In this episode of tips and tricks with Matt, we’ll be learning how to have lights on your esk8, and be able to control said lights from your remote (in this case a gt2b).
I’ve been struggling to find a definite guide to this so here goes nothing
Step 1 - Your Shopping list:
For this you’ll need a few things from ebay or Amazon, along with a few things you can source from most electronic stores.
- A 3ch remote with accessory switch or gt2b (modded is obviously preferable, however not necessary. if you use a normal gt2b, skip the whole button section)
- a small momentary non latching button (spst usually, but whatever tickles your fancy to engage for a sec to tell your remote to switch on). i used this (and cut off the useless prongs after checking what’s switched with a multimeter) :
https://www.jaycar.com.au/spst-pcb-mount-tactile-metallic-vertical-with-led-red/p/SP0620 - a step down converter like this one: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/223107443394 (doesn’t need to be usb. i just used this for convenience)
- cables and necessary connectors
- (lights? I’m basically just making a switched output so you can run what you want on it idc)
- most importantly, the turnigy receiver controlled switch. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-receiver-controlled-switch-1.html?___store=en_us
Step 2 - The Remote:
So this is where it gets a lil annoying. This step is also just for the gt2b, yet the basic principles remain for most 3ch remotes.
Simply put, you want to go through the normal process of printing the gt2b and installing it as per this YouTube video:
Once you have the remote working, choose a point in the remote in which your small switch will have room to sit. in my case, here:
measure the diameter of your switch (or the size of your switch) and cut or drill the hole into the chosen position of the remote accordingly. You should end up with something like this:
Step 3 - Soldering the remotes internals:
In the video linked above, it shows how to attach the battery to the pcb. However in this case, we want to hold on to a few things. Inside the gt2b you’ll find a pcb (penis circuit board). On this pcb you’ll find the cable that connects it to the main circuit board.
You want to cut the 2 wires around here somewhere:
You can discard the pcb.
The three wires now hanging from the main pcb is your battery pos (red), battery neg (black) and signal (white) for your switch.
Next you want to solder your battery to your positive and negative, and solder an extra wire to hang off the battery side. This wire should go to one leg of your switch. the other leg of your switch should be the white signal wire coming from the main pcb. You want this circuit:
Basically, for the remote to engage the 3rd channel, the switch needs to connect between the battery negative and signal to complete the circuit.
Once you have your switch how you want it and are happy with it, either fill around the damn thing with hot glue, or even epoxy to never let that bastard move.
A sneaky trick to test if you Button works is to connect your esc to your pc, select disable in the ppm settings so that the motors don’t spin when you press the trigger of your remote, and enable the display so you can see the ppm value. Change your vescs channel on the receiver to ch3 and watch the display. when pressing the button, the ppm value should significantly jump. when pressing again, it should drop to where you were at before.
Step 4 - Soldering the step down:
This parts pretty easy. However there are some caveats:
- The rc switch can only take 30v 10a so it can only switch the output of a step down (this step down draws no idle current. yes i checked with my multimeter)
- You must switch only the positive rail, and keep a common negative for the switch to work, as mentioned here
Essentially, you need this diagram:
which gets you something like this:
Once this is done, the circuit functions, yet doesn’t look too good dangling around. So in my situation, i used a shit giveaway usb to heat to get my holes in my enclosure to be ready for my usb converters output. of course you’re doing whatever you want ya no
worked like a charm
i then mounted the usbs by drilling holes for the m3 mounting bolts and whacked a bit of hot glue in there and bobs your uncle! excuse the mess in there
Once complete, i adhered the evolve prism light strips to either side of my enclosure and connected the usbs like so
This way, if I’m on the train or bus and need to charge my phone, i can simply unplug the lights, click the button on my remote and plug in the cable for my phone to charge (it’s 3a so it’s fast charging too technically lol).
If you’ve done everything right, upon connecting your button and switch, you should end up with this:
Hope this helped someone 
