Dear All,
I am little bit confused about the P0 & P1. Do I get the module and put it on a PCB with let’s say just 4 pins and I am good to go? If my understanding is correct, is there documentation on how to place it and connect it to my PCB?
Thank you for that great product
This is what the announcement says:
Documentation will most likely be released closer to shipping time.
Be nice to get the mechanical info like PCB footprint and pin out of the P0 and P1 now so that PCB designs could be completed, boards ordered and then boards in hand to be built the day a P0 or P1 arrives.
@SaratogaDude There is a bunch of documentation @ github/spark/photon
You can find the Photon schematics, board layout and pin specifications. Specifically If you look at the board layout for the Photon it uses the P0 so you can get some preliminary dimensions of the P0.
Hope this helps.
I agree with @SaratogaDude it would be good to have documentation on the hardware requirements and how to connect the P0 or P1, to our custom boards, resistors, button etc. It would be a good idea to for use to get a head start on designing and developing our boards and when the modules shin in March all we have to do is just plugin the modules and do a little testing.
I found a page that shows the footprint of the P1. It has similar pads to the P0 on the bottom, so no soldering with just an iron. The pads are spaced a little farther apart at least.
How does the photon (P0) pin mapping relate to the P1? Does anyone have any info? The P1 has more pins than the P0 and the pin names between the P1 and the P0 sometimes do not match exactly.
Thanks,
Thanks for this link!
There’s some documents I found by searching on Google. I won’t link to them directly as I don’t think they are supposed to be posted publicly, but you can find them by searching for this in Google. They have some more details like pin numbers:
“USI_WM-N-BM-14_Application_Note_V10_20130721” (only a few pages of this document render on the site)
“WM-N-BM-09_EVB_V11_20120619”
Is there any news when documents will be made available for the P1? As in specific information and specific pin mapping / reference schematic?
I think some of us are getting antsy for info so we can start designing our PCB’s.
Thanks!
This repo is a good place to check regularly: https://github.com/spark/photon
The commit for P1 updates is here: https://github.com/spark/photon/commit/4505310fa6440195a471f44ed7a989ac90688cae
I have been checking the repo frequently, but I was wondering if an actual date or an approximate date of when full information will be available?
With the current info, I do not have enough information to proceed with a PCB design to incorporate the P1. It would be awesome if a fully defined pin map for the P1 is available so that my PCBs could be ready when the P1 ships.
So… I have to ask … If I am designing a board around the P0 with an chip antenna why would I want to use the P1? Has anyone looked at the signal pattern and strength with the P1 vs say the Photon (as the Photon uses a chip antenna)? Since you have to make your own PCB anyway for the P1 why not use the P0 and Photon layout? What are you getting for the $2 / module increase in price? Are you giving up RF performance?
I would say there are manufacturing processes to consider for impedance matching for RF traces using that approach unless you use a photon directly instead of P0.
So P1 sort of solves this issue
[quote=“kennethlimcp, post:15, topic:8455”]
I would say there are manufacturing processes to consider for impedance matching for RF traces using that approach unless you use a photon directly instead of P0.
[/quote] - that was my thought when I purchased the P1’s. But it’s a trace antenna and we don’t really have any idea of the rf performance of the trace antenna. I’m wondering if we just use the impedance matching circuit w/ chip antenna that was designed for the Photon on the P0 will we get better performance than the P1 trace antenna?
I’m not an RF engineer, I can’t really speak to understanding how significant getting the impedance correct on the PCB. Is close good enough?
@Bdub and @andyW can give more insights. My understanding is that a little can make a lot of difference 
Hey guys, do you know what is the range of the WiFi antenna for the Photon and for the P1?
Thanks!
If you are using the chip antenna on the photon or pcb antenna on the P1, the range can be referenced to that of a mobile phone.
If you are using the u.fl option, the gain of the antenna would determine the range 
Thanks @kennethlimcp. My question was about the chip antennas in the PCB. So I can assume it is the same Wi-Fi range than a smartphone. What is that, around 200 feet?
@sazp96 There are several articles online on the differences between trace antenna and chip antenna. What I found interesting is that trace antennas are more susceptible to environmental conditions - cases, components nearby, and people. Ceramic chip antennas seem to be less affected by these. I’m not an RF expert so I would also welcome others comments as I am interested in understanding myself.