I am making a phoenix hexapod with the botboarduino and the SSC 32 controller. In the instructions (here:http://www.lynxmotion.com/images/html/build99f.htm) it says that I should check that a number of LEDs work correctly (first step). When I plug in my 6V battery a green led comes on on the controller and a yellow led comes on on the botboarduino. It says that a green led should come on on the botboarduino however. Is this a problem or is the fact that yellow LEDs labeled PWR and L light up on the botboarduino mean that they are OK?
You should be fine. The general idea is to ensure you don’t burn either board by providing power from two sources, or accidentally reverse the power cables (and fry them).
9V is used to power VL on the BotBoarduino and secondary cables tie VL on the BotBoarduino to the SSC-32’s VL.
Remove the SSC-32’s VL=VS jumper, then connect the 6V harness to the SSC-32’s VS1 terminal. Always ensure red goes to + and black to -.
I am building a phenoix hexapod at the moment and, after a bit of fiddling, have managed to move the code over and it uploaded fine. When I turn on my ps2 controller (which I think is version 2 but I’m not sure, its not three however) the blinking red light on the receiver holds the red colour, indicating to me that it’s connected. However when I press any button the controller nothing happens at all. Does anyone know why this could be the case?
Thanks!
Edit: in addition I can’t make the calibration software change from “not connected” but I think I should try to make the controller move before I confront this issue.
Do you have an “original” Lynxmotion Phoenix hexapod or perhaps a clone or building your own?
Can you provide some images of your setup? You can attach them to your reply.
There are many steps which need to be executed before the robot will respond to PS2 commands.
My hexapod is all made from stuff which comes from lynxmotion except the body and legs which I laser cut myself and the servos which I sourced myself. I have everything the actual kit comes with apart from those things
I’ve attached some photos hopefully they have enough detail. As you can see its a bit of a mess, my plan is to get it working and then make it looks nice and beautiful! Thanks very much for your help, I’m trying to learn about this stuff but right now I have no idea what to do!
Taking a look at the baud rate jumpers on your SSC-32, they seem to be set to 115.2k, rather than what the code needs, which is 38.4
Can you confirm this, change them accordingly and re-try?
I’ve checked the jumpers and both jumpers were there so it was on 115.2 so I’ve taken off the one closest to the ABCD pins so it should now be 38.4. I’ve tried the controls but it still isn’t doing anything. I’ve also attached some pictures of the lights which come on when I have both batteries connected. Thanks very much!
]Did you press the start button first? Nothing will happen until this is pressed./:m] ]Are both lights powered on the receiver when you turn the transmitter on?/:m] ]Check the program which you uploaded to the board, and compare that to the pin connections from the level shifter; follow the wires to ensure they go to the right pins. It should be in PS2_lib/:m]
A heads up - the wires going to VL on the SSC-32 look like they may contact each other or come loose.
Thanks, I can confirm that both lights come on on the reciver and that I press the start button. For the final thing, first when I tried to upload the code it didn’t work as it couldn’t find a ps2 lib file so I downloaded a version by madsci1016 on github and followed the instructions (moving it into the arduino library folder etc.) Everything then worked fine upload wise. Was that the right thing to do? As far as checking the ps2 lib file, if I go in there I get two files called PS2X_lib.h PS2X_LIB.cpp which one should I use? Im also not sure how to view either file with such a file extension.
OK, I’ve managed to open PS2X_lib.h in notepad (it calls its self super amazing ps2 controller arduino library v1.8 by bill porter) it is 6 really long lines and I’m not sure what I should be looking for exactly. Could you help me find what I need to check against the pins?
Double-check that the pins from the PS2 level shifter go to the correct pins on the BotBoarduino as indicated in the PS2 library. From the Hex_Cfg file: #define SOUND_PIN 5 #define PS2_DAT 8 #define PS2_CMD 7 #define PS2_SEL 6 #define PS2_CLK 9
When you extracted the sample code, did all the tabs load when you opened it in the Arduino IDE? github.com/Lynxmotion/3DOF-4DOF … tboarduino
Extract all files to your desktop, open the Arduino software, then File -> Open -> BotBoarduino_CH3R_PS2.ino
CBenson, thank you so much for your help. I spent ages making sure that I got everything right before I asked anyone for help but I missed two things. First, that baud rate and second, one of the ps2 leads was the wrong way around. It now moves! thanks very much!
Thanks I will. The problem I’m having now is that after about three seconds of walking the bot makes a sound like its turning off (kind of the opposite of the noise when you press start on the controller) and then the legs tuck in below itself and the controller stops working. Do you know why that might be? Thanks!
I think I have determined that the problem I was having was the controller was turning the robot off (like pressing start for the second time) but I’m pretty sure it was a loose wire. So that’s sorted.
However I have another problem which I would love your help with if you have a chance. In the assembly instructions it says to use the calibration software you just hold the A button, power the bot and open the software (with the bot plugged in to the computer of course) and it should work but mine always says not connected. What I am doing wrong? Is there a particular COM port I should be on or something?
Not sure - is the BotBoarduino powered when you plug it in?
Easy work around is to use the LynxTerm to calibrate the servos via the SSC-32: lynxmotion.com/p-567-free-do … xterm.aspx
You connect the SSC-32 alone to the computer, ensuring that the wires connecting it to the BBuino are removed, and you replaced the Tx and Rx jumpers, as well as the baud jumpers.
You will offset each servo manually, then write to the SSC-32, which will retain those values.
Yeah the botboarduino is powered, should!d it not be? I’ll give the lynxterm software a go. As I’m not using the botboarduino anymore do I need to connect the ssc32 to the PC via the db9 port? Thanks.
Correct.
If you don’t have a serial port or a USB to serial adapter, then revert back to the hexapod calibration program in step 7 and reconnect the BBduino.
Both the BBduino and SSC-32 need to be powered for this step.
thanks very much!