Mini-zip V3 Upgrade.

Oh that's a neat platform! I'd like to see a video of him working

will make video this afternoon or evening.

:) j

updated with very short video.

see video. j

see mini-zip do pushups, learning actions and frames.

:) j

New and improved mini-zip.

battery holder mounted on bottom of chassis.

lowered ez-b to chassis and added bluetooth camera.

without camera.

:) J

Thank you very much for the kind words!

@DJ Sures thanks. Keep up the great work.

:) j

new cloths for mz.

:) j

Having fun!

J

jdebay, Your mini six looks great. Is that the standard mini six kit from Anthony XL robots ($79), or was the EZB3 cam case extra order? What are the inside body dimensions and overall outside leg to leg? Do you utilize a cam tilt only and let the robot turn for the pan? Anything else you might say is welcomed. Thank you, Steve S

@Steve S inside 4 1/2 inches, laying flat outside leg to leg 12 inches. But also check with Anthony-XLRobots.com

:) j

jdebay , Thank you for responding. Your mini-zip was interesting running EZB3 even before upgrade. I was hoping to purchase something inexpensive and similar for a grandson. Steve S

tried to upgrade him to v4 controller, NO go, it needs 3amps for the servos to work.

Old mini servos...

But added the following v3 ping...

j

Jdebay, If I understand you right, you are saying you could not get ezb4upgraded on your mini six because of power draw? I have noticed that my mini six is a battery hog. 12 servos working at once. Maybe EZ robot Six demands less amp draw with new servos? This is interesting, because I also thought of upgrading my mini 6 with one of my new controllers when I receive them.

@Steve S

v4 can not handle 3 amps (Vcc Continuous Current Draw - 1 A ) taken from v4 datasheet.

i tried. Original controller not ezb, was rated for 3amps too.

j

Thank you J, I appreciate your feedback with your mini six attempt to upgrade to EZB4. I guess I am wondering what I need to do to utilize EZB4 on my mini 6? Do I need to incorporate some power distribution system? Maybe someone can chime in and help us? Thank you

@jdebay... what? Hmmmm the V4 powers Six and JD no problem with 12 heavy duty servos....The V4 has nothing to do with the power that passes through it.... Whatever you have that can't handle the amp draw (battery or power supply) it's nothing to do with the EZB4... In fact the V4 has no on board regulator so whatever power you feed it comes out the power pins... If you are trying to power your bot with alkaline batteries then that would be the source of your power problems... Alkalines cannot not provide enough current for your servos.... you need a niMh or Lipo battery....

BY the way, the main fuse of the EZB4 is rated at 20amps (this is probably indirectly to protect the board's tracers)... That means you can pull over 20amps through the EZB4 before you blow the main fuse... It would take a lot of servo power draw before the main fuse would blow...

@Richard R v4 can not handle 3 amps (Vcc Continuous Current Draw - 1 A ) taken from v4 datasheet.

also tried with lipo that was 7.4volts, old mini servos have max of 6.0 volts.

j

Dude... it works for me and DJ's JD/Six.... how do you explain that? Have you not seen the videos of JD and Six happily working with the V4? Those servos pull way more power than your mini servos do... To boot, I have a 12servo hexapod with power hungry Hitec hs-645 servos with no power issues.... lots of power needed and no issues with my v4.... You're are doing something wrong for sure and you are misinterpreting the V4 data sheet....

Those cheap mini 6v servos can't handle 7.4v.... they won't position well and chatter like crazy...

@Richard R It really doesn't matter... the v4 is working with food-botv4 with no problems. The v3 can stay with mini-zip.

I have a six, jd, and roli ordered 9/18/13, shipping soon.

Thanks for help. J

.... and when you get your six and JD, you'll see what I am talking about.....

@Richard R

I am not saying the v4 can not handle the number of servos...

I am saying can not give 3amps of Vcc Continuous Current Draw per each vcc.

j

Dude, no offence intended but it looks like electronics may not be your thing.... For one thing, you are using the term Vcc in the wrong context... You mean per pin... Your mini servos won't pull 3amps unless they are locked and even then... JD and six have 12 heavy duty servos that pull way more power than your mini six and yet the ezb has no trouble with either of those bots ....

Remember the V4 has no on board regulator and a 20amp fuse for the 24 ports... In contrast the ezb3 has a 5amp fuse and a 5v , 5amp onboard regulator ( I believe)... That means the EZB4 can handle 4 times the power over the EZB3 before the fuse will blow... EZB3 = 5A vs EZB4 = 20A..... It's not rocket science to understand the V4 outperforms the v3 in every way, especially in the power department...

You do realize the whole point of theses power changes in the new V4 was to better support greater servo requirements....

Maybe you need to tell DJ that his new masterpiece isn't as powerful as the V3, then?

... further the "3amp of Vcc" you are referring to is the 3.3v switching power supply for the analog ports... The digital port's power pins as I mentioned are straight through so they don't have a power restriction (no onboard regulator)... The only power restriction would be how much the boards tracers can handle....

@Richard R,

i tried it... it did not work. it works fine with v3. The mini-zip was purchased because six was not shipping. Also, it got me into 3d printing.

dagu recommend their spider controller, which died...

Richard enough said on this subject.

j

Well dude, what can I say?... You gotta' be doing something wrong because unless the V4 is defective it's not the V4.... My much larger Hex works just fine with the v4 and everyone one else using the V4 don't seem to have the issues you're having... You will see once you get your Six and JD....

By the way, did it ever occur to you that the issues you are experiencing with the V4 aren't power related at all? Have you changed your code from the V3 version to V4 version in ARC?... There will need to be subtle changes to your project code to go from the EZB3 to the EZB4.... For one thing servo positions for the V4 are 0 to 180 whereas on the V3 are 0 to 100.... I also mentioned those mini servos work on a max of 6 volts so if you are running the EZB4 with 7.4v then your mini servos won't tolerated that much voltage... They will not work properly.... Remember whatever you plug in to the EZB4 board gets the same voltage as your battery.... Something to remember when you plug 5v sensors (like pings) directly into the ezb4 board....

@RICHARD R

IF YOU LOOK AT FOOD-BOT YOU WILL SEE A VOLTAGE REGULATOR. That I am using.

BUT YOU MAY BE RIGHT ABOUT servo POSITION!

Will make new mini-zip for v4 and give it a try.

J

What amps Anthony? Do you in fact have the data sheet on how much power they can handle? I don't have the answer either... But they obviously can handle the heavy duty servos in the store here (which are included in JD and Six).... I can personally confirm that they can handle a hitec HS-805MG giant sized servo fully locked (accidently locked, wasn't done on purpose)....which is surely drawing more power off of one pin than all the servos on the OPs mini zip combined....

Hey guys,

Figured I'd step in and mention that @Richard R is correct. The power that is distributed from the battery goes through a short circuit protection fuse, then a large Polyfuse and a reverse polarity protection diode and after that it goes directly through the board to the servos. This is what we label as Vin power.

Vcc power is regulated 3.3VDC from the on board power supply and does not go to the servo (digital) headers.

The v4 is rated to handle 5 Amps continuously going through the traces on the board with spikes up to 20 Amps. The traces are actually quite thick and are rated to handle more than that amount of current. If they weren't rated for that current they would instantly burn up. Remember as @Richard R mentioned we are using 12 heavy duty servos with Six.

If anyone wants to send me their wiring diagram or a picture of their setup I can help you figure out the issues you may be having (just use the Contact Us page). Or just post detailed information to the forums and everyone can help.

Maybe it that little Barrel plug adapter that is used at the base of the V4. I don't think it's rated to handle 20 peak amps. It may just do the 5 that's the V4's pass through voltage circuit is rated to handle.

@Jeremie,

thanks for the info.

I found the problem it is in Auto Position control. Working on setting up new Auto Position control and started new project.

j

@jdebay... Wasn't trying to make you feel dumb or wrong... If I did, I apologise... Possibly I am a bit too passionate about the v4 and sometimes I let it get my panties in a bunch.... Anyway, glad you worked it out...

@Jeremie... I appreciate you helping me out here....

@Richard R @Jeremie

I love the V4 too, AND LOVE EZ-ROBOT, but THE V4 is resetting... which makes mini-zip act funny. LOL

I made new project only Auto Position control only one frame and only one action. RESET

I removed barrel plug, RESET

I removed power SHELL part, RESET

Not sure what to do next?

J

Hi @jdebay

I understand you are using many servos on your mini-zip, what are you using as the battery supply?

Could it be a router problem? I had to buy a new router because my old one was causing constant disconnects (resets)....

jdbay uses eneloops rechargebles.

they are 1.2 volts,maybe its posseble when you count them all together, you get a little to low. eneloops are special batt whit very low drain.

@nomad18.08

no voltage regulator, no reset

ez-b v4 info controls input voltage 7.05 volts no reset

over max voltage for servos, interesting.

@Richard R

router is fine. no reset when testing food-botv4 or mini-zip with v3.

j

i count 6 eneloops is 7.2 volts.

i love the little yellow hex bot with the ping sensor for its eyes, it reminds me of the roboquad. i would love to know how to build. its like having a ezb v4 version roboquad