I’m trying like mad to get my phoenix finshed so i can test Xan’s PS2 control but seem to be thwarted at all points.
For ‘some’ reason the green led is refusing to light up on mySSC-32 when i connect power to VL (9V pp3)
I have an 11v Lipoly with a 6v reg powering VS. If i insert the VL=VS jumper the green led lights up and i can connect to the SSC-32 with SEQ, but when i try to apply 1500 to all servos they jek into life then quickly go limp again.
I should also point out that with power to VS only - the green led doesn’t light up - i fighure this is correct.
with the PP3 powering VL i’ve applied multimeter probes to the screw heads and can see that 9V is available, but when i try to conect with SEQ i get a no SSC detected message.
i’ve invested a small fortune on this project and it’s beginning to drive me very slight crazy. Any help with this (and my issues with the BB2 and basic Atom Pro) would be much apprecuited.
The only thing I can really suggest is that the screw heads might not be the best place to test voltage at. If they’ve come away from the board or otherwise failed, you’ll still read 9v at the screw heads. Try reading at the 5v regulator, make sure you have 9v going in and a good solid 5v coming out.
I’ve tried taking reading from the base of the reg, but don’t seem to be getting anything - i may well need advice on how to do this correctly.
To cover my set-up again. This WAS all working ok and now it’s just given up.
I’ve stripped everything from the SSC-32, removed it from the chassis and have it set-up as per the ‘servo mid position’ tutorial. With power to VS and VS-VL jumper in place i get the green led and can communicate with SEQ. The single servo i have attached reacts and holds it position.
WIth the VS-VL jumper removed and 2 power supplies powering VL and VS I DON’T get a green led and can’t connect with SEQ.
again, if anyone can offer some help i’d be very grateful.
Thanks, DS
Sounds like power to VL in the second instance is not connected, or is dead. Try just powering VL by itself to see if the ssc-32 operates. Sounds like the board regulator is operating ok.
Again I am taking guesses, but you say you have an 11v battery that you have a 6v regulator connected to VS. Since you mention phoenix do you have 18 servos connected to the SSC-32. My guess is that might take a bit of current. How much power can that 6v regulator output? Is it possible that you are overloading it and it browns out and the SSC-32 resets?
I believe with power installed to VL only that the led will come on until it receives the first command. If it does not blink at all I would check to make sure it is working properly and that you leads going tinto the battery terminals are good…
Measure ground at the center pin of the regulator, and positive on either side. You should get readings of +5v and +9(ish)v.
If you’re not getting a reading there whilst powering VL, I’d be very tempted to say the screw terminal connector for VL may not have a great connection to the board. It sounds you can get voltage to the regulator from VS, but not VL.
in the SSC32 board, there is a voltage regulator that take the input from the VL pin. the output from this regulator is used to power the ic that in the board, include the microcontroller. most of regulator have a drop-down-voltage 2Volts. it means, if you have a 5 volt voltage regulator, so you must apply at least 7volt as the input voltage for the regulator.
i ever try using a li-ion batt pack. 7,2 volt, when all of my servo moves(18 servos) the voltage of the battery drop from 7.2 until 6 volt. it’s because when the servo moves, it consume a lot of current. for the solution, you can add a capacitor in this part. use a 2200uF 16V.
seperate the vs and vl also an important thing to do.
You have the right idea here, but the value is off. The SSC-32 and the Bot Board II both use LM2937EV 5.0 regulators which are called “low dropout regulators.” If you look at the specs you will see what the regulator requires…
Because the SSC-32 only draws around 50mA the 0.5vdc “dropout” is not the problem here. You can control the robot all from a single 6.0vdc supply as long as the supply can deliver the required current. The reset value for the SSC-32 is around 4.0vdc I think. So it should work fine until the battery goes as low as 4.5vdc. It’s also quite possible that your LiPo regulator can not deliver the required current. LiPo regulators that provide 6.0vdc out are great when used with 7.4vdc LiPo batteries. They are notoriously not able to regulate 12vdc down to 6.0vdc. The have to get rid of a lot of heat. A small space heater worth of heat!
plingboot, you have a dead or very low 9vdc battery. Go get a new one and make your robot walk! 8)
Go get a new one and make your robot walk! 8)