Every time Nikki walked up to our F-150 Lightning, the custom board she designed rebooted. She'd accidentally built an antenna - and that wasn't even the whole problem.

Project Mellon is a DIY CAN bus gadget that makes our WOLFBOX SmartSlide powered tonneau cover smarter: it locks the cover while the truck's in gear, unlocks it with the truck, and opens it from the HomeLink visor. In this video: the no-splice custom loom so many of you asked about (built on the trailer brake module's STAC64 connector), a premature victory lap, and the 100 nF capacitor that finally squished the bug.

Should Mellon become a product, an open-source project, or stay a one-off? Tell us in the comments - Nikki can't decide if it's worth it or not!

⏱️ Chapter Breakdown:

00:00 - Introduction 00:59 - A shout out to Little Collie 03:12 - How the loom was made 06:05 - The connector type 07:05 - The inspiration for Project Mellon 08:58 - A reminder as to what Mellon does 14:27 - Tests... and problems... 15:26 - The reboot problem... 18:26 - Nikki is wrong... 21:24 - A demonstration of how the system works 26:10 - Thanks, and goodbye!

💍 Project Mellon: The Fellowship Of The Cover

1. Installing the WOLFBOX SmartSlide powered tonneau cover - https://peertube.tv/w/mE2vPEgfXh9LWwrpmcrtu8
2. Adding WOLFBOX power running boards - and our no-splice loom - https://peertube.tv/w/ngjJYSEfcS7dc2whpycDBy
3. Project Mellon: designing and building our custom PCB - https://peertube.tv/w/8Hjx542XpkVkj4ystCETvj
4. First test in the truck: will Mellon talk to the cover? - https://peertube.tv/w/1Z2eXCP1HZVdP7J3oGTJ6V
5. The new loom, a squished bug and full functionality (you are here!)

Mentioned in this video 🔗 WOLFBOX (SmartSlide tonneau cover, power running boards) - https://gears.wolfbox.com/?ref=TRANSPORTEVOLVED 🔗 Digi-Key (connectors and parts) - https://www.digikey.com 🔗 Espressif ESP32-C6 - https://www.espressif.com/en/products/socs/esp32-c6 🔗 Home Assistant - https://www.home-assistant.io

👥 Today’s Sponsors 🌱 Electric Vehicle Association - https://www.myeva.org 🐕 Little Collie Shepherd - https://littlecollie.com 🔧 PCBWay ($5 off your first order: custom PCBs, metal parts and 3D prints) - https://pcbway.com/g/Z9hxkG

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🎙️ Credits:

Host, Script, Editor: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Color: Vi Horton Art & Animation : Erin Carlie Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Music: via Artlist.io