Esk8 Remotes: Garbage or Greatness!


Meanwhile I got ELRS telemetry working with my remote.
It was a bit tricky to get the I2C screen update while maintaining solid 250HZ link rate.

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cool! you’re using arduino? what’s the setup?

stm32f103c8t6 bluepill + ELRS (RX as TX 25mw) + alps rdc9010006 potentiometer + 64x32 I2C oled + adjustable tension gimbal with bearings

Receiver could be any ELRS receiver.

I’ve got some build info here:

Arduino was too weak, nano can only do 1 serial reliably, and it couldn’t do full speed ELRS.

My remote is mostly function over form. It’s been getting uglier as I’ve been adding more functions :smiley: . I wanted to use nothing less than ELRS, wrist guards compatible grip and most reliable pot I can find. Though looking at it now, using hall sensors would make it so much simpler.

Are you using ESP32 with integrated screen? What update rate is it running at?

I thought the same thing, but between the time I take the board out of the car, turn it on and put it on the ground, and the time that I have my helmet and gloves on and am ready to ride it has locked. And it doesn’t even have an onboard battery backup.

As to power consumption it’s designed for drones so I assume it’s pretty low current, but I run it off the main battery pack, not the remote battery, so yes, do some testing there.

The downside is I couldn’t find any way to change the baud rate on the module. It’s pumping 115200 which is ok for my application because my processor is pretty quick and isn’t doing much else except updating the screen; the code is pretty efficient, but a slower processor might get overwhelmed.

I’ve got one coming in for another project, I’ll check current draw and let you know.

pretty cool! i’m using esp32s3 with esp-idf and lvgl for driving the screen, the refresh rate is about 33fps but i want to increase that, so im changing the architecture, will use an stm32h743 to drive the screen (there’s enough RAM to dual buffer the whole screen) and an nrf52840 for the ble connection

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The vesc has params for storing gearing you can read. People can config it via vesctool

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  1. that’s fine, but as a user I don’t want to worry about the screen breaking. or accidentally touching it.

  2. yeah, that’s bad. I’m not going to use this remote if there are no buttons. Touchscreen for everything is terrible design for this use case. I cannot stress this enough. I don’t need a IMU(??) detecting if I am holding the thing. This has no feedback loop. I need a button that provides me feedback, ideally in the form of a vibration that it received my command. My example I’ll give you is the office overhead lights that save power by automatically turning off “when no one is around”. Well, I sit so still that the lights turn off when I am in the room! That’s one example of non-deadly on/off automation working against the user. So, I’m not about to trust an algorithm to NOT turn off when I am holding the remote and I’m ripping down a hill at 40mph.

  3. I’ll take your word for it.

  4. just saying it’s not super important even though it’s popular. getting the connectivity right, and stability of throttle is so critical. people focus on the “nice to have” portions because they assume the fundamentals are well solved.

Right, beadon has a point.

For example, i’m left handed. If with a touch screen, the screen will be touching my palm when holding.

Unless there’s a variant design where the screen can be on the other side… hmm

Config with the remote is, I agree, a little overkill. The remote needs to operate the board, not necessarily configure it.

Add a few push-buttons to the remote, then you’ll have an easy menu-navigator, and use the throttle as a selector - Voyager V1 and V2 do this, the config menu can only be entered when you hold an awkward set of button options. ← so you don’t accidentally enter config mode when riding.

Also, turning off is an awkward set of button pushes to prevent accidental turn off. ← a great feature honestly.

This looks good! I like the handle. The display is small, but very functional, I like it. The number of screws holding the remote together seem suspicious, I assume this means that there are a few different grips that can be attached to it ? ( this is useful for people with large/small hands and/or lefty/righty )

Must have buttons, where are the power and “option” buttons ?

FUTURE – There is an opportunity to loop in a HUD in the future – The Next Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Will Reportedly Get A HUD

Yea, there are about 30 screws in total, but if I change it to hall sensors and properly integrate the screen I can get rid of half of them.

Smallest screen turned out to be enough for main things I care about
cell voltage + remote battery + distance

Totally, it could be used without any grips, or with different size grips and knuckle savers.

I’ll post a video later, there’s a button to flip through telemetry pages, power is a rocker switch right now, I actually like it.

I’m planning to release it at some point, but as it is now I feel it’s a bit hard to replicate.

Oh, I meant to say what is the connection link rate?
That UI looks cool AF. Do you lock the touch with a dead man switch?

Awesome. I really like the compact design and flexibility to fit different hand shapes.

Is there a vibration motor inside too ? I want to know when there is some kind of “low battery” warning , or “weak signal” or “disconnected/reconnected” or “power on/power off” when I can’t see the screen when riding – the vibration pattern gives the feedback on these crucial situations. I guess you could put a little speaker in there to beep for these warning/signals too, but it may be difficult to hear at times.

^^ please think about it :slight_smile:

Oh, I should add - I would be interested to see the current speed – this requires some math to convert the wheel diameter and motor rpms to this metric, but it’s super helpful to know when you’re exceeding the speed limit on roads or not. Going with the flow of traffic, or getting in the way.

It’s also useful to know your boards top speed and how close you are to hitting the max. I find I run at speeds that have felt comfortable before, and then have found problems with the board because “at 20mph the rear truck does X…” (the rear pivot cup was coming out!). so it ends up being a good troubleshooting tool too.

Both of these situations I chalk up to the rider “knowing the safe limits of your setup” and it helps with situational awareness - answering the question : “How hard am I going to hit that pavement if I make a mistake?”