High Tech Fuse Block

[_cy_]

interesting... long time flashlight/LED nut here ...

here's an ancient pic testing forward voltage of a 5watt Luxeon LED with a vf of 5.99v. which used to be king of the hill in output. but those days are long past.

[craftycoder]

Check out the bluetooth programmable circuit breaker function.

[GaM]

Originally Posted by craftycoder

I was thinking the same thing.

Me too. The last Garmin I plan on buying is laying somewhere in the Talladega NF.

Anybody want to buy a Blue Sea fuse block?

[Anders288]

Will I be able to use this as an ignition switch or would anyone be able to turn it on with there phone?

[craftycoder]

Originally Posted by Anders288

Will I be able to use this as an ignition switch or would anyone be able to turn it on with there phone?

While I plan to allow you to keep the radio on for up to 48 hours at a time I don't think it makes a lot of sense to keep the radio on all the time. Therefore, I'd not use this to turn on the bike. I think it would be a fine idea to use it to power the starter motor though. I expect security through obscurity to be pretty good with this device though. Until OEMs install these at the factory I expect the last thing a crook would do is pull out an iphone to try to hot wire your bike. Ultimately, I think most bikes are just put on trucks and dealt with in the privacy chop shops. YMMV

[RocketMoto]

Originally Posted by Anders288

Will I be able to use this as an ignition switch or would anyone be able to turn it on with there phone?

I wouldn't be too keen to have a Bluetooth ignition switch. RFID yes, but BT, no way. Believe me, BT has *SO MANY ISSUES* that I'd never trust it for anything crucial.

[craftycoder]

I wouldn't operate it via BT either. But, that is what the signal inputs are for. You would use a momentary button to trip the signal that energizes the starter motor. You could also use an RFID to trip the signal that energizes the fuel pump and use that as the "key". BT is mainly for programming and real time telemetry for those interested in that. BT is not going to be required for use of things that you need to interact with regularly. We are wearing gloves so digging out your phone to do stuff would make this product pretty annoying. Something I have no intention of it being.

There are 4 signal inputs that can identify two states each (ground and 12V but not at the same time). So that gives you somewhere between 4 and 8 signals depending on your creativity in designing your setup.

Originally Posted by RocketMoto

I wouldn't be too keen to have a Bluetooth ignition switch. RFID yes, but BT, no way. Believe me, BT has *SO MANY ISSUES* that I'd never trust it for anything crucial.

[BlueLghtning]

Very cool Crafty. I'm really liking what you have so far. By the way I'm just south of Atl, a gadget freak at heart with all kinds of electronics on my bike, and a software tester. Let me know if you need any help with testing too.

We still need to hook up for a ride one day. I did part of that Atl to Fl ds ride down to plains, GA last Sunday. Had a blast.

[craftycoder]

The final pre-production prototype is working great. Time to build a pile and see if people like them.

[craftycoder]

Dimensions are 1.5"x1.4"

[RocketMoto]

Looking great, Josh!

What's the parasitic draw of the device when the input trigger is off (below 12 volts)? Does the current draw vary, over time, in its 'off state'?

[craftycoder]

Originally Posted by RocketMoto

Looking great, Josh!

What's the parasitic draw of the device when the input trigger is off (below 12 volts)? Does the current draw vary, over time, in its 'off state'?

It draws 1.2 nano amps when the "relay" pin is low and 6.5mA when the "relay" pin is high.

1.2 nano amps is roughly 3 million years of battery life for a standard 35AH battery. This was an important feature and it required that I design a tool specifically to test this.

This is the nano amp current sensor I design for this purpose.

[oldandgray]

This would be an item that I would be very interested in having on my bikes.

[craftycoder]

I've been busy all weekend working on an updated version of the 8 channel Bluetooth PDU. After testing the current version you've seen in the videos, I've made some performance updates. I've also added 2 channels of true hardware constant current. Those two channels will be selectable as a constant current source or traditional fused circuit. You cannot do both, so if you short circuit a constant current source it will just source however many amps you tell it to. This may be a fire hazard but it does have utility. I would not use constant current without specific need, but when you need it, you really need it.

I have more testing to do with with a version of the hardware I just received in the mail on Thursday. When that testing is complete, I'll be making any changes necessary to this version and I think we will be very close to a final prototype. This version is a little bit bigger. It is 3" wide instead of 2.93" wide. The performance improvements were worth the modest size increase. I did have to make the board 4 layers which is more expensive but the board is WAY to crowded to be 2 layer any longer.

[craftycoder]

I just tested the single channel board at 13A. No problems. The load, was a giant 1Ω resistor and a cooling fan for it. I ran the test for about 15 minutes. The cooling fan could not keep up and I ended the test when the resistor hit 220C (about 430F). That is just too hot for things on my bench. The circuit ended the test almost 6 degrees warmer than the table it was sitting on (so not even warm to the touch). That means that it ate 13A for breakfast! This seems like a winner! I've got a couple parts coming in the mail for the prototype that we are going to build up in the epoxy goop. Assuming that one will function well without air to vent off excess heat, we will build up 50 prototypes and get them into peoples hands to play with.

I apologize if it is hard to keep track of all the stuff I've been talking about here. I have two different products I am currently working on in this motorcycle power space. The "dumb" single channel board (that this message is about) and the "smart" bluetooth 8 channel board. Sorry if you are getting confused from time to time.