Sparkmax cables are very flawed. Those jst crimps are not designed to have 2 wires in them and come apart easily. The way thriftybot is doing this is far superior
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Alright, it’s time for our first big software release! I am proud to present the Thrifty Config App! This app will be the hub for all our electrical products going forward, the same way you guys are all used to dealing with other vendors’ applications. This app has evolved since the preview video on the website thanks to the help of our phenomenal beta teams!
Since Novas are not in teams’ hands yet, we developed a demo mode in order for you guys to play with the app in advance of the actual hardware. The demo mode has a few limitations, but for the most part matches the physical hardware. This is not a true Physics sim, but it does give the user the ability to play with the app. Thrifty Config has integrated bug reporting, so please use this to report any issues. The biggest limitation is the app will not use closed loop control with the demo devices. The real Novas have no such limitations.
The app features the ability to get and set all configurations on the Thrifty Nova, a comprehensive graph, the ability to run the motor, logging for both the app and the Nova, and the ability to view and set encoder positions.
This and all future software releases can be found at docs.home.thethriftybot.com, with a link to the Thrifty Config specific page here.
This app was designed to be cross platform, and we will be releasing a Mac version once it finishes beta testing. A Linux version is buildable if there is sufficient interest.
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Several people have posted about how REV’s CAN cables aren’t designed according to the connector’s specifications. Last year, I took pictures through a microscope showing how they really have to use small (26 AWG) wires for the loop. This still exceeds the total amount of wire that’s supposed to fit, so they really cram it all in there. The contact probably has a poor grip on the insulation, and the insulation is definitely damaged.
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I want to reiterate my pleasure at seeing that ThriftyBot’s CAN cables have a slightly bulkier but much more sound design, while maintaining compatibility.
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ThriftyLib 2025 still on its way?
Why does through hole components provide maximum durability?
Surface mount is just a lot more fragile mechanically than similar through hole components
with THT you simply have more material and mechanical advantage, when compared to smaller SMD components. A situation where THT would be of advantage would be something like a 90 degree port or button, something which is repeatedly seeing mechanical stress.
Its all relative to the application as well tho.
As you mentioned, something where a human interfaces thru-hole can be an advantage.
But on anything with vibration like automotive, off-road, mining equipment, etc… thru-hole can be a liability, especially if strict manufacturing tolerances are not followed (i.e. leaded components not FULLY inserted into the board before solder. Or tall leaded components like capacitors even fully inserted, if not supported - both of these situations the components “flap in the breeze” under mechanical stress [vibration], and end up work-hardening the leads and breaking off).
Thermal expansion is also a concern (for both SMD and thru-hole leaded parts) when a PCB is “potted” (encapsulated with epoxy basically - a cheap way of long-term waterproofing). Materials expand and contract at different rates, and this can rip devices off the board (more problematic for very small SMD with limited solder pad size, and relatively large thru-hole where they tend to get pulled harder because of larger surface area).
All in all…“maximum durability” is relative and a marketing term. Your application, manufacturing processes, cost, and other factors will determine the best technology/path.
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Should be out tonight, but it might be late tonight/early tomorrow.
On the through hole business, perhaps these are not the best words to describe our intentions. We went through hole on the Sensor Hat for a few reasons:
- Ease of solderability - most teams in our experience struggle with surface mount soldering. Some may see this as a negative because you have to take the board off to solder, but this was a trade off we made to satisfy our other criterion.
- Durability - We wanted maximum surface area as stated above and we wanted an individual power and ground for each signal, so we went with through hole here.
- THT connector compatibility - we wanted to add this for teams who love their specific connector ecosystem, and if there is further interest, we may explore having a variant of this board with connectors pre soldered
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Today we release ThriftyLib 2025.0.0. This update includes the new configurations already showcased in the app release, integrated logging, and thread safe functionality. We will be polishing up documentation over the next few days up to kickoff to make sure all the function calls are documented on our Gitbooks page. The link and all the documentation can be found at:
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Wooohoo! Thanks for all the amazing work on this we can’t wait to use them!
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Can you publish the JSON in the vendordep-json-repo? So users can install it with the WPILib extension manager
Also update to the official 2025 release?
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We will make it happen. Also, stay tuned for some big announcements tomorrow!
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I’m guessing you’re going to announce that it will be Waterproof enough for this year’s game 
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Well, I said tomorrow and we are well into the morning after at this point.
I think its past time we updated everyone on the state of the Novas.
The first Novas shipped out today (Friday) and will be in customers hands tomorrow, on kickoff. We expect to have all pre-orders shipped by the end of next week.
Nova Firmware V1.0.0 has been released on our documentation website.
The 2025 ThriftyLib has been released on our documentation website as 2025.0.1, and I am working on getting it into the library manager ASAP. We will continue to update more and more documentation, but please let us know if you feel something is missing.
V1.1 of Thrifty Config is now available for customers on our documentation website. This adds an auto detect for updates to the app and firmware to inform users of when to update, and it also includes some minor bug fixes.
We have been able to validate that all Novas are capable of driving the CTRE Minion motor. There is a configuration change required for this, and we have tried our best to make this as easy on teams as possible by having it on our already dropped down list of configs (right next to CAN ID) on Thrifty Config and adding the motor type to the constructor.
We are very sorry for the delays, and we are looking into ways to make this process better next season with our 2026 product line. Happy kickoff everyone!
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Curious if you can share what the difference with the minion is?
The phases are one off from what the Neos are. This makes the colors of the phase wires differ from what REV motors use.
Do you know when the next batch of NOVA Motor controllers will be shipping?
It seems like yesterday that TTB was started to provide cheap bearings and hex collars to teams.
(Yes, I just looked it up and realized that was nearly 5 1/2 years ago, wow!)
Now we get swerve and motor controllers.
Y’all rock!
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