TelTail Lights (TTL) - Interactive eSkate Lighting System

@Gerrycorrado, That’s the plan. I think I’ll be offering 2 types of kits:

  • One would be the complete plug and play kit you are asking about which would include the SP version of the control module, headlights, tail lights, side lights, required cables, and a horn (optional).
  • The other would be for higher power lights. It would include the EP version of the control module, side lights, connectors with pre-crimped wires to add your own head and tail lights, and a horn (optional). This kit would require people to also buy a 12v buck converter and high power head and tail lights from somewhere like amazon.

Another idea I had is to have only one listing in my site’s shop for the kit, then allow for the customer to customize the contents (EP/SP control module, High/Low power headlights, High/Low power tail lights, horn or no horn).

@Flasher Yup that’s right, for now. I’ll be ordering them assembled once I start selling them. Here’s the solder paste and component placement steps of the process in case you’re curious :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

I have a 40w headlight, a triple horn and 154 pixels (more in the future) all waiting to work together for you. Just hope you’ll get a chance to implement addressable leds

2 Likes

Don’t worry. It will be plug and play soon. I’ve found a couple things that are going to be addressed to make it as user friendly as possible.

As for now my high power system is functioning. Just gotta ride it a while and find more bugs to squash!

4 Likes

Alright so after two extensive days of trouble shooting the ttl system will be displayed with a teaser set of functions tomorrow at the nyc esk8 festival. Just find me and you can see it in action

2 Likes

@Ricco any updates on this marvel? When is it going to be in my board? To use my led strip, I’m currently using a 20v drill battery, a big buck converter and a bluetooth control module. Need the ttl to gain back that space :slight_smile:

2 Likes

A drill battery for the led strips or the whole light assembly?

@Ace The strips are on the drill battery. Everything else is wired to the bms. Why do you ask?

1 Like

Why not use a smaller cell phone battery

1 Like

@Ace cus I had multiple drill batteries from drills I destroyed. I heatshrinked the entire battery and charger together so I can charge it without removing it from the case


Everything in blue could be replaced with a single ttl :heart_eyes:
Which in turn would allow me to add so much more useless shit :crazy_face:

4 Likes

How does that work? I’m curious about that.

I was trying to make use of three different horns to make a train sound…but I found out that using a train horn synthesizer will be so much easier

1 Like

I was thinking about a horn on the can bus. Can bus is the future for esk8. You can hook up hundreds of devices onto the can bus and each device can ask for information from every device on thes canbus. That is really cool. And it is easier than uart.

3 Likes

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 Unity’s 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 Unity’s 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, you’ll be the first person I contact :stuck_out_tongue:

5 Likes

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 :stuck_out_tongue: 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.

1 Like

A big thanks to @esk8col for putting together this awesome TTL promo video!

2 Likes

for all the non engineer bros please let me know if now or when? there is a plug n play option available. This looks badsss!

2 Likes

Thank you for your support! :blush: 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 don’t 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 :slight_smile:

4 Likes

v4.0 of the TTL control module is finished :smiley: 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 that’s curious here’s a full list:

  1. Added series resistors to UART rx and tx to protect the ESC when the TTL is powered and the ESC is not
  2. Replaced the AUX FET with the one from the HPCM so that a horn can be connected directly to the control module
  3. Removed the Nunchuck port
  4. Made the button port a 3 pin port to match the receiver connections
  5. 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
  6. Changed the micro pins used for UART to allow for auto pin assignment
  7. Added pull-downs to all output FETs to prevent LED blinks and horn beeps on start-up
  8. Replaced the USB connector with a vertically mounted version for easier FW updates in dense builds
  9. Changed the IMU from 9DOF to 6DOF since the magnetometer wasn’t being used and it decreases part cost

I’ll 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 I’ll 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 :crossed_fingers:

9 Likes

This is super dope, great work!

2 Likes

Wow, this is great!

Is there any spots left for beta testing? :smiley:

Interested if there is!

2 Likes