Asked — Edited

2 Unrelated Questions.

First I have torxis/invenscience 12vdc servos. They are powered via 12vdc and at full load draw approximately 5 amps. So first question is how much current can the new ezb4 put out via its pin header. I plan to power ezb4 with 12vdc so hence the question.

Second question is a little more complicated for me at least. So I understand the ezb4 is wifi capable. Is it possible to use for telepresence? I guess what I mean is if I'm at work on my companies network is it possible to remote into ezb and see through the robots eyes/cameras? If so how would I go about doing it? VPN? I would like to be able to do this from my iphone or Samsung galaxy 3 tablet. Anyone care to take a crack at either of these. Anxiously awaiting ezb4's arrival.

                                     Chris


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Synthiam
#1  

I would recommend using the Learn section of the website to reference the Data Sheet. Here is a link for your convenience: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Default.aspx?id=7

Yes, you can connect any TCP/IP device on the internet. If a device has the capability of communication through TCP/IP, the internet is also based on the same protocol collection. To connect TCP/IP devices through your home router, I would recommend checking the manual of your router to Open Ports for internal redirection. That means your router will send all data that is received to your router from the internet to a device that is inside your network. Your router will have a manual on how to do that, it's very easy and requires only 2 or 3 fields to enter into the router config. All routers are a little different on that setting.

You would open your router to forward ports 23 and 24 to the IP Address of your EZ-B v4.

#2  

So I looked at the learn page as I have done in the past.... The only thing I see is under wifi board digital I/O. And it says 3.3vdc ttl logic, (5v) tolerant and that it can control servos. From what I've been reading about over the course of the last few months is that the voltage in is the voltage out. So again my servos are powered via 12vdc and get there reference (white wire) probably 5vdc ttl. So my question again is if I power the board via 12vdc, what will the voltage be at the pos/neg pins on the d0- d23 header pins? 12vdc or 5vdc? And what is the allowable current to be pulled through those pins? Thanks

                                           Chris
United Kingdom
#3  

Digital ports will have the following;

Vcc = Vin Ground = Ground Signal = 3.3v when high.

Vin is the input voltage to the EZ-B. This can be 4.5v to 16v however 7.2v is recommended. If you put 12v in you will have 12v on the Vcc pins of each digital port.

#4  

Rich thanks for the reply, but at 12vdc what is the allowable maximum current that the traces will handle? The servos are rated at 5 amp under full load. There will never be a "full" load as these 2 servos are for pan and tilt at the neck joints. Thanks again.

#5  

Should I just use an "external" source for the 12vdc?

#6  

Regardless of the individual pin amp output...If you're pulling a full 5amps per servo then you would be limited to 4 servos as the main fuse of the V4 is rated at 20amps

***edit *** I see you're only using 2 servos... so the 20amp restriction wouldn't affect you....

#7  

One other thing all of the wires on these servos are the same gauge approximately 20 gauge so I don't think they are going to use much current. Thanks Chris

#9  

SO I've read and read and see 3.6 amps max at 5VDC. I am not using 5vdc. Am I missing something here? Lately I see a ton of posts just being directed to read the manual. Why is it that people will not post an answer but will post - read the manual. If you don't want to provide help other than that general reply why even bother posting at all. And this is coming from the CEO! So you've got my money, and my order has been status shipped since the beginning of the month, no controller in hand, and this is the tech support I/we get. Thanks very much!

                                             proud supporter of ez-robot
#10  

Hey, c'mon.. Rich took the time to read the manual, that's why he knows... We really all should do the same... After that if we still need help (as DJ suggested)... we can ask here.... lets keep it civil, after all we're all new to EZB4.

#11  

From the referenced page it appears that the total continuous current is 5 amps but a spike to 20 may be OK.

User-inserted image

United Kingdom
#12  

A lot of time and effort is taken in writing the manual, providing examples, tutorial videos etc. etc. etc.

The information you have requested is in the manual. Both DJ and myself have directed you to the manual because it's explained in there. There's no point in either of us copying what we can link to (not to mention the formatting if copied and pasted is all wrong in the forum to on the datasheet)

It's all under Electrical Characteristics;

Voltage input (Vin): 4.5-16v DC Vin Continuous Current Draw: 5A Vin Current Spikes: 20A Vcc Continuous Current Draw: 1A Vcc Current Spikes: 3A Digital I/O TTL Voltage level: 1.6-3.6v (5V tolerant) ADC Voltage level: 0-3.6v (5V tolerant)

The statistics speak for themselves. DJ has credit for 94 questions answered and I have credit for 182 questions answered (questions which were marked as requiring assistance, the reality of it is the numbers are much much higher). As can be seen in DJ's post, your second question, which isn't answered in a tutorial or datasheet, was answered. There is no cause for concern over the tech support you will get as far as I can see, if it's needed it is given. Where it's already answered previously or elsewhere then you'll be directed to the answer.

Edit: Looks like others answered while I was typing this...

#13  

This goes beyond my simple post, I am seeing this kind of thing everyday. So it took you 30 seconds to copy paste this information after 12 unnecessary posts. Where as this could have been summed up in the first answer. There was a post I believe yesterday regarding network connection and possibly having a backup default. IN this post it was stated that this type of thing would be silly and could not find use for something like that. However 3 posts down another member of the company did find some use and some appreciation towards the idea. The original poster completely backed down. His idea is a good one. I can go on citing other posts as well.

I believe Rich that even in your "unboxing" video you were having troubles connecting to this device (albeit I guess was your fault- even after reading the manual I suspect). Maybe EZ- robot isn't for me, and judging by the posts coming in maybe this product isn't so EZ.

Everyone thanks for the reply's I will try not to post any questions regarding this product anymore as everything is in the "manual"

PRO
Synthiam
#14  
  1. Richard's connection issue was due to him entering his password incorrectly. The easiness of the EZ-B v4 verbally told him with speech - one of the thousands of revolutionary features that makes EZ-Robot EZ. I'm not sure if you understand, but the EZ-B actually spoke... with words... if anything, his video demonstrated the EZ of EZ-Robot.

  2. There were posts asking about tutorials a few days ago. In the past two days, there have been over 2 dozen updates to the website for new written tutorials and videos tutorials as per our release schedule. It is hard to read this image of our code repository updates, but changes have been occurring 24 hours per day for the last few days. To be clear - that means updates to the website for tutorial information has been happening even while you sleep...

User-inserted image

  1. The community is jam packed full of over 10,000 users from over 140 countries - and not all post but they watch our forum. Existing users (such as Rich and Dave, etc.) continue to progress and advance their robot and new users such as yourself join in. The manuals are put in place to address answers to beginner questions. If the information is there, it takes less effort to click and read than to write a post about information which is readily and easily available.

I see that you are frustrated with being told to check the manual. However, if the answer is in the manual, why wouldn't you check the manual? That's what the manual is for... The community is here to help support each other. The community is not volunteering to mimic items which are clearly posted in the manual and datasheet.

Do not run to another product to be disappointed with limited features. Simply understand that if information is clearly presented in a manual and that is the purpose of a manual :)

We have a beautiful and easy to navigate Learn section. I would recommend visiting the Learn section and spending some time reading the documentation and watching the newer videos. You'll be entertained and become an expert in no time :)

United Kingdom
#15  

You will find that things are done the way they are done because it's the best method they saw however, they are always open to feedback and have made literally thousands of changes to the software based on community feedback. Surely the "backing down" is a good thing? It shows that the company takes suggestions and feedback seriously and improves the product based on this feedback.

My unboxing issues were due to an incorrect password for my network, if you watch the start of the first video where I pull out the paperwork I throw them to one side and say that I don't need instructions. That issue was 100% down to the case sensitive password on my wifi, the issue was resolved after resetting the EZ-B and entering the correct password. I don't see how any of that is relevant though.

It actually took a few minutes to retype the information which was exactly where I told you it was. I know DJ doesn't have time to waste retyping things when a link is just as good. And, while I have no problem explaining things in detail when needed, if it's already explained I'll post a link. It isn't as if the information you were after is difficult to see in the link given!

We are not here to spoon feed you. As it's been said numerous times, if the information is already there somewhere then we will point you to it. If it isn't then we will answer the question. However, you cannot expect us to do it all for you, you will need to do some of the reading or some of the work yourself.

You have asked numerous questions in the past and you have received answers to all of them. I honestly have no idea why you are now posting that you don't get the tech support/help required. You have received accurate answers to all topics started. I have previously linked you to other topics which held the answers and there was no attitude afterwards about not helping, how is this one any different to those?

It's very rare that anyone on here will just come out with "read the manual". To be fair it's usually me who answers a lot of the questions and I do say to read the manual or read the datasheet however if I am aware of where in the manual the answer lies I will also tell you that too. This community is unlike other online communities, we do not look down on new members or less experienced members, we do not refuse to help or come out with pointless remarks. There are hundreds and hundreds of topics which back this up.

Having said that, there is a zero tolerance policy and you will also find that people, myself included are less inclined to offer help if the poster has an attitude or is rude. Please bear this in mind.

#16  

Hey, I'd like to clarify the hardware configuration for the IO on the EZBV4. It looks like the conversation was headed toward answering this, but took a different direction. My understanding is that the V4 regulates its input voltage to 3.3V to supply the microcontroller. Do the V+ (Vcc, or whatever the official naming convention may be) header pins also carry this 3.3V or do they carry the raw voltage that is supplied to the EZB prior to the 3.3V regulation? Also, how are the IO's on the microcontroller configured (meaning the signal pins)? Are they source or sink? Are there pull-up or pull-down resistors? I may be confused with old V3 documentation but was expecting a sink configuration with pull-up resistors tied to the V+ pins. However, based on the EZBV4 data sheet, it looks like the digital output configuration is source (3.3V) with 330 ohm resistors in series. Is this correct? Either way, it's perfectly ok. I just need to understand which it is so I can use it correctly. An explanation would be good. A schematic of a digital IO would be most excellent (worth more than words)!

PRO
Synthiam
#17  
  1. The digital I/O are default floating until you do something with them. Download ARC and connect to your EZ-B v4. That is how you do something with the Digital I/O.

  2. The digital I/O voltage pin is same as VIN

  3. The ADC, Camera, and i2c ports voltage pins are regulated to 3.3v

The LEARN button on the top menu of this website will bring you to the Getting Started Guide. There you will find videos that explain the EZ-B and for those who are in a rush - you will find the Data Sheet. Here is a direct link to the Data Sheet: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Default.aspx?id=7

Answering questions in the forum outside of the DataSheet is bad news bears. If we answer a question and later need to update the datasheet, they will be out of sync. Like all products in the world, we provide a datasheet with technical information. We also go above and beyond by providing tutorial videos and explanations. You will find those in the Learn section.

You can access the LEARN section by pressing the LEARN button on the top of this website.

#18  

Reading through the posts again, it looks like Rich has already answered most of my question. So thanks @Rich! I would like to make sure I'm understanding this correctly though, especially with the way the resistors are configured.

PRO
Synthiam
#19  

There are no resistors for pull up or pull down. That's irrelevant to the EZ-B. You either turn a digital I/o high, low or query it's state that is controlled by another device. When a pin is set to input, it is floating.

If you want to pull up or pull down, you do that yourself externally.

#20  

Good to know the default condition of the IO is floating. I hear you DJ. There is a ton that goes into this, to put it very modestly, and keeping track of every little change can become chaos in a hurry. Thanks for such a quick response. I want to you know I really appreciate what you guys at EZ-Robot as well as the dedicated members of the community are putting into this. I'm excited about this unique product and have no doubt I'll get this figured out once I get to tinkering.

PRO
Synthiam
#21  

That's really nice to hear:) Thank you! I updated the datasheet just now with more detail. Specifically about the I/O voltage input and output.

This is why I prefer to direct people to the manuals and documents. If I answer the question in the forum, it's written for ever and never updated. The manuals go through revisions with updated information based on usage data.

#22  

Glad that's all cleared up now. tired

However it was a good discussion and one that needed to be had. It's important to know the limits and capabilities of both the V3 & V4. The change from the V3 in that the digital I/O voltage pin is same as VIN is huge. It's very easy to plug directly into a device and send the wrong voltage to it. For example I just did this to a servo yesterday while I was swapping out one of my V3's for a V4. I sent 12vdc to a servo I had previously installed and powered by EZB that was expecting 5vdc. I went to have a drink to calm down after that so I still don't know if it's damaged or not. Totally my fault but I simply forgot for a moment in my excitement about the change.

Anyway, we all process information and learn differently. Some need multiple forms of input to understand and sometime what your looking for in the "printed" information is overlooked or misunderstood. Also all of us have different levels of maturity and tolerance. Put all that together and we're just one big dysfunctional family. :P

Nothing's wrong here as I can tell. We're going alright. Let's keep it up and get through the growing pains together. Dad & Mom (EZ Robot crew) are doing a great and much appreciated job with an amazing product and company and trying to keep us all happy and safe and well fed at the same time. ;)