FRG-SH

FlexRingGauge firwmare for using it with SimHub.

For the full project join the Discord:

https://discord.gg/EBbzWWyGgr - Build instructions, STLs, etc.

TL:DR; How do I upload this?

• Download a release from here NodeMCU PyFlasher
• Download the latest firmware for the FRG-SH
• Connect the Meter
• Open NodeMCU PyFlasher. Pick the serial port of the device, select the firmware, Baud Rate: 115200, Flash mode: Dual I/O, Erase Flash: no. Flash NodeMCU.

About

FlexRingGauge is a device that aims to be a meter with a display and a configurable sweep to display measurements.

While in theory the device is not tied to SimHub, this firmware emulates an Arduino board that has been flashed with the SimHub firmware.

Components

• 24 RGB LED Ring - aka "NeoPixel"
• 1.3" OLED Screen with the SH1106 driver that can be wired for I2C (usually these have 4 pins only)
• D1 Mini (ESP8266)
• (optional) 2 push buttons (Normally open)

The ESP866 was selected over any Arduino board due to cost, form factor available memory AND performance. In the past I tested a similar meter stand alone framework and the affordable Arduino boards struggled to keep up, while the ESP8266 was passed with flying colors. The SH1106 screen was picked due to its availability, size and cost. Given that SimHub doesn't support neither the ESP board nor the SH1106 driver for the screen, this repository exists.

Circuit

This firmware assumes that the RGB ring is connected to D6 pin of the D1 Mini board. The screen's SCL/SCK connects to D1 and SDA to D2

Code

The source code for the firmware is meant to be opened with Platformio (VS Code + Platformio Plugin) rather than Arduino IDE. It also means that the entry point for the code is in src/main.cpp rather than an .ino file, but don't worry, it's the same on the inside.

The reason for this is because Platformio is a much better editor, dependency management is superior, and many more reasons. Here's a good and very long read about it.

However I won't force you to use it if you just want to upload the firwmare, Download the .bin file you need from the release section. See the TL:DR; section above with the suggested method of upload. It should take you 5 minutes.