Sally, Version 4 Build

Question

OK, I have put together Sally again. I will use the Version 4. This is my last and final effort to finish Sally. After that, I will be out of parts. It has been a wonderful journey and it is coming to an end. I have had a lot of fun along the way. If I succeed on this build, I will extend the fun a little longer. I will make comments along my pit stops.

MovieMaker · Answer

Ok, I have the mechanical part of the Sally robot put together. I will start off with the power. I have a +5vdc regulator going to the |+12vdc in. I am getting +5 volts out of it. I know that is a little extreme, but it is working. I have a 7.5vdc available to the solenoids. and a }+12dc voltage available to the LED eyes. And, I have a +12vdc charger hooked up to the batteries. I am taking it slow a step at a time. I have a PIR detector and a GAS detector also some Ultrasonic and IR on a sweep setup. Right now, I am running on my desktop, but I hope to graduate to my notebook Acer ONE. It is pretty slow, but that is all I have right now. It is running on a V4 of the EZB. I will let you know when the next step is completed.

MovieMaker · Answer

Everything is Looking Up on Sally. I now have the H-bridge connected. I have ONE little problem. When I say Forward, she goes in reverse. When I say Reverse, she goes forward. Here are my settings: (See below) Thanks in Advance! :-)

CardboardHacker · Answer

Reverse d2 and d1. Then reverse d3 and d4. That will make it run forwards when you press forwards.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

What fun! I'll keep watching.

MovieMaker · Answer

Ok, I have almost finished the rebuild on Sally. Most of my stuff is working fine except the H-Bridge. I had it at one point where the machine was turning Left properly and Right Properly but going reverse when you hit forward and Forward when you hit reverse. But, once I finished all my stuff up to this point,It wasn't working right again. I am going to try to work on it pretty much all day Thursday. I will begin at 4AM Thu. Thanks for all of your help! Mel :-)

Dave Schulpius · Answer

You go girl! Go Sally!

MovieMaker · Answer

OK, I took a break and then now I am back. sorry, I posted in the wrong place. Here is my status. Now, everything is working but my h-bridges. I even swapped out the h-bridge for a new one. I will tell you how I have it wired: Left PWR ENable = D0 Left A = D1 Left B = D2 Right A = D3 Right B = D4 Right PWR enable = D5 my Forward goes FWD with a curve. my Reverse goes RVS with a curve. My Left and right are sort of screwed up. but they DO work. I hooked up through a custom movement panel and I have two sliders to adjust. I am in such a small place that it is hard to have room to test. But, I figured if I could just get them working it would be nice. anyway, that is where I am.

CardboardHacker · Answer

The curve is caused by a motor running too fast. If it curves right when moving forward, you need to slow down the servo on the left with the slider. If it turns left, you need to slow down the right side motor.

MovieMaker · Answer

Thanks, I'll try that.

MovieMaker · Answer

Sally was working fine a couple of days ago. Now, sally starts up with saying welcome, etc. But, she doesn't show up on the list of wireless items on the desktop.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

Here we go again... Who's turn is it to help?

Nomad 6R · Answer

am not sure but if che's connected to your wifi ,you dont see it in your wifi items. rr twice luck for you today.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

@Pinocchio... What are you talking about? Nothing happened to me today... Did your one last brain cell finally die or something? And do you not see the irony of you helping @moviemaker? eyeroll

Nomad 6R · Answer

yeach we bolt dont get iT ,maybe

Nomad 6R · Answer

rr are you really not going to help moviemaker?

JustinRatliff · Answer

Are you using a v3 with Bluetooth or v4 with wifi @MovieMaker?

Dave Schulpius · Answer

RR, don't be a troll. If you're not going to help then stay silent. Mel, Do you know if you're running in AP or client mode? If in client mode you won't see her on the list of wifi clients. You then attach to her EZB through ARC through the Connection buttons. If ezb is a v4 you will click on address entries. If its a V3 you click on com port entries. Let us know how it's going.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

EDIT Comment withdrawn...

thetechguru · Answer

I exchanged a couple of emails with Mel. I believe he was in client mode, but the EZ-B appears to have reset itself because it gave the Welcome to the EZ-Robot Revolution greeting and is blinking green. The SSID is not visible on his network (at lease from his desktop, I have asked if he has another computer or phone he can try to see it from to rule out a problem with the desktop WiFi). I think there is something in his wiring that is blowing up EZ-B's because the one I traded with him hoping it was fixable is quite dead. The WiFi chip can be seen by the PICKIT tool and takes a flash, but still won't work. I split the top and bottom boards and swapped them with boards from a good working EZ-B. With the good bottom and the "bad" top, I get an audio "network error" and the device does not appear on the network. With the good top and the "bad" bottom, no audio and the LED flashes white, not green. I don't know what could blow up an EZ-B without tripping the fuses, but I strongly suspect something is. Alan

Nomad 6R · Answer

i would ckeck the speaker or reset button

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Alen, your a stand up guy to go to this level in helping Mel. I know he must be flustered. Mel, I wish there was something I could suggest that could help. Alen great troubleshooting seems to show a problem with the power supplying the ezb. You need to get this corrected before you burn out another ezb or worse. If you can't pinpoint the issue do you know anyone or any place that could go over your wiring and look for problems? Maybe the local technology college with a electronic course. Students or teachers may jump at a chance to help. if I were close I'd be happy to lend a hand. What part of the usa are you in?

Doombot · Answer

@Thetechguru,@Dave Guys, the same thing happened to one of my V3s...just died with out tripping the fuse. This could very well be a manufacturing defect...I don't know what level of QC they have at the factory but it could be a misaligned trace or something internally just not lined up perfectly...it does happen from time to time.

Doombot · Answer

@Moviemaker However, please post photos of the project, details on the wiring please...maybe I can help. Use your meter to see if you have anything shorting out...

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Doom, from what Alen said it sounds like Mel has a v4 he's having problems with.

thetechguru · Answer

It is a v4, and this is the second one that was previously working now with the same problem, which is why I suspect a wiring problem. (but I don't think that was Doombot's point. He was just saying sometimes circuits fail). Alan

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Ah, ya. I guess I need to read a little slower. Mel, I wonder if you have any device or connection miss wired that would back feed power through a switch or relay into the digital or adc ports of the EZB? Just fishing around here.

thetechguru · Answer

I just heard from Mel that he tried another computer and it could see the EZ-B, so he is back in business. Alan

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Ah! This is great news. I was worried he was giving up. I hope he returns to the forum and stays a member of this community. Mel's a good guy and needs to stay involved and active. Seems like he dropped off after he was belittled by rr. I really wouldn't blame him if he stayed away though. When your battling health issues the last thing you need is having to deal with a jerk. Personally, healthy or not, I wouldn't want to come around here asking for help if I was afraid that each time I did that I'd have some troll insinuating that I was dumb or stupid. mad Alan, your a great asset to this community. You seem to always be willing to go to great lengths to help people with problems. You're kind and helpful even it people cant quite seem to get over the learning curve or have other problems they cant help. I don't have that level of skill and I admire you for it. I know you've helped me a lot of times both directly and just by watching you work through an issue with other posters. Thanks for being there for us and I'm grateful Mel had a someone like you he felt comfortable working with.

Nomad 6R · Answer

Dave Schulpius i absolute agree with you.i to have health and mental problems, when you battle them hole day .yourre very happy iff something goes right, with your robot.it give you that feeling ,i had a good day. sometimes you have to think the same way as the person who ask for help. some dont get it that not averybody is born with a brain for robotics, but born with a big heart for robotics.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

EDIT Comment withdrawn...

Dave Schulpius · Answer

No, we're not done. I'll keep commenting on your abusive comments. You don't have the power to get me kicked off here. Only I can do that. Just because you are quick to answer some questions does not make it right that you can verbally abuse people that have trouble gasping things and call them names. Your an offensive person and we have confronted you on your behavior before. In fact at one time you promised to keep your abusive comments to your self and not cause trouble. That lasted only a few months. You've ran a lot of good robot builders away from this forum and I can go back and easily copy their comments pointing to you as the cause. So my advice to you old friend is to remember your promise and stop talking down your nose to people have problems understanding things. mad

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

EDIT Comment withdrawn...

Nomad 6R · Answer

rr your twisting the words here.dave didn say to kick you off the forum. infact you started about that.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

EDIT Comment withdrawn...

Dave Schulpius · Answer

AH, it's good to be king! However, why would I say something and not want people to know what I meant? That makes no sense. OK, what ever. I have better things to do then play with you. It's obvious we don't like each other. I'm cool with that. Have a good day old friend. See ya in the next thread.

MovieMaker · Answer

Thank You guys so much for your help. As it turned out, I had a flaky USB Hub. That was causing the problems all along. It was very tricky because it appeared to be working and did it's "doogle-loogle-loogle!" and the light came on just like it was working. But, it did not work. sincerely, Mel :-)

MovieMaker · Answer

@Richard R, Good Bless You Brother.

Nomad 6R · Answer

howmany cables are in the usb hub?

WBS00001 · Answer

I'm very late to this meeting, but I noticed something mentioned about a solenoid. I wondered if you had a reverse biased (flyback) diode across the coil of sufficient size and if it was still good? Lack of a diode will burn out electronic components. Even if there is one installed, it's a good idea to check it and make sure it isn't burned out (opened) and, therefore, doing no good. Also, lack of one or an opened one will cause connectors and switches to eventually go bad. That applies to connectors or switches supplying power to the solenoid. I point that out since you said you have a flaky USB connector and USB connectors are used for connecting power as well as signals. It's possible it went bad due to arcing caused by the coil.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Nice catch WB! I've burnt out a few chips and transistors on circuit boards because of this very thing.

Nomad 6R · Answer

also when you use a usb hub with many usb in it,the com port break easly. i use 28 usb port with power adaptor. 28 hub with power adap

MovieMaker

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