assembling a few more OtterCam-s3‘s today.
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@domi @evey @kouett this is actually not even my original idea, the first version of the OtterCam is not the OtterCam-s3, but the OtterCam-z7, featuring a Zynq-7020 instead of the Allwinner-s3. I have had a schematic of that since 2020, started it in altium, moved to kicad, redid the schematic twice, once with a Zynq-7015, then the 7020 again with more modern parts in 2024/2025, couldn't bring myself to design the board in the end because I just couldn't afford it at the time and now here we are, the OtterCam-z7 will still happen, maybe soon even, but I kind of want to get the OtterCam-s3 to spit out an image first..
Weirdly enough, the z7 would probably have been a bit easier for me alone, I can use Vivado and write gateware, but I really am not good at doing embedded linux and V4L shenanigans
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I got this board assembled from JLCPCB, but a lot of components are still missing. This is mostly due to this board being one of the very early boards running through their PCBA process! I actually wrote on their blog about how the PCBA process works at the time, they allowed me to test it very early :3
clearance..
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clearance..
@janamarie does it make alignment easier?
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clearance..
@janamarie ...is clearance, Clarence! If #BlondiHacks taught me anything
And dont call me Shirley
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clearance..
it boots!!! Soldering the BGA was much more trivial than anticipated, the QFN in the lower left corner was certainly worse…
next up: I think I will do at least a second board and uh, the sensor board, which contains the 'spicy BGA', the image sensor. It’s in theory as easy to solder, but it’s also a rather fragile part, one entire face must not be touched too much
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it boots!!! Soldering the BGA was much more trivial than anticipated, the QFN in the lower left corner was certainly worse…
next up: I think I will do at least a second board and uh, the sensor board, which contains the 'spicy BGA', the image sensor. It’s in theory as easy to solder, but it’s also a rather fragile part, one entire face must not be touched too much
speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
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@janamarie does it make alignment easier?
@atna very!
a press fit always is easier -
speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
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speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
@janamarie antistatic bubble foam
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@janamarie antistatic bubble foam
@nota hyperstatic foam!
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@nota hyperstatic foam!
@janamarie yesss
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speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
@janamarie >.o
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speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
@janamarie .. hungry?
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@janamarie .. hungry?
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assembling a few more OtterCam-s3‘s today. Haven’t soldered a BGA in a while, so wish me luck
this shouldn’t be too hard though, it’s a pretty coarse pitch and my technique should still work pretty well
@janamarie do you like that RJ45 socket? I’ve been looking for an SMD vertical one recently, but was put off by the all plastic ones (solely based on vibes)
(eventually settled for a mostly SMD metal option)
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speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
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speaking of…
this is how the image sensors were delivered. How does that make you feel?
@janamarie [screams internally]
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@janamarie do you like that RJ45 socket? I’ve been looking for an SMD vertical one recently, but was put off by the all plastic ones (solely based on vibes)
(eventually settled for a mostly SMD metal option)
@ErinRose no, not really, but I also don't dislike it. I wouldn't reuse it
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this board is somewhat of a nightmare fuel to networks people, please note the ethernet decoupling.. ~ :3c
@janamarie did… did you use capacitive coupling for ethernet?!
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@janamarie did… did you use capacitive coupling for ethernet?!
@slyka mayb
