2 layers

Controller

This is a work in progress for a cheese cave controller system. The goal is to be able to control a mini fridge to get the right conditions for cheesemaking.

Open in PCBKit

Copper layers: 2
Thickness: 1.6 mm
Parts: 89
Nets: 60
Pads: 254
Tracks, vias: 431, 70
Pours: 3
Routed: Yes
KiCad: KiCad 5 (file 20171130)
Created: 2 Nov 2016
Updated: 11 Oct 2026

Overview

Controller is an open-source printed circuit board by alvarop, from the alvarop/ostur repository on GitHub, published under the MIT licence. It is a 2-layer board with 89 parts on 60 nets, routed with 431 tracks and 70 vias.

It is built around the NRF52810-QCAA-R, FT234XD-R and TCA9546AD. Its parts include 18 capacitors, 17 resistors, 7 connectors, 5 ICs and 3 diodes. It belongs with the nRF52 and nRF5x boards of this library.

Main components

README

README.md

Ostur - Cheese cave controller!

This is a work in progress for a cheese cave controller system. The goal is to be able to control a mini fridge to get the right conditions for cheesemaking.

The project consists of:

Hardware - A microcontroller and various temperature/humidity sensors
Firmware - Code in the microcontroller to control the fridge and measure temperature/humidity values
Software - Python scripts to communicate with the microcontroller to log and plot data

So far, it's been used to make Brie successfully!

Once it's more user friendly, I'll add usage instructions so others can reproduce the setup.

Parts

Qty	Value	Footprint	References
11	10k	Resistors_SMD:R_0603	R9, R10, R11, R12, R13, R14, R21, R22, R23, R24, R26
4	100nF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C1, C4, C6, C17
3	1uF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C5, C10, C11
3	680	Resistors_SMD:R_0603	R3, R4, R5
2	12pF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C7, C12
2	27	Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608Metric	R2, R6
2	4.7uF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C3, C9
2	DNP	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C14, C15
1	0	Resistors_SMD:R_0603	R1
1	0.8pF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C13
1	100nF	Capacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608Metric	C16
1	100pF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C8
1	10nF	Capacitors_SMD:C_0603	C2
1	10nF	Capacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608Metric	C18
1	3.9nH	Resistors_SMD:R_0603	L1
1	32MHz	Crystals:Crystal_SMD_2016-4pin_2.0x1.6mm	Y1
1	ARM-SWD	alvarop:ARM_SWD_SMD	J1
1	Antenna	alvarop:AMCA31-2R450G-S1F-T3	AE1
1	FB	Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608Metric	L2
1	FRIDGE	Pin_Headers:Pin_Header_Straight_1x02	P2
1	FT234XD	alvarop:FTDI_DFN12	U4
1	I2C0	Pin_Headers:Pin_Header_Straight_1x04	P14
1	I2C1	Pin_Headers:Pin_Header_Straight_1x04	P15
1	I2C2	Pin_Headers:Pin_Header_Straight_1x04	P16
1	I2C3	Pin_Headers:Pin_Header_Straight_1x04	P17
1	LED0	LEDs:LED_0603	D1
1	LED1	LEDs:LED_0603	D2
1	LED2	LEDs:LED_0603	D3
1	MIC550X	footprints:SOT-23(M5)	U2
1	NRF52810-QCAA	NRF52810_QCAA_QFN32	U1
1	SHT3x-DIS	SHT3x	U8
1	USB_OTG	footprints:USB_MICRO_B	J2
1	tca9546a	Housings_SSOP:TSSOP-16_4.4x5mm_Pitch0.65mm	U3

The 54 most common of 89 parts.

Questions

What parts does the Controller use?

89 parts, built around the NRF52810-QCAA-R, FT234XD-R and TCA9546AD. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.

Where can I download the Controller KiCad files?

From the alvarop/ostur repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is hw/controller/controller.kicad_pcb. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.

Can I use the Controller design in my own project?

Its repository publishes it under the MIT licence: you may reuse it on that licence's terms (keep the author's notice, and for a copyleft licence share your changes alike).

Category and platform

nRF52 and nRF5x

Project files

Show this board on your page

A live frame, for any web page

<iframe src="https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/alvarop-ostur-controller" title="Controller in PCBKit" width="100%" height="480" style="border:0;border-radius:12px" allow="fullscreen" loading="lazy"></iframe>

A picture

<img src="https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/alvarop-ostur-controller.jpg" alt="Controller" width="1200" height="900">

A picture that opens the board, for a README

[![Controller](https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/alvarop-ostur-controller.jpg?size=s)](https://pcbkit.io/boards/alvarop-ostur-controller)

Source

Repository: alvarop/ostur
Board file: hw/controller/controller.kicad_pcb
Commit: e4f9d88
Licence: MIT

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