Warning: I specified a 1mm board thickness when ordering this Light Pod board for my speaker build (the default is 1.6mm).

Project Overview

This is a simple LED carrier board designed for the light pod on the bottom of the V2 version of my retro smart speaker project.

The original V1 light pod used individually wired LEDs and resistors. It worked, but the assembly was time-consuming, difficult to keep neat, and required more effort to position everything correctly inside the 3D-printed housing.

This PCB replaces that hand wiring with a compact board that holds the LEDs and current-limiting resistors in the correct positions. It makes the light pod much faster to assemble and removes the need to glue or manually align the individual components.

The board is designed to mount inside the V2 light pod enclosure and connect to the main speaker controller through two power wires.

V2 Speaker Build

The V2 blog post includes the complete parts list, updated 3D models, firmware, PCB files, and the other resources needed to build the current version of the speaker.

V2 Build Post: https://mostlybuilds.com/retro-smart-speaker-v2-now-open-source/

The V2 build video shows how the light pod PCB is assembled, mounted inside the enclosure, and connected to the rest of the speaker.

Main Speaker Controller

This light pod PCB is one part of a larger retro smart speaker project.

The main ESP32-based controller handles Wi-Fi audio streaming, Bluetooth playback, microSD card playback, the touchscreen interface, audio amplification, volume control, and power switching.

Main Speaker Controller PCB: https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/MostlyBuilds_Smart_Speaker_69b2dc0e.html