So the competition is over but that just means we are getting started!! Given that SunLEaf is a continuation and spiritual successor to the electronics and sensing package of last years hydroPWNics it only makes sense to keep going and iterating the system until its solid and flawless. Anyhoo we got the SunLeaf rev 1 PCB posting to thingspeak shortly after the final submissions. This was achieved by grafting an ESP-12E module dedbug style to the pads meant for the ESP-02 module that was originally chosen for the SunLeaf PCB rev 1.

Not my proudest moment or cleanest assembly/build but the damn thing works! And it even works well off battery power (battery not pictured). What is next is to create a version of the PCB that works flawlessly. I have already teased and shared the nearly solidified SunLeaf V2 design a few times arleady. The reason why it has yet to be fabricated is because the WiFi module needs to be tested separately. On the open web there are not many people using the ESP-09 module, I am using it since its very barebones and allows for a smaller PCB layout allowing my to mount it top side on the rev2. So in order to confirm this module before running another 4 layer PCB through the fab process, I made a small two layer PCB that will allow me to test the ESP-09 module and our software for the ESP8266.

Here it is :

https://github.com/adamjvr/ESP-09-Test

Its on its way to the fab already, when the boards come in should take me a day to complete my evaluations. If everything works the way I hope then SunLeaf rev2 will be a go and be 99% likely to be fully functional! Stay tuned as the open source sensing revolution continues to unfold on Hackaday!!!!!!