Something is coming (Proffieboard V3)

cbrsawyer · April 28, 2023, 1:34pm

images

baldusi · April 28, 2023, 1:54pm

21:00hs UTC?

cbrsawyer · April 28, 2023, 5:21pm

Spoilered?

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 5:26pm

It has begun.

baldusi · April 28, 2023, 5:49pm

Please let Korbanth or KR Sabers be one of the launching partners.
On a totally unrelated thing:

Practically (missed the second revision) nailed it.

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 5:59pm

Since the cat is out of the bag…

The launch partners are:

KR Sabers
Tritium Sabers / electronics123
Artekit

Boards will go on sale May 4th.
For more infomation about V3 boards:

https://fredrik.hubbe.net/lightsaber/v6/

Also see the V3 development thread:

Proffieboard V3 Proffieboards

[image] This board will be using a new CPU. The new CPU runs at the same speed and mostly the same as the old CPU, but it has a few important differences: More RAM, FLASH and pins. Here is a list of improvements I’m making for Proffieboard V3: More FLASH (512kB instead of 256kB): This means more presets, but it also means we can now turn on optimization without running of of memory More RAM (160kB instead of 64kB): No immediate effect, but makes mp3 and echo effects possible More PINS: New CPU is BGA with 64 pins instead of 48. This means more data pins, and and other things, listed below Faster SD card access. The new board uses SDIO instead of SPI to access the SD card. SDIO is significantly faster than SPI. In initial testing I got 20 parallel streams. This means less problems with SD card and more CPU for doing other things. USB charging: The V3 board has onboard charging configured for 450mA charge speed. An onboard status LED helps show what the board is doing and when something goes wrong. Three new “free” pads. These can either be used to drive 20mA LEDs directly, or as neopixel data pads, button pads or servos. The SWDIO, SWDCLK and RESET pads have been moved to the bottom of the board to make room for these new pads. DM/DP/VBUS pads for external USB spot for additional large capacitor if needed (helps when driving BT modules) Two CPU pins are already tied together for Data1, making blade ID work without additional components Power and AUX buttons are wakeup capable, unlocking the possibility of a deep sleep mode Several other pins have been tied together as well, giving each pin more functions. This unlocks additional serial/SPI/I2S/I2C ports and analog pins. There are a LOT new possibilities for interfacing with other boards. All of this in exactly the same size as a Proffieboard V2. Right now, this board is in the prototyping stage. While most things have already been decided, if something doesn’t work out, there may still be changes. After prototyping comes beta testing, (which will be by invitation only) Beta testing takes a while because people will need to install boards in sabers, try them out and make sure nothing catches on fire. Once beta testing is over, we’ll move on to production. And after that I will release all the schematics, BOM and such things so that people can build their own if they wish.

NoSloppy · April 28, 2023, 6:05pm

Woooooowwww.
Yes, this is a complete sentence.

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 6:08pm

It only took two years…

baldusi · April 28, 2023, 6:09pm

I assume you kept the pads to solder a low-amp switch to the pFET, right? I want a manual to read right now.
Oh! And a couple of nice pictures to make a huge pad.
Incidentally, now that we have a lot of free pins… would you mind if I think of ways to assign blades to certain Blade Present pins? I’ve been thinking about putting a hall sensor on the chassis, so you could have a Hilt Present sensor with a tiny magnet.

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 6:13pm

Yes, it’s a little complicated, but there are pads on the back of the board for that.
You have to cut a trace and add a pull-up resistor somewhere, and then any latching switch can be used to cut the power to the board.

I’m planning to add that to the V3 page this weekend.

tbenen · April 28, 2023, 6:39pm

Congratulations on the release! Ever forward as ever

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 8:28pm

KR Sabers product page:

profezzorn · April 28, 2023, 8:58pm

Tritium product page:

Bruinrogue · April 29, 2023, 5:38am

Had some money saved up for the V3 before I got laid off, can’t wait to get em!

kersskerner · April 29, 2023, 7:32pm

Just saw the comment about deep sleep capable, but will we need to wait for OS updates for implementation…or what? Also, I read elsewhere in this thread (and the development thread) about any micro switch for on/off…but that you said a trace would need to be cut. Are you still writing up the copy for that process, or can I start reading up on the how-to specifics. I’m going to start scouring digikey and/or mouser for some micro slide switches that will be easily usable, and not require a ton of chassis space.

So happy the wait is over!

profezzorn · April 29, 2023, 7:35pm

Yes.

Hoping to do that today actually.
It needs some pictures, or it won’t be very helpful.

kersskerner · April 29, 2023, 7:42pm

You’re the best!

baldusi · April 29, 2023, 11:17pm

I’ve found this latching switch:

I don’t know if there are even smaller ones available. But this is a push design, so it makes it a lot easier for design. The slide needs to be much closer to the outer diameter, exactly where it’s wider (the switch) plus the space needed for the finger to move it.
This plus the charge by USB makes the V3 a great simplification for installs. Specially reducing the number of wires going to the battery connectors, which currently is the most cumbersome part of my installs.

profezzorn · April 30, 2023, 12:27am

latching switches tends to be fairly large compared to sliding switches. Here is what I used on my K4 saber:

https://fredrik.hubbe.net/lightsaber/k4/control.html

Some are small enough that you can hide it just about anywhere.
(Like maybe behind that little slider thing on a graflex saber?)

profezzorn · April 30, 2023, 2:49am

I have added documentation for how to use low-power switches with V3 boards:

https://fredrik.hubbe.net/lightsaber/v6/#low-power-switches