Using the #esp32 in commercial production, Should you?

Hello, everybody

If you've been playing with microtrollers for a while now, you might have even started working on your own product

And that is amazing, by the way. Good job. It's a really fun process

But you might be wondering, do you need to replace your ESP 32 modules

with another IC in production? What if you were to use the ESP 32 microcontrollers

in your production product? Is that normal? And do companies do that

The answer is yes. actually, a lot of companies use ESP 32 modules in their production

You won't be shoving a breakout board in there like you do with your development prototypes

but you will be using the IC itself. And the good news is it's a lot cheaper than buying them without the breakout boards

A lot of work goes into these and a lot of components. And frankly, you don't need all of this because you're probably only going to be using a fraction

of the capabilities of your ESP 32. But you might be asking with that is it overkill And the answer is yes I mean it depends on what you using it for but the answer is almost always going to be yes If you really wanted to shave off pennies in production it might be

worth using a simpler IC for your project. But the truth is, a lot of products on the market

that use the ESP 32 modules are overkill and have a lot of unutilized functionality. And that's okay

The thing is, these chips are so dirt cheap that it doesn't really matter

And there's something about future-proofing that makes a lot of people a little more comfortable

Having that extra power and functionality might come in handy down the line if you decide to add more features or tweak your product after it's already been in production

It's easier to start with something that has a little more headroom than rip everything apart and redesign your product again later

And I can tell you that from experience. You don't want to do that

Okay? Another reason companies love sticking with the ESP 32 modules is it's built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

and everybody knows that. I sound like a broken record saying that, but it's true

If your product needs to connect to the internet or communicate with another device these little chips have you covered okay That all built in That beautiful No extra components needed No need to mess around with external Wi or Bluetooth modules

Everything you need is already baked in. Once again, is it overkill? Yes, sometimes

But does it matter? No, no, it doesn't. Not unless you're really trying to shave pennies and battery usage, okay

If you're trying to save power in your product and you need to run it on smaller batteries

then yeah, it might make sense to not use the ESP 32, especially with the Wi-Fi and stuff

but usually that's disabled anyway. Development time matters. You've probably noticed how easy it is to work with the ESP 32

when you're prototyping. There's a massive community behind it with loads of libraries

and a ton of tutorials. That means you move into production. You aren't starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel

You can take a lot of what you already built and to adapt it into your custom PCB

By the way, PCB, please sponsor me. Now let's talk about certifications, the FCC, the CE, that kind of stuff

Since the ESP 32 is so widely used getting it certified for your product it usually a smooth process It not like you dealing with some obscure IC chips and all that nonsense

This is battle tested. This is used worldwide. So is the ESP overkill for some products

Yeah, probably, for sure. You know, you crack open a lot of stuff you find at the consumer level, and you'll probably

find it in ESP 32 or something very similar to it. And a lot of the pins, they're not going to be used

they're just going to be floating or whatever. You know what I mean

It's a choice. It's a good, solid choice. And that's why you see so many used in products

In short, you really don't need to sweat it. Using your ESP 32 in production is totally normal

And for most people, it's the most meta-optimized approach to getting a product out and about on the market

So if you have an ESP 32 in your prototype, you don't have to redo it

and this should make you feel a lot less anxious about it, okay? Use the ESP 32, buy the non-bredboard versions, design it into your PCB chip, and away you go

I hope you all have a great day. I love you all. Goodbye