Work on lighting lift gate appliqué begins

[artsci]

The uodated list:

1	NoMoGas
2	suprkar
3	swegman
4	FLDarren
5	Btrflyl8e
6	AMPUP
7	Zax123
8	kseitzberg
9	Shumdit
10	NJ Plugin
11	Jason
12	Aaron
13	kseitzberg
14	JPP
15	Denarius
16	DavidB
17	Brightonuk
18	Zextraterrestrial
19	Danal
20	Doug Darby
21	Jhall118
22	artsci
23	Lloyd
24	najeeb
25	delanman
26	Mackgoo
27	tomas
28	Paul Carter
29	AlMc
30	faughtz
31	RavynArcadia 32 rogbmw 33 MikeBur 34 Ira 35 WeazL

 

[Danal]

Just committed the design and order for the Circuit Boards that hold the NeoPixels behind each letter. Fabrication facility is in Colorado. They will take 3 days to make, and a day or two to ship, so sometime early next week I'll be rolling in 1 inch square boards.

 

[FLDarren]

Love it you guys are constantly posting updates. Can't wait.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

This can't come soon enough, FLDarren has run out of things to light up!

 

[artsci]

The group installation has now been set for the Hamilton, NJ supercharger on Sunday, March 29, at 10:30 am, weather permitting. Rain (or should it be snow) date will be April 12.

We'll be doing five cars: SUPRKAR, swegman, NJ Plugin; aaron, and mine. Other owners are welcome to attend, observe, and lend a hand. SUPRKAR and I will be prepared in advance to be sure we know all of the wiring connections and installation steps so we don't get hung up on anything.

I'll post details in a few days on the events pages.

 

[MikeBur]

The group installation has now been set for the Hamilton, NJ supercharger on Sunday, March 29, at 10:30 am, weather permitting. Rain (or should it be snow) date will be April 12.

We'll be doing five cars: SUPRKAR, swegman, NJ Plugin; aaron, and mine. Other owners are welcome to attend, observe, and lend a hand. SUPRKAR and I will be prepared in advance to be sure we know all of the wiring connections and installation steps so we don't get hung up on anything.

I'll post details in a few days on the events pages.

Thanks for the continual updates Rick and Danal. Already very excited.

Assuming folk are going to tmconnect this year, would someone be willing to help demo how to install / change this out?

thanks, Mike

 

[artsci]

Thanks for the continual updates Rick and Danal. Already very excited.

Assuming folk are going to tmconnect this year, would someone be willing to help demo how to install / change this out?

thanks, Mike

Mike,

I'll be at TMC, but I won't be doing installations this year. Last year I spend most of my time installing front and rear lighted Ts and I had very little time to enjoy the event. So I won't make that mistake again.

I will have an installation video and perhaps the organizers will permit me to do some kind of installation demo with the video.

 

[Danal]

After playing with prototypes, slight tweaks to the"immediate" commands. These will display until another BT command overrides them, or an input wire (that is enabled) changes state:

Think of DI as "Display Immediate"

OFF = Make the display dark. Allows the below commands to be overridden via BT.

DI = Display starts running, leaving style choice unchanged (see below)
DIE = Display starts running, light each letter of TESLA EAT in the most recent color set, or green (00FF00) if no color set.
DIK = Display starts running, Kitt/Knightrider scroll in most recent color set, or red (FF0000) if no color set.
DIR = Display starts running, random color mode. Also known as "Disco Mode"
DIR123 = Disco mode with changes per second setting from 1 to 99. Note: Somewhere around 75 or 80, the speed of the CPU runs out of steam, and there is little noticeable change.
DIS = Display starts running, fading between TESLA and S in the most recent color set, or white (FFFFFF) if no color set.
DI_HHHHHH = Display starts running. Blank is a style choice above. Color is the same as configuration command CH above. This color will revert to the default appropriate to the style after a power cycle.

KS = Kitt/Knightrider scrolling. This is equivalent to DIKFF0000, and is provided because it is MUCH easier to type.

TS = TESLA S very slow breathe. This is equivalent to DISFFFFFF, and is provided because it is MUCH easier to type.

And, last, these commands have no effect on configuration, and no effect on the display; instead, they give you a response via bluetooth:

FM = Display current Free Memory. Really only useful to me. Just telling you about it for your curiosity.
GS = Display outputs from the G Sensor, as well as calculated totals. Really only useful to me. Just telling you about it for your curiosity.
CV = Display Code Version. If there are ever multiple versions, I may ask you to enter this command and tell me what it says.


Did I forget any? Or can you think of any more?

 

[DavidB]

Hmmm.....

All letters in medium intensity red for a random time,
briefly randomly flash one letter in high intensity random color, quickly fading back to medium intensity red,
Repeat.

 

[Danal]

Hmmm.....

All letters in medium intensity red for a random time,
briefly randomly flash one letter in high intensity random color, quickly fading back to medium intensity red,
Repeat.

That's very close to "Disco Mode". The only difference is the medium intensity red background is actually a randomly change (about once per second) very light pure color.

So... yeah, I'll take a look at that!

 

[artsci]

An update on progress. I'll pick up ten sets of TELSA letter inserts tomorrow and ship them to
Danal, along with the 6 letter-cut-out appliques I have on hand (he has the 7th). Danal should have the neopixel elctronics ready by the time the letters and appliques arrive. So we should have a full working version sometime next week. Another 15 sppliques go To LAI on Friday for water jet cutting out of the letters. It will be four weeks before those appliques are ready for Danal.

Looks like we'll begin taking orders next week when Danal completes his work. And we're on shedule for the first installations around the end of March.

 

[Danal]

Hardware status:

A few days ago, I received the first shipment of the boards that mount the NeoPixels behind the letters. I've assembled a few, and they looks SO MUCH BETTER than all the prototypes! As soon as I get them mounted behind inserts, I will post video. All other boards/modules/etc have been on hand and working for some weeks.

Now, to crank up production. I have enough parts on hand to build about 8 or 10. More of everything is on the way.

Code status:

Finalizing the various Blue Tooth commands. All the actual Applique lighting code has been working for a long time. Doing the last tweaks and test on everything to ensure reliability. It is approaching time to enable the finalizing touches (watchdog timers, security lockdowns, things like that) that I intentionally turn off during development. In other words, time to finish.

Danal

 

[artsci]

Hardware status:

A few days ago, I received the first shipment of the boards that mount the NeoPixels behind the letters. I've assembled a few, and they looks SO MUCH BETTER than all the prototypes! As soon as I get them mounted behind inserts, I will post video. All other boards/modules/etc have been on hand and working for some weeks.

Now, to crank up production. I have enough parts on hand to build about 8 or 10. More of everything is on the way.

Code status:

Finalizing the various Blue Tooth commands. All the actual Applique lighting code has been working for a long time. Doing the last tweaks and test on everything to ensure reliability. It is approaching time to enable the finalizing touches (watchdog timers, security lockdowns, things like that) that I intentionally turn off during development. In other words, time to finish.

Danal

To add to Danal's report, this morning I picked up the 3D printed letter inserts. PCS Engineering did a great job with them. They’ve all been sandblasted, so they have a very nice patina that will diffuse the light and minimize any pixelation. Photo below (they look darker in the photo that they actually are -- they have a kind of frosty finish)

Tonight, using clear silicone cement, I’m going to glue them in place in the six appliqués I have with the letters cut out and ship them overnight to Danal for Saturday delivery. So it looks like we'll have a fully functioning model ready for installation in about a week.

 

[zax123]

This is so awesome! I'm sad that I'm not in batch one but it'll be worth the wait.

 

[artsci]

I should also note that I have one original "Signature" applique. The owner who sent it to me no longer needs it, as he's replaced his Signature with a P85D. If someone wants a Signature lighted applique please let me know. Otherwise we won't use it.

 

[artsci]

We're near a final estimate of selling price. Looks like it will end up costing about $675 with S&H extra. Each applique will be inserted in a foam sleeve and shipped in a rigid 57" long, 4" diameter tube with plastic end-caps. The core charge will be $135, to be refunded when your old applique is shipped back in as new condition. While a new applique from Tesla costs about $150, the core credit reflects the costs of replacing the double side tape on your old applique. You'll have the option of keeping your old appliqué.

 

[tomas]

We're near a final estimate of selling price. Looks like it will end up costing about $675 with S&H extra. Each applique will be inserted in a foam sleeve and shipped in a rigid 57" long, 4" diameter tube with plastic end-caps. The core charge will be $135, to be refunded when your old applique is shipped back in as new condition. While a new applique from Tesla costs about $150, the core credit reflects the costs of replacing the double side tape on your old applique. You'll have the option of keeping your old appliqué.

Can you please clarify... is it $675 + S&H, then you get $135 back? Or is it $675 net.

 

[artsci]

Can you please clarify... is it $675 + S&H, then you get $135 back? Or is it $675 net.

It's $675 without the core credit. If you return your old appliqué in as-new condition the net is $540 with the $135 rebate you'll receive.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

So excited!!!

 

[artsci]

So excited!!!

Just installed the letters in the 6 appliqués I have. As soon as the silicone glue dries I'll shoot some photos and light them with a red LED strip (which won't look any like what Danal is doing but will provide a very rough idea). But I can say that the appliqués look quite cool even without any light. With the letters frosted they stand out better than the original chromed letters.

Here are the photos. A bit crude but provides an rough idea of what it will look like.

Now they go to Danal for him to work his magic