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Remote ControlUpdated 3 days ago

Remote Control

The Remote control for the Boogie is something we are very proud of. Thousands of hours of code writing and testing have gone into making the control and navigation of the Boogie as intuitive and as safe as possible. 

Basic Operation:

  • Press the center button, then pull the trigger within 5 seconds to unlock.
  • The remote will relock after 10 seconds.
  • Holding both Left and Right buttons will bring up a menu for pairing, throttle calibration, profiles and firmware updates.
  • The remote has been thoroughly tested, but for any reason if the remote freezes or does not turn on, it can be reset by holding the top of the remote against a strong magnet or against the side of the Boogies motor.  We recommend testing this function before you need it. 
  • The remote does not float.
  • The remote take approximately 2 hours to charge, and lasts for approximately 4 hours of use. To charge position the handle on the charging disc until the blue led light is on.  The Blue light is the brightest when it is in the correct location. If the remote is not positioned correctly, the light will flicker and the handle will get hot. There is a symbol on the handle to show which side is the charging side.    

Indicator Lights:

The indicator light changes colour based on auto modes, GPS signal quality, or Boogie battery level.  

  • Solid Red LED indicates poor GPS signal accuracy.  The GPS usually takes about 2-5 minutes to get a fix on land, but can take a lot longer while moving in the water. 
  • Solid Orange LED indicates the Boogie battery is below 20%
  • Solid Green LED indicates auto follow mode is active
  • Flashing Green indicates Summon mode is active
  • Solid Blue indicates that Cruise Control is active. 
  • Solid Blue also indicates that wifi is active and the remote is ready for a firmware update


 

Manually driving the Boogie

  • The Boogie can be steered manually using the Left and Right buttons
  • The range is approximately 150m, holding the remote high above the water with a open hand can help increase the range substantially. 

Autonomous modes

The Boogies autonomous modes have been designed with safety as a priority for both the person being towed as well as other water users.   The throttle for the Boogie is always controlled by the remote, with only the steering controlled autonomously.    If the remote is further than 150m away, or the remote is underwater then the Boogie will immediately stop.  

Auto modes should only be used when there is no one else in the water within 200m.  Do not ruin this for everyone, risk a fine, or confiscation of your Boogie by Authorities.   There is no excuse for using the Boogie around other water users.

Be responsible. 

Verified reports of unsafe behaviour will result in the lowest level of warranty support allowed by law and purchases of any spare parts will be declined.  

There are 2 autosteer modes:  AutoFollow and Summon.

AutoFollow is used for following you when on a wave, boat wake or when pumping on flat water.  There are two ways to activate it.   

  • Manually - Once on the wave, press the center button to enable AutoFollow.  Pull the trigger and the Boogie will start following you.  The Boogie will slow down to turn, and also limit its speed so that it will maintain approximately 25 meters behind you.  The remote will vibrate, and the indicator light will be solid Green. 
  • Automatically - AutoFollow will activate automatically when you are on a wave and start to seperate from the Boogie.    The remote will vibrate, and the indicator light will be solid Green.   Conditions for activating the AutoFollow are:
    • Remote has a good GPS signal.  Remote needs to turned on for 3-5 minutes before getting in the water. 
    • Remote speed over 20kph
    • Distance to Boogie greater than 15m (adjustable in profiles - "Auto follow trigger" distance
    • Throttle needs to go to zero
  • In practice to make the Boogie follow you-  
    • Catch the wave, or start pumping away from the Boogie.  
    • Release the throttle.  
    • Wait for for the remote to vibrate.  
    • You must Confirm the mode change by looking for the solid green LED light.
    • Pull the trigger and the Boogie with autosteer and maintain a safe distance behind you. 
    • You must visually confirm the Boogie is following you before continuing on the wave.   
    • As soon as you release the trigger the Boogie will stop. 
    • Leave the Boogie out the back of any breaking wave


  • Boogie Left/Right Offset - This is useful to make the Boogie follow on the safer side of a break to avoid rocks etc.
    • When on a wave, use the Left or Right button to set the offset while in auto mode.  
    • The offset side is remembered, the next time you are in Auto it will go back to that side it was previously set at. 
    • The offset distance is set in the parameters.  25-50 meters works well.
    • The "course average time" is set in profiles and helps smooth out your direction as you carve backwards and forwards on the wave.
    • A course average time of 5-10 seconds works well.  The shorter the time the more responsive the Boogie turning will be, but this can lead to erratic movements. 
    • To get back to center press the opposite button.  ie if the Boogie was following to the Left, then click right to get it to center.  Pressing right again will make it follow from the right. 
    • Improvements are coming in the next firmware version to how the offset works including better visual indications on the remote and the ability for the Boogie to follow from in front. 

Summon is used to drive the Boogie back to you when you are in the water off foil, or on the shore.

  • Remote has a good GPS signal. Remote needs to turned on for 3-5 minutes
  • Summon is enabled automatically once you are off foil after being in AutoFollow mode.
  • Summon can also be enabled by pressing the middle button when you are stationary. 
  • The Boogie will steer to drive directly towards you, limiting the throttle as it approaches. The indicator light will flash green.
  • Once the Boogie is within 10 meters Summon mode disables and moves back to manual.

Notes about autonomous modes. 

Magic happens to make the Autosteer modes work. Signals from satellites in space, location and speed data bouncing back and forth between the remote and Boogie and then a whole lot of maths to calculate the exact angle to turn and limit the motor.  It works great most of the time, but there are some limitations and things that can go wrong.  

  • Due to weather, location, or other interference the GPS accuracy could be decreased.
  • After being submerged for a long time, the remote GPS may no longer get a fix, or the fix will be less accurate.  If the GPS accuracy is poor then the indicator light will be RED. 
  • The Boogie will follow a straight line to the remote, it will not follow your path, so it will not drive around a break wall for example. 
  • The Boogie does not have obstacle avoidance.
  • The remote sends its location data to the Boogie via the same 2.4gHz link as the throttle and other telemetry. The autosteer modes will not work if the Boogie is out of range of the remote.

Cruise Control

  • Check in Profiles that Cruise Control is enabled. 
  • When on Foil, press the center button
  • The remote will vibrate, and the blue light will come on indicating Cruise Control is active. 
  • The Cruise Control set point is indicated as a green dot on the throttle circle. 
  • Pull the throttle fully - the throttle needs to stay above the Cruise Control setpoint. 
  • You can use the Left and Right buttons to increase or decrease the speed in 5% increments.

How to Disable Cruise Control

  1. Reduce the throttle to below the setpoint, the remote will vibrate, and the blue light will turn off. 
  2. Or press the center button.  Use this method with cation as if the throttle is press fully and you cancel then the boogie will ramp up to 100%

Criteria to enable Cruise control:

  1. Remote speed above 10 Kph
  2. Distance to Boogie is less than 30m
  3. Good GPS signal
  4. Throttle above 10%

Position Hold

Position Hold uses GPS to maintain position, perfect for swapping gear while leaving the Boogie in the water.  Enabled via the menu.  Position hold will perform a few checks to make sure that it is outside of a geofence area, make sure the prop is in the water, as well as some audible noises.   The Boogie will slowly move about the GPS coordinates where position hold was set. 

  • The remote can be turned off while in Position Hold
  • Position Hold will not work in breaking waves, as the prop will sense that is in the air and cancel.
  • Always observe the Boogie while in Position Hold.
  • Position Hold will run for 100 hours on a full battery.
  • Next version will have options to enable automatically in case of drift. 
  • Ensure the GPS receiver on the Boogie is properly in place.  This is the black square antenna on top of the steering actuator. 


Profiles

Profiles have settings that you could want to change depending on who is using the Boogie, or the type of riding you are doing.  In the profiles you can adjust:

  • Throttle ramping up time seconds.  Default 1200ms
  • Throttle ramping down time in seconds.  Default 500ms
  • Maximum power as a percentage. Default 80%
  • Remote relock time in seconds. Default 10 seconds
  • Auto follow trigger distance in meters.  This setting changes the distance at which the auto follow gets activated.  In the Surf this distance works well is about 10 meters.  For flatwater carving this can be increased to about 25 meters.
  • Cruise Control


Parameters

The parameters adjust how the Boogie behaves in during the autonomous modes.  Optimal values depend on a lot of factors, but the default ones should work well for most conditions and riders. 

  • Auto Follow Offset.  
    • This is the distance at which the Boogie will follow you to the Left or Right when enabled. 
    • 25 meters is the default value, but can be adjusted up to 100m.
  • Auto Rudder Limit Right.
    • The prop torque causes the Boogie to turn tighter going left. 
    • These values help compensate for this effect. 
    • Default value is 100%
  • Auto Rudder Limit Left.
    • The prop torque causes the Boogie to turn tighter going left. 
    • These values help compensate for this effect. 
    • Default value is 100%
  • Auto Rudder Pgain.   
    • This value changes the aggressiveness of the turning while in auto modes.
    • Default value is 20.
  • Auto Turn Error Ramp.
    • The Boogie ramps up its speed as it turns towards you while in auto modes.  This helps prevents the Boogie doing a large radius high speed turn.
    • When the Boogie pointing away from you it will turn with a rudder position of "Auto Rudder Limit" at the "Manual Rudder speed limit" until it is pointing within the "Auto Turn Error Ramp", after which the Boogie will accelerate to start following you.
    • The default value is 60 degrees
  • Auto Rudder Offset
    • This is an electronic calibration of the rudder while in auto modes. 
    • Default is 0%, but up to 5% or 10% might be required.  This value should be the same as the manual offset below.
  • Manual Rudder Offset
    • This is an electronic calibration of the rudder while in manual mode. 
    • Default is 0%, but up to 5% or 10% might be required to keep the boogie tracking straight during towing and deep water starts.
    • This value should be the same as the Auto Offset above.
    • Add + 5-10% to counter the prop torque.
  • Manual rudder Position
    • This is the maximum rudder throw while manual steering the Boogie.  
    • Default value is 90%
  • Manual Rudder speed limit
    • This is the maximum throttle that the Boogie will turn at until it hits the "Auto Turn Error Ramp" angle. 
    • The lower the value the tighter the turn when in Summon and Auto Follow. 
    • If the value is too high the Boogie will be going too fast to turn tight and therefore turn over a large radius. 
    • Default value is 23%
  • Battery Calibration
    • The battery percentage value on the remote comes from the speed controller circuit. This value from the speed controller is not perfectly accurate so to improve this accuracy there is have manual calibration value. 
    • Adjust this value up or down until the percentage on the remote matches the percentage on the BMS app.
    • The battery calibration should be performed when the battery is approx 50% charged.
    • Default value is 4.
  • Course Average time
    • This value is used to smooth the left/ right follow offset
    • Default value is 5 seconds












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