All have PWM, currently two have constant current. I am considering going to 4. I couldn't think a reason to need more than 2 CC sources though. Thoughts?
Not really. Most of the devices that would be controlled by CC can also be used with PWM. Maybe the CC can be used as a secondary fail electronic fuse. Limit current not to exceed... like for heated gear. In case wiring shorts out on the heated seat. Or for the external power ports.
CC is not really a very good solution for the fuse failing. A constant 3A will still cause a fire. The fusing cannot be allowed to fail. The CC is mainly for custom LED installs I think. I don't have any other good ideas for using it myself.
I think you misunderstand my use of the phrase "constant current". I mean a circuit that no matter the impedance will output no more than X amps (you can adjust the value via your mobile phone). This is useful because some gadgets are current limited without regard to the voltage. LEDs are specced at so many amps but almost unconcerned with the voltage and have nearly no impedance. As a result they require you to use a resistor in series to prevent an over current situation. This has the negative side effect of lowering brightness at lower voltages which means you must spec the resistor to the highest expected voltage. This results in an LED being less bright when the bike if off that when its on. A constant current circuit will provide, for example 1 amp, to the LED regardless of voltage. On the topic of the battery tender, while you could use my device to run power back to the battery, it would have to be "on" so that seems like a not very good plan to me. All the other ideas can easily to accommodated using the standard delay shutoff logic stuff already included on every circuit or the fact that you can keep the device running even when the bike is otherwise off (but you are there to shut it down). I have not come up with a plan for external indicators. I have 3 LED indicator pads on the board but I've not decided how or even if to use them. I selected 3 because I was considering a single RGB LED on a wire to dash mount. I am undecided on that still. All the inputs can sense high or low so that isn't an issue. I looked at the Stebel horns, I didn't see any that would need more than 18A at 12V which translates to about 15.5A at 13.8V. What I could do is allow you to set a time limit on the circuit breaker for those sorts of high current short duration circuits.
Wasn't thinking of using it in place of fuse. No, fuse stays there. Was more thinking of using it to prevent fuse from blowing in the first place on outlets that could easily get overloaded or nuisance tripping. Or as mentioned, battery charging. Just in case ya kill a LiFe battery totally, some quick re-wiring and you could feed a slow charge back in to recover the battery part way before increasing the charge rate. Yes, this is for advanced users only. Hmmmm.. but thinking along these lines, this could solve a second problem I have been trying to address. I built a large capacity LiFe battery so I can use my bikes battery while at the campsite. While I can drain quite a bit of the battery and still have enough to start the bike, you can't drain it all. Is it possible to use the HighTech fuse block to cut off power to everything when voltage drops to a certain point. I know we talked about shedding loads if the alternator couldn't keep up, this would be shedding all loads when the battery is 75% discharged. This would still leave enough to start the bike the next morning. So basically you are creating a battery reserve within the main battery.
Yes, that is totally doable. In fact it is easy because it is purely a software fix and I could field update that at my leisure.
I may have missed this discussion earlier, but: Can the unit accept analog input or is it limited to open/closed switches for input? I'm curious if a dial can be set up to control the pwm for heated grips/gear or if this has to be handled by "stepping" to different levels through momentary switch presses. Can't wait for the kickstarter!
In a previous incarnation it did accept analog inputs. The current system accepts digital only (as in high or low) BUT... (in a world exclusive report) I have sketched out a plan to allow serial communication via these inputs so I can put together devices EXACTLY as you are describing where a simple POT could be used to control PWM. I do want to do this, but I'm not sure if it will make it into the Kickstarter version. At this point I want to get these things into peoples hands and get some user feedback to see if I am on the right track.
I've put the finishing touches on the next iteration of the PDU today. I've put copious protection on all in the inputs and outputs. The device should be able to handle a 24V jump start as well as the significant transients (both positive and negative) found in auto environments. I'll try to get these sent out to the fab house next week so I can get one more bike friendly prototype made up.
I just built up a rig to test the PDU under heavy transient load. Hopefully the gizmo can tame that into something a little bit less awful. That is 5A running into a large toroid inductor with a rapid low side disconnection. That gives us a 94 volt positive transient and 17 volt negative transient. That is plenty to grenade most semiconductors.
this is all greek to me but it would be neat to see a variable voltage output to charge devices that don't take 12v. Like this silly 10.1V tablet I have.
We will not be including a voltage regulator in this product. You will have a convenient place to plug one into your bike though.
Next prototype PCB order is going in tonight. These should be fully protected and ready for use in a vehicle. They should be here in a few weeks and will be built up within a month. These ones will be epoxy potted to confirm the radios work when the devices are rendered waterproof.
How do I register interest, pre-order or support this project? I want one!!! This unit is absolutely amazing and exactly what I have been looking for. My bike as a great spot to install this but is a PAIN to access for changing of a fuse or to reset a breaker. Perfect solution.
with that power spike you were showing earlier, would one have to worry about that if they were running a, say 800W Linear with it (67A) or is that some other function that you are working on rather than a remote swith/fuze block setup? This is an old tube setup that I resurected, finding replacement tubes was a chore.
