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Hello everyone!

I needed a small, fast and reliable multi-voltage level translator (mainly for connecting ESP8266 boards to the Arduino, got tired of resistor networks pretty quickly) so I built a breakout board for TI’s LSF0204(D).

Datasheet and info here.

The LSF0204 is a nice little chip. It can translate up to 4 signals to and from the following values:

1.0 V ↔ 1.8/2.5/3.3/5 V.

1.2 V ↔ 1.8/2.5/3.3/5 V.

1.8 V ↔ 2.5/3.3/5 V.

2.5 V ↔ 3.3/5 V.

3.3 V ↔ 5 V.

Here’s a picture of the board design:

Board layout.

It’s very easy to use: connect the reference voltages to VA (1.0-4.5V) and VB (1.8-5.5V), and your signals to A1/2/3/4 or B1/2/3/4. It will translate and output them to the opposite A or B pins.

Features and parts list

  • Compatible with both LSF0204 (short jumper) and LSF0204D (solder/short the resistor between the “4” pins).
  • Decoupling caps on both voltage lines.
  • Optional I2C pull-up resistors (on the back of the board) connected to VA and VB.
  • As small as possible! Just 1.6 x 1.6cm!

Parts list:

  • U1: LSF0204(D) IC, TSSOP-14 package.
  • C1,C2: 0.1uF 0805 package.
  • R1-R8: 4.7k-10k ohm, 0805 package (I2C pull-ups, optional).
  • R9: 10k ohm, 0805 package. Pull-down resistor to GND, for LSF0204D: the EN pin is active low.
  • SJ1: solder jumper to VA, connect for LSF0204 (non-D): the EN pin is active high.

Pictures!

And here’s a couple of picture of some of the boards I received, printed by DirtyPCBs. Awesome service! Also, the black soldermask rocks.

It was also my first try at panelizing and I can say it worked pretty well!

Front view.
Back view.

Here a fully assembled one.  The chip is pretty small but it was easy to solder with the help of a liquid flux pen and my new Yihua-858D hot air station. Don’t worry, you can solder it with a regular iron too!

Fully assembled board.

As usual, leftovers (PCBs only!) are available in the store and on Tindie, design files on GitHub.

Thanks for reading!