jenkinsracing / open-race-scale Goto Github PK

@RoaddogLabs

I'm going to order one of these (https://www.adafruit.com/product/3406) and wire it to the Chenbo LC amp. If you have any ideas hardware-wise to make this arrangement cheaper please post.

Goal is to make a compact "dongle" that simply has a small connector for an adapter cable. The adapter cable would go from the dongle to existing scale pad (for example, looks like Longacre scales have a round 4 wire quick connect).

Update docs with explicit instructions on build environment steps. An example the default docs for Kivy install to Pi are python2.7. Building Kivy using python 2.7 fails to import statistics from loadcell.py as it's set to python3 in the #! of loadcell though used python2.7 to run main.py. The dependency and Kivy build on a Pi takes around an hour all in.

Rather than reading comments in the code, bring those to the readme.md or a docs wiki.

Reminder to set PYTHONPATH to the ORS source dirs so the modules will load. Many deployment issues are due to different environment variables and paths between the host the dev was on and what the end user is using.

Users that are not devs (which is basically most racers and/or makers) will likely have difficulty installing all the dependencies unless explicitly noted. You and I can tell what lib is missing for example when something that needs a gcc lib or some sort bails with an error. The users are going to need this wrapped up in a neat little package or at least as neat as possible given the platform.

Given the number of dependencies and difference in environment variables this package may make a good candidate to run from Docker once it gets to a place where the hardware and software are at one as well as an RPI image ready to operate for those that aren't able or willing to set up a Pi and run Docker or install manually.

Software

• Finalize load cell class, store some data in the LC class, make more generic for future use with other drivers
• Add calibrate methods to find reference unit automatically
• Add way to store load cell configurations on disk and restore automatically
• Finish scale control calculations
• Implement and test Bluetooth communication from RPi3
• Implement and test basic Android app to receive Bluetooth data

Electrical

• Update PCB design to allow jumper selection of Channel A or Channel B on HX711 (in case gain of 32 is needed)

Mechanical

• Finalize load cell mounting plate design
• Create basic BOM