BasicMicro Ad in SERVO magazine

wowy7 · September 29, 2009, 1:27pm

Hey all,

I just got my October issue of servo magazine, and there is an ad for BasicMicro with all sorts of new products (motor controllers, relays, control boards ect.). I went to their site, and do not see any of this. does anyone know if they are coming soon?

robotdude · September 29, 2009, 1:45pm

I can verify they are coming soon. Got samples here. Just waiting for docs and production. 8)

wowy7 · September 29, 2009, 2:18pm

Noo!!! too much information!

waits anxiously

kurte · September 29, 2009, 3:33pm

Yep, you can see some of these in operation on some of the videos on the Basic Micro website:
basicmicro.com/

So far I have had the luck to play with one of the Cylon LED devices. They have something like 41 different modes. You can switch the mode by clicking on a real tiny switch on the device or better yet, you can send it serial commands that are similar to SSC type commands, and have it select specific modes.

It is also my understanding that you will be able to string multiple of these devices off on one IO line and have different logical device numbers and control all of them with serial commands. That was shown in one of the demo videos up on their website…

Should be fun,
Kurt

robotdude · September 29, 2009, 3:40pm

Yes I can verify this as well. James has set up several devices on a single I/O pin and it works very well. 8)

kurte · September 29, 2009, 3:55pm

Now hopefully someone will ship some standard cables or adapters that make it easy to plug in multiple of these units. My guess is you could use something like the Y adapters: lynxmotion.com/Product.aspx?productID=81&CategoryID=44, but it might be nice to setup a simple daisy chain type of adapter that has one set of female pins to plug in to a board and two sets of male pins to plug the cable into as the cable to the next one…

Kurt

sn96 · September 29, 2009, 4:34pm

kurte:

Robot Dude:

kurte:

It is also my understanding that you will be able to string multiple of these devices off on one IO line and have different logical device numbers and control all of them with serial commands. That was shown in one of the demo videos up on their website…

Yes I can verify this as well. James has set up several devices on a single I/O pin and it works very well. 8)
Now hopefully someone will ship some standard cables or adapters that make it easy to plug in multiple of these units. My guess is you could use something like the Y adapters: lynxmotion.com/Product.aspx?productID=81&CategoryID=44, but it might be nice to setup a simple daisy chain type of adapter that has one set of female pins to plug in to a board and two sets of male pins to plug the cable into as the cable to the next one…

Kurt

Like end-to-end xmas lights!

km6vv · September 29, 2009, 5:35pm

Take a look at page 44!

Alan KM6VV

sn96 · September 29, 2009, 7:17pm

I don’t have my october issue yet. I have not checked the mail in three days. It might be sitting in the mail box!!

wowy7 · September 29, 2009, 8:01pm

Yes, I know, the Creepy Hybrid. 8)

Good job explaining the IK!

wowy7 · October 9, 2009, 6:32pm

New robotics electronics available at BasicMicro!
basicmicro.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=51

zoomkat · October 9, 2009, 11:24pm

I’d like to see the owners manual and schematic on the below board to see how it works. Might be able to drive larger MOSFETs with it.

basicmicro.com/Product.aspx?prod … egoryID=51

kurte · October 11, 2009, 3:45pm

I have been having fun playing with some of these new gadgets . Many of them can be controlled like servos, or simply on or off or through a simple serial interface. Here is some information on some of them by Nathan:

AcidTech:

All the new servo connector stuff(bit,relay,nib switch and cylon) have similar interfacing.

The bit and relay switches have a button on them. On power up there is an LED that blinks to tell you the mode(1 to 4). When you hit the button it cycles to the next mode.

Mode 1 is serial
Mode 2 is RC receiver(<1500us pulse off, >1500us pulse on)
Mode 3 is TTL(low=off,high=on)
Mode 4 is RC and TTL(either RC or TTL signal will cause it to function)

Serial mode format for nib and bit is:

#(Address)(command)enter

Address by default is “A”. Command is “0”,“1” or “S”.

Command “0” turns the switch off(after receiving the enter(13)).
Command “1” turns the switch on(after receiving the enter(13)).
Command “S” immeediately resets the address. Usage is:
“#XS”

X = new address(any byte value from 0 to 255). If typed from a terminal is must be a typable character(eg “XAS”). As soon as the “S” is received the address is changed. No enter(13) is required.

So if you had ten of these you can set each with a unique address and then send all ten a command without an enter(13) and then when all have received their commands send one enter to execute all the commands. I got the idea from the SSC.

NibSwitch has two modes.
Mode 1 = serial
Mode 2 = TTL

We couldn’t do an RC mode on the NIB switch. TTL mode just turns all for switches on or off(high/low).

Serial mode commands are:
“#AS” just like the bit and relay switches
“#AX” where X is “0” to “9” or “A” to “F”. The value represents a nibble value(0x0 to 0xF). The 4 bits in the nibble value rep[resent the state of each of the 4 switches so to turn them all on send a “F”. To turn them all off send a “0”. To turn the first two on send “3”. etc…
Same enter(13) rule applies. You can have muliple nib switches on the same serial pin as long as each has a different address and then send commands to each and then an enter to execute them all at once.

Cylon. 41 modes.
Modes 2 to 41 are the different patterns with different speeds. You can hit each with the button. Note that when running patterns the servo connector will enable disable display based on a TTL or RC signal(like mode 4 of bit and relay switches). Mode 1 is serial mode. You will know you are in that mode because you won’t see any patterns running unless you send it appropriate serial commands. Commands are:
“#AS” where A is the new address just like the other boards
“#AXY”,enter, where X is “0” to “9” for the different patterns and Y is “0” to “F” (eg 16 possible values)for the different speeds. You have more control over the speeds in serial mode than via the external button.

One nice thing about these is you can hook up multiple ones on the same IO line. You do have to rig up some wiring like a Y connector, but it is great if you are running low on IO pins. I have found that the baud mode of i38400 works on them.

Kurt
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