Hoyt Puck knowledge base

[fessyfoo]

Special Modes

mash some buttons do some special stuff.
All of these modes start with the remote powered off.

Official modes

Firmware upgrade mode

Hold down T(down) and R. then press Power

The remote will immediately start flashing white when you hit the power button. then plug in to laptop.

more info on firmware upgrades (upgrades are non reverseable):

• Hoyt firmware upgrade video
• Hoyt linear throttle curve firmware thread

Potentiometer Calibration

Rarely needed

• Hold down T(down), M, and Power
• remote will flash green
• move throttle to max, min, and let it return to center
• press R you should hear a beep or it didn’t work. try again.

pdf from hoyt on the subject:
remote_recalibration_instructions.pdf (22.3 KB)

Reciever Pairing Mode

Hold down R, M, and Power the LEDs will start flashing green.
Turn on a hoyt receiver. the remote will vibrate and the LEDS will shut off. Paired.

Discovered modes

LED test mode?

found this by accident, i’m guessing that it’s an LED test mode.

Hold down T(up), R, and Power remote will beep twice and LEDs will flash White

Now press any button besides Power and the remote will beep twice and change the LED color

Button	Color
R	Blue
T(Down)	Red
T(Up)	Green
M	Yellow

Unknown mode?

Also found this by accident

Hold down T(up), M, and Power Blue LEDs will start flashing

Enjoy the serenity. I don’t know what it does.

Honestly i’d hoped this was a way of checking the battery level in the remote without turning on the receiver.

Normal Button Usage

Power button

power on

Hold this down ~3s to power on, the remote will beep once LEDs will flash white.
if it fails to connect to a receiver it will start flashing red and buzzing.
if it connects to a receiver the LEDs will turn off and you’re good to go

LEDS / battery level

Press the Power button while connected to a receiver, and the LEDS will turn on. The LEDs will indicate the puck battery level. (unless you somehow have very old pre SOC firmware update )

color	battery level	~V*
Blue	75-100%	> 4.0v
Green	~50-75%	> 3.9v
Yellow	~25-50%	> 3.7v
Red	~1-25%	> 3.5v

*voltages sampled with a psu that only did 0.1V steps.

Below 10%, remote will flash and vibrate continuously. this includes if the voltage only dipped for a moment.

Lock remote (cruise control!??)

With the remote on and connected. Double tap the Power Button it will beep once and turn on the LEDs. The remote is now “locked” and moving the throttle will not change the output.

Take note the throttle will output whatever value it was “locked” at. Usually most people use this to lock it at neutral. But you can lock it at some other point by holding the throttle as you lock it. this is not advised.

The remote will not “unlock” unless the remote is in a neutral position. If you’re having trouble unlocking it. calibrating the potentiometer may help.

M button

This is the “Mode” button. With the remote on and connected pressing this will toggle between 3 power modes. beeping and vibrating once for mode 1(33%), twice for mode 2(66%), and thrice for mode 3(100%). go with 3. (always 3 when calibrating vesc input) The lower power modes just scale down the throttle output, notably on current control vescs this doesn’t limit speed it limits power, think of it as limiting throttle throw.

R button

this “Reverses” the throttle. stop is go, go is stop.

With the remote on and connected. Hold the R button for 3s. the remote will beep. now the throttle is reversed. repeat to go back.

note: allows for “left hand mode” with buttons facing away from palm.

T button

Toggle?

Trim

Ostensibly a “Trim” button. However it’s affect on the output is so minute as to not be measurable.

with the remote on and connected:

press T(up) a bunch of times and it will beep, and double beep until eventually it stops beeping. presumably the max range of the trim.

press T(down) a bunch of time for the same experience, getting to the bottom of the range.

if you like beeps. this button is for you.

Special modes

T button is important to most of the special modes. so make sure it works in your case mods.

Note that it needs to be able to rocker and toggle between the two buttons on the pcb.

Future

Hoyt reserves the right to make T button even cooler in the future.

Low RF Signal Warning ( why is it vibrating? )

sometimes riding through certain areas of high interference the puck will vibrate warning you of something… but of what?

@BenjaminF

The vibration youre talking about is just a warning that the Puck is experiencing lots of RF noise. That does not mean the Puck is losing signal, it just means it wants to warn you about the potential for interference. Think of it as a “low signal” warning, that comes well before you would actually lose connection.

Puck PSA / Potentimeter issue

In december, 2020. Hoyt team sent out a PSA about some isuses with the hoyt puck poteniomter.

PDF from hoyt mailed out to customers:
puck psa.pdf (1.8 MB)

In short the potentimeter can break free from the board, the most common way being the single pin on the right side disconnecting which was resulting in a full throttle signal.

Hoyt updated their soldering as well as updating the cases to better support the potentiometer

If you’re using alternate cases, or your puck is old. You may want to look into battle hardening it yourself.
@Yeahthatperson has nice video on youtube about hardening.

Parts

Hoyt sells replacement potentiometers and all the other little bits you may need.

Alternate Shells / Puck Mods

Compendium over in this thread:

Printable Hoyt Puck Shell Repository

I couldn’t find anything like this yet. (Please let me know if I’m missing something.) But I wanted to create a place where people could find files to print just about any puck shell they could want. I just got two pucks and want to have a repository of all possible cases to try. Please don’t hesitate to add your own! Thanks!

Firmware

*Note firmware upgrades are non-reversable

version	name/link
1.???	2020 battery level / SOC (links in description)
1.0.11	2023 throttle curve

PWM output range

In mode 3, with a properly calibrated potentiometer, the puck will output very close to these values

max	neutral	min
1962μs	1502μs	1187μs

this consistency across remotes is likely why people get away without re calibrating vesc input, when changing remotes.

*tested by me across 3 different remotes

[glyphiks]

This is brilliant, nice work Fess!

[fessyfoo]

Thank you. It took a lot more than i thought when i started.

[fessyfoo]

• Added hoyt shells section
• Added bit to lock mode about problems unlocking.

[sugandese]

We need a case with ridges either side of the thumb wheel. High enough to protect the wheel and pot from impact but obviously wide enough for your thumb.

[tuckjohn]

Incredible work Fess! Just learned new things about my own remotes.

[BenjaminF]

Excellent thread, Fess! It’s great to see all this info in one place. Couple random thoughts/ideas/suggestions I had while reading:

@fessyfoo

Firmware upgrade mode

Updating firmware is a one-way non-reversable process. Only do it if you’re certain you want it.

@fessyfoo

Hoyt linear throttle curve firmware thread

We updated our entire stock to the new linear throttle curve firmware, so every new puck we sell has this. If you bought a puck recently (last couple months) it already has this.

@fessyfoo

Potentiometer Calibration

I only know of three cases in the entire history of the Puck where this has been necessary. AKA: dont just do this for fun. Poking around with debug stuff always carries risk, so dont do it unless you actually need to.

@fessyfoo

a way of checking the battery level in the remote without turning on the receiver.

I also wish there was a way to do this I’ll bring it up with the team, see what I can do.

@fessyfoo

The LEDs will indicate the puck battery level. (with newer firmware. todo: version? )

If anyone out there is rocking a puck old enough that it doesn’t have the SOC firmware, then I’m seriously impressed

@fessyfoo

Lock remote

I’m always shocked how many people have no idea this feature exists. I could not live with a remote that doesn’t have throttle lock haha. I suggest everyone reading this gets in the habit of locking the throttle every time you step off your board, even just for a second. It has saved so many whoopies.

@fessyfoo

(cruise control??)

…

Take note the throttle will output whatever value it was “locked” at. Usually most people use this to lock it at neutral. But you can lock it at some other point by holding the throttle as you lock it.

Please do not do this there’s nothing technically wrong with it, but it makes me super uncomfortable and has a huge potential for disaster.

For example, keep in mind that with a VESC set to current control, your remote’s throttle is not setting your board’s speed, it’s setting your board’s current. So if you start going downhill, you will suddenly find yourself going much faster than you intended when you set your “cruise control” because of the decreased load. Or if you were to fall off your board it would shoot off at full speed because now there’s no load on it.

So please yall, stop talking about “cruise control” on Pucks I blame @Evwan

@fessyfoo

The lower power modes just scale down the throttle output.

Yep. Specifically they are just cropping in on the PWM range the remote sends (mode3 is 100% of the range, mode2 is 66%, mode1 is 33%). This is imperfect in several ways, chiefly because while your acceleration will be severely limited in a lower mode, your top speed is not technically limited. This is for the same reasons I explained about current control above. With a simple PWM remote on VESC, there isnt really a good way to make modes that restrict speed.

Also important to note that brakes are not effected by speed modes. You have access to 100% of the braking curve in all modes.

Also also, you should ALWAYS be in mode3 when doing your PWM setup in VESC. Otherwise your VESC will freak out the first time it sees a PWM value higher than the maximum it’s expecting.

@fessyfoo

Future

Hoyt reserves the right to make T button even cooler in the future.

[Evwan]

@BenjaminF

So please yall, stop talking about “cruise control” on Pucks I blame @Evwan

I was about to comment “please guys I was joking about using it as cruise control” but I didn’t think anyone even remembered me saying that. Thanks for making me feel important

[fessyfoo]

• updated firmware mentions to note non-reverseable.
• updated Potentiometer section to note rarely needed.
• updated lock mode to de-emphasize/advise against cruise control also warn about power not speed with current control.
• updated M button to note throttle scale levels, also note calibrating vesc input
• added pwm output section

@Evwan

@BenjaminF

So please yall, stop talking about “cruise control” on Pucks I blame @Evwan

I was about to comment “please guys I was joking about using it as cruise control” but I didn’t think anyone even remembered me saying that. Thanks for making me feel important

I discovered it on my own, and I called it cruise control remembering and laughing about the VX1 “cruise control”. TBF tho. @tuckjohn likes “cruise control” danger balancing torquespeed.

@BenjaminF

Couple random thoughts/ideas/suggestions

Thanks! I was trying to be terse. but you nudged some stuff I left out back in.

@BenjaminF

@fessyfoo

Future

Hoyt reserves the right to make T button even cooler in the future.

secrets been out for a long time… don’t worry no one believes.

[Evwan]

@fessyfoo

my version says that it’s a time travel button

[fessyfoo]

@BenjaminF

I only know of three cases in the entire history of the Puck where this has been necessary. AKA: dont just do this for fun. Poking around with debug stuff always carries risk, so dont do it unless you actually need to.

are you counting my two cases?

[BenjaminF]

Yes

[fessyfoo]

@BenjaminF

@fessyfoo

Lock remote

I’m always shocked how many people have no idea this feature exist

so, it shouldn’t shock you that not to many people have discovered the calibration fix for it the unlock issue.

[fessyfoo]

@BenjaminF (or those in the know)

The remote will vibrate when riding through certain presumably high interference areas.
I’ve been told this is when it’s switching channels. but it coiuld be it’s just warning of potential cutouts?

i’ve experienced it in group rides with lots of folks around.
and I’ve experienced it repeatedly at specific points in the same rides.

What’s it actually doing that we could document above?

[BenjaminF]

@fessyfoo

What’s it actually doing

This is my understanding:

The Puck is constantly hopping channels as part of its normal radio protocol. The channel hopping happens quite fast (dont know exactly). The vibration youre talking about is just a warning that the Puck is experiencing lots of RF noise. That does not mean the Puck is losing signal, it just means it wants to warn you about the potential for interference. Think of it as a “low signal” warning, that comes well before you would actually lose connection.

For the Puck to actually lose connection to the receiver, there would have to be interference on many different channels at the same time (i.e. Esk8Con), or a super loud RF source drowning out all the channels at once. Even in those tough RF environments, the Puck has an excellent track record of maintaining signal integrity.

That’s a lot to explain though, so usually when asked I will just tell people something along the lines of: “That means your puck is channel hopping to maintain good connection. If you didnt lose connection then you have nothing to worry about.” Not as technically correct (because again, the puck is constantly hopping channels regardless of the signal environment) but much simpler to explain to someone in a hurry.

Again, all that is just my understanding. I was not with Hoyt when the Puck was being designed/spec’d. I’m also not an RF engineer

[jack.luis]

You’re not a regular fuckin engineer?

[BenjaminF]

I just play one on TV

[fessyfoo]

• Added section on puck vibrating low RF signal warning

thank you @BenjaminF

[Yeahthatperson]

Did you also know???

If you hold it over a pregnant womans belly and dangle the puck over with your wrist and bob it up and down a few times. Let it hover over and see what type of motion it makes once you stop bobbing it. If it moves in a circle, you should buy skateboards. If it goes back and forth, you you should also buy skateboards.

DM me for a Hoyt/Metroboard discount code

[fessyfoo]

whoa… cool! Give me a minute to make a terse version of that and I’ll add a section for it.