Many things have happened since the last update, the biggest of which being that the Neato D5 Mod PCBA (aka Neato Lupin Mod) is now obsolete as the Vacuula (formerly Brainslug) team have figured out how to run custom FW on the existing Neato Botvac HW :D
I had lots of fun with this project, so I'm making this last post to close things off.
Key Links:
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Known Issues:
The FW required the modification below to improve WiFi stability on the XIAO ESP32-C6 module. I highly suspect this is related to the +3.3V rail drooping (brownout) during WiFi Tx, as I am powering the module directly from the debug port +3.3V output. Not ideal... but it's the best I could do without breaking into a +5V rail on the Neato Botvac mobo.
wifi:
output_power: 17dB
#fast_connect: false
#power_save_mode: noneI did try monitoring the +3.3V rail with rev B01 PCBA (with the help of a precision +1.024V reference for ADC read calibration), but as expected the ADC sampling was too slow to capture any meaningful data. Ideally I should have been using an oscilloscope with a current probe.
Neato Media:
Rev A01 PCBA shape & bend simulation in Altium Designer. The purple region is rigid FR4 stiffener.
I though I had it all figured out and ordered the above FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) from JLCPCB. Then I assembled it and found that the bottom half collided with the Neato D5 bumper... guess who forgot to do a visual (printed paper) & virtual (SolidWorks) check with the bumper installed D:
So this time I made sure to check things properly before ordering the rev B01 FPC:
Once the FPCs arrived, I then assembled them using the Miniware MHP30. Below is a sped-up video (x10) of the solder reflow process. Left is digital microscope, right is thermal cam. Interesting how the hotplate temperature increases like wave:
And finally, here is the modded Neato Botvac D5. Ready to keep our place clean for that bit longer:
