
cauld
Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a new EZ-Robot kit with the Rover 5 chassis and the 2.5 Amp Motor Controller. I need some help hooking up the Rover 5 chassis to my EZ-B. I've read the docs and watched DJ's video tutorial and studied the diagram found here numerous times - www.ez-robot.com/Tutorials/Hardware.aspx?id=25.
The video does the setup somewhat differently than the diagram. I started with the way the video does it, but when that didn't work for me I tried the setup as shown in the diagram. I have tripled checked everything and I still can't seem to get this working. I have power to the HBridge and to the EZ-B via the 6 AA battery adapter provided with the Rover. I've even tried using the adapter from the EZ-Robot kit. When I connect to EZ-B via ARC and add an HBridge controller nothing happens. I get no movement. Beginning to wonder if the Rover motors are bad, I doubt it, but not sure how I can test that at the moment. I put a standard servo on one of the other digital ports at the same time and that moves just fine.
I am attaching a few pictures from my setup as it stands right now. Wondering if anyone here can take a look and see if they notice something I've messed up any/or offer some suggestions. I'm stumped. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the reply. I bought the H bridge from the ez-robot store. I'll probably order a few more to have as spare, but for now this is the only one I've got. I doubled checked all the wires again. They all appear to be properly placed. I attempted to go back to the setup done in the video again. Still isn't working.
In ARC and have H Bridge & PWM controls. The H Bridge control appears to do nothing and when I move the PWM slider it appears to think it isn't connected. Even though I am connected to EZ-B over COM7. Here is the debug output...
Attempting connection on COM7
Connected to COM7 at 9600
EZ-B reports EZ-B Firmware V16
Connected
Now as soon as I move the PWM slider...
Comm Err: Not Connected
BbytesToExpect: 0
Received:
Disconnected
Comm Err: Not Connected
BbytesToExpect: 0
I'm pretty new to the hardware side so sorry if this is a dumb question... how would I test each motor with direct power? The Rover 5 chassis motor wires originally had white plugs on the ends. I cut those off to get at the red & black wires to run into the motor 1 & 2 inputs on the H bridge. What would I wire those to just to test the motors? I am going to stop by the store in a bit to grab a meter so that I can check the continuity of the connections.
OK so I hooked up both Rover motors to direct power 1 by 1 and they both worked. So we know the motors are good. I also thought perhaps limited power could be an issue. I did have the Rover and EZ-B sharing the same 6 AA battery pack. I bought the Bench Power Supply from the EZ-Robot store as well. Unfortunately, the plug isn't made for US outlets. I check Radioshack and they didn't have an adapter that would work. I ordered one online yesterday, but it might not come for a few more days. However, I do have a 2nd 6 AA battery pack. Can I put the Rover on this and keep EZ-B on the other? Would that provide enough juice? I tried to do this by running the H Bridge VCC to the 2nd packs positive and the H Bridge GND to the 2nd packs negative. I kept the H Bridge +5V wired to D0 on the EZ-B as shown in the diagram. I had to push the white button on the H Bridge after everything was plugged in to get the H Bridge power light to come on, but I do have power to EZ-B and the H Bridge now. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have worked either. Attaching another picture of this double battery pack setup. I definitely want to have a portable power source like what the AA packs provide so if this setup will not work what other options do I have?
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9368__Turnigy_1800mAh_2S_30C_Lipo_Pack.html
If you have the space and can afford the battery and a good charger go for LiPo. I'd guess the problem is the power and the EZ-B browning out.
Looking at the Turnigy Lipo image now and I have a series of questions. Sorry if this super basic, just want to be sure I get this right.
I see 2 sets of plugs. Are these just two different adapters for connecting to different types of inputs? I assume I'd need to use the smaller connections to wire this up to the EZ-B power adapter I have. Is that correct? I'd cut off the small white adapter and hook up the red/black wires, but then what is the yellow?
Or is it even easier... do they make an adapter that I can connect to this with that I would in turn wire to the EZ-B power adapter. This would seem to make more sense since I could them probably still hook this up to a charger. If I cut the wires I'm not sure how I'd charge it.
Can you recommend a charger for this as well? I found this one that looks like it might work -
www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__7637__Turnigy_balancer_Charger_2S_3S.html, but it appears to be on backorder. I guess with this I would just take off the EZ-B power adapter and put these clips on when it needed to charge?
Oh those yellow connectors are called turnigy xt60 gold plate connectors rated at 60 amps. The little white plug is the balance plug. Its wired with common ground and individual positive for each cell.
I'm happy to report the Rover is now functioning. I was too eager to wait for an shipment so I ran out to the local hobby store. They didn't have the exact battery you recommended, but they do enough RC car stuff that they had some very similar alternatives. I grabbed a couple LiPo batteries and a charger. I just tested it out and things appear to be working great. I've got forward and reverse and the PWM slider is correctly adjusting the speed. Time to play.
Thanks again for all your help! I'd have been stuck without you.