Gotway Nikola Annoying bluetooth sound

[Electric Dreams]

21 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

Nope. You can do the speaker mod to made it less harsh.

But yes, it's LOUD, everyone at work and through 3 walls loud. I'm thinking of disconnecting the speakers entirely, it's that bad for me.

i wont use the speakers much, and i'll most likely disconnect mine when i first open it until i can install a switch to turn it on when i want. 

21 hours ago, Diana said:

Yep, pretty close to disconnecting my speakers as well. But hoping Gotway will hear our pleas and just change it on the firmware or something. 

Chris, you received your Nikola? Loved following your wheelog for the MCM5 and 16x--thinking of doing something similar with the Nik+? I don't know why it's just as thrilling as reading about someone talk about their wheel as me riding that same wheel, but curious what you think. I started out thinking I'd upgrade to an MCM5 and somehow got a Tesla and then a Nikola within 2 months of each other.

even if they did change the firmware they have to update the app to allow you to update the wheels firmware through everyones app 

[Electric Dreams]

20 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Gotway buys these speaker modules and installs them. There is no firmware to update (and if there was, Gotway doesn't believe in allowing the customer to update firmware).

I do use the speakers periodically and they do kick-butt for pumping out the volume. With the speaker mod the startup tone is bearable. YMMV.

the thing is... i dont want everyone staring at me when i turn the wheel on when im at the restaurant perhaps doing deliveries...

[Electric Dreams]

19 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Yes. I know of at least one person who added a solid-state relay delay, that disengages the speakers for a few seconds after power is applied.

lol so many options and technical terms im getting confused now...

 

Another option that is yet to be discussed is to switch out the bluetooth module completey, wire a stepdown module and attach a bluetooth module without annoying start up sounds. 

Does that work?

 

I don't like the relay idea as it only postpones the sound that will eventually come. 

I much prefer the on/off switch as long as theres a way to wire it without letting water in. 

[FreeRide]

13 minutes ago, Jack Frost said:

....

I don't like the relay idea as it only postpones the sound that will eventually come. 

....

No that is not how it is intended to be connected, the relay contacts are wired to open the speaker connection while the sound is playing (immediately after power-on).  It will not eventually come.  

[Electric Dreams]

58 minutes ago, FreeRide said:

No that is not how it is intended to be connected, the relay contacts are wired to open the speaker connection while the sound is playing (immediately after power-on).  It will not eventually come.  

wait... so when you turn on the wheel the bluetooth sound wont come on until you've played music through the speaker bluetooth module?

sorry maybe im not understanding correctly...

[houseofjob]

6 minutes ago, Jack Frost said:

wait... so when you turn on the wheel the bluetooth sound wont come on until you've played music through the speaker bluetooth module?

sorry maybe im not understanding correctly...

@FreeRide I understood it as it delays either the powering on of the BT speaker module, or the speaker connection itself, using powering on the wheel as a trigger. Regardless, the startup sound I believe is keyed to the wheel powering on, and not the BT speaker module powering on. 

But curious to hear if I'm wrong here, and how exactly this all works.

[redfoxdude]

The idea would be to use the relay to break the speaker connection for several seconds while the bluetooth module powers on and plays its sound, then reconnect the speaker after. So it just wouldn't be able to make sound for the first several seconds after powering on, but would behave completely normally thereafter!

Edited August 22, 2019 by redfoxdude
typo and grammar

[FreeRide]

4 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

@FreeRide I understood it as it delays either the powering on of the BT speaker module, or the speaker connection itself, using powering on the wheel as a trigger. Regardless, the startup sound I believe is keyed to the wheel powering on, and not the BT speaker module powering on. 

But curious to hear if I'm wrong here, and how exactly this all works.

I can't say for sure since I don't have that wheel, but I thought from the talk of reprogramming the bluetooth module, that they had programmed the startup sound into that module.  Originally I thought it was triggered by the wheel myself.  Either way, it's pretty straight forward to wire up.  

[redfoxdude]

6 minutes ago, FreeRide said:

I can't say for sure since I don't have that wheel, but I thought from the talk of reprogramming the bluetooth module, that they had programmed the startup sound into that module.  Originally I thought it was triggered by the wheel myself.  Either way, it's pretty straight forward to wire up.  

That's right. Neither @chrisjunlee nor I have confirmed that it is a sound coming from the bluetooth module, but we think it may be possible to disable it if that's the case. If it is indeed from the wheel, then it's not as simple to disable through programming.

That said, the relay circuit with a 555 timer would be pretty straight forward as you have said. But I'm a tinkerer and a nerd and want to find out if it can be done the other way 

Edited August 22, 2019 by redfoxdude

[Diana]

I love that this thread has gained traction. Can't wait to tinker if you guys find a solution.

You, sirs, are all gentlemen and scholars. 

[chrisjunlee]

29 minutes ago, redfoxdude said:

That said, the relay circuit with a 555 timer would be pretty straight forward as you have said. But I'm a tinkerer and a nerd and want to find out if it can be done the other way 

And the trolling potential is just oh so much more - IIRC @Ben Kimwanted the intro to My Little Pony playing at 100% volume 

I’ve gotten really busy lately, so I won’t have much time to look into this, but looks like @redfoxdudeis taking the lead

On another note, I asked @Jason McNeil for a sample for us to reverse engineer - he mentioned that disabling the tone is on Gotway’s todo list, and he’s going to bug them about it. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[chrisjunlee]

@redfoxdude https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/programming-off-the-shelf-csr8635-module/100/

[redfoxdude]

14 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said:

And the trolling potential is just oh so much more - IIRC @Ben Kimwanted the intro to My Little Pony playing at 100% volume 

I’ve gotten really busy lately, so I won’t have much time to look into this, but looks like @redfoxdudeis taking the lead

On another note, I asked @Jason McNeil for a sample for us to reverse engineer - he mentioned that disabling the tone is on Gotway’s todo list, and he’s going to bug them about it. 

Bahaha, I thought about custom startup tones, but oh man, the comedic potential! 

I'm definitely happy to continue the charge.  And thanks for the EEVblog forum link, looks like some good notes in there.

[Ben Kim]

45 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said:

And the trolling potential is just oh so much more - IIRC @Ben Kimwanted the intro to My Little Pony playing at 100% volume 

I’ve gotten really busy lately, so I won’t have much time to look into this, but looks like @redfoxdudeis taking the lead

On another note, I asked @Jason McNeil for a sample for us to reverse engineer - he mentioned that disabling the tone is on Gotway’s todo list, and he’s going to bug them about it. 

Nah, i'm pretty partial to the Duck Tales intro music.

[chrisjunlee]

1 hour ago, Ben Kim said:

Nah, i'm pretty partial to the Duck Tales intro music.

bruh

[mrelwood]

 

14 hours ago, redfoxdude said:

The idea would be to use the relay to break the speaker connection for several seconds while the bluetooth module powers on and plays its sound, then reconnect the speaker after. So it just wouldn't be able to make sound for the first several seconds after powering on, but would behave completely normally thereafter!

Exactly! Relay is the switch for the speakers, that turns on after 10 seconds, or whichever timing you choose. I guess I'm more of a hardware than software guy, since to me the idea of reprogramming anything sounds ten or a hundred times more risky and time consuming than to just attach a few wires to the $2.50 relay board that I linked to on the previous page...

 

13 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

On another note, I asked @Jason McNeil for a sample for us to reverse engineer - he mentioned that disabling the tone is on Gotway’s todo list, and he’s going to bug them about it. 

Just in case someone doesn't know, that won't help any of the current or near future Nikola owners, since the firmware is not user upgradeable.

[Electric Dreams]

2 hours ago, mrelwood said:

 

Exactly! Relay is the switch for the speakers, that turns on after 10 seconds, or whichever timing you choose. I guess I'm more of a hardware than software guy, since to me the idea of reprogramming anything sounds ten or a hundred times more risky and time consuming than to just attach a few wires to the $2.50 relay board that I linked to on the previous page...

 

Just in case someone doesn't know, that won't help any of the current or near future Nikola owners, since the firmware is not user upgradeable.

so thus....it doesnt really solve the issue. 

Delay is just postponing it. 

If I turn the wheel one: I dont want to countdown to when my wheel is going to blast everyones ear off

I want to control WHEN I WANT to use my bluetooth speakers 

[Ben Kim]

7 minutes ago, Jack Frost said:

so thus....it doesnt really solve the issue. 

Delay is just postponing it. 

If I turn the wheel one: I dont want to countdown to when my wheel is going to blast everyones ear off

I want to control WHEN I WANT to use my bluetooth speakers 

the relay will prevent the sound from coming on by shutting the speakers down for “x” seconds while it plays since it comes from a separate source. 

[redfoxdude]

As Ben said, it would essentially mute the sound for a short time while the system is making that horrible sound.

On another note, the FTDI adapter I have uses a different pinout than the driver requires, so I couldn't talk to the module. The module is easily removable though - it's just held in its socket with that white goop. I have it removed for now so I don't have to deal with the startup sound, and I should have a new adapter coming this weekend to play with.

[Electric Dreams]

22 hours ago, Ben Kim said:

the relay will prevent the sound from coming on by shutting the speakers down for “x” seconds while it plays since it comes from a separate source. 

 

21 hours ago, redfoxdude said:

As Ben said, it would essentially mute the sound for a short time while the system is making that horrible sound.

On another note, the FTDI adapter I have uses a different pinout than the driver requires, so I couldn't talk to the module. The module is easily removable though - it's just held in its socket with that white goop. I have it removed for now so I don't have to deal with the startup sound, and I should have a new adapter coming this weekend to play with.

so basically the sound plays in the background but you wont hear it after "x" seconds then by the time "x" seconds is passed and the annoying tune is already played you can start playing your music? 

[neurokinetik]

12 minutes ago, Jack Frost said:

 

so basically the sound plays in the background but you wont hear it after "x" seconds then by the time "x" seconds is passed and the annoying tune is already played you can start playing your music? 

That's it exactly.  It's like hitting the "mute" button until the sound has finished playing, then turning the volume back up afterwards.

[redfoxdude]

Good news!  I successfully disabled the startup sound by writing a modified configuration file to the Bluetooth module! The sound was indeed on the module itself - two audio tones: "4 Note Rising Scale" and "V Long High" (the worst part.) There are actually a lot of preset tones to choose from, and you can define your own (in terms of notes and durations.) I haven't looked into whether or not there is enough room on the Bluetooth chip or the EEPROM chip to fit a short audio file.

I also renamed the module to "redfoxdude's Nikola," though I almost called it "Rolling Boombox!" Hah. 

On a more technical note, using an FTDI breakout board along with a level shifter was more work than I was thinking, haha. I ended up stealing the 1.8V voltage regulator off of another board I had laying around - the 1.8V logic reference has to come from somewhere! I would definitely recommend buying one of the dedicated USB SPI programmers for this. A 2mm pitch connector I put together from scraps at my work was also really helpful, so I didn't need to solder wires directly to the module. Also, I only found older versions of the development tools from 3rd parties, rather than from Qualcomm. And the graphical tool that helps a lot with changing the audio tone settings was in yet another place. lol. Anyway, it's fairly straight forward once you have everything in place. I'll probably whip up a step-by-step guide later, but it's late, so I'm gonna sleep! 

[mrelwood]

@redfoxdude, amazing work!

For people who feel intimidated by the programming procedure, another alternative is this $2.50 module that mutes the speakers while the startup tone plays:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-5V-12V-NE555-0-25s-Timer-Delay-Relay-Switch-Module-Adjustable-On-Off-for-Car-/252456160636

Non-confirmed install instructions:

- Peel the shield from the audio module’s 5V wires for an inch, fold each of them in the middle, and screw into the module’s inputs.

- Cut the black speaker cables in the middle, strip the shield for 1/4”, twist the ones coming from the audio board together, and screw into the module’s center output connector.

- Twist the ones going to the speakers together as well, and screw into the left output connector.

Done! The muting time can be adjusted from the module with a small screwdriver.

[chrisjunlee]

On 8/25/2019 at 1:33 AM, redfoxdude said:

Good news!  I successfully disabled the startup sound by writing a modified configuration file to the Bluetooth module! The sound was indeed on the module itself - two audio tones: "4 Note Rising Scale" and "V Long High" (the worst part.) There are actually a lot of preset tones to choose from, and you can define your own (in terms of notes and durations.) I haven't looked into whether or not there is enough room on the Bluetooth chip or the EEPROM chip to fit a short audio file.

I also renamed the module to "redfoxdude's Nikola," though I almost called it "Rolling Boombox!" Hah. 

On a more technical note, using an FTDI breakout board along with a level shifter was more work than I was thinking, haha. I ended up stealing the 1.8V voltage regulator off of another board I had laying around - the 1.8V logic reference has to come from somewhere! I would definitely recommend buying one of the dedicated USB SPI programmers for this. A 2mm pitch connector I put together from scraps at my work was also really helpful, so I didn't need to solder wires directly to the module. Also, I only found older versions of the development tools from 3rd parties, rather than from Qualcomm. And the graphical tool that helps a lot with changing the audio tone settings was in yet another place. lol. Anyway, it's fairly straight forward once you have everything in place. I'll probably whip up a step-by-step guide later, but it's late, so I'm gonna sleep! 

Wow wow wow!!! You get cookies 🍪🍪🍪

Please post a detailed guide, exact tools and pics 

[chrisjunlee]

@greentungrelay mod. But looks like @redfoxdudehas successfully reverse engineered everything!