Batch of HCS-designed control boards under test
Travis Labs · Design

Boards designed in Zambia. Exported to Texas.

From schematic to tested unit on our own bench. We design the board the OEM discontinued, the controller the project needs, and the battery system that keeps the site up.

How a board gets made here

Full stack, in-house — from failed card to shipped product.

Five stages, one bench. Every step below is something we have already done for a paying client.

  1. 01

    Reverse-engineer & redesign

    When the OEM has discontinued a card we capture the schematic, redesign with current components and build a drop-in replacement — the LWSC contactor economizer is one.

    Burnt original OEM card
    HCS redesigned replacement board
  2. 02

    Schematic, PCB layout, firmware

    Full stack from schematic capture and multilayer PCB layout to embedded firmware, bench test and documentation.

    Hands-on firmware and bench work
    Prototype board laid on its schematic
  3. 03

    Battery management systems

    Cell monitoring, balancing and protection for packs from portable devices to modular storage; CAN, RS-485 and IoT telemetry.

    BMS prototype with an 18650 cell
  4. 04

    Bench manufacturing & test

    Small-batch assembly, functional test rigs, burn-in and documentation. Self-designed electronics ship monthly to a client in Texas, USA.

    Batch of boards under test with oscilloscope
  5. 05

    Enclosures & certification

    Enclosure design for field and panel mounting; support through local and international testing and certification.

    WaterHandler Smart Control Box enclosure and valve kit
    Board silkscreened Designed in Zambia, Assembled in USA
Proof

The card the OEM stopped making.

Lusaka Water's pump-station contactor cards were burning out and no longer manufactured. We reverse-engineered the design, wrote the firmware, laid out a new PCB and built the replacement here. Running since February 2026 with zero failures.

Read the LWSC story
Imported OEM control cards
Imported OEM cards — expensive, discontinued
New HCS control board held for inspection
HCS design, built in Lusaka
Credentials
EasyEDA Certified Instructor certificate

EasyEDA certified instructor

Our founder is recognised by EasyEDA — used by millions of engineers — as an instructor in industrial electronics design.

Lithium cell holder and BMS prototype

Published research

Peer-reviewed R&D paper on electronics design. Original engineering, not assembly.

Zabble training board

Zabble — our own product

Made-in-Zambia STEM and industrial training board, designed and built by Travis Labs and used in our courses.

Have a board nobody makes any more?

Send photos of both sides and the nameplate of the machine it came from.

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