Simple 3D-printed NRF remote - Arduino controlled

Hey, sorry for the late answer, I’ve been busy at work and school. I am currently working on a big update for the software - to be released soon I hope (lol).

@egzplicit Actually I am not even sure if the button is necessary, I believe I can make it work by transmitting a struct with a updateSettings variable in it or something like that :slight_smile: To be continued…

@ervinelin I am positive the newest version is online at Thingiverse :slight_smile: Regarding the dual VESC setup, you won’t be able to read data from both at the same time - the remote only needs one data source. If you connect your two VESCs by CAN bus, I think everything should work just fine.

@Mozillum I am currently looking for a way to borrow a good camera / video-recorder. However that is it, sorry :frowning:

@karatektus I use the module with a ceramic antenna because it is more stable (mainly because of the PA/LNA). I am sure you can use a normal nRF24 module :wink: And nice work modifying the display :smiley: However I am not sure if it is even possible to fit that display inside the remote? It looks kinda big. Regarding the delay caused by the display, I have been planning to optimize that part heavily. Any ideas regarding that? Without adding another microprocessor :wink:

1 Like

well the first thing would be to remove all the backgroundelements from the loop. no need to redraw the text everytime. no ideas otherwise. im a webdeveloper. resources arent normally a problem for me :smiley: i guess id just use a different arduino. ill order it and give it a shot. i wouldnt really mind the extra $10. Edit: Thinking about it for another five minutes: You should only draw a new number if necessary (if it differs from the old value) but that wouldnt help much when you break or accelerate hard. which is when its the most critical ^^

The bigger display should just fit could you remove the little ledge in there and increase the height of the cutout to twice the current height? if you are too busy im gonne bodge it together with openscad or something :smiley:

(its maybe a little tight but you can easily shave a little from the pcb off ^^ )

3 Likes

Awesome, I was planning to put this together tomorrow on my day off. Already got 90% of the parts in and 3D printed all the necessary files (my 3D printer is very bad for small objects though, so having problems fitting everything nice and snug). You are right about the wheel with the knob, it’s in Thingiverse already, my bad.

I am assuming I can just run the current code and I can update it as and when you have uploaded the new version.

Can you send me the code for larger 64*128 display? Please!!

I will try to redesign the top to fit the larger display…

ill rework it a little so it doesnt break compatibility with smaller displays and create a fork tonight. (Edit - maybe not all tonight its kind of a lot of work :D)

1 Like

Is it complicated or just a lot of work? Myb I can help… I have a longboard without a remote but i have all of the parts for this remote, just larger display

if you just quickly need the code i can send it to you no problem.

1 Like

Yes please.

Can you upload it to the google drive or something and then post the link?

Really sorry - I was busy! here you go: https://github.com/karatektus/nRF24-Esk8-Remote

keep in mind that performance is poor and it needs optimizations

2 Likes

Thank you so much! I will try to redesign the remote to fit that larger screen

2 Likes

So I spent the whole afternoon building this… boy that’s a lot of tiny wires!!! Had a lot of fun building this but it’s not easy especially when my printer spits our very rough prints.

I THINK it’s working but I haven’t built the receiver yet so I have no idea if this is working.

I see that when I press the trigger and move the throttle a little bar moves up and down (not the full range) but that’s all I got it to do…

Is there something I need to do to further set it up, calibrate, etc?

Thanks again!

5 Likes

Looks good! Its a lot of fun to build :smiley: You can enter and change settings by holding the trigger while turning on the remote. In the settings you can change the hall min, max and center values, to match your magnets and print. If you activated debug (in software) and open up serial monitor, I believe it should print out the hall sensor values. This way you can calibrate the remote. I am adding a function for this in the next big software update :smile:

4 Likes

Bought all the items from your BOM and I’m printing the parts tonight; thanks for creating such an awesome remote @solidgeek!

3 Likes

Hm… So I pressed the trigger and turned on the remote. It shows remote settings then goes into a single page called Trigger.

Pressing the trigger just shifts the zero left and right. Wheel does nothing. No other options available.

What am I missing? Or do I need to connect to the receiver for this to work?

Lastly. I assume the connection between Arduino and NRF module for the receiver is the same as the transmitter?

Thanks again…

@HighMasterGogo Glad you like it mate :slight_smile: Looking forward to see your build!

@ervinelin At least you entered the settings! Clicking the trigger enters and exits the selected setting, while the throttle is used to select and change setting values. So if the throttle doesn’t change anything, something is wrong :stuck_out_tongue: I got a few ideas.

  1. The polarity isn’t opposite. Check the polarity of the magnets, they have to be opposite (one being north and the other being south). If they aren’t opposite, drill a small hole beneath each magnet and push them out.

  2. Magnets are weak / min and max are to high. By default, the min and max values are 0 and 1023. To change the settings on the remote the input has to be input = maxHallValue - 50 = 973 or input = minHallValue + 50 = 50. If your magnets are a bit weaker than mine, the hall sensor will output a smaller value (voltage), and therefore not high enough to change settings. To check this, enable debug and plug-in a USB for debugging through Serial monitor :slight_smile: I have just added a debug-message for the Hall sensor value to the transmitter software - so remember to use the newest version on Github

You just have to uncomment #define DEBUG, and read the output in Serial monitor. Let me know :slight_smile:

3 Likes

AH I was wondering why I couldn’t see the hall sensor value in the serial monitor!

Okay it looks like magnets are too weak, I’m getting 350-700 at the extremes.

I don’t see where I can adjust this in the code manually though.

EDIT: Okay I think I got it…

Okay I managed to calibrate the thumb wheel.

Now one slight problem I noticed is that the trigger is always set to “kill switch” mode, I’ve gone into the settings and changed it from 0 to 3 (kill switch to data toggle) but it remains as “kill switch”.

The bigger problem is I can’t get the transmitter to connect to the receiver… :frowning:

I double checked the connections, made sure the pipe addresses were the same as well. Still nothing, serial monitor shows “Failed Transmission”.

Any ideas?

anyone found another source to buy the Hall-Effect sensor (SS495A) ? shipping to spain is crazy expensive 20€

this one can work? http://www.ebay.es/itm/1Pcs-Ss495a1-Ss495a-Capteur-A-Letat-Solide-Nouvelle-Ic-M/162656960806?hash=item25df1c4126:g:vzYAAOSwZr9ZquZO