patagona

@patagona@chaos.social

Guy who likes programming and electronics.
C# dev for a living. Tries to make stuff work.
free hugs.

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patagona, to ReverseEngineering

I've recently discovered the ISDT CM1620 charging modules.

They're pretty cheap (~140€) and promise some pretty good specs:

  • ~11-70V / 1100W input
  • ~8-70V 20A / 1000W output
  • LiHv, LiPo, LiFe 2-16S balance charging
  • Control via Micro-USB, Bluetooth, RS485, CAN or an optional controller with display

From our tests, they work fine, even at max load (16S 15A).

However, they do have some quirks...

(Thread)

The back of the charger with vent holes, input and output XT60, three USB-C ports, a button and a 17-pin JST-XH for balancing

patagona,

For a start, they're designed to be used in an industrial environment, remote-controlled, in a rack.
This means, other than a status display and a Bluetooth pairing button, they have no controls.

There's a documented ASCII-based serial protocol for use with the Micro-USB USB-CDC (basically USB Serial), and while neither the documentation nor the example code are particularly great, it's enough to get going.

patagona,

Also, there's the external controller.
But wait, that hooks up using a USB-A to USB-C cable, the wrong way?!

Well, yes, the USB-A plug goes into the display, the USB-C plug goes to one of the USB-C ports on the charger.

Also, wait, there are no other plugs, how does it do RS485 or CAN?

Oh no...

patagona,

Turns out, that's not actually USB over USB-C.

Yes, those are RS485 transceivers.
Yes, they're directly hooked up to the D+ and D- lines of the USB-C connectors.

The controller just uses RS485, with the same ASCII protocol that is used via Micro USB.

patagona,

But wait, what about CAN?

Well, about that - they're just plain lying here. There's no CAN transceiver to be found anywhere on the PCB (there is, however an unpopulated IC footprint that would fit a CAN transceiver).

ISDT also doesn't seem to respond to any mails regarding CAN or RS485 documentation.

Additionally, @LeoDJ started taking a deeper look at the firmware, and no CAN support can be found there either.

patagona,

@wolf480pl The unpopulated IC footprint is likely a CAN transceiver (we've checked the footprint and it fits), so they probably wanted to do CAN, but dropped it some time before production but still advertised it as having CAN even though it was never possible with the production hardware (and likely never implemented in software).

patagona,

@gsuberland As I've said, there's no firmware support either way (the CAN peripheral goes entirely unused), so if someone wants to go and write their own custom firmware with CAN support, the transceiver pinout (which is pretty much standard either way I think?) is the least of their worries 😅

patagona, to random

USB-C Fun Fact:
A 120V 1500W kettle has a resistance of around 9.6 Ohms.
Which means, with the current maximum USB-C PD 3.1 voltage of 48V, that should pull pretty much the maximum 5A.

So, theoretically, you could make that a 240W USB-C kettle (though as of now, no consumer-grade 240W chargers exist to actually use it with and on a 20V charger the power would be limited to ~40W, which is probably not enough to make the water boil)

LeoDJ, to random
@LeoDJ@chaos.social avatar

Now introducing: !

1.7 kW worth of raw USB-C PD power.

24x USB-C ports.
4x 100W, 20x 65W.
(4x USB A, but we don't talk about those :P)

I never did a post of the project that @techbeard and I did last-minute before , so here you go.
Build log in the thread below.

Back view. The back consists of another milled PCB that holds the Powercon True1 power input socket, the XT60 24V power output plug and a large OLED screen.
View of the OLED screen in action at the Geekend Aalen '23. It mainly shows (a rough approximation) of the overall power draw and some internal stats.
The being utilized pretty heavily at the Unterland village at CCCamp23

patagona,

@stfn @LeoDJ you can just look for them on AliExpress (or possibly eBay as well) with something like "65W USB-C fast charge module".

However you should be careful, a lot of laptops need 20V to charge and most of these modules are buck-only (so they can only output 12V or less with 12V input).
There are also buck-boost modules though which can do 20V out with 12V in.

There are some 65W and 100W cigarette lighter socket ones too if you don't want just the module.

patagona, to random German

1: "Also ich trage einfach immer Maske wenn ich mit vielen Leuten in einem... einer..."
2: "einer Kollisionsdomäne"
1: "Genau, in einer Kollisionsdomäne bin"
#37c3

whitequark, to random
@whitequark@mastodon.social avatar

observation: Mozilla's decision to ship WebMIDI with SysEx support (https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-platform/c/15O04X2jE28/m/deXYDi85CQAJ) and refusal to ship WebSerial (https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/336) are fundamentally inconsistent with each other. they're the ~same API. either they're both fully unsafe, or they're both manageable

patagona,

@whitequark Time to add USB-MIDI-SysEx-Bootloaders to devices so they can be flashed via the web</s>

patagona, to 3DPrinting

Recently got hold of a portable 12V car fridge (the efficient kind with a compressor) for cheap, as the DC power input had melted.
Luckily, I don't like these connectors anyway and 3D printing is a thing, so I had a go with OpenSCAD (basically, my first project using it) to model a new two-part mount which houses a PowerPole connector and is held together by one of the mounting screws.

I think it turned out great!

https://github.com/patagonaa/car-fridge-replacement-connector

#OpenSCAD #RepairOfTheDay #3dprinting #PowerPole

The replacement part housing an Anderson PowerPole connector, fitted in the original panel of the fridge
A 3D render of the two halves making up the replacement connector. The PowerPole connector gets sandwiched between the two parts and the parts get held together by the panel mounting screws.

patagona, to random

Oh I love how you can't even link at anything anymore

"join our discord", "create a TikTok/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Reddit account to see this", "here, have an unclosable app ad popup after scrolling too far"

I shall call this phenomenon "the pinterestification of the modern web"

thanks, I hate it

patagona,

Also, the misuse of the word "server" really grinds my gears.

A "discord server" is a "server" in the same way a Facebook group is a "server".

patagona, to random German

"Ach, wichtig, unwichtig, das sind doch neurotypische Kategorien"

patagona, to random

Cookie confirmation widget designers understand what "consent" means challenge 2023 (they failed)

After scrolling down: You've consented to cookies | Undo - Close

marove, to random
@marove@chaos.social avatar

Was denkst ihr "Normale" oder "Sicherheits-Buchsen" fürs ATX-Breakoutboard? (Vlg. https://shop.blinkyparts.com/de/ATX-Breakout-Board-Ein-Praktischer-Bausatz-fuer-das-Labornetzteil-zu-Hause/blink231342)

  • Sicherheit: Ich kann die neuen Kabel anstecken. Fast alle Neuen haben Schutzkappen.

  • Normal: Ich kann nur alte Kabel anstecken, dafür auch Schraubterminal

image/png

patagona,

@marove Persönlich am besten fände ich zusätzlich noch so Federzugklemmen (z.B. Wago/Phoenix, am besten werkzeuglos) großartig, weil man da direkt Litze reintüddeln kann und ne robustere Verbindung hat als die Litze in die Bananenbuchse zu schrauben (falls überhaupt möglich)

patagona, to random

Honestly, I didn't really expect this to work, but...

cc @Foone

A USB floppy drive gets plugged into a car stereo. After a few seconds of floppy drive noises, music starts playing.

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