update: I stopped development on this project, for a few reasons:

  1. cost
  2. functionality
  3. flexibility

The handset unit fits in a Nintendo Nunchuck. Assembly is straightforward, but involves a dremel and a lot of relatively fine soldering. Nunchucks cost $10, and the remaining components are about $30-50 in small quantity: LiPo battery ($5ish), radio ($2-5), mcu ($10-20), BMS ($5-10), LED & discrete components (<$1). They take about 1-2h to build. Performance is as good as or better than the Nyko wireless unit. I ultimately made functional prototypes with the NRF24L01 chipset (inexpensive and easy to program) and a 433/915MHz radio (harder to find and program, but better range).

The receiver end is much simpler. It's about as big as wiiceiver, costs about the same ($20 + radio), and is about the same difficulty to produce -- 20-60 minutes of assembly and soldering.

Functionality: as a 2-axis remote it works great, but one of the target applications was for a surfboard. 2.4GHz doesn't penetrate water well at all, so I went to 413/933MHz radios. They work, but still not great through water.

Flexibility: Libraries for the NRF24L01 and 433 / 915MHz radios are *significantly* different. Enough that it's not practical to use one software stack for both.

Based on the combination of the above factors (it's expensive, hard to make, and can't easily support cheap/plentiful radios) I've stopped development. It was a cool project though!


note: working title

Wiiceiver has been awesome -- it lets people use an inexpensive wireless nunchuck + standard ESC to drive their skateboard. But the internet is running out of nunchucks, and there are some features still missing.

Wiiceiver X is a two-module system, controller ("Chuck") + receiver ("Board"):

  • wireless, ergonomic, rechargeable handheld controller w/ battery status
  • receiver module with battery disconnect, current & voltage measurement, and servo (ESC) output.
  • fully hackable: exposed pins on both units, standard NRF24L01+ transmitters, simple bidirectional communication

Wireless Chuck features:

  • LEDs for board battery status
  • configuration interface for the receiver (same as Wiiceiver's configuration routine)
  • channel bonding & checksumming for managing cross-talk: board <-> chuck will share a provate channel, up to 100 channels available

Receiver / Board features:

  • LEDs for management / troubleshooting
  • channel bonding to a chuck
  • on/off ESC power management & voltage monitoring
  • up to 4 ESC outputs (any can also serve as BEC connector)

FAQ

  1. When will it be available?
    • I don't know, I'm working on it now. Probably $75
  2. How much will it cost?
    • see #1
  3. Can I install it in my own skateboard / go-kart / unicycle project?
    • Sure.