OW Pint VESC Repair

Lia

@lemur I bet just a chip sending the same data packets as the stock BMS would keep it happy.

Assuming early gen weren't serialised replicating the signal and passing it from a little arduino shouldn't be too hard. Serialised ones I guess using some of the work on that github project you found the other day would come in handy correcting it.

Love the project but I hope the guy working on it kept their identity well hidden. FM could come after them with a DMCA in a similar manner that they came after JW and the JWFFM chip. Speaking of which is that still ongoing?

Lemur

@lia JW is still selling the chip, however the price has gone from $150 to $250 and doesn't advertise as being able to match bms'. I did confirm that it will match bms' via email a few weeks ago. I do have a early production Jw chip I bought used, only powered it up but never put it to practical use.
Not sure on the lawsuit, I think it's still in the discovery stage.

NotSure

@lemur said in OW Pint VESC:

Not sure on the lawsuit, I think it's still in the discovery stage.

that case is soft. i asked a patent lawyer for ibm. far from ironclad. probably end up settling for peanuts.

NotSure

@lia said in OW Pint VESC:

Love the project but I hope the guy working on it kept their identity well hidden.

his name is robert paulson...

NotSure

@lia said in OW Pint VESC:

"Hey, You. You're finally awake"

fus ro dah!
alt text

NotSure

@lemur said in OW Pint VESC:

No idea what we can use the board for unless we can find a way to run without the bms.

maybe test to see how much we can 'overclock' a stock board? ramp up voltage to 68? 72v maybe? 60v is lame. might as well be 59v.

Lia

@notsure Depends what components are used. I'd guess the 3 main things to check are the max for the filter caps, mosfets and whatever chips are responsible for stepping down voltage plus anything passive that touched the battery voltage.

The caps are Panasonic Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors however I'm not able to verify the specs outside of being 390uF. I think it could be 80v since mouser only gives results for 80v when looking at the 390uF on the TP range of those caps.

Mosfets I can't see from the coating on them that I don't fancy peeling off yet.

Thinking about it, if not for the software limits the Pint would in theory be so much more modable. It's much simpler with less clutter unlike the prior generations that had countless components.

NotSure

@lia said in OW Pint VESC:

Thinking about it, if not for the software limits the Pint would in theory be so much more modable. It's much simpler with less clutter unlike the prior generations that had countless components.

Oooh i like that hint of optimism! i look forward to captain morganing my way past the sound barrier.

[cue b2tf instrumental]

Lemur

@lia Looks like a update on a OW BMS JW style chip.
https://github.com/lolwheel/Owie
Coincidently, JW just lowered their chip to $49 and free if you buy a battery.

Lia

@lemur Oh sweet, looks really good and well documented.
I did see they dropped the price, apparently some speculate it's because this project was available now which makes sense.

biell

@lia It could be competition causing the price drop. Although it could also be that they are planning on releasing a new model, so they are selling off the existing stock. I don't know that they should be afraid of Owie just yet, we are still figuring out how to relay battery % (https://github.com/lolwheel/Owie/issues/1). Ah counting will be the way, but it isn't quite ready yet.

In the long term, I fully expect JW to copy Owie's code b/c they are hacks with no originality.

Lemur

@biell Could also be financial problems due to the lawsuit, trying to bring some money in with the free chip offer with the purchase of a battery. Can't make any money with chip sales alone.

biell

@lemur Excellent point, it could be.

Lemur

@lia Just uploaded on discord, a diy for the JW style chip.

Lia

@lemur This is an exciting development.
The comment on the shipping for the previous JW chip had my jaw drop. $100 for international shipping???

Lemur

@lia Yeah, shipping outside of the US is crazy. Haha, I just checked the JW site and the chip went back to $250, it was $49.69 yesterday, I bought one a couple of days ago at the discounted price.

Sirgu

@Lemur said :

... and the chip went back to $250, it was $49.69 yesterday ...

FB was flooded with news on that price change. Some say it must have been mishap. Some say it was Valentine's extraspecial. - With all the hype around it, they won either ways.

@Lia said :

... $100 for international shipping???

That's fairly decent! (yea, the chip is tiny thing tho) =]
Imagine you end up reaching total cost ~2,1 times on smth that already has three-digit price tag for US local. Also not complicated by size and form. And not chemicals related.
8'/

Lemur

@sirgu To put that in context, shipping within the US is $6.99.

Lia

Took 2 months but those PintX bumpers finally came, fit them to the board to see how it looks. Not bad considering the battery housing still needs doing.