Hi,
I recently purchased and built the AL5D Robotic Arm and am having trouble connecting the PS2 Controller to the arm.
I have downloaded the libraries and code as instructed and can access the arm through arduino however it does not receive signal from the controller.
Pictures of the circuit board will be attached.
Thank you so much,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the pictures. These will help determine your issue(s).
Could you provide us with a link/URL to the code you are currently trying to us / have programmed on your BotBoarduino?
You may have some wrong settings on the jumpers of the BotBoarduino. We assume that you are using the supplied 6 V DC 2 A power supply that comes with the AL5D. If that is the case, please do the following changes:
]Change the 5V/VS jumpers for the blocks of pins connected to servomotors so that they run from VS, not from 5 V DC (on-board regulator). They need the unregulated 6 V DC to run properly. Also, the on-board regulator is not meant to run servomotors (or any other motors) and will probably not be able to provide enough current./:m]
]Remove the VL=VS jumper if you are using two power sources, otherwise you are combining your two sources together and potentially damaging the BotBoarduino and/or the servomotors./:m]
]Alternatively, remove the power connection to VL (you seem to be using a 9V battery) and leave the VL=VS jumper in. You do not need any other power sources other than the 6 V DC adapter connected to VS by the provided wiring harness./:m]
Please see the attached picture for details.
You may also want to try connecting only one servomotor on the BotBoarduino with the PS2 remote control receiver and try a simpler code to test that it is receiving commands properly. You can also try one servomotor with the Servo library example called “Sweep” to see if the servomotor is connected and functioning properly.
Sincerely,
Hi, so in terms of code I’ve used this link lynxmotion.com/images/html/build091b.htm under step 3 for the code for the arm and same goes for the library. Finally how would I wire it so that it would only need power from a portable source? Such as the 9V battery?
With all the servomotors connected, try the keyboard control example and see if this works. Make sure to take care of the points mentioned previously, too.
So using the keyboard control it does not move when I put commands into the serial monitor in arduino. However it does tick occasionally, and every time I input a command the RX light turns on then off quickly, but no response from the servos.
Attached is the latest picture of the wiring with changes 1 and 2.
Hi,
Since it does not work, I would recommend making sure all your wiring is well done. Once that is done, use the Sweep example and try each servomotor one by one making sure they all work (change the code to use different pins, to make sure all connections are good).
Then, if they are all working individually, try the other examples (rotate&extend and position sequence) and see if they work.
If all the servomotors do not work with the modified Sweep example, then you may have damaged them with the 9 V / 6 V sources combined by the VS=VL jumper. The servomotors provided with the AL5 robotic arms can only work at voltages between 4.8-6.0 V DC.
Let us know how this test goes.
Sincerely,
So I ran sweep, rotate and extend, and position sequence all successfully and all servos seem to be working fine. Also, when I do upload the PS2 code for the arm, it seems as though the arm does not get any connection from the controller.
Have you tried inverting the yellow/blue/purple cable in case it is backwards? That is one likely reason why it would not work. You may also want to try some other PS2 controller examples or activate the debug mode (uncomment the #define DEBUG code)
So i did activate the debug and it came back with
" No controller found
Uknown
NONREAL AnswerNONREAL ANSWER NONREAL…"
This was after I inverted the purple blue and yellow wires.
And I have tried examples, changing pins completely to 10 11 12 13 but nothing has seemed to help so far. I can’t tell if it’s the library or the code or the wiring but there is just no connection whatsoever with the controller.
Hi,
We recommend that you open a support ticket here.
Please make sure to mention your order or invoice number and also add a link to this forum thread.
Sincerely,
