Why can't the schematics for the expansion boards be released?

[curtis.hendrix]

Not having the schematics for the development modules and expansion boards major pain point for me over the past few weeks and is making me seriously consider abandoning Pycom. The vast majority of the other players in the "professional hobbyist / hobbyist professional" development boards make their schematics publicly available (Arduino, Beaglebone, important parts of the Raspberry Pi, etc). And yet here I am with a GPy and Pysense without any of that information. Do you always need a schematic? Not always, but when you need it, you really need it.

For example, I can't determine what (if anything) I can run off the 3.3v output from the GPy. Some documentation says that's a over 1A output, other documentation says that's a 400mA output. With the schematic and parts list, I could look up what the components on the GPy consume worst case, what the regulator can supply, and then make a determination if I can run what I need off the GPy. But now I'm forced to add another power supply because I can't trust the documentation (conflicting) and I can't determine what the power output actually is.

So why won't the Pycom release the schematics for their modules? I just don't get it...

[danielm]

Voltage regulator used on development modules is LM3281. I think that ESP32 + SQN3330 can in extreme cases consume current of 800-900mA, which is almost the limit of the regulator. If you will avoid to use multiple radios at once you could "allocate" 300-400mA for other peripherals.
The regulator comes in BGA package only and is not easy to solder by hand but it can be done with hot-air soldering gun.

[Paul Thornton]

An effort to bring all documentation inline is ongoing at the moment and things should be clearer going forward. We are aware of a few conflicting pieces of information that need clearing up.

Ill pass along the feedback about schematics being made available to the public.