EDIT: Post updated to be more kind to Wadji’s hard work. I Originally wrote a post after a near accident which could have ended my life. (Remote lost connection during braking coming to a 45mph street)
So after having this remote for a week… I don’t want to make it sound terrible
I think it needs a bit more work before it should be considered ready for most people.
Mine arrived broken, i had to take it apart and re-solder it to get it to work. It constantly disconnects, screen still intermittently works, it constantly drops connection so i can’t trust it… Had to routinely take it apart to disconnect the battery and reconnect it for it to turn on… ugh. Also the receiver came with no case? I saw pictures of a 3d printed one. Perhaps publish your stl so we can print our own?
It is a cool concept but definitely going on the shelf until i can work with Wadji, and some revisions done to it.
Test your remote VERY VERY THOROUGHLY. An improperly working remote can KILL you.
I seriously want it to work so bad too. i love the concept, and it’s probably 90% there… It’s just that last 10% that makes it completely worthless to me unfortunately.
good for you, not everyone has had your experiences. I’m not slamming wadji or the project, but I am providing some warnings and criticism, which I think is fair.
there are others from my batch having some of the same issues., I hope it gets worked out.
And my warnings are real. An inconsistently working remote will kill you. I almost couldn’t brake the other day and nearly went right out into a busy intersection
I wouldn’t go that far either, mine was amazing on my vanguard. I just skate to fast and my thumb would get disoriented with the joystick going above 30 on the evo, since I’m mostly focused on the road. I’d end up pushing sideways instead of up and down lol.
But on my vanguard that topped out at 31, and mostly was 18-25mph, it was the best thing ever. I didn’t have to worry about Bluetooth connected to my phone to watch speed or mileage etc.
It really has promise… If I was to suggest anything at all, it would be to change the joystick to a hall sensor lever(up and down only) with a left and right button to the sides of the lever for adjustment of settings.
And add a microusb port to the receivers, to make receiver updates, as vesc firmware matures, the ability for a user to plug in. A USB vs jtag would be 🤸
Wajdi has done a fantastic job so far. I know some user experience is gonna vary…but man, I never had a single drop out, even on the original receivers(no antenna).
Haha might not even be oh shit. I like to ride with my hands behind my back, my arms don’t extend for balance 97% of the time. My videos might not show it, Because I have to hold the GoPro stick… but, anyway once I start getting above 30mph when I’m tucking, back of hands on my butt, I’m fine when standing, but as soon as my upper torso levers over into a tuck my thumb is just trying to move forward or backwards, which ends up being sideways lol. It’s that thing where your brain thinks it’s doing something but you can’t see, it so it’s all “feel”. Not sure how to explain it.
Tldr my thumb is dumb when I can’t see it so when I go fast I need a fixed axis, because I have no self control.
It’s quite possible there was a bad batch. FWIW, I received mine about a week ago as well, and I’ve had the two of issues @lazerusrm mentioned in the thread.
A) White screen, which we were told was due to bad connections cold joints to the display
B) Sleep bug requiring a disconnect/reconnect of the battery to power on
Total disclosure, I did reheat/wick/flux/resolder the display on Monday night after @Wajdi suggested to do so to fix A). Bench tested that night and Tuesday morning with no issues, it sat on my desk all day.
Tuesday night, I wrap up my day and think about going for a spin? Nope, won’t boot.
C) Total non-boot/power-on condition even after removing the battery
D) Charging LED will not illuminate (running a meter to the battery shows there is voltage in the batt so it’s not completely dead, so it could be just not charging if the batt is full?)
On the plus side, when it did power-on I had zero disconnect issues and having the telemetry on hand was beyond slick. I still ran metr to my tablet for the historical telemetry, but leave the tablet in my backpack and rely on auto-start/stop. That’s another big plus since my phone runs > Android 8.0.
there seems to be an issue with my account and the way I created one on your site. I created one with the tony@ address, but checked out and paid with Paypal with the sales@ address of same domain. When I log into My Account, which is the tony@ it shows no orders, but we both know, and I have the confirmation of purchase email from my sales@ address… !!!
So, please could you tell me the current situation. I have no way of knowing when’if it’s been shipped, and trying to log in your site with sales@ says ‘no known account with this address’
Soz to be a pain, but I wouldn’t ask if I could find the info myself
Thanks
Hopefully with this feedback the next batch can have these issues checked/tested before they go out. That’s the beauty of feedback with new product designs that are being improved as they are built, the things going wrong get brought up and then fixes are implemented.
@Wajdi I’d like to request my remote be checked for this stuff before it gets sent out please, as I do not think my order has shipped yet. Still excited to try out this remote, thanks
I agree. I would recommend Wadji suspend orders untill he can look into the issues a bit and get them sorted.
I’m sure he is under immense pressure from people to get their remotes out asap, but i’m sure people will wholeheartedly understand that there might be a delay due to a few critical bugs.
Welp, the saga continues. Just got home from work and decided to try to power on my Photon and… it powers on. No changes, no fixes attempted, no putting it on the charger, just pushed the power button and it turned on.
One odd thing happened though, the batt level on the top right keeps going from ~29% to ~74%, accompanied by the screen flashing on/off/on.
I’am completely dedicated to helping individuals build their businesses (by ordering innovative products), evolve the e-Sk8 community, and innovate regularly. But i really think you are facing problems and don’t want to communicate about them.
I ordered the “Universal Advanced VESC Remote Control (Photon)” remote on February 18th, 2018. On the website, it’s indicated the expected shipping date should be arount 2 or 3 week after ordering. (Note : even today it’s indicated : “PRE-ORDER All Pre-order reservations are expected to ship in 2-3 weeks”).
On April 29th, i still have no news about my order or any problem you could face actually. If you need more time to send something that works (strong welds, no blank screen, no battery problems, …), if you have problems that prevent you from working on orders or other things, tell us.
When you start an e-commerce, you must respect deadlines or communicate clearly if necessary.
In case you do not understand my impatience or annoyance, below you can see each communication we had.
On March 1st asks for news on the forum
On March 2nd asks for news on the forum
On March 2 messaged me back stating that this would be sent within 10 days
On March 9th asks for news via PM
On March 9th messaged me back saying he was doing his best and that he planned to send it on Monday March 12th
On March 12th asks for news via PM
On March 13th messaged me back stating that he is still working on
On March 18th asks for news via PM
On March 19th messaged me back stating that he has just finished assembling it and that he only has a flash
On March 22nd asks for news on the forum
On March 22nd messaged me back telling me that it would leave from Monday, March 26
On March 28th ask for news via PM
On March 29th messaged me back via PM indicating that it's almost ready
On March 28th asks for news on the forum
On March 28th messaged me back stating that this would be sent before April 1st
On April 3rd asks for news on the forum
On April 7th messages me back indicating that a tracking code would arrive and that the packages were going to leave
On April 6th raise via PM indicating that it starts to be long and not normal
On April 7th message back via PM stating that he had taken some day off and that it was almost ready
On April 9th Tracking code reveived
On April 11th asks for news on the forum indicating that the tracking code is still in "Pre-Shipping" status
On April 14th messaged me back indicating that the parcels left the same day
On April 19th asks for news on the forum indicating that my package is shown as delivered in the US but I live in France...
On April 19th messaged me back indicating that the package had returned home and that he would return it the same day
On April 21st asks for news on the forum
On April 21st messaged me back indicating that he had sent it again and that he had still returned home
On April 21st asks for news indicating that if I did not receive my order quickly I would cancel my order
On April 24th asks for news on the forum
I reiterate my confidence and appreciation for your work.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate clearly on the various problems and to give us fixing and shipping date.
If you change the item of A.OFF in the remote control setting menu, the power will turn off and the power will not turn on.
In my Photon the buttery wiring is soldered directly to the board.
Who has the company email for this? I have tried asking for a refund for weeks through wadji’s profile on here. Everything I send has been ignored. Every time he has responded it has been a lie. I can’t find an email on the site. Several days ago I received a tracking number despite asking several times for a refund. It still says it is in preshipment, so I would like to find a way to contact Wadji before this gets in route.
lol. It’s that thing where your brain thinks it’s doing something but you can’t see, it so it’s all “feel”. Not sure how to explain it.
That’s how you write a critique on new hardware…
Thanks