@Lee_Wright Was this VESC Tool that Summerboard released pre-app the full VESC Tool or did it have a similar paired down feature set as the current app? Did it have motor detection, motor & BMS current limits, remote pairing etc? Any chance you still have a link to it? The current VESC Tool tells me that my ESC FW is too old.
It might be helpful to explain my situation. My remote got stolen a while back and I left my SB1 in storage for a couple of months while searching for a second-hand remote. I just realized that the battery has since went into a pre-mature protection and so I have a second issue to deal with.
So I’ve been trying to figure out what’s the cheapest/easiest way to get riding again.
The Flipsky VX4 remote is half the price of a Summerboard’s, but I don’t know if it’ll work with the SB ESC. If I end up converting to a 2x CFOC3 VESC in the future, then the Summerboard remote likely won’t work.
I was also curious if I went down the LiPo path if I could re-configure the SB1 ESC current limits to get closer to SBX performance.
Might be possible to use vesc tool to switch away from the stock NRF remote input
NRF is only used for one other “VESC” remote on the market. the “vesc wand” from @Trampa boards/Vedder of VESC tool himself.
Aaron from summerboard said he thought it was possible that VESC wand remote could pair up to the stock mobo but it remains untested and most likely problematic. (if someone wanted to explore this a full custom remote cloning the SBX’s communication might be the way to go) plus this rumored new summerboard electronics revision could include better remote stuff and that
Hopefully someone tries that first thing I mentioned.
No it was actually a fully fledged VESC tool but just custom FW to work with the Summerboard. I’m sure if you asked Aaron he would provide it with a disclaimer. It was a mobile tool only, I may have the .apk somewhere but I’d have to dig through for it. Summerboard used to host it on their website, I’d assume they don’t have it on there anymore but someone who knows how to do things may be able to find it if it is.
@Lee_Wright It looks like the VESC Tool used to be hosted on a Google Drive link, but it’s since been removed. There were reports of people bricking their ESC, presumably that’s why it’s been removed and unlikely to be re-shared.
@Fosterqc I did some poking around on my motherboard and here’s what I found.
BLE Control to VESC Tool/ offical app is through an nRF51822 which likely is connected to ARM A over UART, although I couldn’t ohm out a connection.
Remote Control is handled by an nRF24L01+ which is connected to ARM A over SPI1.
There are 3x JTAG connectors for ARM A, ARM B and the nRF51822.
I can’t post images or links yet the pinout from upper left clockwise is:
There are also two un-populated USB-C connectors for each ARM, but that’s probably not too interesting.
The Trampa Wand uses an nRF52840 and communicates to the VESC over UART. Looking at the nRF52840 and the nRF24L01, they’re entirely different radio technologies and I’d strongly doubt that it’d be possible to pair a Trampa Wand to a Summerboard ESC. However there is actually for nRFL01 support in the VESC source code and that’s to support the Nunchuck Mod.
github vedderb nunchuk_mod
I suspect that Summerboard’s remote is based on this and there’s a slim chance you might be able to fake out the Summerboard ECS if you built one of these.
This mostly looks like a VESC 6 design. You might be able to create a header file for it and run the main firmware on it. I don’t know much about these boards - is there anything extra that these do that a regular vesc doesn’t normally do, like control lights or talk to the BMS or anything else?
Sounds like you have the technical skills - I could walk you through the hardware config if you wanted. I did something similar for a Flipsky controller here.
Basically you’d start with this config, remove all the variations except what references the default “60” HW_NAME, and change a few other things.
For example, I can see 1mOhm shunt resistors going to the phases
so this
#define CURRENT_SHUNT_RES 0.0005
would change to
#define CURRENT_SHUNT_RES 0.001
Other things to verify - is this a DRV8301?
Is this the right voltage dividers to read battery voltage?
#define VIN_R1 39000.0
#define VIN_R2 2200.0
Then compile it following the instructions on the main readme for the bldc repository. Use an ST-LINK to copy the existing firmware from the STM32F405 flash over the SWD port and then flash the newly compiled firmware on both sides and test all functionality. SWDIO and SWDCLK pins are probably on this TC2050 Tag-Connect port.
As for the NRF module, if you can find a UART port, you can just plug the NRF52840 dongle from the Wand into that UART port (3.3v, tx, rx, gnd) and leave the built in NRF24 as it is. Would still need some way to get into the settings to configure it though.
just because you may find this interesting and I forgot to crosspost this
That website linked seems to be a design firm that made the ESC/BMS pair that Summerboard dropped into the SBX. Page is glitched for me now.
oh this appears to be a better page, still glitched for me idk.
Now I will take some close up PCB pictures of the ESC
Any clue why both the old SB ESC I got from Lee wright are showing dead short on the input? I tried removing some random diodes or whatever but no luck. The BMS they once ran with are literally cracked so I don’t expect that they are in “factory” conditions haha.
honestly I will send them to you to keep if you want. I already made CAD models.
@linsus Thanks for the offer! Shipping from Sweden is probably a bit cost prohibitive. nRF24 modules aren’t too expensive and I already have an Arduino so I was going to try RollingGecko’s ArduBoardControl to see if I could get that to pair and build it up to a nunchuck if successful.
@jaykup Yes that is a DRV8301 3-phase driver. The Summerboard ESC does communicate to the BMS before enabling charging. I’ve read there’s also a gyro on the motherboard that is supposed to be for traction control?
@Fosterqc If you have a DC bench supply you might try limiting the current and touching around to see if anything gets warm. It looks like you already removed the reverse voltage protection diode just north of the battery post. Maybe it’s a damaged cap?
Got them to send me 2 new bases, and and 2 extra disc.
Basically by the end of fixing the summerboard, ill have a working and broken pair of discs and bases.
Im thinking it might be possible to develop a different bearing system, and epoxy the disc. This might make it so i could make new casters. I have access to a CNC, but i might just try to print out the bearing housing with PETG. Id also need to create some new brackets. Has anyone played around with the casters to your knowledge?
It’s all VESC based, the firmware is open source, same goes for the App. Basically a VESC-Tool with a skin.
The user should be able to get the source code for the app and FW. Once RX and TX are located it should be possible to use a NRF52840 and the Wand.
@Trampa Sorry I probably wasn’t clear, but I was trying to figure out what remotes might work with the stock Summerboard ESC and official (forked) firmware. Fosterqc suggested that the Trampa wand might work since it’s also using a Nordic chipset, but I didn’t think the Trampa’s nRF52840 (UART) & Summerboard’s nRF24L01 (SPI) would be compatible. You are certainly correct that if someone were to replace Summerboard’s forked FW with the mainline bldc firmware and wired in a nRF52840 receiver into the UART that would certainly work with the Trampa Wand. As far as I know no one has tried to re-flash the mainline bldc onto a Summerboard ESC.
@jaykup Great job on porting bldc to the Flipsky ESC! I followed your suggestion and was able to create an sbx.hex. Now we just need someone stupid enough to flash completely untested FW onto their ESC. =)
@Fosterqc I think you were offering Lee’s old ESC to jaykup for testing. If he passes, I’d like a shot a flashing this image onto your ESC. Beyond that I can’t promise anything. I’m not sure if the short is recoverable and I also don’t know anything about VESC other than following the GitHub build instructions and what jaykup posted. I’d cover shipping.
Don’t bother with Trampa, he’s pushing his own agenda rather than offering actual helpful advice.
The ESC from Quinn is all yours
A few things on flashing the firmware -
Get an stlink v2, the clones on Amazon are fine.
Use the .bin rather than the .hex.
use the old st utility rather than the new cube programmer. There are instructions and dl link on the flipsky post
copy the existing flash before uploading the new firmware. You can do this in the utility by connecting, then right clicking and saving to a fine. This will allow you to revert.
If the firmware is wrong it shouldn’t hurt anything until you go to drive the motor. Use a constant current power supply or a battery charger rather than a battery for testing so it doesn’t blow up
Is there a USB port on the board anywhere? If not, you could try hooking a NRF51 or NRF52 module to an open uart port or direct to the stm32 pins. The module needs firmware as well and I think the wand module needs a one time flash out of the box. You could also try hooking a USB cable direct to the stm32 pins. This model has native USB support. The vesc 6 schematic will help with pins as it should be similar
if you can connect over ble with the android app, you can do a tcp bridge to connect the desktop tool
check input voltages on the RT tab to make sure the voltage divider is correct
spin the motor by hand and look at the rpm RT tab to see if there is some data
The old system was caster rotation hall effect sensors that seemingly could only tell when it was in one of two positions (forgetting if it lined up with casters straightforward or at 90deg to direction), this is what the extra wires besides phase that went to modules previously.
remote on the market. the “vesc wand” from 
