The E-Board Project: Episode V - Remote and Motor Mount

So I haven’t really posted anything about the Eboard in a few weeks. Mostly because I was really busy and because I thought nothing really mentionable happened. However I actually made quite a bit of progress. As you might have seen in one of the previous posts I got a wireless Nunchuck to control the motor. The first implementation was quiet easy. However to get it to work safely there was QUIET a bit of work. 

First I gutted the receiver and looked for the I²C bus. In the middle pic you can see the connectors: VCC SCL DET SDA and GND. I am using all pins except the DET pin. It is supposed to be for device detection or something like that. However it seems to work without it. I might look into that later on. That pin might hold the key to some of the issues I've been having.

 

So I got the controller working and it was really a pain. It would work pretty well right away but I quickly noticed some mal functioning. If you turn of the controller at full throttle it will stay that way. That is kind of unsafe to me so I spend the majority of last night implementing safety features. I really got to love the Arduino programming environment so I just couldn't stop. So here are some of the issues I fixed with my error handling system:

1. Controller initiation now works properly, before you would have to turn on the controller and press the connection button really quickly after you turn on the Arduino.
2. Controller connection status is detected. If its turned of a breaking sequence will initiate.
3. Integrated Dead Man's Switch with the accelerometers. If the controller should get dropped and fall on the analog stick it could still accelerate. So with the help of the accelerometers I integrated a function that will detect whether the controller got dropped.
4. Enhanced feedback though USB for debugging.  

There are still a few issues I need to fix and enhance performance and reliability like bigger FIFO buffer and what not but for now it is pretty good. I will add a video later comparing the "old" version I didn't post and the new enhanced version.

 

I also made some modifications to the hub mount on the engine shaft.  Basically now everything is a bit more compact so it will need less space later on the board.

I also made a first prototype of a mounting block for the engine. It is well... in the trash  now. I liked the design so much in CAD but it didnt work like I wanted it to and it looked rather shitty. Sooo back to the drawing board.

So here is what I came up with after the first try was such a failure. The design should pretty much fit on any truck. This would make it possible to have this as a kit for any longboard out there. Or at least a lot of them.