Enclosure for the mini remote

Somebody said a couple of months ago that the components on the mini remote can only handle 3.6V. Fully charged ASAP batterys have a voltage of 1.8V. So 3.6V in total. A 14500 is also a normal li-ion battery and fully charged the will have 4.2V. But maybe the components can handle more. I never tried. Just let me know if it works.

yep, this was the thing I was concerned about! It is not as easy as swap one li-ion battery to another one, like it is with GT2Bā€¦

Afterall, someone designed the circuit for taking int 2X AA batteries, not 3.7-4.2v of voltage.

But we will see, hopefully :slight_smile:

Just bought one to mess around with, gonna try and design a thumbwheel remote case swap/mod as I donā€™t get along with trigger finger remotes!

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Thanks! That would be cool.! Be sure to check up with @mmaner, he was already working on something similar but got quite busy i believe so the project got left alone for a while :wink:

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Iā€™m going to be buying a mini remote this week with plans to convert to Lipo to begin with as already have the from a micro drone. With maybe future of making smaller li-ion version. 3D printed case either wheel or trigger for throttle.

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Whatā€™s your plan on converting to LIPO? Think 4.2v will kill it? Or are you planning to step down to 3v? What about charging etc? Sorry for all the questions, Iā€™m planning the same and am trying to figure it out too.

Planning to run a dc-dc converter which will step up or down to 3.3v so controller should always maintain full voltage. Then using a 1s Lipo and 1s battery gauge and the mini jst 1s USB charger depending on room where I put the charger may just be plug in or maybe built in. Some parts ordered already and battery already here so once payed remote will be with me later on in week. Will probably start my own topic as well so can have proper build log. Also will use standard case for now while testing.

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Have you had a look at the Adafruit PowerBoost 500? Seems it would do everything except stepping down to 3.3v

This is the main reason Iā€™ve moved away from the mini remote mods. The mcu is made for 3.3v which means 3.6v is ok, but 4.2? not sure. I didnā€™t try because Iā€™d rather not burn out a remote.

Instead I used an mcp1700 to get 3.3v, it has input upto 6v and ldo so it works great on a single li ion.

alternative is to use a 3v trinket, the internal buck can give upto 150ma, and you can use the attiny85 and a few ws2812 leds for a battery meter. then you also need a liion charger.

the added parts make the mini remote a pain to mod. and not very compact anymore eitherā€¦which was its main thingā€¦

mh i think charger circuit is not that big, havent checked your mcp1700 regulator yet but I think if someone removes the battery compartment and fits li ion cell there, it should be okay!

Otherwiseā€¦ maybe for smaller mods it might not be that practical, yes

Guys any progress on the mini remote mod?

@jackw put his mini PCB inside a benchwheel enclosure

Anyone made any additional progress on a mini conversion to thumb wheel remote?

I havenā€™t, had family stuff going on. Itā€™s on my list but not very high unfortunately. Iā€™ll post when I get back to it.

This looks interesting

http://www.linear.com/product/LTC4063

Charges 1s lithium ion from USB, output 100ma adjustable voltage 1.2v - 4.2v

Circuit diagram looks nice and simple.

Gonna see if ebay or ali has a prebuilt board based on this chip. Them maybe Instamorph for the enclosure.

MM so close, but this is boost, we need buck

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-7V-Lithium-Li-ion-Battery-Charger-Module-4-2V-Boost-Step-Up-5V-9V-12V-24V/122669504267

Can use separate charger and separate regulator, theyā€™re small enough, but itā€™d be nice to have it on 1 board

Did you had a chance to finish this mod ??

@mmaner any progress ?

why not just use that carabiner abd attach it to your pants?

No, havenā€™t looked at it in weeks and donā€™t have a mini-remote to work with anymore. Iā€™ve pretty much settled on using the new Maytech/steez remote.

Havenā€™t touched the design in months. Got busy with other stuff. Plus, the way the mini remoteā€™s trigger is constructed makes it bulky. Itā€™s too wide. Iā€™d have to implement a new design.