Hi Dave Thanks, I'm struggling with everything right now! I made some major changes to my frame because my drive wheels were way bigger than I had wanted them to be and it has created some havoc, hence my being up at all hours night and day trying to make a simple frame square. Now I'm trying to find a hub to put in a cheap lawn wheel that will fit my jazzy motor. I've read all of your kangaroo posts and plan to make the power off circuit in the next day or two. I went ahead and ponied up for the v4 today. As much as I've really hit the wall on my budget (especially repeated frame mods) I want full functionality of the kangaroo and I think the v4 will do this well. I also am not keen on send serial commands so far, it just seems the forward commands were so much easier to understand. I also heard from the guy at roborealm for his avm software and hope that functionality will be available soon. I'll look on robot shop. Will potentiometers work for drive wheels or will I need encoders? I think encoders but my thinking can get me into trouble...

Optical wheel encoders would be a better solution for detecting wheel movement than resistive measurements provided by a potentiometer. Over time the resistive measurements would be inaccurate due to wear of the resistive surface used for reporting the position.

@mdeming1 Do you need a Kangaroo X2 still? I have a brand new one I won't be using... I'll sell it to you for $24 shipped (which is what I paid but without shipping which was on top of the $24)...

Hi all, Richard R: I have the Kangaroo already but thank you Richard, I think with the new V4 (I purchased online yesterday, not sure when I would get it) I'll get the functionality I need. Aren't you getting the V4? Don't you think it's functionality will be quite useful? Just curious as i've not played with mine.

Robot Doc, re: encoders, I have two signal wires under the large cap on my jazzy motor so there is plenty of space. I've seen varying encoders out there. I have no personal experience with them yet. I read that the optical ones weren't very accurate vs. a quadrature or magnetic encoder, is that so or is it six of one/half dozen the other?

I'm uploading a photo below, it is someone else's motor but essentially the same (I've replace the rectangular connectors on mine) This is where I want to place whatever encoder I get. I just don't want to run into the same problem I have with the wheels, i.e. finding a 17mm bore encoder or whatever. Am I thinking about this right? Does the ez-b v3 0r v4 care if I'm using a quadrature, optical or magnetic encoder?

These encoders were the right price, do you think they would work with the ez-b? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12629

Again, i could be way off on all of my assumptions so please let me know what you think. Again, really appreciated. Matt

PS: If this re-opening of the thread is not good forum etiquette please advise. Some forums frown on this but to me it makes sense to do so especially as a new user it makes it quite a bit easier to search for the exact information and query on that conversation rather than start an entirely new thread and clutter the forum or be told to look it up which inevitably most have. Hope that makes sense.

Yes, I have a few V4s on order... The not sure if the Kangaroo will work any different with the V4 as compared to the V3... I found the Kangaroo to be overly complex and needlessly at that... I was not able to get the results that some have had on here with the kangaroo/EZB combo... Like Dave I simply went back to using pots for precision control over motors... The Kangaroo was meant to give feedback and position to geared motors... In a sense making them kinda' act like servos... However, I couldn't get mine to work so it was just far simpler to go back to using pots for position control over my motors...

encoders will not work with the version 3 EZB. I'm pretty sure they won't work with the V 4 either. If you go with encoders then you should try to stay with the Kangaroo. I'm still not decided if I am going 2 Scrap mykangaroo set up The advantage we're going to have with the V4 is two way serial communication. This will let EZB know speed and position directly from the Kangaroo. Remember, the feedback device is attached to the kangaroo. I was able to get this setup working nicely with simple serial commands. My complaint is I'm having trouble getting a smooth speed ramp in position mode. You'll be using speed control mode and I got ramping to work just fine in that mode. Beware though, you'll have to do some coding and use their setup program to change some settings to your likening.

encoders will not work with the version 3 EZB. I'm pretty sure they won't work with the V 4 either. If you go with encoders then you should try to stay with the Kangaroo. I'm still not decided if I am going 2 Scrap mykangaroo set up The advantage we're going to have with the V4 is two way serial communication. This will let EZB know speed and position directly from the Kangaroo. Remember, the feedback device is attached to the kangaroo.

Thank you all. Just to be clear. Assuming the encoders are attached to the K-R00 and the K-R00 is powered by V4 with two way communication, wouldn't the encoders be working for all intents and purposes? Or are you saying that regardless of two way communication it's going to be simple serial still?

I haven't got anything setup presently to evaluate encoder sensors but from my experience with iRobot and NeatoRobotics it would seem that magnetic encoders would be best from both a financial as well as a longevity standpoint. It seems that the output of the mag sensor could be sent to a digital port on a V3 or V4 without the need of two way serial messages.