kbb0118
Resolved by Jeremie!
Hi all! I'm new here
I've been lurking for some time as I assembled equipment. My plan is inspired by DJ's snow shovel bot and Ampdroid and a few others.
I'm using a Pride Power Wheelchair Jet 2. I've pried apart the controller - the joystick is connected with a 6-pin connector. I've cut the joystick off - although it worked, it was bent and hard to use. Below in the photo I've red box'ed the cut ends. By process of elimination I believe the red and black wires on the 6-pin are power to the joystick PCB, so I have left those disconnected. That leaves 4 wires, which should be right motor +, right motor - , left motor +, left motor -.
I tried connecting each of the 4 wires to the signal pins D0, D1, D2, D3 of the EZ-B and attempted to send a signal to operate the motors, but nothing I tried worked. I tried EZB Controls for HBridge Movement, Modified Servo, Horizontal Servo, HBridge and servo speed. Anyone have any ideas? I'm totally new with the EZ-B software so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. On the HBridge Movement I tried every combination for the 4 signals.
My original plan was to use a Sabertooth 2x25 - I have it in hand, but this would be so much cooler (easier) if it worked!
Wasted sooooo much time it gives me a headache just thinking about it. *stress*
Even with the Sabertooth it's going to take a little time getting the speed right, if your not using full speed.
My 2 cents, go with the Sabertooth.
If by chance you do get the controller working, I would like to see how you did it.
Herr
The Sabertooth 2X25 is one of the most versatile, efficient and easy to use dual motor drivers on the market. It is suitable for high powered robots - up to 100lbs in combat or 300lbs for general purpose robotics.
Out of the box, the Sabertooth can supply two DC brushed motors with up to 25A each. Peak currents of 50A per channel are achievable for a few seconds.
Overcurrent and thermal protection means you'll never have to worry about killing the driver with accidental stalls or by hooking up too big a motor.
Sabertooth allows you to control two motors with: analog voltage, radio control, serial and packetized serial. You can build many different robots of increasing complexity for years to come with a Sabertooth. Sabertooth has independent and speed+direction operating modes, making it the ideal driver for differential drive (tank style) robots and more.
The operating mode is set with the onboard DIP switches so there are no jumpers to lose. Sabertooth features screw terminal connectors - making it possible for you to build a robot without even soldering.
Sabertooth is the first synchronous regenerative motor driver in its class. The regenerative topology means that your batteries get recharged whenever you command your robot to slow down or reverse. Sabertooth also allows you to make very fast stops and reverses - giving your robot a quick and nimble edge.
Sabertooth has a built in 5V 1A Switch-mode BEC that can provide power to a microcontroller or R/C receiver, as well as 3-4 standard analog servos. The lithium cutoff mode allows Sabertooth to operate safely with lithium ion and lithium polymer battery packs - the highest energy density batteries available.
Sabertooth's transistors are switched at ultrasonic speeds (32kHz) for silent operation.
Sabertooth 2X25 uses 1.3 milliohm MOSFETs in its bridge. Going by our competitor's ridiculous rating schemes this would make it a dual 190A motor driver!
many builders use these guys so there is lots of second hand knowledge.
I understand the virtues of the Sabertooth (I did buy one after all), but with the photos and wiring diagrams I've unearthed from posts here, I still can't tell how to wire the Sabertooth so that I do not lose the on-board battery charger. Plus the chair controller has battery power meter, power button, speed control knob, and parking break. I'm going to give the chair controller a tiny bit more effort before I give up and go with the Sabertooth.
In order to make use of the joystick circuit to control the motor drivers onboard you will have to figure out how the joystick functions. I am guessing that it is an analog Joystick with a potentiometer on each axis for the 'x' and 'y' (left/right & front/back)directions, that way the user would have had variable speed at their control. This is the same way game controller analog thumbsticks work. So in order to use the EZ-B to emulate way the joy stick worked you'll probably need to do the following:
First grab an ohmmeter and strip the joystick wires back (or measure on the PCB) and then figure out which wires carry signals, ground, and power. You should probably have 2 signal wires, one GND wire and one power (VCC) wire. might be a few extra wires for other little bits like buttons as well. The signal wires should have a resistance in relation to GND and VCC that changes as you move the joystick. Make sure you can alligator clip your ohmmeter leads on the wires really well in order to have your hands free to do joystick manipulation.
To interface the EZ-B (in order to emulate the Joystick) you will have to connect the GND and 2 signal wires to the EZ-B. You won't have to worry about the VCC line, just make sure you are powering the EZ-B and the wheel chair electronics when you go to test. BE FOREWARNED you should have quick access to a power switch when you go to power it up as it may take off on you. This is because if the joystick is indeed analog, it will require a 2.5V voltage on both signal wires to keep the platform at rest. 2.5V from the EZ-B can be achieved by sending a PWM(D0, 50) signal from an EZ-script.
Assuming the Joystick works on 5V logic, here is what the control signal may look like on the y axis:
PWM(D0, 0) = 0V -> full speed backward
PWM(D0, 25) = 1.25V -> half speed backward
PWM(D0, 50) = 2.5V -> rest
PWM(D0, 75) = 3.75V -> -> half speed forward
PWM(D0, 100) = 5V -> full speed forward
I'm not certain of this, but depending on if you are planning on riding on the wheel chair based bot (or having it carry any large weight) you may have to stick with the onboard motor control electronics versus a Sabertooth. Talking with some friends of mine at Scoperta, they have mentioned that with their wheel chair based platforms (with a arm chair plus person mounted on top) have seen prolonged current spikes as high as 70A, more than the sabertooth may be able to handle.
If you aren't doing anything too hardcore with the platform, I am quite certain that as @jstarne1 suggested, the sabertooth would be an easy alternative that is loaded with extra features.
Either way, Figuring out the joystick control and using the onboard motor driver may be an ideal solution, depending on how much time you have to spend on reverse engineering the way it works. As a disclaimer just make sure you are taking the necessary safety precautions needed when testing. Raising the platform off the ground so no wheels can make contact with the ground is probably advised.
Good luck with your project and please share your progress as I can tell a number of us are quite interested!
There is another tread somewhere on here about it, o yes and also you can program the controller on those same wires when you buy the proprietary cable and software, that is if they will sell you the software, i know it took me over a year of whining to get software and over $100 bucks to get the active proprietary cable from England.
Needless to say it's a shame not to be able to just interface the stick but I too now use the Sabre-Tooth and don't have a headache any more, i'm not young and don't have the time to wait but good luck with experimenting.
used 2 servo motors 90 deg apart ,very reliable and I also retain features of original controller
as I use it on an incline ,the manual states it detects the increase in load and then provides extra power to motors automaticlly .
Very happy with results and reliability
Nice to hear the click of the brake each time it returns to neutral
edit
have tried to open controller having removed all screws but it is sealed tight with some type of glue or sealer
want to make connection to on off switch *confused*
If you were up for the challenge you could always get a logic analyzer (Bus Pirate or Saleae) and crack the code if you were dead set on doing it and then use an EZ-Script to bitbang the protocol out. Another option is finding where the control signals go into the Motor controllers and connect into it at that point.
that bus pirate could give me a way to communicate with the controller. I'm not sure how I would send the serial commands to the chair controller yet.
Here is what I learned. The green wire supplies a constant voltage. The blue and yellow need to provide that same voltage in the neutral position. When voltage from either of those goes up or down, it moves the chair in either the X or Y direction.
If the chair senses anything that it perceives as funky, you get an error message and the system shuts down.
Good luck. I hope that this helps.
Edit: The picture uploaded smaller than I created it. If you cannot read it, I have a PDF file that I can email you.
I found some students at UC Berkeley succeeded in communicating with my exact Jet 2 controller - Dynamic DL 5.2i (DL50UBR12) - with an Uno in 2011. But they didn't document much about the RC Filter. Apparently the thing I need is an RC Filter with 9.1M Ohm resistor and capacitor value of 10uF. This allows the coupling voltage from the joystick to rise and fall gradually as I understand it. I wish they had a better photo of the RC Filter and components.
http://voidsetuploop.wordpress.com
If someone can double check my thinking on this:
I'll set D0, D1, D5, D6 to be PWM based on this chart I reverse-engineered.
Their RC Filter photo
I need to know if these watt/volt resistors and capacitors will work?
EZB-D0 > 9.1M Ohm 1/2W Resistor > 4x5mm 10uF 25V Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor > WHITE wire on DL controller
EZB-D1 > 9.1M Ohm 1/2W Resistor > 4x5mm 10uF 25V Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor > BLUE wire on DL controller
EZB-D5 > 9.1M Ohm 1/2W Resistor > 4x5mm 10uF 25V Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor > BROWN wire on DL controller
EZB-D6 > 9.1M Ohm 1/2W Resistor > 4x5mm 10uF 25V Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor > YELLOW wire on DL controller
But anyway, I am glad that my picture was able to help you. Your follow-up questions are way above my pay grade. I can't help you with any of that. Good luck though, I am sure that someone here can answer them. I hope that it works for you. That would make a really smooth running robot.
Red +5V Supply
Black zero V Supply
All neutrals within 40mV of 1/2 Supply
Blue Left/Right 2v5 +/- 1V
White Left/Right Inverse Mirror 2v5 +/- 1V
Yellow Forward/Reverse 2v5 +/- 1V
Brown Forward/Reverse Inverse Mirror 2v5 +/- 1V
So it looks like that matches what saw in PWM voltages pretty close. Once I filter the PWM with a low pass filter hopefully this thing will move! I will update as soon as I get my parts and try things out!
So just wondering if you had any success on controlling the wheelchair. I seem to only be able to control it to go forwards but not any other direction.
Cheers!
Overview
Angled view
Breadboard closeup low-pass filter
The male 4-pin I am planning to hook to the wheelchair controller as soon as I'm sure I won't fry anything with this getup
If I may ask, what resistor and capacitor values have you used? I've used 160k and 1uF and I think this may or may not be the problem that I'm having.
I'm using:
9.1M Ohm 1/2W Resistor
4x5mm 10uF 25V Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor
I'm going to try to connect it tonight!
It will take some time to figure this out so I'm going to mark this thread as answered. Thanks for the help everyone! I'll post here if I figure it out.