ESP32 Forum

Hello,
I've soldered a ESP32 wrover module to a pcb in such a way that the ground pad in the bottom side of the module does not touch at all its connection to the pcb, it's not just that i didn't solder the pad to the pcb, it doesn't make any contact because i put a piece of cardboard between the module and the pcb. Apart from that, all the pins are soldered normally. This board is having brownout problems that i didn't have before with other pcbs. Is it possible that the fact that the pcb doesn't touch at all the ground pad in the bottom of the module is the cause of the brownout?
thanks

Hard to say. Given a proper PCB design, connecting or not connecting the center pad should not make any difference. However, if the power/ground traces going to the ESP32 pads have a high impedance or resistance, having the center pad connected (and as such an alternative, low-impedance ground pad) can make all the difference.

amadeok wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:06 am

Hello,
I've soldered a ESP32 wrover module to a pcb in such a way that the ground pad in the bottom side of the module does not touch at all its connection to the pcb, it's not just that i didn't solder the pad to the pcb, it doesn't make any contact because i put a piece of cardboard between the module and the pcb. Apart from that, all the pins are soldered normally. This board is having brownout problems that i didn't have before with other pcbs. Is it possible that the fact that the pcb doesn't touch at all the ground pad in the bottom of the module is the cause of the brownout visit myprepaidcenter?
thanks

I can advise you to do two things:
get better LDO that can handle more current so it does not lead to such voltage drop
submit an issue in IDF's repository, so engineers can look at the AT firmware and see what is different (the firmware might also be compiled with older IDF/sdkconfig and not having the brownout code inside)

Adelle wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:33 am

amadeok wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:06 am

Hello,
I've soldered a ESP32 wrover module to a pcb in such a way that the ground pad in the bottom side of the module does not touch at all its connection to the pcb, it's not just that i didn't solder the pad to the pcb, it doesn't make any contact because i put a piece of cardboard between the module and the pcb. Apart from that, all the pins are soldered normally. This board is having brownout problems that i didn't have before with other pcbs. Is it possible that the fact that the pcb doesn't touch at all the ground pad in the bottom of the module is the cause of the brownout visit mykfcexperience visit MyPrepaidCenter
?
thanks

I can advise you to do two things:
get better LDO that can handle more current so it does not lead to such voltage drop
submit an issue in IDF's repository, so engineers can look at the AT firmware and see what is different (the firmware might also be compiled with older IDF/sdkconfig and not having the brownout code inside)

Hey! I was facing the same issue with brownout detector restarting the ESP32.
I'm pretty sure it might be a hardware issue, even though I have ruled out the power supply capacity, solder joints, capacitors, etc. I am thinking maybe it's some bad solder joint inside the ESP-WROOM-32 module itself. I intend to take the metal shield off and check for the same, and if nothing else, then solder the VDD3P3_RTC up to 3V3 pad on the module directly. Or maybe some other black magic.

But, until then I used this as a workaround, and thought it may be of help to you.
#include "soc/soc.h"
#include "soc/rtc_cntl_reg.h"
void setup(){
WRITE_PERI_REG(RTC_CNTL_BROWN_OUT_REG, 0); //disable brownout detector
.... other stuff ...

Needless to say that this will disable the brownout detector completely, so if you do have power related issue you will just get GURU MEDITATION ERROR(s) of sorts. (I wonder how the name came to be so..!)

Edit: Maybe #675 could use this too.