Hi! This is my first time posting, so please don’t flame me if I sound like a noob. I am just trying to learn how to use the SSC-32, but I seem to not be able to get the computer to send commands to it. Here’s what happens: I connect my 6v NiCd battery pack to VS1, and all the jumpers are set so VS1 = VS2 = VL. The green LED turns on. I Connect 2 standard servos to the 0 and 1 pins on the SSC-32. I connect the serial cable to my Windows-based PC and to the SSC-32 (straight serial-to-serial), and start up LynxTerm. I type “ver” (without quotes, of course) just to test the connection and… nothing. I try again and more nothing. I check the baud rates and baud jumpers to see if they match, and they do. I try some other suggested commands (#0 p1500 #1 p1500) and still more nothing. I have included witht his post pictures of my setup and screen shots of LynxTerm. Any and all help will be appreciated. Hope to hear from you soon!
-Jay
“Nothing is fool proof; For fools are ingenious, and will find a way.”
When you type commands in the LynxTerm window, does the green light on the SSC-32 flash? If not, it is not receiving data. This may be caused by a bad cable, bad port drivers, or perhaps something else.
If the green light IS flashing when you send it data, then it has to be something on the SSC-32 end (assuming you are sending valid commands, of course).
No. The light does not flash. It just stays lit steadily. I use the same Serial cable on my BASIC Stamp robot, and it works just fine. I try to switch the com port in the LynxTerm program, but it just freezes LynxTerm which ultimately ends up in me opening another LynxTerm window.
I notice you’re using COM3. Is that a USB to serial adapter? If so, do a search for threads regarding those on this forum. There have been a few people who have had issues with the adapters.
If you ARE using a USB to serial adapter, try plugging it directly into a true serial port and testing it. If it works then, you can narrow down your problem to the adapter or its drivers.
If you are already using a true serial port, then I’m not sure. Perhaps try COM 1 or 2 from the start. I have no idea why the LynxTerm would freeze when you try to switch ports.
Trying to think of other solutions, but right now, that’s all I can come up with. Hopefully with this, you’ll at least be able to narrow down the source of the problem.
I only use the true serial output on the back of my machine. I don’t know why, but LynxTerm defaults to COM 3. Before, when I used the drop down box to select the COM port, I didn’t notice that I could scroll up or down in the port number list. After reading your reply, Gemini, I noticed the scroll bars, and sure enough at the top of the list, there was COM 1 (Although the COM port numbers are completely out of order, which is how I became confused.) I selected COM 1, typed the “ver” command, and got a response from the SSC-32. Problem solved. Thanks for your help!
-Jay
“Nothing is foolproof; For fools are ingenious, and will find a way.”
Something else I noticed earlier is that the commands you typed had what looks to be the British pound symbol. The SSC-32 wants them to start with #. I didn’t mention it before, because you said the light never blinked, but if you continue to have problems (not getting servos to move), that may be why.
Chances are, though, that if you are using a European keyboard, that it is the same character. I don’t know anything about that, but figured I’d mention it while I was thinking about it.
I am using an American Keyboard which uses the standard # symbol, but for some reason LynxTerm represents it as the british symbol. Weird. It doesn’t affect functionality though.
well that would be why the # sign, which is called both the number and the pound symbol, is displayed as the English pound symbol. Try Lucidia Console if you want to see the # symbol.
If I’m looking at your picture correctly, it looks like you’ve got a single jumper on the right side of the four baud rate pins.
That would correspond with 9600 baud rate.
If you put a second jumper next to it, you’ll have 115200, which is quite a bit faster.
Since you’re connecting directly to your computer, you won’t need to worry about other components being able to handle that rate.
Simply changing the baud rate in the SSC-32 settings to 115200 will remedy that.
By the way, you forgot to put “” at the end of your command.
That’s the SSC-32’s syntax for a carriage return and a line feed.
What are those?
Well, if you think of an old-fashioned typwriter, it makes sense.
A carriage return returns the cursor (if you will) to the beginning of a line.
A line feed moves the cursor down to the line below it.
Together, they’re the equivalent of pressing “Enter” (or “Return”) in a word document.
This tells the SSC-32 where the end of that set of servo instructions is.
I am just trying to learn how to use the SSC-32, but I seem to not be able to get the computer to send commands to it. Here’s what happens: I connect my 6v NiCd battery pack to VS1, and all the jumpers are set so VS1 = VS2 = VL. The green LED turns on. I Connect 2 standard servos to the 0 and 1 pins on the SSC-32. I connect the serial cable to my Windows-based PC and to the SSC-32 (straight serial-to-serial), and start up LynxTerm. I type “ver” (without quotes, of course) just to test the connection and… nothing. I try again and more nothing. I check the baud rates and baud jumpers to see if they match, and they do. I try some other suggested commands (#0 p1500 #1 p1500) and still more nothing. I have included witht his post pictures of my setup and screen shots of LynxTerm. Any and all help will be appreciated. Hope to hear from you soon!