Here is a picture of the wiring. After our conversation this morning I rewired according to the schematic 4-2 that is online. Prior to that it was wired according to the labels on the Saber tooth which has Ch 1 & Ch 2 reversed.
Now the unit moves but with no control no matter how it is wired.
Again thanks for the help.
Kent
The label on my controller says Sabertooth 2 x 12 v 1.0, it has two, three wire sets coming from it not three as your picture shows. Yes the RC set is the HiTec Laser 6 as per your reference.
Kent
I noticed that the previous picture was impossible to follow. I hope this is a better representation.
Kent
The image helped a lot. It looks like the power to the receiver is wrong. Ground is on the far right, power next to it, and signal is on the far left. It looks like you have the red power wire going to the signal pin. Looks like you solved the motor controller going to the wrong channels. 
Also I see that you didn’t remove the protective covering on the laser cut panels.
Jim said:
The image helped a lot. It looks like the power to the receiver is wrong. Ground is on the far right, power next to it, and signal is on the far left. It looks like you have the red power wire going to the signal pin. Looks like you solved the motor controller going to the wrong channels.
This HiTech controller is labelled opposite the one on Schematic 4-2. I have wired it in the other configuration with no better results.
What are the laser cut panels?
What about the position of the 6 nano switches?
I got out a macro lens to better illustrate the parts.
I am getting a little anxious. Monday I leave for a 2 month filming assignment on a remote location of Kodiak Island. I will be filming a Kodiak bear family and had hoped to mount a GoPro on this robot for some unique footage.
Here is the link to last years adventure.
youtube.com/watch?v=lD63JOjqTDg
All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Kent
I see what you are saying, but please leave it where the motor controller connectors are in channels 1 and 2 and you still haven’t fixed the issue with the power. In the image above the row closest to you is ground, the next row is power, and the last row is signal. You have the ground right, but you have changed the connector so the red power wire is not going to the power row. You have it going to the signal wire. The receiver is not getting any power.
The plastic panels that go on the top and bottom of the rover. They have a masking on them that when removed reveals a very clean shiny surface.
They are perfect for the tutorial as it is in figure 4-2.
I put the red wire to the middle row. No idea how it got moved but it still acts erratically and I have minimal control. For your information it acted normally for a short period of time and than back to uncontrollable.
If the thing acted right for even a short time, then start fiddling with the wires to see if you can find a bad connection somewhere. With power restored to the receiver maybe we can make some progress.
Good Morning Jim;
Ok you definitely need to track that wiring issue down so it doesn’t come back to bite you later.
The speed should be the same in forward and reverse. Now that the main problem is established you should be able to go back to the tutorial to sort out the reversed controls. It could be the motors are wired in reverse, or the radio needs some channels to be reversed. But you should be able to get it going from the tutorial. If not then tell me in what step of the tutorial it does not do what the text says it should.
One thing… If you flip switch 5 on the Sabertooth off it will disable the autocalibrate. Then you adjust the sliders on the sides of the joysticks till the robot does not creep in any direction. Than you should have full speed in forward and reverse.
On the Sabertooth there is a red Error light that randomly blinks when the unit is under power. If I turn the unit on operate for 30-90 seconds that error light blinks and eventually the Forward Reverse slow to a slow crawl. If I then turn the unit off and back on it will run normally for another 30-90 second cycle.
Is it getting hot? The Sabertooth may have been damaged in your earlier wiring changes. Sounds like it’s the culprit.
The folks who did the original BeetleCam are not selling anymore perhaps until the end of 2013.
So I am interested in building something similar myself.
However I want to build a 6 WD version, which is their latest version.
Same as the example I want to have tilt for the camera, be good if pan used to rotate the vehicle.
Need good range say 100 metres or approx 300 feet.
Does not need to go fast.
Looking at the options for tilt of the camera I am not sure what I need but needs to support Canon DSLR and 35mm lens.
Option of adding Zoom control later would be good.
I have separate remote camera for focus and trigger.
I will look at placing a protective shell on top of the whole rig.
I don’t understand the specs of the Hitec RC, I read
HiTec Aggressor 2-Ch AM 75MHz with Rx and servo
or
HiTec Aggressor CRX 75MHz 3 FM w/ DCS Rx and Servo
Which one is best or are there better choices now?
The Thumper would make a good 6WD platform:
robotshop.com/dagu-wild-thum … sis-2.html
If you only need a tilt mechanism for a camera, consider the SPT400 series which can be found here:
robotshop.com/pan-tilt-servo-gearboxes.html
Note that they are supposed to be used with a standard sized Hitec servo.
We don’t offer (nor are aware of) any systems which can automatically adjust zoom, so you may need to develop your own.
As for the R/C system itself, the choice is yours. You’ll need two channels for the base, one for the tilt, and one for the zoom.
It may be good to have a spare channel or two for later.
robotshop.com/rc-communications.html
Necessity brings me back to this issue. I have never been able to get the unit to work. This spring I have a project that requires this unit. I have no experience with robotics nor do I have the necessary tools to properly trouble shoot.
Is there someone I could hire to make this unit work?
Thanks for the patience.
Kent Jakusz
You might consider contacting the engineering department at a local university and paying a student to help you complete the project. Unfortunately we don’t have a list of consultants.
