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Rev B1 ECN-10 — Silkscreen article / revision legend (draft)

Draft — EverTag Station only

Correct variant-specific silkscreen legends on Connectivity Module PCBs (232200–232204). Not approved. Observed on A3 first-manufacturing boards; fix targets the B1 Altium release. Does not apply to Tag (230220).

Ships in the same B1 respin as Rev B1 ECN-01 — GPIO remap.

What changes

After receiving Rev A3 unit boards from EMS, two silkscreen errors were found on WiFi variants. The article number + revision legend on the PCB top silk must match the board being built — not an Altium placeholder and not another variant's article number.

A3 (observed) B1 (proposed)
232202 silk legend [No Variations]A3 232202B1
232203 silk legend 232201A3 (wrong article) 232203B1
Other variants (232200, 232201, 232204) Not reported wrong on A3 Audit and lock per-variant legend in Altium

Observed defect — 232202

Altium printed the unresolved assembly-variant placeholder [No Variations] instead of the article number, followed by the revision suffix A3:

232202 A3 board — silk shows [No Variations]A3 instead of 232202A3

This indicates the silk text field references a variant parameter that is not bound to the 232202 assembly variant (or is evaluated outside variant context).

Observed defect — 232203

The 232203 (Base Bat+WiFi) board carries the 232201 (Base Bat) article number in silk: 232201A3. The revision suffix is correct; the article number is from the wrong variant — likely copied shared silk or a missing per-variant override when the Bat+WiFi variant was added.

Required silkscreen format

Each Station variant shares one layout but must show its own article number on silk. Follow the same rule at B1 release and on any future mixed panel (Rev B1 ECN-05 — Mixed-variant panel).

Element Rule Example (B1)
Article number Six-digit PCB article for this assembly variant 232202, 232203, …
Revision Current released revision label for this board B1
Combined legend Article immediately followed by revision, no space 232202B1, 232203B1
Company / regulatory Unchanged — CargoBeacon AB, WEEE, etc. —

Scope

Item B1 change
232202 Bind article parameter → silk shows 232202B1
232203 Replace 232201… legend → silk shows 232203B1
232200, 232201, 232204 No A3 defect reported — verify each variant in Altium assembly preview before B1 Gerber lock
232205 mixed panel Per-position silk must match ECN-05 position → variant map
230220 Tag No change

Altium implementation (after design approval)

  1. Per assembly variant — Set a stable parameter (e.g. ArticleNumber = 232202, 232203, …) on each Station assembly variant. Confirm it resolves in Project → Assembly Variants preview, not only in the base schematic.
  2. Revision parameter — Drive the revision suffix from the project/board revision field (or an explicit PCBRevision parameter) so B1 silk updates without hand-editing strings.
  3. Silk string — Top-side legend uses variant-aware text, e.g. .ArticleNumber + .PCBRevision (exact Altium syntax per project template). Avoid hard-coded 232201 on shared layers.
  4. Variant preview — For each of 232200–232204, switch assembly variant and confirm 3D / print output shows the correct {article}{revision} string.
  5. Gerber check — Before EMS release, spot-check silk Gerber for 232202 and 232203 (and one other variant) — same check as ECN-05 panel QA.

Verification (EMS / QA)

  • 232200 — silk reads 232200B1 (or current rev)
  • 232201 — silk reads 232201B1
  • 232202 — silk reads 232202B1 — no [No Variations] text
  • 232203 — silk reads 232203B1 — not 232201…
  • 232204 — silk reads 232204B1
  • Mixed panel (if used) — each depanelized unit matches its position's article on silk

Functional behaviour (V_SAMPLE, populate) is unchanged — this ECN is legend / traceability only.

Open items

# Question Owner Status
1 Were 232200, 232201, or 232204 A3 boards also mis-labelled, or only 232202/232203? HW + QA Pending
2 Confirm Altium parameter names already in the Station project template (ArticleNumber, PCBRevision, …) Altium Pending
3 A3 boards in stock — accept as-is, rework silk (not practical), or scrap? HW lead Pending