Hi, I just built my aluminum hexapod like the eh-3r. I have the electronics all wired up, 7.2v battery to ssc32 and a 9v to the bot board. Ps2 conector installed and the board wired together as shown in a tutorial. I have a Usb to serial concetor linking the computer to the bot board. When I use the basic atom program and click connect the bot board starts clicking and it types characters non stop on the screen. But I can get a program to um program lol. So I’m not sure if I haven’t really conceted the pc to bot board or if something else is wrong. Also I have a logitech 2.4ghz wireless controller for it. So can some experienced person help me out, I’m brand new to this so try to dumb it down for me lol. Thanks
Hi justin, this doesn’t really answer your question. But you may want to switch to a 6.0 v battery. I have the same outfit and I’m running 7.2 volts but I get servo shutter. I’ll be switching to a 6v battery from Lynxmotion to get rid of the shutter.
I think I had a similar problem as above, check the following:
1- are you using the correct software… not the AtomBasic Pro software… get the other one.
2- check that the com port settings are correct. Sounds like yours aren’t setup correctly… get the right parity, and speed setup. Sounds like your computer and processor/card/software are in synch.
Also, check the wiring diagram, you can run one battery for electronics and servos. You don’t need a 9volt bat. Cross the VS=Vl jumper and run a cable from the ssc board to the bot board… but check the diagrams on Lynxmotion first. All of this is from memory.
I have the basic micro IDE program, now to make things simpler I have disconected the ssc32 and ps2 conector. Still only constant clicking, I can’t get it to program. Every thing apears to be plugged in the right way.
Hello Justin,
First off read the tutorial for the H3-R robots a little more carefully. The code does not support a logitec controller. Madcatz, Pellican, and Hiteck only. As for the programming problems, you may want to read through some of the other posts as there are several things that are explained concerning this. I’m totally confused by the types characters to the screen thing. What in the world are you trying to say here. Please go through the steps you are doing with more detail… Thanks…
Ok I bought a straight through serial cable and tried setting it up as people with similar problems have tried. No luck. Only the factory setting of constant clicking. I tried it on two different computers. FIFO set down to 1, set speed to the 115.2k all 8 bits, no parity, and tried adjusting the reset hold time in the atom IDE. So From what I have read my results might mean I have to return my bot board and atom chip, unless someone knows the fix.
So right now you have just the serial cable connected to the Mini-AB board and nothing else connected to the Mini-AB board? Are any of the LED lights on? Can you provide a screenshot of your setup?
I also have the 9v hooked up to it since it needs power. The green power led is on when the battery is plugged in. Also about the character typing thing, when I try to conect at a lower rate ( I know it won’t work like that) at exactly 9600 it will type “Here” constantly on the screen.
Ok I am now pretty sure it is not my serial cable or computer. That is beacause I have used the ssc32 with the visual sequencer and the robot worked. So I’m thinking its a bad bot board.
Have you tried running everything at one baud rate?
9600 is a good one to run them all at, since I’m sure they can all do at least that.
Verify that the boards themselves are set to 9600 baud by installing the baud rate pins on each as it directs in the manual.
Be sure to change the “Communications Port (COM1) Properties” in your program to 9600 as well.
If that indeed works, try moving everything up to the highest possible baud rate (if one is capable of 9600 max and another is capable of 115200, then 9600 is probably going to be the max that you can use).
Update! I have tested the hardware and it is functional. Jman44 and I were e-mailing about the trouble and he told me the program, compile, and debug buttons were grayed out (never became available). He thought it was a hardware problem, but in fact the only thing that enables the buttons is opening or creating a *.BAS file. In other words if you open a *.TXT file, or anything other than an *.BAS file the buttons will never become available. Jman, if you renamed the file extension that’s your problem.
Now if you are 100% certain you’re opening a real *.BAS file and the buttons are still gray then Nathan at Basic Micro suggests the registry data is bad. He recommends doing the foillowing:
“Have him close the IDE. Then have him click start. Then click run. Then type regedit and hit enter. In the registry editor have him go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and Delete all BasicMicroIDE*** folders.”
WOW thats exactly it!!! I can’t believe my problem was that simple!! The file I downloaded from Lynxmotion.com the one with the attack and flying modes written by Lorrent Gay is a .txt file. I renamed it to end with .bas and presto buttons light up. I bet this is a problem many people have run into when thinking they cannot connect to the bot board. Well Now the solution is found and posted. Basic mirco IDE does not recognize .txt files.
Thanks for all the help, don’t sweat it about not being able to send it today.
The file is a text file in the sense that it can be edited with any text editor, but it really is a *.BAS file. I mean that is the extension the file has when downloaded. We changed to a new server a few weeks back and this may have been different before. But right now if you click on the file on the website, windows asks you “Do you want to run or save this file?” If you click save, it will bring up a browser so you can choose where it will be placed. If you select desktop for example it will save it there with the *.BAS extension. If you select run, then it will bring up the Atom IDE and put the program right in there. I’m not sure how, but somewhere along the line your file was saved as a *.TXT file. It could be that you selected open with notepad? But I’m not sure… Could it be that you “ran” the file before the Atom IDE was installed? If that’s the case, your computer probably used notepad to run it because it had no application set up for the *.BAS extension. Well anyway probably more information than you even wanted… 8)
Actually the BasicMicro IDE DOES recognize txt files. Thats why the Program/Compile/Debug buttons were greyed out. The BasicMicro IDE sees .bas(and some other extensions) as souorce code. It sees .txt and some other extensions as plain text.
Please go through the steps you are doing with more detail… Thanks…
8)
