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This project adds Bluetooth LE capabilities to the the TSDZ2 e-bike engine.
The project provides:
- A new TSDZ2 controller firmware based on the TSDZ Open source Firmware
- A small PCB board connected between the Engine Controller Board and the Display.
- An Android application used to interact with the TSDZ2 Engine Firmware through the Bluetooth interface
Actually the TSDZ2 Controller firmware is based on the TSDZ Open Source Firmware version 0.20.0-beta1 (the last Firmware released for the LCD3 display) to which I added some small changes and improvements. I have also in plan to support in future the last Open Source Firmware developed for the 860c and SW102 displays.
The board is a small PCB (24x42mm) based on the ESP32 microcontroller. The board is small enough to be inserted inside the motor just over the controller board. The board exposes the Bluetooth interface used by the Android application but exposes also the BT 4.0 Cycling Power Profile. In this way you could also use third party app (like Oruxmaps) and the app will be able to receive various parametrs like speed, cadence, istantaneous Power, accumulated energy etc.
The PCB board operates as "man in the middle" between motor controller and LCD. It receives the messages sent from the controller, translates the messages to the OEM LCD protocol and then send the messages to the OEM LCD. This means that the current setup uses the OEM LCDs (VLCD5, VLCD6, HX18). I own the VLCD5 and this is the LCD i tested. But i'm confident that also VLCD6 and XH18 works since they uses the same protocol. In the future it will be possible to add support for different LCDs (as long as the protocol is known)
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The Android application offers the following functionalities:
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The project requires some small hardware modifications that require a minimum of soldering skill.
I'm actually on the phase 2 of the project which, after the initial positive experimentation, involves the engineering of the HW part.
For this reason I designed a small PCB board that is completely integrated inside the motor. The only external part will by a small wire antenna routed together the LCD cable. See https://github.com/TSDZ-ESP32/ESP32_TSDZ-PCB
As soon as the new PCB arrives from PCB factory in China and the test is completed, i will update the Wiki.
ESP32 DevKit Wiring
| ESP32 GPIO | Pin Name | ESP32 funct. | Function | 6 pin Cable color |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPIO 16 | RX2 | UART 2 RX | to Controller TX | Brown |
| GPIO 17 | TX2 | UART 2 TX | to Controller RX | Orange |
| GPIO 33 | D33 | UART 1 RX | to LCD TX | Orange |
| GPIO 32 | D32 | UART 1 TX | to LCD RX | Brown |
| GPIO 4 | D4 | One Wire In. | DS18B20 Signal | - |
| GPIO 1 | TX0 | UART 0 TX | debug RX | - |
| GPIO 3 | RX0 | UART 0 RX | debug TX | - |
| - | VIN | Power In | 5V supply | - |
| - | GND | GND | GND | - |
| - | 3V3 | 3.3V out | to Logic converter LV | - |
The power is taken from the battery Vin signal coming from the LCD cable. In this way, turning on the display involves turning on the motor controller and the ESP module simultaneously (this helps also the controller firmware update procedure).
The current absorbed from Vin during normal operation is less than 30mA (measured about 27mA on 38V battery), therefore there are no problems for the display mosfet switch in supplying this current.
A resistor in series at the step-down input, limits the short-time current that occurs at switch-on when the step-down input capacitor is discharged.
Optionally is possible to add an external temperature sensor (Dallas DS18B20 sensor) to monitor the motor temperature. In this case it will be possible to monitor the motor temperature without modifying the motor controller board or removing the throttle control.
If enabled, the ESP32 module will limit the max motor current value sent to the controller board, according to the actual motor temperature and the configured temperature thresholds.