Work / smart-iot-furniture

Smart IoT PCB

Custom PCB for smart furniture lighting: an ESP32 LED driver with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, plus the analog front end to step the supply down and drive the lights. Client work, 2022.

Client work. Product name and brand stay off this page. Details that identify the client are omitted.

Role: Hardware / firmware · PCB design (client)
Timeframe: 2022 · client
Stack: Custom PCB, ESP32, LED driver, Wi-Fi, BLE, power electronics
Status: Delivered (client)

Problem

Smart furniture that needs controllable lighting, without a rack of modules living next to the piece. The electronics have to sit inside the furniture and still be driven and talked to over the air.

What I Built

I designed a custom PCB for the job. It is basically an LED driver with Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth as well, because it uses an ESP32. Analog hardware on the board steps the voltage down and makes the drive path work. Bench work first: breadboard, then hand-wired boards in a small enclosure, then the green board.

Hard Part

Getting from a hand-wired prototype to a layout that still behaves once it is inside the furniture stack: power, drive channels, and radio on one board, without turning the bring-up into a second project.

Result

Custom board delivered for the client. Lab photos on this page; no public case study.

Media

Bare green custom PCB prototype with gold pads and repeating driver footprints

Yellow and white breadboards with an ESP32 module, green LEDs, and push-buttons — Breadboard bring-up: ESP32, green LEDs, and a row of buttons.

Perfboard with ESP32 and point-to-point wiring clamped in a blue PCB vise — Wired perfboard prototype in a vise: ESP32, regulator, and drive transistors.

Open black enclosure containing a wired ESP32 perfboard prototype — Prototype board fitted into an open plastic enclosure with harness wires.

Perfboard with ESP32, green LEDs on one side and tactile buttons on the other — LED and button validation board on the lab notes.

Open enclosure showing neat blue wiring, capacitors, fuse, and outgoing harness — Enclosure again with cleaner wiring, fuse, and regulator visible.

Person holding a wired perfboard prototype in one hand and a green custom PCB in the other — Hand-wired prototype next to the populated custom PCB with the ESP32 fitted.

Color-coded wires soldered into the back of a black threaded connector — Soldered connector harness for the furniture side.