Ok so i have been setting the lighting for my build and finally found enough compromises to get the parts I wanted talking in a way that it gets me most of the functionality I wanted. There’s an issue i keep coming up against that I never see mentioned here: lights and controls setup to break the positive like a car VS controllers that break the negative, most off the shelf non vehicular lights adapted to eskate… and the ubox integrated controller.
Made for some really interesting troubleshooting because i just assumed that the ubox and other lights sold for PEVs would use a common negative/break positive scheme. Mixing parts from both schemes can get you into some weird outputs with lights acting strangely and controllers getting back fed and such. Its been a fun ride getting it sorted lol
I wanted to set up the lights for my board to get a couple things that are bog standard for traditional vehicles: minimal latency break light, daytime visibility bright running lights, headlights preferably with a high and low setting and a visor to see about 100’ and not blind oncoming traffic, and rgb led under glow using the TTL module to get that x acceleration splash carve effect
I tried to get everything in 12v but that was harder than I thought. This is what Im running and what its doing
Dedicated break light from solid circuits controlled by the ubox break light output. The light is a champ, great design and print qualities is top notch. Brightness is on par with good vehicle assemblies. In a perfect world it would have isolated dual outputs (running and break) but this is a minor gripe- it does what it does and is designed for software control of the state to create effects like breaking, flashing, pulsing, and whatever. I tried to have a 50% duty cycle PWM controller create a running light (dimmer, pulsing) and then break (bright 100%) but because the ubox is breaking the negative and the other components were common negative it causes strangeness with my other components when i try mix the break output from the ubox and other pilot inputs so it’s just a break light for me.
Running lights are just mini 12v motorcycle lights. Common negative. Front are white/amber, rear are red, red, amber. In the front i have both white (6500k) and the amber lights on to warm up the color. It causes some pretty bad artifacts in the edges of the beam but idgaf and the majority of the beam is nice and warm and renders color nicely. They’re a bit too bright but I’ve decided i like this. I might replace the lenses front and back with a domed frosted ones to get more brightness at larger viewing angles and reduce the throw of the beam. Rear i run red&red on and amber disconnected. I tried to have the break signal input for one red output but ubox cock blocked me again. If i could find devices with isolated wiring or rewire the lights i could make it work but this will do for now. Might swap them out with the version with no amber lights but idk. It’s working so it’s hard to pull it apart for me. Mount is just a piece of alu bar stock with some holes drilled. Im working on a 3d printed mount to integrate both the ttl break and these into one but maybe for a new build… cause it works
Beam artifacts
Basic mount may get painted and rounded off if I don’t replace it
Headlights are 5v and are like a crapy version of the lights ShutterShock is working on. Drawbacks are the power source and driver and mount. They are bright as fuck so thats good. Mounted to the front trucks but the mount is too far forward for my taste (the visor I’m making keeps bumping stuff). They also have a physical button so i have to reach down and turn them on and set the brightness. The led uses 3.6v forward and I’m looking at making a 12v setup that will go into the housing but maybe not. Ideally the lights would be 12v input, small driver circuit to drop forward voltage to 11v with a similar light output and have a pwm controlled input to drop the brightness to 40-50% duty cycle. I have to redo the stock mounts as they don’t lock down and loosen up over time. Im working on a keyed version that will be basically a shaft collar with a keyed ptu insert to lock them to the truck while pushing them back a bit and cupping the light at the mounting bolt to stabilize the positioning. I hate 3d cading and only have free versions of stuff and now that fusion 360 is getting rid of the free license i’m probably going to farm it out to someone who isn’t using tinkcad lol
I think i have the room with a better mount to shift out to the wheel a smidge, bring the light back a smidge, and make the trimmed headlight visor sit behind the wheel rubber so it doesn’t bump but that’s a problem for future me. This isn’t wheel biting btw, this is my trucks as loose as i can ride leaning all 200lbs of my frame on the board edge and pushing down while holding on to a wall to get the pic and only just looking like it touched… it actually has a little gap you can’t see because of the angle
