I’ll be ready to start shipping the first batch of DAVEga kits in a few days. I only have about 25 pieces so there probably won’t be enough for everyone, but it’s not even meant for everyone. The purpose of the first batch is to test and tweak the gadget. I’m looking for volunteers.
This is an open source project that I’m doing in my spare time. I’ll be shipping the kits for as cheap as I can without loosing money.
I would like to ship the kits to people who
- have some background in electronics and at least basic experience with Arduino;
- will know what they are doing when assembling the kit;
- are ready to encounter and address issues;
- would like to contribute to making DAVE better in any way;
- are willing to help support other people in using the next generation of DAVE;
- ideally have access to a 3D printer.
Dave has been reasonably well tested. The risk that you will end up with something completely unusable is low. However, there are some areas where I can see potential issues and/or need for figuring things out on your own. In particular:
- compatibility with various VESC derivatives and various VESC FW versions;
- spacers between the display PCB and the DAVE PCB;
- fitting DAVE into an enclosure;
- accessing buttons;
- routing cable out of the enclosure;
- making the harness for connecting to VESC and for updating the FW.
Enclosures are currently being designed by @mmaner and @lrdesigns, but are not finished yet and thus obviously haven’t been tested by anyone. The PCB design may not be ideal wrt the enclosure and we may need to work around issues in the first generation. These issues will then hopefully be fixed for the next generation.
If there are any FW problems, I’ll do my best to address them ASAP.
The kit will include the following:
- PCB
- ATMEGA 328P-PU with bootloader and pre-programmed DAVE FW
- USB-UART adapter
- crystal, capacitors, resistor, diode
- 3x button
- 5 pin right angle female header for connecting the UART adapter
- 2x 5 pin female header for connecting the display (not in the picture)
- JST connectors for the PCB and the VESC
You will also need:
- ILI9225 2.0" TFT LCD Display, SPI, 176x220 pixels (can be found on AliExpress or similar for ~$5)
- 4 or 5 conductor cable of custom length
The JST connectors contain pre-crimped wires, which is handy if you don’t have crimping pliers. To connect to VESC, you’ll need to remove the wires from the 4-pin JST and plug them into the 8-pin JST housing.
I will ask $9 / €8 shipped (world wide) for one kit. I’m located in Brno, Czech Republic. I’ll ship untracked with the Czech Post. The $9 includes a $1 of “insurance” that I’ll use to re-ship in case any packages are lost. (Still cheaper than shipping tracked.) The experience so far is that the delivery time is 3-4 days to Europe and 1-2 weeks to the rest of the world.
My time for dealing with the orders is limited, so I need to make it simple for myself. I can ship
- one kit for $9 / €8, or
- two kits for $15 / €13.50.
No more flexibility. I’m sorry if this is inconvenient. Please don’t order two unless you’re ordering for someone else. For the small/cheap parts, I’ll include some spares, no worries.
To order, please PM me your address. I’ll assume one kit unless specified otherwise. Please send the correspondent amount to my PayPal account [email protected]. I’ll aim to ship the first kits on Wednesday. After that, I should be able to ship every next morning after receiving the order.
If you prefer to wait for the package before you send the money, that’s fine, but please do friends and family on PayPal so that no fees are deducted. I’m doing my best to keep this cheap and don’t want to waste money on transfers. I accept both USD and EUR. Please do NOT convert to CZK.
Please don’t PM me with questions unless absolutely necessary. Ask any questions related purchasing the kit in this thread. Ask any questions related to DAVE in the DAVE thread. Thanks!
I’m looking forward to people having their own DAVEs. Some exciting developments on the enclosure are already in progress and there has been a bunch of great ideas in the DAVE thread. I’m sure we’ll make it a great gadget together!
Useful links:
- DAVEga thread
- DAVEga repository - contains the FW source code and instructions how to install it
- Few tips on kit assembly
- Thoughts on making the harness