What is it?

It is a screw terminal breakout and prototype for TinyPICO ESP32 boards. Each pin of the TinyPICO is broken out to its own screw terminal, plus there are some additional screw terminals for power and ones that are user configurable.

What is a TinyPICO?

A TinyPICO is an ESP32 development board developed by the Unexpected Maker. It successfully went through a Crowd Supply campaign!

Why did you make it?

I think I'm allergic to soldering wires anymore! I made a version of this board for the D1 Mini ESP8266 and I really like it, so I decided to make one for the TinyPICO.

What makes it special?

I don't believe anything like this exists for any ESP32 based boards. I think it's the fastest way of building semi-permanent prototype projects. Did I just make up the term "semi-permanent prototype"? Maybe, but it sounds good!

It has the following features:

• All 20 pins of the TinyPICO out to screw terminals.

• Extra screw terminals for 5V and Ground, you can never have enough!

• 6 additional screw terminals connected to pads near the prototype area, these can be used for custom input or outputs to the project (e.g. if the output of a pin needs to go through a transistor/mosfet)

• Prototype area with all GPIO pins broken out beside it for convenience.

• Flexible power options - projects can be either powered from the 2.1mm DC jack (5V only, but useful for projects with larger current demands, such as neopixels), The TinyPICO USB port or via the 5V screw terminals

What is in the kit?

NOTE: Does not include a TinyPICO!

• TinyPICO Breakout Shield PCB
• 1 Black 2.1mm DC Jack
• 13 Blue Screw Terminals
• 1 Red Screw Terminal
• 1 Black Screw Terminal
• 1 Reset button
• 220uF 16V Capacitor
• 220K for discharging the Cap
• Schottky Diode
• 3 male pin headers
• 1 Jumper block (Black)

Dimensions

The PCB is 5cm x 8cm.

Note about USB Back-Feed

One thing to be careful about is that the TinyPICO does not have a USB back-feed diode. This would usually prevent an external 5V source being fed back up the USB cable. If you are powering the shield from an external 5V source, when you are programming the TinyPICO it may be safest to keep the USB and external power separate. Some ways you could do this: - Disconnect the external power while USB is connected - Remove the jumper block that is between the TinyPICO and barrel jack - Use a Power BloughR!

FAQ

• What does the jumper block do? It controls connecting the TinyPICO 5V pin to all the other 5V pins. When the jumper is on the right two pins, the TinyPICO will receive power from the DC jack, but the TinyPICO 5V from the micro USB will not connect to the circuit because of the diode. I found that I had this problem with large neoixel projects, where I was trying to program the TinyPICO and the USB was then going to be trying to power 100 neopixels as soon as I plugged it in!

When the jumper is on the left two pins, the diode will be bypassed so the micro USB power will be connected to all the 5V pins.

• Is the DC jack really 5V only? For simplicity sake, I say it is, as the TinyPICO regulator can only handle up to 5V. BUT it is possible to use it with higher voltages if you remove the jumper from the pins and provide power to the TinyPICO some other way (either a voltage regulator to any of the 3.3v pins on the proto-area or using the micro USB on the TinyPICO). All pads and screw terminals on the board labeled "5V" would then become VIN from the DC jack, the only exception to this is the 5v pin of the TinyPICO and the pin labeled "PICO 5V". If you have more questions about this please just ask!