get the real component . And yes, the capacitor across the bulb is still needed but it's a very small one of 0.1uF/250Vac and it should fit near the light bulb on the ceiling (only one is needed if there are two light bulbs on the same circuit).

The aluminum foil wrapped around that sponge is to "extend" the capacitive sensor so that it reaches the front plate fake plastic button. The 3d printed clear plastic around it is to hold it in place and also to spread the small leds light.

Everything is custom made except for the front plastics.

As promised the final design! This is for one channel which I will use mostly in my house. The backside is 3d printed and it holds the electronics. The front panel and fake button are bought from the local store (Leroy Merlin) and I like it very much (it's part of modular switches design and it's very cheap). I could 3d print the front side plastics..but it I can't get the same look and feel - can't beat the molded plastic with a 3d printer for now ... (well you could use some resin or other stuff to fill the holes and then spray paint but still it's a lot of work and it doesn't worth imho)

Here are some pictures from the design. I will post later the pictures with the real product also.

@berkseo

50pcs/lot EE10-A1 Switching Power Supply High Frequency Transformer 220V to 5-12V Maximum Output 3W
https://a.aliexpress.com/_sOShjH

It's the same supplier that I used also and the lot seems to be fine...well at least the 2 pieces that I tested so far .

Now the latching relays. I found them on Aliexpress only and I received something else instead (which seems to happen from time to time) but luckily it works OK so far. So instead of Hongfa relays I got Massuse which seem to be equivalent.

Rest of the components can be sourced from LCSC which is a more trusty component supplier compared to various vendors from Aliexpress (which I already knew..but I didn't had other choices).

Oh and the PCB design and everything else was done using EasyEDA for obvious reasons (JLCPCB is very cheap and pretty good quality for a hobbyist, also their SMT service). I really like their ecosystem - you just create the design using their tool and order everything from there - very, very handy and cheap also as I already mentioned.

I did some final testing and everything seems to work just fine so I can say that this is the final revision. The touch sensing board including radio/mcu must not draw more than 10mA (it will work but won't be stable).

I updated the BOM and schematic with required voltages for caps where it's more important - the rest are 10V or so not that critical (the ceramic caps should be X5R or X7R).

Oh and I replaced the 22uF/25V capacitor with a tantalum type. Initially I used a ceramic one and the board started to sing . Well not quite..it was a more of a buzz because as you all know SMD multi layer caps are known to have this property.

Next step as already mentioned above is to design the enclosure which will be 3D printed with PETG. The front side will be a custom glass plate also which I'm thinking now how to make it look and fit better.

It works slow on my side because...well my free time available for this hobby is kind of limited.

@iancu
Usually it's best to have an uninterruptible power supply when it comes to building actuators because you want it to "act" all the time. Using batteries for such a thing I wouldn't say it's a reliable choice on the long term.
Imagine what would happen if you do this for a light switch and you come home one day and you find yourself in a situation where you cannot turn on the lights...Of course this very much depends on the final application but still in my opinion actuators should be always powered.

I still don't understand why people are still bothering to use NRF24l01...it's old tech nowadays . Well I get that it's cheaper and bla, bla but when it comes to performance and tuning things up it gets harder imho. Not to forget that you still need another MCU in order to make it work thus increasing BOM and complexity (yes, yes I know why some prefer "decoupled" systems, but still...)

Why not use NRF52832 which is a much more compact solution and let's face it more efficient than the old NRF24L01. Oh and let's not forget that it has a MCU inside also.

I think the list of advantages is obvious:

• More TX power: 4dbm compared to 0dbm.
• Incorporated MCU
• Incorporated DC-DC converter which when enabled will reduce the current consumption in both TX and RX mode (7.5mA in TX mode and 5.4mA in RX mode - this is only for the radio subsystem)

Simplified design when using an already available module like the CDEBYTE or CDSNET from Aliexpress (just search for nrf52832 cdebyte or cdsnet) is also a plus. Those modules are really cheap now - around 3$. Oh and it needs to have those external components (inductors, caps) to be able to use the internal DC-DC converter - the CDEBYTE or CDSNET modules have it.

Now back to this topic main discussion regarding battery powered nodes which need to be pretty responsive no? Well it's not that easy using MySensors to accomplish this - I may be wrong but I tried this for one of my projects and no matter what techniques I used I couldn't achieve the desired results.
Why? Because MySensors it's not designed to create responsive battery powered nodes - please do correct me here @mfalkvidd if I'm wrong. By responsive I mean to make it respond in a time window of <= 1s.

@iancu If designing pretty responsive and battery powered nodes then Bluetooth LE is your best bet. I know that it's not MySensors but only BLE can achieve that as far as I know (NRF52832 supports BLE also which is yet another advantage).

I know that this deviates from MySensors and it's not that have something with this project - it's a really great project but we have to know its limitations (as of now at least).

Another alternative would be LORA modules which this project supports also and which have lower RX current because this is the state you would want to stay in most of the time (NRF52832 has it pretty low with the internal DC-DC enabled). But I'm not familiar with LORA modules and from what I've read the TX time cand get very high depending on the modulation speed which is not ideal also.

So what do we need in the end for MySensors: radio modules with very low RX current and fast TX time. Do they exist? I'm not quite sure to be honest (excluding lots of marketing stuff). Faster TX time means also a faster modulation speed/scheme which is achievable even by NRF24l01 so I don't think this is an issue nowadays.
When it comes to MySensors I think a good start is the NRF52832 based modules at least but it won't guarantee the responsiveness that you're looking for @iancu - for that you need a better software stack and radio protocols also imho.

@monte

Are you suggesting to implement something like esphome has? If that's the case then I would prefer yaml instead of json as it's easier to read and maintain imho.
The idea to have code generated from a configuration file is pretty neat and it simplifies tedious and repeating tasks a lot besides abstraction.
NodeManager should help as it seems to be pretty modular.

Started designing the enclosure for 3d printing ... I will use PET-G as it's pretty strong and not very flammable or so it seems after some tests. I don't know about electrical insulation properties yet ...This all very depends on what other compounds are used when it's manufactured.

As a general rule it seems that the input capacitor is choosed based on the needed output power which is obvious and the magic formula is (when using a bridge rectifier):

C (uF) = 2 x Pout (W)

So in my case one relay draws about 300mW when switching and we have two so let's take the worst case 600mW. Then the radio part and mcu should not take more than 30mW of power.
Summing up we have 630mW peak which translates to a 1.26uF capacitor and the nearest is 1uF.

I just tested with 1uF and it works just fine without a glitch.

So yeah learning new stuff as I go along. I wanted for a long time to learn how to design offline AC/DC converters because the power supply is the most important part of every circuit and so often overlooked.

As a side note: this doesn't mean that the input filtering capacitor is useless in the ac/dc power supplies as it also helps to store energy for the input stage which then gets transferred to the load by the pwm controller. Another useful thing is that it doesn't let the rectified wave voltage to drop too much which may not be very good for the input stage of the pwm controller making it to perform worse.

But in my case and particularly in this application it interferes when the switch "switches" between the two power supplies (well the other one is more of a "series regulator").

I will do some more tests. The most important thing for me right now is the power supply stability and then the thing I was waiting for the most: to create a 2 way setup using 2 switches to drive the same led bulb (for stairways).