Complete newbie, any body interfaced a sabertooth 2 with ps2

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
1

Hi

Complete newbie here, has anybody interfaced a PS2 control with a Dimension Engineering Sabertooth dual channel 25amp motor controller?

If so wireless too?

if so any info would be appreciated

I’ve built a “off-road” robot, 4 wheels, metal box chassis, moderate sized motors, big batteries etc and I don’t really want to use a normal RC controller

2

You need a controller of some sort in the middle to read the ps2 controller and translate it into servo-compatible pwm commands for the sabertooth. To capitalize on the bulk of tutorials written and experience on this forum it would be logical to grab a basic atom pro as the controller and the atom bot board to support it. Lynxmotion sells a ps2 wireless controller which goes along with their tutorials and is really all they can generally support due to the widely varying range of knock off ps2 controllers made.

3

Thanks EddieB

I bought myself a bot board 2 and atom pro, I using the A4WD1 rover and ps2 example but with the dual 25amp sabertooth and only 2 motors.

I have a couple of questions though that I’m hoping can be answered

  1. Can I use the Dimension Engineering sportbec (set to 6v) to power the bot board 2 and if so how would I connect it?

  2. If it can’t be used to power the bot board 2 whats my best option?

4

like several of the Lynxmotion controllers there are two power connections for the bb2, VS an VL, and a jumper labeled VL=VS to allow powering VL from the VS supply. VS is for servo voltage, VL is for logic voltage. Since you are not driving servos directly from the BB2 and are using the wireless PS2 I would suggest a 7.2V pack (6xNiMH cells or 2S LiPO) on VS and installing the VL=VS jumper. The sportBEC instead of the 7.2V pack might also work, the one thing I’m not clear on is the pin labeled 7.5V to the PS2… is 6V enough or not I can’t say. If you already have the BEC though it can’t hurt to try it. The Figure 1-1 on this page shows which pins need to be connected to what. There is code further down the page that will let you test the hardware is working (The PS2 interface).

5

The 7.5vdc wire on the PS2 is not used by the Lynxmotion wireless controller at all. So you can leave it unconnected.

The Battery Elimination Circuity in the DE products provide only enough current to run an RC receiver without servos connected. I don’t think it will reliably power up the Bot Board and or SSC-32. Definitely not if servos are connected.