the race is on! looks great man. I’m probably gonna steal the idea of heatshrinking the flex sensors, but i’m gonna try to sneak them into the outer lining of the glove
This is just awesome!!! Mad props dude!
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So I made a platform change, and will do so again soon I think. Moving to the ESP8266 allows me to specialize the system a bit more. Instead of using onboard ADCs, I’m using MCP3204 12 bit ADCs. You really won’t find this chip much in the commercial world as onboard ADCs can do quite a lot these days.
The MCP3204 is rated for 100,000 samples per second (100ksps) while an arduino nano can only do about 9.6ksps. Being 12-bit, it can measure 4096 points.
Pairing this with the ESP8266s HSPI port is giving me some very clean sensor feedback. I still need to tweak the circuitry to set VRef up correctly but that should be quick to get right.
The scope is decoding the SPI bus to verify signal transmission is clean. It’s not. But it works for now. The power supply is is set to 16.8V to simulate a fully charged 4S, and feeds a Castle 10A BEC set at 5.0V. The logic analyzer is checking proper initialization of the display, ADC, and NRF radio. Then of course checking for signal strength at 2.420Ghz with the spectrum analyzer
.
I’m hoping to have everything talking to one another over the weekend…
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Welpp managed to hit my goal with minutes to spare.
Both ESP8266s are online, linked to each other over the NRF modules. The E-INK display, NRF module and MCP3204 are all happily sharing the SPI bus.
Next steps are to solder everything together, and develop the runtime code for both side of the LCS.
Expect to see some cool tests soon. 
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These E-INK display modules have been very interesting to work with. Nothing like a good challenge though 
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Could we get a close up photo of the vesc enclosure? Its really interesting looking, sort of back to the future delorean kind of look.
Lol its a sheet of .25" polycarbonate turned swiss cheese
Started combining the hardware into a common board. Both sides of the interface will have two 4CH ADCs, E-INK display and radio.
All boards will be mounted to the underside of the polycarbonate panel as such:
Eventually I may seal the edges of the panel to the board but if I’m going to change decks I’ll wait as I would like to locate the E-INK display forward of the front truck mounting.
Long term, I’ll integrate the final control system for both halves of the LCS into a single surface mounted board for mass production.
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A little off topic but I found this dinosaur today rummaging through a bin.
Edit forgot pics of the board…
This board provided an electrical interface to the PLC system I have installed on my 1998 540i Sport. The PLC manages the BMWs electrical systems through three ISO 9141 drivers and a PIC18F4550 (and 2550) in addition to driving an inverted graphics library for a 512x32px VFD used as a HUD…
This one I made by hand a few months ago. I like building circuits on Veroboard before drafting an actual board as it saves a lot of time and money dealing with Fab houses…
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So the dedicated boards for both halves of the LCS system are built and operational. Some minor ground issues (helps to connect both halves of the circuits grounds) but everything seems to be working as it should.
Phew, busy weekend with LCS. I feel its a good time for an update.
I had the idea to stick a 1/8" 4 flute square endmill into my dremel. YEAH. Not the best but it will get covered so IDGAF.
But enough of the hand milling. Cosmetic parts I CNC on my robut J3. This is the GPS/EINK Cover plate:
And this is the electronics enclosure:
Throw itall together:
Add Grip Tape (FRESH LESSON: USE GLOVES TO APPLY OTHERWISE YOU WILL SCRATCH OFF YOUR FINGERPRINTS)
OPERATIONAL (MINUS the VESCs for now)
Oh and the glove is now at a point where I’m comfortable with its mechanical integrity:
This will hopefully be the highlight of this week:
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this is coming together in such a cool way 
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Nice progress, looking forward to this working. Also this screen looks beautiful
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Thankyaa. Got the GPS integrated last night, and the VESC enclosure topside done today.
Tucked in the motor wiring to the trucks. Wrapped the wiring in Kevlar mesh to prevent premature failure and wear:
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Man, starting to look really cool. Whats the GPS antenna for?
Gahhh excitement. 
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Interesting cell choice! Any reason behind it? they look pretty cool but there isn’t a whole lot of info.
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My old man used to work with one of the founders wayyyy back in the early 2000’s when A123 was getting started, before they went bankrupt. Having personally seen their E-bike and what their technology could do, they have always been the best in my mind.
While these cells only have 1.1AH, their safety is industry leading. They pass crush, nail penetration, external shorting and over discharge tests. My experience in the heavy industrial manufacturing and DoD systems has taught me the importance of safety over performance.
The idea of my board somehow rolling under an 18-wheeler with a trailer load of JP5 and exploding scares the shit out of me.
I’ll be building the packs into either 10S10P or 8S12P I’m thinking unless there be reason to go otherwise.
Hmmm interesting they do seem like pretty interesting cells. It’d be interesting to see some more investigation into battery pack failures. As even 30Q’s are pretty safe on their own https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://eu.nkon.nl/sk/k/30q.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi6-LSk5PTbAhXk6YMKHVLtA4MQFjAAegQIABAB&usg=AOvVaw279pV66YaEwoyM-XVvSkL-
Passing all the same crush test short circuit and the like.
Do do good testing on pack design and what is causing people’s boards to catch fire would require destroying thousands of dollars of perfectly good cells. And I sure as hell can’t afford that lol.
That being said thank you for snowing me these cells they’d be perfect for like a sailboat battery bank!
I figured the tests were standard, but I didn’t pay for these so I saw an opportunity to try out A123’s cells on something of my own design…