The part list should be up to date, however, for the prototypes, I will be using a different boost converter (a little smaller) and an Arduino Nano with a dedicated 3.3V voltage regulator. This is because the standard Arduino Nano really can’t deliver more than 25mA at a stable 3.3V (comes from the serial to USB chip), and the nRF24 modules with PA and LNA can use up to 45mA (depending on the settings). You could just add a big ass capacitor on the 3.3V rail, however, it’s a more reliable solution to use a dedicated 3.3V regulator/power supply.
I had plans about making a PCB mainly for making the soldering process easier, however, I haven’t even received a notice about them being shipped yet… Sooo let us see Also the PCB I ordered where made for the Pro Mini, and I think I will stick with the Nano because of its easy to use USB connector.
@NAF Are we going to see your concept screens or what?
Well, it is the same chip and micro controller, however not exactly the same board. The one I linked got a dedicated 3.3V voltage regulator, and a micro USB. The Arduino Nano (clone or not) doesn’t have this, only a 3.3V output from the serial to USB chip. You could buy a dedicated 3.3V regulator f.x the LD1117-3.3 or a small bulk converter to achieve the same.
I think it is important that the nRF24 can draw as much current as it needs.
What boost converter with charge protection are you talking about?
I am sorry but I wrote that this module didn’t work. They are “falsely” advertised as a boost and charger module, however, they only work as charger and boost converter WHEN an input voltage is applied. If you look at the traces of the PCB the battery is ONLY connected to the charger circuit. This means the battery voltage doesn’t get boosted, only the input voltage.
Weeeell you could make it work by using a two position on/on switch, and some soldering (not tested!).
This however, would make it impossible to charge the remote, while it is turned on.
Also you could try to change the U8G2_SSD1306_128X32_UNIVISION_1_HW_I2C in the sketch to U8G2_SSD1305_128X32_NONAME_F_4W_HW_SPI. Maybe your OLED is different from mine (I got mine from a local supplier).
Ok so here is my take on the menu. We have very small screen so what I suggest is we need to make the menu easy to ready while riding the board. At a quick glimpse everything is big enough to read. The only Icon that I kept on all of the screens is the remote SIGNAL icon.
1.The small bar on the left with tiny dot -indicates where we are in the menu.
2.First icon on the left is the icon of the category we are in.
3.Than we have clear potentiometer for each of the category.
4. The last thing are the big numbers easy to read.
@NAF Amazing job dude! It looks very professional and modern, I like it! I will try to implement it the best I can today.
I am ordering the rest of the parts today (just found some good suppliers). I hope to have the first batch (10 pieces) of prototypes ready in the beginning of September
@solidgeek - thanks dude ! I can prepare all the icons …and cut them out for you and save them as BMP files …question is how do we use the numbers ? Do you want me to cut them out from 1 to 10 …like 1 . 2. 3. 4 and so on ?
Anyway …I’d love to design the rest of the menus …but what I am thinking is that people who want complex infos they use IPHONE or ANDROID apps where they get a lot of data …but with this small remote it would be cool to only have the basic screens and get rid of unnecessary screens. What other screens could I prepare ?
I would love the icons, however the rest I can make myself with software The numbers I just print by using a bigger font - no problem! I am not sure if we need more screens, maybe something with amps drawn / current motor amp?
If you got some idea for the settings menu, I would love to see them too!
Sounds great, I will begin to implement the menus now
Btw I can see that your icons aren’t only black and white. Some of the pixels are in between (gray). The icons can’t have gray, as the display can’t show half light at a specific pixel.
Okay cool, I just had a thought. I think it is crucial that one can see the throttle value at all times. So maybe instead of the battery and the nice distance icon, we simply put the same speedometer that is on the speed page?
In this way you will always know how much throttle you are giving, and still being able to distinguish between the different pages.
Also the PCB I ordered where made for the Pro Mini, and I think I will stick with the Nano because of its easy to use USB connector.
