ESP32 for commercial product - board considerations

[deepakt]

ESP'ians!

Deepak Tulsani from India. I'm working on a commercial product and I'm considering ESP32 board. Infact, prototype is ongoing on an ESP32 board itself. My queries and concerns, if the community could help me with please:

1. Is the ESP32 board good enough to be used in a commercial product? The product would be installed outdoors
2. If not, the main reasons?
3. If yes, anything specific that I should consider with the product design? Ventilation? Dust? Humidity?
4. Which ESP32 board would be preferred considering performance, power etc? Or would be it better to get the raw chip and build it into the final product?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

Regards,
Deepak

[ESP_Sprite]

1. I'd hope so, as there are a fair few commercial products with the ESP32 out there.
3. All of them but that's not specific to the ESP32. Follow generic electronics guidelines for that, investigate if conformal coating is needed, etc. Just make sure you don't accidentally build a faraday cage around your antenna if you want to do WiFi/BT communications.
4. Depends on your level of knowledge and batch size. If you only are going to make a few, throw a devboard in there if you're comfortable with that. For hundreds of units, I'd get a module like the ESP-Wroom32. For thousands, it may be more cost-efficient to go with bare chips.

[deepakt]

Thanks @ESP_Sprite.

I hear and read about heating issues with ESP32 and following resets of the boards, from those who're into product development. One of the reasons they chose not to use ESP32. I assume it might depend on the kind of application and environment under which the product would operate. Can someone throw some light on any such issues and fixes?

Have couple more questions, which I'll post on a separate thread. Thanks!

Regards,
Deepak

[mikemoy]

I never heard are any heat issues. We have the ESP32 in two products now. Both running @240 MHZ and it is just barley warm to the touch. So i cannot see anyone having heat issues unless they totally screwed up something in their design.

[deepakt]

That is so heartening to hear! We're based in India and it does get quite hot here. And our products will be outdoors (in Sun and rain). I guess it might be enough to have a filtered air inlet on one end and an exhaust on the other to have good ventilation for the internals.

Thanks for your inputs guys!

Regards,
Deepak

[mikemoy]

We're based in India and it does get quite hot here.

Not sure how hot it gets there, but I don't think it gets this hot

the following is from the data sheet: "The operating temperature of ESP32-D2WD ranges from –40 °C~105 °C"

[deepakt]

Well it does get upto 42-45 degrees. In some places, it goes upto 50 degrees as well. I can't think of how the ambient temperature in the enclosures would go up to while the product is running in a 24x7 environment, hence I asked.

Atleast going by the specs, looks manageable with an good air inlet and exhaust. Thanks for your inputs!

Regards,
Deepak

[macieljr]

For thousands, it may be more cost-efficient to go with bare chips.

I’m curious about this comment. What would mean “go with bare chips”? Ask for a custom board? Does Espressif work with customized boards? Starting from how many? This may apply to my current project.

[ESP_Angus]

For thousands, it may be more cost-efficient to go with bare chips.

I’m curious about this comment. What would mean “go with bare chips”? Ask for a custom board? Does Espressif work with customized boards? Starting from how many? This may apply to my current project.

Espressif sells SoCs ("bare chips") and also modules based around those SoCs.

If you use a module then the advantages include that the module is tested and pre-complianced for EMC ("FCC Modular certification", etc), and that most of the more complex electronic design (high speed signals, RF routing) is done already. This lowers the amount of engineering and compliance testing work which is required to bring a product to market.

If you go with the "bare chips" (ie an SoC directly on the product's PCB, or in a custom module that you design yourself and use in multiple products) then it's also possible to build a product this way. Significantly more upfront engineering time and expertise is required on your part, to do the same things which have already been done if you use a module. On the upside, you also have more control over the details, features, etc. It's also possible to come up with a lower total BoM cost of each unit.

What ESP_Sprite means is that for smaller production runs, the economies of scale always leans towards using a module - you get to market quicker with less money spent on engineering up front. If you're shipping a large quantity then the upfront costs of doing all that additional work at the beginning can be amortized over large numbers of units.

You can contact Espressif sales for quotes, and it is possible to get direct technical assistance with your own designs but there are costs associated. The details will depend on your target markets and anticipated sales volumes.

[elbowcpt]

That is so heartening to hear! We're based in India and it does get quite hot here. And our products will be outdoors (in Sun and rain). I guess it might be enough to have a filtered air inlet on one end and an exhaust on the other to have good ventilation for the internals.

Hi Deepak,

I live in a fairly hot climate - we might see maybe 35C on a hot day - so not as hot as you. I have an OpenEVSE car charger mounted outside. It contains an ESP8266 board. Its a weatherproof, sealed outdoor enclosure.

What I see is that in the later afternoon where it comes into direct sunlight, the temperature reported soars. It might jump from 45C to 68C over 30 minutes.

I don't see any issue so far with the equipment - its been installed say 6 months so I guess its early days.