Category: KiCad

designing the esp32-s3/max7219 device

whbeebe1 Comment
ESP32-S3-DevKitC w/MAX7219 and 1088AS LED 8×8 Matrix

I’m designing a circuit that uses an ESP32-S3-DevKit1 to drive a MAX2719/7221 and 1088AS, just as I promised in the last post. The broad steps are:

  1. Write software to communicate with the MAX7219 and 1088AS,
  2. Write software that enables Bluetooth on the ESP32-S3,
  3. Write software on both the ESP32-S3 and Raspberry Pi 5 to communicate status and messages to display on the 1088AS.

In order to create the schematic diagram in KiCad I had to import symbols for the Espressif components. There’s a link at the bottom that leads to Espressif’s GitHub repo, complete with instructions on how import those symbols into KiCad 7. The Espressif instructions are short, sweet, clear, and they work without exception.

I’m also reading Espressif’s documentation on how to work with the ESP32-S3’s SPI port.

Links

enhancing kicad png drawing details

whbeebe
KiCad schematic PNG at 600 DPI

This is the exact same schematic as used in the last post. The big difference is that Inkscape exported the KiCad SVG drawing at 600 DPI instead of 300 DPI. As a consequence, if you zoom in on US, the 1088AS component, the internal LEDs and wiring is a lot clearer. The original 300 DPI export follows.

KiCad schematic PNG at 300 DPI

I’ve set Inkscape’s default export to 600 DPI. Inkscape appears to have a command line capability, which means that I might be able to kick off the export from SVG to PNG within KiCad itself. I need to do more research on that.