New timer for CL use.

[Paul Taylor]

I built one of this guys basic timer for my grandsons 1/2a. Works great.

I’m getting one of his new ones to test out. More advanced features.

https://circuitflyer.com/Climb_and_Dive/?fbclid=IwAR0wxqiBZNI9x9bxpHJQJImJiuBe0froxsrsUwXNtd_GKrlOwiGQkaj1J7E&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

[Crist Rigotti]

Looks promising!

[Ken Culbertson]

Looks promising!

If it will guarantee a straight path on a RWO I will buy 2!

Ken

[Paul Taylor]

If it will guarantee a straight path on a RWO I will buy 2!

Ken

You’re kidding right? 😜

[CircuitFlyer]

I was going to post a link in the electric section but Paul beat me to it.  That's OK, thanks Paul.

I have been working on a more advanced timer for a few years now.  I flew this version all last Summer to iron some of the bugs out.  The chip shortage didn't help either.  The accelerometers are back in stock so, here it is, I thought I'd share it with everyone that would like to give it a try.

It's a governor & active timer combined.  All programmable settings can be adjusted via a wireless bluetooth connection using a free app.  It's not directed at the top stunt competitors.  It's meant for the rest of us.  The flyer that wants a reasonably priced modern full featured timer without any complex and confusing set-up and programming requirements. 

It's all open source.  Please, give it a try and let me know what you think.  There is always room for improvement.

Sorry Ken, it can't help straighten out your RWO.  But, it can give you a fraction of a second more time to get ready for the pullout.

[John Rist]

Can you set the base RPMs to less then wide open to allow head room for rpm regulation?

[CircuitFlyer]

You can set the base governing RPM anywhere between 5000 and 15000 RPM.  The nice thing is, once you enter the # of motor poles in your motor, the RPM number you enter in the settings is the RPM you will get at the prop.  No need for a tach.

[Ken Culbertson]

 

You’re kidding right? 😜

If you see what has happened to my ROW since I came back you would know I am not kidding. 

[Crist Rigotti]

I just ordered one!  I'll report on it after I try it out.

Thanks CircuitFlyer!

[Brent Williams]

Very interesting!  Looks like it has a lot of good features.

[Paul Taylor]

I was going to post a link in the electric section but Paul beat me to it.  That's OK, thanks Paul.

I have been working on a more advanced timer for a few years now.  I flew this version all last Summer to iron some of the bugs out.  The chip shortage didn't help either.  The accelerometers are back in stock so, here it is, I thought I'd share it with everyone that would like to give it a try.

It's a governor & active timer combined.  All programmable settings can be adjusted via a wireless bluetooth connection using a free app.  It's not directed at the top stunt competitors.  It's meant for the rest of us.  The flyer that wants a reasonably priced modern full featured timer without any complex and confusing set-up and programming requirements. 

It's all open source.  Please, give it a try and let me know what you think.  There is always room for improvement.

Sorry Ken, it can't help straighten out your RWO.  But, it can give you a fraction of a second more time to get ready for the pullout.

Sorry I stole your lighting Paul. 😂

Just curious why you don’t feel this would be a competitive timer at the expert level?

[CircuitFlyer]

For starters, "I ain't no world champion".  Secondly, I meant to keep it as simple as possible for the average flyer.  I could be wrong, but I assume the folks that spend thousands of dollars and man-hours squeezing the last few points out of the judges are looking for a power system that they can tweek to their hearts content.  That said, I hope this timer can work well enough in the hands of some very good pilots.

To be realistic, the Climb_and_Dive timer is an electronics hobby project that I think a lot of control line flyers would interested in.  I was surprised at the advanced features available with some simple code and a bit of math on an inexpensive off-the-shelf microcontroller.  I just want to pass that along.

The nice thing about the timer is the simplicity of updating the code yourself.  Maybe down the road with some input from a bunch of flyers we can eventually improve the code to be more of a competitive expert level timer.

[Ken Culbertson]

For starters, "I ain't no world champion".  Secondly, I meant to keep it as simple as possible for the average flyer.  I could be wrong, but I assume the folks that spend thousands of dollars and man-hours squeezing the last few points out of the judges are looking for a power system that they can tweek to their hearts content.  That said, I hope this timer can work well enough in the hands of some very good pilots.

To be realistic, the Climb_and_Dive timer is an electronics hobby project that I think a lot of control line flyers would interested in.  I was surprised at the advanced features available with some simple code and a bit of math on an inexpensive off-the-shelf microcontroller.  I just want to pass that along.

The nice thing about the timer is the simplicity of updating the code yourself.  Maybe down the road with some input from a bunch of flyers we can eventually improve the code to be more of a competitive expert level timer.

I don't see why what you are offering is potentially any less capable than the top timers in use by the experts today, only different.  Basically, all we (I am an expert but not even close to a Top) ask from a timer is to add RPM's when you are going up, take some away when going down, compensate for loss of line tension overhead and realign your RWO, well maybe not that one.  I really like the programable feature.  If you write the code parameter driven and use a cell phone to manipulate the parameters there is a world of tinkering we can do at the field.  If Crist Rigotti has any luck with his I will hear about it and give one a try.

Ken

[Curare]

Paul, I notice that this is a kit. I absolutly SUCK at soldering, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Are you planning on selling assembled units at any point?

I'd be keen to get one to try.

[Ken Culbertson]

Paul, I notice that this is a kit. I absolutly SUCK at soldering, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Are you planning on selling assembled units at any point?

I'd be keen to get one to try.

You are not the only one!

Ken

[Paul Taylor]

Paul, I notice that this is a kit. I absolutly SUCK at soldering, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Are you planning on selling assembled units at any point?

I'd be keen to get one to try.

Soldering is not hard but does require an understanding of how to transfer heat and material.
As with any skill it takes a little practice.
If you’re going down the electrical path you must learn how to solder. Attaching ends on wires and connections is a must.

[Paul Taylor]

For starters, "I ain't no world champion".  Secondly, I meant to keep it as simple as possible for the average flyer.  I could be wrong, but I assume the folks that spend thousands of dollars and man-hours squeezing the last few points out of the judges are looking for a power system that they can tweek to their hearts content.  That said, I hope this timer can work well enough in the hands of some very good pilots.

To be realistic, the Climb_and_Dive timer is an electronics hobby project that I think a lot of control line flyers would interested in.  I was surprised at the advanced features available with some simple code and a bit of math on an inexpensive off-the-shelf microcontroller.  I just want to pass that along.

The nice thing about the timer is the simplicity of updating the code yourself.  Maybe down the road with some input from a bunch of flyers we can eventually improve the code to be more of a competitive expert level timer.

As Ken stated if it makes adjustments to speed as required and keeps a steady lap time, and gives a good shut off I’m not sure what else is required. Maybe I’m just a bottom feeder and unaware of what else the experts require. But we will provide feedback if improvements are needed. I know some use retractable gear but I’m sure that you already thought about that. 😉

[Curare]

Soldering is not hard but does require an understanding of how to transfer heat and material.
As with any skill it takes a little practice.
If you’re going down the electrical path you must learn how to solder. Attaching ends on wires and connections is a must.

Soldering big stuff is fine for me, but I have a tremor that make small PCB hard and SMT absolutely impossible. I'd need solder tabs 1/8" wide to make it work!

[John Rist]

Also just ordered one.  Looks promising. Will probably write a review of it in Getting all AMP'ed up section.

[Paul Taylor]

Also just ordered one.  Looks promising. Will probably write a review of it in Getting all AMP'ed up section.

👍🏼👍🏼

[Brent Williams]

Curiosity prevailed.  I ordered one as well.

[CircuitFlyer]

A big thank you to everyone that has placed an order.  I have been busy packing and shipping.  My credit card has also been busy placing orders to stock up on more parts to build the next batch of timer kits.

Selling stuff online is all new to me so please forgive me for not rushing the next batch out the door. I would like to take a bit of time to listen to your feedback and make sure everything is going as planned. 

Currently, there is one left in stock, after that I think Tindie allows for backorders if anyone wants to queue up for the next batch.

[Paul Taylor]

Well got home Tuesday and brought some crud home from my trip. It’s not Covid but I’m not in the shop so it has to be bad.
Went to order a timer and he is out of stock. 😝

Looking forward to the reports.

[Crist Rigotti]

I just got mine today!

[John Rist]

Mine came in yesterday.  Looks good well packaged.

[John Paris]

Everyone,
Mine came in on Wednesday well packaged and damage free.  Pulled out the soldering equipment yesterday and did a little practice work on a glow driver board and then after watching some TV figured that I would solder the ESC/motor pins in place.  One thing led to another and about 10 minutes later, I was done with the whole timer.  Magnification was required but everything went quite well.  I was able to test it out today on an airplane with the prop removed and to try the Bluetooth setting features.

The touching the post feature to arm the unit or to prepare to adjust was something new and required a little practice to get it right.  I did learn that I could use the USB cord to power the timer to get in to program which made bench adjustment a bit easier.  I did not experience any issues, but perhaps Paul could comment on this practice.  No issues doing it on the airplane as well.

Question for Paul, after the unit is armed, when does the time start for the start up delay?  End of the intial spin up or after the 3 seconds on the post to arm the timer or some other point?   It seems to be close to 5 seconds after touching the post to arm the timer, but it was a little cumbersome to get the watch set with one hand on the timer.  Appreciate any feedback you may have.

I will need to review the set up parameters but it seemed that even though I had the RPM set to 10000, the motor seemed to spin sort of slow.  Hobby King Red Brick 40A ESC that I have run off of a receiver for throttle and a KR-2 timer in the past on my eRingmaster.  Arrowind 2810 930kV motor for motivation.  Since the weather is not the best for testing, I may switch over to my Profile Oriental with a Castle Creations ESC to see how the active portion of the timer works in nose up and nose down positions using the data tracker.

Thank you Paul for offering this unit to the general public.  I hope to look into what things can be learned with respect to the open source programming.  For anyone concerned about the assembly of the two boards, as long as you have a good soldering iron and some good vision or visual aids, you will find this project to be quite easy to complete.  The Bluetooth adjustability is a great feature.

John

[CircuitFlyer]

Glad to hear that the assembly went well.  Appropriate equipment and supplies combined with a little practice make it easy.  I really like this flux - https://www.chipquik.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=330003 

The capacitive touch pin for user input is a little different than a more tactile pushbutton switch.  It works just the same.  Perhaps the best way to describe it is to be decisive when making contact with the pin, don't use a slow light touch.  It works by detecting a change in the capacitance of the pin.  It has to reach a certain threshold before it will register as a touch.  The better the contact with your fingertip the better chance that it will detect the change.  Everyones fingertip has a slightly different level of conductivity and, if needed, adding a bit of moisture to your fingertip can greatly improve the electrical contact.

The start-up delay time begins at the conclusion of the initial 1.5 second motor spin up.

For accurate RPM readings the timer needs to know how many magnet poles are used in your motor.  Enter this number in the Bluetooth programming mode, the default is 14.  If your motor documentation doesn't list the information then you will have see if you can peek inside the motor and count the total number of magnet segments glued around the inside of the rotor.

The accelerometer on the Climb_and_Dive timer doesn't use nose up or nose down.  It may seem counterintuitive but, move the outboard wing from horizontal to up and back down again to test the active output.  Fly it, it works.

[John Paris]

Paul,
Thank you for the feedback on the questions I had and the suggestion for the wingtip movement to make the active portion of the timer to work.  I confirmed that the timer pole count matched that for the motor so took it outside with a tach and verified the 10K setting.  Since I use throttle control mostly on this one, I do not have a good feel for what 10K rpm sounds like when free wheeling.  Will need to get it mounted and in the air next.
John

[Crist Rigotti]

CircuitFlyer,

I received the timer and it went together just swell.

I'm not a programmer, but could the following options be added to the Bluefruit control?

1) An option to mount the timer with the flat side toward the pilot?
2) An option to have the ESC pins facing aft?

In other words, could options be made as to the orientation of the timer mounting?  This would add quite a bit of flexibility not only for profile but full fuselage models.

Thank you.

[CircuitFlyer]

Sure.  It wouldn't take a lot of code revisions to be able to enter the timer orientation as a programmable parameter.  It's possible for the timer to be oriented in any position.  The challenge lies in the ability to clearly communicate the spacial orientation of the timer with respect to the airframe so that everyone is on the same page.  Let's see, a cube has 6 sides and each side has 4 different directions.  24 possible unique mounting positions?  I opted to keep things as simple as possible for this initial release of the timer.

Your suggestion is noted and I will put it at the top of the list for future enhancements.

By the way - The next batch of timers is now in stock and available for purchase. https://www.tindie.com/products/circuitflyer/climb_and_dive-an-advanced-control-line-timer/

[Crist Rigotti]

Sure.  It wouldn't take a lot of code revisions to be able to enter the timer orientation as a programmable parameter.  It's possible for the timer to be oriented in any position.  The challenge lies in the ability to clearly communicate the spacial orientation of the timer with respect to the airframe so that everyone is on the same page.  Let's see, a cube has 6 sides and each side has 4 different directions.  24 possible unique mounting positions?  I opted to keep things as simple as possible for this initial release of the timer.

Your suggestion is noted and I will put it at the top of the list for future enhancements.

By the way - The next batch of timers is now in stock and available for purchase. https://www.tindie.com/products/circuitflyer/climb_and_dive-an-advanced-control-line-timer/

Thank you!