About to create an "easy to deploy" PCB + Enclosure kit - Ideas welcome

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Hello !

Over the years i’ve been struggling about deploying easily a Pixelblaze for wearables or quick deployment.
At the moment I need to:

  • wire a push putton to turn on/off the PB + LED when not in use (since wearables are battery powered)
  • wire a USB-C port or a cable going to a powerbank or 18650 cells…
  • solder and fit womehow a bunch of buttons for pattern control (phone control is difficult in festival environnement for example, and I want to be able to adjust quickly color / luminosity / speed on top of the next/prev pattern.
  • build myself an enclosure with cut outs for the buttons…
  • all of this in the smallest form factor possible…

Let’s say for one or 2 wearables it’s fine, but I have a dozen to do for my burning man crew and it’s getting annoying + not super professionnal looking (glueing the buttons with superglue is the worse).

I’m about to commission a job on Fiver (being unable to design a PCB and enclosure myself) for a PCB + Enclosure.

For my specific need, I try to stay as small as possible for wearables, which is already quite difficult considering the size of Pixelblaze + Sensor board (Pico does not have a sound sensor so deal breaker, and it’s breaking my heart).
But i’m open to ideas to make it usable by others if possible.

Below are the features I’m looking to include:

  1. Works for a combo PB V3 + Sensor Board underneath . I put the sensor board under to have access to the top button and leave the ESP32 more room to evacuate heat (it’s been a problem in the past).
  2. USB In with Power Delivery if possible (minimum 3A, ideally 5A to cover pretty much any wearable project) powering directly the Pixelblaze. This power input can be switched with a button “ON/OFF”
  3. No connector for LED: i will do the soldering because it depends of the direction I will send the cable to (also lacking space for a JST connector…
  4. Buttons linked to the analog GPIO of the sensor board: WHY ? Because I can stream the status of these to other Pixelblazes synced to me. I’m thinking of putting 1 or 2 rotating knobs but it would increase the size and make it more difficult to put in a pocket for example.
  5. Enclosure would allow access to these buttons, the power switch, and of course the Pixelblaze button and light indicator. I need to have the enclosure as flat as possible, same for the width (between line in and antenna). Length i’m a bit more flexible.
  6. This PCB would be “easy to attach” with a header on the VCC / GND points for example

That would allow me to assemble a working Pixelblaze quickly.
Let me know what you think ?

Other ideas:

  1. IR sensor to control it with an IR remote ? But no idea how to implement this
  2. Fit somehow a JST connector ? But i really don’t know how to do this without increasing width or height.

Design
Design780×793 61.4 KB

Addtionnal question: would i be able to sell it for a small fee (to cover development cost) considering I’d be using the Electromage enclosure as base to design to my new enclosure. If I understand well it’s fine as long as it’s for a Pixelblaze (defintely the case here) and I reference the original source ?

Thank you

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There’s some great stuff here!

Couple more ideas for you:

Might be nice to have the USB-C come out the same side as the micro USB as it leaves more JST-XH output options. I do get how it affects the “hand and pocket feel” - all other comparable projects have chosen to go “long usb” like you illustrate. Right angle connector could work.

Would it be acceptable to you to have the sensor board input buttons on the side opposite of the normal button and light? For example, you might make the normal button a simple recessed flexible enclosure cutout actuation, and the other buttons come out the “bottom” of your diagram. The benefit is again more space and access to keep the small JST area an option. That connector is so important for modularity/swap-ability/reusability between projects. Ship your customer a replacement instead of having them send in the whole thing to be resoldered.

I’ve never understood the IR use case. If it’s a wearable or on a bike, my hands can reach it. If it’s mounted up high in my home or an installation, my phone can control it. The only case it seems to shine is no-internet, no AP mode, mounted awkwardly or far. And the user interface is comprehensive and cheap vs teaching a customer what not to do in the PB interface on a mobile device.

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Fair for the IR remote, it’s not that useful, but it’s easier to operate in a festival environment than a phone, especially with difficult wifi. If it’s at the top of the totem it helps…

I need to go long USB for one of the items I’m working on, no choice for it but having the buttons on the other side could be manageable. I’ll think about it !