A few days ago I mentioned on my sustainable fuel site TheSmartDrive that I was given a Tesla Roadster to drive for a few days. I was asked to see what ECU information is available, collect and parse the data from it….enter python
Take a look at the full write up: http://mybitbox.com/articles/tesla-roadster-log-parsing/
Tags: electric car, EV, faster than hell, Hack, logs, parse, python, script, tesla
Cool Stuff, Hack, Uncategorized | s1axter | 
November 3, 2010 5:47 pm | 
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Just got an email tonight with an announcement that the Salae Logic Analyzer now has support for Linux. Score! I use the Logic at work and it is really easy to use and almost essential for digital protocols like SPI or I2C.
Can’t wait to use it with my other Linux development tools; Eagle, AVR GCC, avrdude, cutecom, python terminal.
Check it out at http://www.saleae.com/logic/
This is really cool, Vail resorts is going social this ski season with their Epic Mix program. This program uses the RFID in season passes (and I am assuming GPS on your phone) to log runs and lifts taken. Being a Colorado resident with a 5 Mountain Pass this is really cool stuff. Gets me all excited for ski season.
Check out the video on their site: http://www.snow.com/epicmix/
I tried to find their android app on the Android Market but no luck, guess it isn’t out yet.
I like Python, it seems like it takes no time to make something that works. Last night I found an example of a simple scrolling text box GUI done using Tkinter. After an hour or so of modification it is a pretty usable terminal app. I posted the code here for everyone: http://www.mybitbox.com/mbbfiles/s1axter/pyterminal/
I am working on using this for a serial terminal. The idea is to have a program class that has a handle to an instance of this terminal, a serial port and a communication class. If there is a local output function in the program class you can send text to the terminal rather than stdout. Also, bind all keyboard inputs to a function in the program class and bingo, simple serial terminal.
More to come.
My brother is senior at Virginia Tech and is a memeber of the VT Formula SAE team which designs and builds vehicles for national competitions. This week he told me the driver was having a difficult time managing the car and knowing what gear they were in. One of the team members suggested a shift monitor that could read an analog signal from the engine and display the current gear.
There is a poteniometer attached to the transmission that outputs voltages in different gears. Since the transmission voltage ranges are not uniform between gears I used a ATMega8 microcontroller with onboard analog to digital converter to read the voltages and determine the proper range. Here are the ranges (btw, there is no gear 1)
Gear 1 – Display 0 – 4.88v to 5.00v
Neutral – Display 0 – 4.40v to 4.88v
Gear 2 – Display 2 – 3.80v to 4.40v
Gear 3 – Display 3 – 2.00v to 3.80v
Gear 4 – Display 4 – 1.00v to 2.00v
Gear 5 – Display 5 – 0.26v to 1.00v
Gear 6 – Display 6 – 0.00v to 0.26v
The dash on the car has very limited space so I separated the 7-seg from the control circuit. Seperating the 7-seg the control circuit can be in a box away from the driver and the small display mounted on the dash.
Here are a few photos of the setup http://www.mybitbox.com/gallery/gallery.php?g=vt_circuit
And also a demo video of how the system works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHIJK_iaXzc
For those interewsted in the code, here is a link to a ZIP of everything. This code compiles on linux using gcc-avr and can be downloaded to an ATMega8 using a Dragon AVR USB programmer on Ubuntu if you have avrdude installed. Also, here is a schematic of the final circuit.
I recently sat down with my new favorite Linux PCB program Kicad and developed a simple PCB for a 5V breadboard regulator. The idea main goal for this PCB is not to develop the ultimate breadboard power supply but to learn Kicad and how to get a PCB done professionally. I’ve done a bunch of DIY PCBs in the past with “eh” results, thus, this time I am going to get a PCB made professionally from BatchPCB. BatchPCB is a spin off from SparkFun Electronics and combines small prototype orders into full pallet runs. There is a few weeks lead time but if you can wait it looks like the best option for DIYers.
I’ve learned a lot about PCB design in Kicad by looking at personal sites and tutorials and wanted to share my Kicad project with others. Here is a ZIP file with all the project files. I also use a custom library for the parts and footprints (much easier than using pre-made ones, which usually don’t work)
http://www.mybitbox.com/browser/files/s1axter/simple_bb_reg.zip
http://www.mybitbox.com/browser/files/s1axter/kicad_libs/
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