I have built several Adventure Bots and have not had any issues, but when I tried to build a custom 2 WD robot using IoTiny I've run into a strange problem.
Using the same "continuous rotation servo with Wheel" set from my Adventure Bot I found that they worked for about a minute before refusing to run any more.
I thought it might be just a coincidence, so I took another working set and first tried that with a EZ-B v4 controller in a Power Shell with the same "LiPo Robot battery" (after a full recharge) that I was using on IoTiny ... and those wheels worked fine
But, when I connected the wheels back to the IoTiny, the servos worked for a little while and then stopped working!
What's worse, is that I reconnected the servos back into the Adventure Bot and NONE of then worked anymore.
Any ideas?
Frank
Asked
— Edited
how was it wired?
Was it mounted on a conductive surface?
What other devices were connected to it?
What is the weight difference of the custom robot vs adventurebot?
Where the continuous rotation servos the older discontinued plastic gear ones?
Sorry about the slow response, as I was waiting for my 2nd IoTiny and new servos to confirm the issue
here is a pic of my testbed
No load on servos, IoTiny temporarily mounted on a Power Shell with 3M Command tape and using AdventureBot Bare example. The servos have metal gears. Nothing else is connected. The firmware was left as shipped as its later than the version in the current release package
The test with the 2nd IoTiny and servos had the same result... please see videos below
I tested an HDD lever arm servo and that works fine.
I could ship you the IoTinys and servos if that would help
Regards,
Frank
Regarding the servos, I'm guessing power or short in the connector? The video zooms in onto the servo and loses focus of the IoTiny, so I can't see the status led.
Does the IoTiny lose connection?
Also, you state the servos no longer work at all after they're used on the IoTiny? To clarify, the servos are broken after the IoTiny?
Show us your battery and power configuration.
What's on the bottom of the IoTiny?
***EDIT*** FYI I used a 7.4V Li-Ion battery in my test...
Alan
My bet is on the power source being the problem.
What commands/controls where you using to test the 360° Servos? Were you using the Adventurebot program with the analog joystick?
Are the servos the new metal gear 360° Servos? (Just use a phillips screwdriver to remove screw on the wheel to see if the output gear is metal or plastic)
*Edit I just noticed you mentioned that they are metal gears already, sorry about that
I have improved the test bed to make it clearer, just a 2*4 with the gear connected with 3M Command strips
@DJ
I don't think is a problem with the power connector as I'm using the same battery and connector with the the EZB-v4 tests
The servos which worked on the V4 no longer work on the same V4 aftera test run on the IoTiny
The battery is the standard EZB battery
@Richard_R
Thanks for taking the time to duplicate my setup. I am using the 7.4 Li-Po battery
@thetechguru
The new videos below will show the layout
@PTP,
I'm using the same power setup on the V4 and IoTiny
@Jeremie
I'm just using the standard Movement Panel that is part of the AdventureBot bare example
Here all the new videos. The servos are first tested on the v4 setup, then I replace the v4 for the IoTiny and use the same battery and cable with connector
My new test bed only tests one servo at a time as I was ruining too many of them
Regards,
Frank
Can you post your project.
And the actions to replicate the issue.
The only action is to click forward, stop and reverse on the servo movement panel
I try this with. V4 controller and then Iotiny. Servers work until IoTiny runs them
That was a great idea!
I connected a voltmeter to the power and ground pins on a servo port.
During my v4 tests and found the readings to be stable, but very unstable when using the IoTiny
Here are some videos showing what I experienced using same battery and cable I used with the v4
Any ideas what could be causing this?
Regards,
Frank
And then maybe try a metered test on another I/0 port, again sending control signals to the port with no servo connected.
@Jeremie, is there a check list to check the I/o tiny with a meter for proper voltagages or continuity like there is for EZbv3? EZBv3 Diagnostics If not do you think you might be able to help us come up with one?
I figured it out, but I gotta run. I'll let @DJ fill you guys in!
Oh and the IoTiny Datasheet is almost complete, it's just being edited and reviewed before release. It'll definitely help with diagnostics.
Could the tape be a problem?
Anyway lets hope @Jeremie and @DJ will look into this...
Contact us to warranty the continuous rotation servos.
However, in the meantime we are looking to see if there's a possible firmware solution, or if the servo pcb revision needs to be reverted.
Stay tuned.
P.S. I broke those 360 servos and I would never use them anyway... Thanks for the warranty offer but I am good... No need...
Thanks for confirming this...
@Dj,
Thanks for the great support on your products. I did ruin a few in my testing as I couldn't believe what was happening as others didn't see the issue.
I will contact warrentee support
I agree that the new HDD servos are amazing
Regards,
Frank
DJ mentioned the possibility of reverting the servo's PCB.
Is there away to know if is the old(good) or new(pcb) before i connect them to the Iotiny ?
I know the lever arm and 180 degree servos are now HDD but I haven't seen any mention of HDD for 360 degree servos
@Jeremie mentioned that the plastic gear 360 degree servos work with IoTiny
Regards,
Frank
Not sure what the problem is, but I wouldn't try anymore new ones with the ioTiny until something is fixed.
I just assumed I had bad parts as others were saying the didn’t have the issue
Thankfully, Jeremie confirmed the problem
I had only 4 .... now i have 0
The life of a servo at times may seem short but for ptp these servos never matured to warrenty expectations. When one servo dies, another is manufactured and perhaps even will go on sale. We must remember to keep our part stocks up, so that we may never say we have zero servos!
Please, a moment of silence for ptp’s servos.
Yeah, well. I so go big or go home :), and hindsight is always 20/20.
Was the end of a long day, and the first time in many months I have had any time to spend with my robots. Decided I should test all of the servos I got in my HDD upgrade box (SIX, Roli, and Dev Kit upgrade) before the warranty ran out. I had already rebuilt Six, and was running through the rest of the servos. First one died, and I recalled there was a problem mentioned on the forum, but didn't go look it up. Seemed to recall that it was just some of 360's, not all of them (whoops) so tested all 5, and all 5 died. They sort of worked setting the port between 90 and 180 (movement was jerky, but working) and then as soon as I went in reverse, they stopped responding.
Alan
Anyway my lesson learned that day was, always test 1 at a time and if you try 1 and it burns out you don’t just keep plugging new ones in.