I started working on customizable screens for DAVEGA X. This is one of the most requested features and it’s quite a big one.
I can see a number of ways this can be done. Initially, I was thinking of going big:
make every single value on each screen customizable
allow adding new custom screens
allow adjusting screen titles and field labels
allow multi-value display (e.g. “motor temperature” would display the values for all motors)
maybe even expose an API for python-coded plug-ins
On the other hand, I don’t want to go overboard and spend a lot of time implementing something that almost nobody will use. Maybe there’s actually just a few values that people want to get customized and adding a few new menu options is all it takes to get those use cases covered.
I would really appreciate some user input here.
If you had total control over the screen values and layout, how would you set it up?
How would you like the “multi-values” displayed? For example, how to display the “motor temperature” if there’s more than one motor.
show all values in a smaller font within a single “slot”
show all values in a regular font using multiple “slots”
show a single aggregated value (max, min, avg, sum)
possibly any of the above depending on the value type (e.g. “I want to see all individual motor temperatures but for motor currents, I just want to see the sum”)
Here’s what displaying multi-values could look like for a 4WD with two dual VESCs:
The first thing i had in mind was having multiple grid options like those collages frames to choose from. Every square has a number ( A frame with 8 squares gets 8 numbers and can house 8 stats)
Once a frame is selected all possible stats get listed and you then can set a number to each stat thats fits to the corresponding number on a square. Apply that and your screen will have the chosen amount of squares with the stats in the right box where you set them.
The only thing I’d really like to customise is what displays as the ‘big number’ it would be useful sometimes to have the ‘big number’ as wh/m or esc temp.
Yah the only thing I can think of is seeing speed and batt amps at the same time rather than one or the other. Not sure how well they would both fit on the home screen in big readable numbers like they are now.
I agree with @Saturn_Corp would be nice if the battery amps are also visible at the same time, but for me they dont necessarily have to be larger than the speed just large enough to read properly.
And like @Halbj613 suggests error codes might be interesting as well I think. Maybe a popup appears where normally the battery bar is shown or over some other value for example. This way while riding you can notice an error and check out what error it is.
For the screen layout, maybe implement a few stock screen layouts one can choose from. In that way ‘you’ can make the changes to the stock screen when needed and dont have to implement a whole customisation system which would also take away memory from the device I assume.
Would you rather:
(1) have them both squeezed in the area that currently shows speed => both speed and amps would have to be displayed with a smaller font, or
(2) create another “big font area” and sacrifice the smaller font values (battery V, Wh/km, distance, range)?
I don’t even own a Davega yet, and probably this idea is way too complex for now, but maybe it’s something for the future
If you have an app in the future, or even integrated with the Metr app, you could make an interface just like Metr real time screen, selecting what you want and resizing, when done it applies to Davega
Right. I’m actually thinking of doing something like that. I’m just not sure if it’s not total overkill because maybe what people really want is the current screens with one or two changes. And maybe making something complex for the customization is not even what people would prefer since they would then need to learn how to use it. Sometimes providing fewer options and deciding things for the user is better/preferred. This thread is to find out.
I would personally prefer keeping speed big, and it looks like there’s room to the left of the speed number where amps can go; perhaps I’n a different color than the yellow speed indicator so it’s easy to distinguish?
Seriously though, this is a good idea. I could get that implemented pretty quickly since there’s already a setting for what the “speed area” should show. I could just extend the options to something like:
speed
motor amps
battery amps
speed & motor amps
speed & battery amps
With the last two, the speed would be maxed out at 99, which shouldn’t be a problem for most people… except for @mackann and him alike.
Yah, the triple digit speeds would be an issue for km/hr. And we’d have to prepare for 100+ amps as well to keep it double digits. Say when you hit 100 amps it shows kiloamperes? Haha .01kiloampere. not ideal
Would be cool if there was an app or something to make this customisation easier. I imagine it might be a bit of a ballache to do all of the customisation using the davega itself
Right. If it’s to happen in the “big way”, the configuration will definitely be done outside of DAVEGA. I’m thinking of making a web app for it. DAVEGA would then download the config file over WiFi.
Agree on that, while battery amps usually is kept bellow 100 A, motor amps certainly much more people brake the 100 A value, specially if it shows both motor summed
Yes, that’s actually the main reason the “speed area” has three digits allocated. I don’t really expect the third digit to be used when showing speed (especially with mph :)).
I’m thinking of having the bigger number always showing speed (in two digits) and acompany it with a smaller number that has 3 digits allocated - use that for motor or battery amps.
I’ll play with the layout tomorrow. I can then probably get it implemented quickly and release for people to test. (Can’t do much testing myself now since we just got snow and my board is not quite snow-ready.)
