Mod idea

[Sergei Dubovsky]

I saw this topic on General forum, but I would like to get into Z10 specifics. I would love to add this to my Z10, hidden underneath the shell. 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_305TRACKER/Samsung-SmartThings-GPS-Tracker.html

This tracker is pretty small, so I would guess, it will be possible to find a spot for it somewhere. The thing to solve, would be a charger. Z10 does not include USB port, unfortunately. So it's not super ez-mode. Questions to forum - does this makes any sense? And where would be a good place to put the tracker, and where to get the 5/12 volts for the charging?

Thank you.

[Lukasz]

This all depends on your "mod of operation" of the wheel. I guess that the key need is the safety feature in case wheel gets stolen.  In my mod of operation which is heavy city use - unless major robbery / attack which are very seldom here - I do not leave the wheel anywhere, so chances that it gets stolen are low.

It would be possible to find the space in the upper part of the chassis around the handle, possibly one or two ribs needs to be removed. If you open top side part - there is some space there. Access to power may be the problem - In my mods I avoid as much as possible to connect anything to the wheel electronics, as such connection may be the cause of the switch off / failure during the ride, and ... at 40+ kmh this may have fatal consequences...   The only thing for power which I have in mind is to check if the power from front lamp can be used. If tracker needs only few mA - this may eventually work. 

[darkflame808]

I think Lukasz is right. If you trace the wire from the headlight to the motherboard. You could tap the wire from there. I hear it's 5V. Problem is that it only receives power when device is powered on. So that might work out to charge the unit while it's in use and leave it on battery power while it's not. Your GPS might die out over a few days though but theoretically once the unit was powered back up, the presence of 5V should cause the gps tracker to boot up and begin charging. (unless it's power is activated by a button).

I would avoid tinkering with the motherboard too much, you don't want to cause a power draw on something that can cause a failure. I don't know what other option there is. Maybe a step down that can regulate the 57 volts down to 5 volts? I know the motherboard doesn't consume 57V so maybe whip out a multi meter and start testing connectors and see if you can find a stable voltage reference point. Anything 36V or less that is stable can be easily stepped down with something like a D24V10F5 synchronous buck voltage regulator which will give you a steady 5V out with a input of up to 36V.

[Lefteris]

On 10/19/2018 at 4:13 AM, Lukasz said:

This all depends on your "mod of operation" of the wheel. I guess that the key need is the safety feature in case wheel gets stolen.  In my mod of operation which is heavy city use - unless major robbery / attack which are very seldom here - I do not leave the wheel anywhere, so chances that it gets stolen are low.

It would be possible to find the space in the upper part of the chassis around the handle, possibly one or two ribs needs to be removed. If you open top side part - there is some space there. Access to power may be the problem - In my mods I avoid as much as possible to connect anything to the wheel electronics, as such connection may be the cause of the switch off / failure during the ride, and ... at 40+ kmh this may have fatal consequences...   The only thing for power which I have in mind is to check if the power from front lamp can be used. If tracker needs only few mA - this may eventually work. 

I know it's an old thread but i'm interested to fill that empty space with maybe a slim power bank like that samsung or xiaomi one, then you can connect stuff to it, anything, you are gonna have 2 full usb ports and a small one to charge the power bank.

How does that sound?

Hey @enaon you think we can pull this off on the Z10 ?