Sorry for the delay. I keep forgetting to respond. Here are some bullet points covering the state of the TTL system development:
There are 4 testers that do not have the system setup yet
There are 2 testers that I am unsure of whether they have the system setup and working or not
There are 4 testers that have the system installed and running, and are finding bugs
All of the testers with working setups just recently got them working so the real testing has just begun
4 testers have Unityās which posed an issue due to the integrated power switch. With a separate antispark switch, the TTL system can just be wired in parallel with the ESC on the output of the switch. With an integrated switch, the TTL system needs to be wired to the battery at all times, but only power on when the Unity is turned on. To accomplish this I designed module that allows the Unity to control power to the TTL system. The testers with Unityās recently received version 2 of this module, so they are now able to do further testing.
There are a few HW bugs and improvements that I need to make, so v4.0 HW is in the works
Once v4.0 HW is ordered, I will probably need a couple more testers to test with that HW. If so, youāll be the first person I contact
I agree, the CAN bus is the future for eskate. There are many good reasons it is used in cars, and those same reasons can be applied to eskate CAN is not easier than UART, considering most MCUs need an addictional tranciever IC to interface with it, but it would greatly improve the architecture of eskate electronics if everyhting switched over to it.
Thank you for your support! As I said somewhere above, I have a new revision of the hardware that I need to order and test before making kits available, as well as more firmware bugs to fix that the testers are actively seeking out. I donāt want to make any estimates at this moment as to when kits will be available since timing on projects like this change every day, but I will definitely be posting here when they are. So if you are interested, please follow the thread to stay up-to-date as the project develops
v4.0 of the TTL control module is finished This revision packs in a bunch of different improvements. Most are to solve issues found by beta testers, but a few are to add useful features not present in v3.4. For anyone thatās curious hereās a full list:
Added series resistors to UART rx and tx to protect the ESC when the TTL is powered and the ESC is not
Replaced the AUX FET with the one from the HPCM so that a horn can be connected directly to the control module
Removed the Nunchuck port
Made the button port a 3 pin port to match the receiver connections
Replaced the boot button with a circuit that puts the module in bootloader mode when the USB is connected, so there is no need to push a button to update FW anymore
Changed the micro pins used for UART to allow for auto pin assignment
Added pull-downs to all output FETs to prevent LED blinks and horn beeps on start-up
Replaced the USB connector with a vertically mounted version for easier FW updates in dense builds
Changed the IMU from 9DOF to 6DOF since the magnetometer wasnāt being used and it decreases part cost
Iāll be ordering some PCBs this week and building up a few prototype boards when they arrive. Once I prove out the new features and fixes Iāll call on some memebers that expressed interest in beta testing to start testing with the new boards. If all goes well this will be the final PCB revision before kits are made available
@Nuggia, Iāll state what we discussed separately so others can see. I will be getting some new testers, but I will have to see how many new ones Iāll need and how many people expressed interest already before I can say for sure that I can fit you in. Some people say they want to but donāt / canāt follow through when it comes time, so we will see how it turns out
@Flasher, support for addressable LEDs is hinging on SW development right now. Now that the v4.0 HW is finished I can start on the next SW improvements which include adding support for addressable LED strips
So I have good news and bad news about the v4.0 HW. The good news is that all but one of the new features have been proven-out and function as they should. The bad news is that one feature does not
The features that are working propperly are:
No more blibking of the LEDs on power-up
Bootloader mode is entered automatically when a USB cable is plugged in
UART rx and tx are auto assigned based on the ESC that is connected
6DOF IMU is communicating
The A2D module allows the analog side LED outputs to control addressable (APA102 based) LED strips. A demo can be seen below.
The one feature that is not working properly yet is the the horn control. Since I moved the FET controlling the horn onto the Control Module PCB, it causes the micro to reset when it is activated. I need to do some rework of the PCB to make it more robust and able to withstand the noise that is created from the horn switching on/off.
I definitely want to try out making different tones by PWMing the horn output, but I wont know if that a possibility until I get the horn switching on/off without resetting the micro
@Dunmer, @Bobby, @Ace, Thanks a ton for your support! Itās what keeps me motivated to continue improving the project
@Ricco would the ttl be able to work in conjunction with something detecting movement or speed? Iād like my adressable underglow to have a rolling effect depending on if Iām accelerating or coming to a halt (ie: green when accelerating and rolling to red when coming to a halt)
Example with 3 pixels:
Accelerating
1 on then 2 on then 3 on until they are all lit
Braking
3 turns to red then 2 then 1