Robot Blinds Control

DJ

i was thinking same but for a doorlock then. is this a base off six with magnets in?

Hmm... Using an IoTiny, and doing the super cap mod so that you don't need a killer expensive AC/DC converter, this could be a little less expensive than the least expensive home automation blind controllers.

https://home-automation.smarthome.com/search?w=blinds

Maybe 3D print a case for it all....

I was going to use an IoTiny - but didn't have a lipo battery adapter or battery

it would be great to have a batt that can be used for ez robots,where you, canstandly charging en still use the robot.

Nomad, They are big and heavy, but Lead Acid gel cells can be charged and used at the same time. Not suitable for something like a JD, but for large or stationary robots, that is an option.

Alan

hi alan

i have an robot alpha 1 S who i can charge and play with same time.

alpha 1s robot

Show me in the manual where the alpha 1 can be charged and used at the same time

at this moment they are renewing the site,do i found this manuel.

manuel alpha 1s

Where does it say the lithium battery can be used while charging?

in the old online manuel i did say that.but its gone now. here a pic from my ipad with program alpha 1s

DJ, that's an awesome idea. My wife has added that to my make list.

Nice view from your desk too!

Thanks holy!

Nomad, That software option must void all battery dangers - which is why they added it as an option and most likely disabled by default. It's impossible to safely charge a lithium battery while it's under high current unpredictable load of servos/motors. Lithium batteries are far less forgiving than lead/nicad/etc.... in that lithium batteries explode much easier.

I would never, ever "play while charging" lithium batteries.

dj wow these chinese robots are dangerous.

thanks for the warning

I should add - that maybe their lab tests haven't experienced any harmful effects of charging while playing. Lithium batteries these days are quite robust, and the chargers are mostly smart enough to avoid over charging. So, maybe the charge while playing isn't AS dangerous as it could be, but it will surely put a significant load on the battery that will shorten its lifespan.

It's just that using the battery while charging is more complicated than we think. However, with solid state such as a computer or phone, it's much easier to moderate the battery's charge level. Also, there's normally two separate circuits in that type of device which isolates the battery during charging off mains.

The real issue becomes a problem when servo motors are introduced to the charging process. The servos move erratically by software and human control. Also, the servo motors are experiencing unpredictable loads based on weight from the real world. While this is happening in realtime, the charger which is monitoring the battery voltage and is constantly having to decide what the heck is going on. The charger is going to be always wondering why the battery voltage is fluctuating so much - and due to its binary charge operation, it'll be on/off/on/off/repeat.

Lithium batteries also really really really really (times a thousand) do not like to be over charged. In fact, their chemical makeup kind of prevents overcharging like nickel/lead by the way the battery works internally - which means overcharging doesn't excite the battery enough to produce higher voltage, such as with nickel or lead. Instead, the lithium battery gets super hot, which generates harmful gases and it explodes.

That's why lithium can dangerous - but so are most things, like steak knives and toothpicks... you just have to follow their operating instructions

I routinely use my new iphone while it is charging. I do not consider it a cheap Chinese product.

The key is that the power supply has to be big enough to run the whole device, spikes and all. Any extra current it has in its capacity is sent to charge the battery which is not connected to the device at the time. High power FETs for the switching. Balance voltages are monitored during the charging, I have no idea if this robot has that feature but it is pretty common.

Perry, read my comment. The device you're discussing is solid state and low power. Plus, iPhone has an isolated supply for the battery - something like that is very challenging with motors due to the current requirements. Above comment provides details on this subject

Came in late on this one

Haha - no prob

i read UB places some safety stuff in the robot.but that is not the only problem. if you make poses and you get an update ,your poses are gone. i had bouth a alpha2 on indiego,but now i cant get on there server, means i have a useless robot.

great text about the batteries

i just saw the video again end it solved a problem i had some time ago.i got a message in ARC saying your main project is not set ,(mobile ). i just saw you can set it in the cloud save under ezbv4 is main control for mobile.

in post #6 alan speaks off a batt Lead Acid gel cells .do they excist for 7.4 volts? and its only for an ezbv4 whit cam,nothing els.also would it be save to use the , ezbv4 for lets say 12 to 18 houres on power?

Quote:

in post #6 alan speaks off a batt Lead Acid gel cells .do they excist for 7.4 volts? and its only for an ezbv4 whit cam,nothing els.also would it be save to use the , ezbv4 for lets say 12 to 18 houres on power?

Typically 6v or 12v. EZ-B with just camera could use either. You only need 7.4 if using servos.

How long it will run depends on the amp-hours the battery stores vs the amps drawn by the EZ-B and camera (which is not much).

Alan

hi alan

i found this batt. what do you think.

batterie 6 volt

and this charger

charger

Those look fine. It will take about 6 hours to fully charge the battery, but with 12 amp hours that battery should last a long time between charges. The EZ-B and camera draws just 180ma, so it will run for a couple of days between charges if I am doing the math right.

You will need to set the low voltage alert to lower voltage or disable it so the EZ-B does not complain.

Alan

alan thank you.now i have something to go on.set volt to 6 volt on the web page

Quote:

alan thank you.now i have something to go on.set volt to 6 volt on the web page

I would set it to 5, not 6.

Alan

Ah ok

hi alan

stil have a question.would it be connected like this.see pic.

i would use six body cause it has an on/off swiths

Why are you using the Hexapod Base over the Power shell?

Offiously

one reason could be,the six body has a on/off switsh. and some connections for if you using cube's.

I never saw this one. Cool. Love it!

I just powered my outside blinds last week. Looks like I have the same ones you have DJ. I was thinking of a way to get an EZB to do it but I ended up just attaching a battery powered drill to the crank. My drill has a removable key less chuck that stays on the crank shaft. I just pop the drill into it and pull the trigger. My friends were teasing me and saying I needed to do something like this. Now I'm going to have to do it this way.

How does your setup stand up to rain, snow and humidity?

That version wasn’t good for rain or anything.

I’d use an esp32 instead of an ezb. They’re super cheap. And won’t matter if they get damaged cause they’re like $4 usd

Here’s a link to the esp32 I recommend: https://synthiam.com/GettingStarted/Build-Robots/DOIT-Esp32-DevKit-v1-18272

Hi @DJ, do you think that it would be possible to use the ESP32-cam model (ESP32-cam) and in particular have access to the camera with ARC? They are as cheap as the 'classic' ones and could be used for small surveillance bots

Unfortunately not. The camera for that device is 1 frame per second. It’s just not worth the effort

Oh, I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

There’s additional discussion around the esp32 and it’s low frame rate camera here: https://synthiam.com/Community/HackEvents/ESP32-Connect-to-EZ-Builder-18281

Yeah, it's really not that great of a camera. I found a esp-32 board with camera on a special sale ($6.97) awhile back and figured what the heck give it a try for that price! It was pretty bad, in fact I thought the camera module was bad and ordered another from Ebay. Same thing, not very clear. If you cut the small glue mark on the outside edge of the lens you can focus it to what you need. I did that and then set it up to monitor my 3D printer to watch it from a cell phone. It worked out great for that. Although you see the printer head jumping the rest of the picture is super clear, if that makes sense?

Hope this might help someone.

Good feedback herrball.

it would just be such a poor user experience that I can’t support such a poorly implemented product. We’d have so many people asking why their camera experience was sooooo bad - and that’s not good for us