So I’ve got an electrical engineer helping me design a custom remote that does not use an Arduino anymore. It will be all one PCB and simple to make (I hope). What kind of hardware features do you want to see? My main are:
Battery protection and charging
Adaptive cruise control
Thumb, trigger, or joystick control
A screen for real-time data
Dual PPM output
UART input/output
So what do you want to see? This is mostly at the hardware stage as of now. I’m hoping to have a thumb wheel, trigger, and wii nunchuck style versions available. I’m also trying to keep the cost reasonable so no lasers or rockets allowed.
I’ve got some cheap lasers available. Wondering if you’ve thought about FCC certification or if any of the existing remotes are actually certified or not. Going to take the HAM test myself this week hopefully and have always worried about trying to produce my own cause of the rules here in the US (know basically no one checks but can get slammed with fines if it interferes with anything important). Maybe a mode change switch if possible would be nice too.
Long long range thumb that stays put in the pot with now wiggle. Long range connection and maybe a small screen for some data. Also high capacity battery. This would be awesome
My vote is for a nunchuck style remote using PPM. Power comes via an 3000mah 18650. Perhaps a small OLED screen just below the trigger so it can be used right or left handed. The white on black screen would simplified to only show 3 things
Speed
Main pack voltage (or percentage)
Remote control voltage (or percentage)
Cruise control and a dead man’s switch would be cool, plus if you wanted to add more features like selectable menus, you would be able to navigate easily.
Not sure how complex you want to make it, but it I would argue that it should be as simple as possible with AFHSS feature (not sure what it is called exactly) like on the GT2B for signal reliability.
If you wanted to develop something more distinctive, you could check out my earlier concept thread with “grenade” style throttle inspired by a slot car controller.
I’d like to see a remote that’s as plug and play as possible, regardless of which firmware I have. I love the ideas showing up in the likes of the phantom remote, the Firefly, and others, but since I’m not much of a programmer I’ve been a little wary of the potential problems.
I realize that we’re still in the early days of this, I’m hoping we’ll soon get to a point similar to that of RC vehicles where, for the average user, you don’t need to think too much about your components in terms of communication issues. You simply plug everything in, bind and ride.
Trigger AND thumbwheel. That way, for example, I can use the trigger for proper control of esk8 but use the thumbwheel for lights and horn. If you prefer thumbwheel, this could be reversed. Also a few extra switches with their own channels.
A thumbwheel with a rock solid 5Ghz or Bluetooth connection. All 2.4Ghz remotes I’ve used so far have had disconnects at one point or another, especially in congested urban areas. Small power indicator, bluetooth indicator, low/fast mode. Small form factor that will fit mostly between a clenched fist, but not too small like the Nano-X remote. Lowest possible price tag without sacrificing any of the above.
Almost every device out there also shares that exact same 2.4Ghz frequency. I’m almost 100% certain this is why I get cut outs in the city streets. Someone’s office kitchen microwave wants me to face plant into a taxi in the middle of rush hour. I guess Bluetooth it is then, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Boosted’s remotes, but I don’t want a Boosted. We need a custom solution.
A few programmable buttons would be nice, like on higher-end cameras. E.g. for turning on/off lights, switching power modes without having to look at the remote or fiddle around with a menu.
Used my own homemade nrf based one for a long time now (think 2 years) no drop outs or anything so long as it has proper power supplied it works consistently and doesn’t do wifi really just point to point so don’t think it goes through exponential back off type strategy for sending packets… In any case it hasn’t ever been a problem for me and live at the edge of Chicago so plenty of wifi noise around.
Also did a Bluetooth one before using my phone as the controller… Terrible idea for a few reasons but one is the losing of a paired connection (reapairing a connection on the move is no fun)