This is work-in-progress, expect updates to this page.

While developing BLE-RC and motorboard (2 of them), I frequently found the need to attach the boards to LEDs, motors and servos, but without the hassle of inserting it into actual RC vehicles.

So this project aims to provide a board that contains all the lights and functions that a vehicle has, and is easy to connect to BLE-RC board. The project is mostly inspired by DCC tester boards, these are similarly-functioning boards that accept DCC decoder and the decoder sees the board as a locomotive.

Making good use of JLCPCB’s attractive prices for full-color PCBs, I placed a top-down view of a truck (with trailer) in the center of PCB, and truck lights are placed where you’d expect them on a real vehicle.

Half of the PCB is dedicated to motorboard (py32 flavor), which is an expansion board for BLE board. It’s supposed to go into truck trailer or stay in the same truck if truck itself needs more lights/motors. Jumpers will provide power to that part of the board, along with communication. Motorboard is much more versatile and its functions are much less defined, so they are visualized by simple row of LEDs in the trailer. Header that allows connecting motors to motorboard are also present.

Because it’s a full-color PCB, I added a colorful image on the bottom as well, courtesy of AI. For this PCB I am also testing images on soldermask layer, to benefit from ENIG covering that full-color PCBs get for free.