I recently purchased an SSC-32 controller, which included a USB to serial adapter cable. As can be seen in the attached photo it ‘ain’t gonna work’. Both the SSC-32 and the cable have female fasteners. Please advise as to how I should connect these two items
The hexagonal connectors can be removed from either the SSC-32 or the adapter. We suggest removing them from the SSC-32 using a pair of pliers.
Yea, and when my tire goes flat I can just rip it off the rim to stop the vibration. Neither solution is particularly safe or usable.
The hex spacers are not permanently connected to the SSC-32 board and can be unscrewed easily. The other USB to serial adapters we sell don’t have the hex spacers at all so they cannot be screwed in. If you prefer, the UCON232S has been around for a while: robotshop.com/inex-ucon232s- … ial-1.html
OK. Rios/SSC-32 saga part II. Finished assembling AL5-A, and installed the electronics. Unwrapped the RIOS CD and noticed a big scratch across the face. Spent 30 minutes polishing the CD and it loaded just fine. Plugged in the RS232 cable, turned everything on and got the message on the attached picture. Clicked on YES and the screen said WAITING (see attachment). Clicked on CONNECT and the same “Can’t find SSC-32” error popped up again. Notice that RIOS did find the correct comport. Verified that the windows driver, RIOS setup, and the SSC-32 jumpers were all set to the same baud.
Shut everything down, downloaded and installed LynxTerm, turned everything back on, and VOLLA. I got servos!!! I was able to operate 5/6 servos, 1 HS-422 is dead. Swapped the dead servo with a good one and it’s still dead.
In closing, I need a good RIOS CD and a replacement HS-422 servo.
Thank you.
Hugh
It seems that your USB adapter is not correctly installed.
When having troubles with a USB-to-Serial converter or adapter, please follow these steps:
*]Make sure the appropriate drivers are loaded and that the module is recognized by the Operating System. In windows it will show-up as a COM port and in Linux as a device /dev/ttyUSB0 for instance.
The most common drivers can be found here: ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm
/*:m]
]Once the module is properly installed, do a Loop-back test. This test consists in connecting the RX line to the TX line and sending messages through a serial communication program such as Hyperterminal in Windows. The messages should immediately come back since the lines are connected together.
/:m]
]If there are still problems and there are no shorts or power supply issues, then it is likely the interface is defective and that you will need to exchange it. Please provide your invoice number and product code when requesting an exchange et the support center robotshop.helpserve.com/:m]
Also, it seems unlikely that your servos are dead. Could you please try to operate each servo using Lynxterm: lynxmotion.com/p-567-free-do … xterm.aspx
Are you sure the servos are being powered properly and that they are free to move?
Carlos,
Go back and re-read my original post, especially the part that says that Lynxterm is working, which means that the drivers are fine, the USB adapter is fine, the SSC-32 is fine, and 5/6 servos are working.
Your saying you have swaped the dead servo with a good one and it was not working right ?
Did you put that dead servo where one was working before ?
We apologize for not understanding your post fully. Although we read it thoroughly, we thought that the essence was that : (1) the RIOS software is not working on your computer (2) there is one dead port on your SSC-32.
Are you saying now that all servos work when using Lyxnterm? If not, is it the servo or the SSC-32 post that is not working?
RIOS not responding is usually a drivers issue, a connection issue, or a lack or permissions issue (another program is using the serial port). You might want to run the program in Windows XP compatibility mode.
What comport number has been assigned to the USB serial adapter?
Eric,
Yes. I plugged servo 4, the dead one, into SCC_32 channel 3 and servo 3, the good one, into channel 4. Servo 4 still didn’t work, and servo 3 continued to work.
Carlos,
Unless Lynxterm uses a different set of drivers than RIOS, the drivers are not the problem. The USB adapter cable is the only device using a COM port (10), so there is no conflict of interest there. I’m not using WIN7 or WIN8 so compatibility mode does not exist. I’m running a pure virgin XP SP3 system.
Well, maybe there is. Go into the com port advanced settings and assign the adapter an unused com port of 9 or less. Then try the rios application.
OK. I check my COM ports in Device Manager/advanced and found an interesting display. COM ports 1 to 9 are marked as ‘in use’ but not what is using them. Only COM port 10 is listed because that’s the one USB adapter is plug into. Do you know how to discover what has been assigned to a COM port?
Latest development:
I unplugged all the servos, mounted the AL5A to a board, reinstalled SSC-32 drivers, reattached all the servos, and everything started working. All the servos work. RIOS connects and drives the servos. I don’t know what I did right or wrong, but all is good now.
One thing that happened twice is all the servos became disabled and the arm went limp and fell down. This happened once in LynxTerm when I was testing each servo. I put a value in servo 3 slider and servo 1 became disabled. The second time I was playing a sequence in RIOS and the arm went limp. I looked in the setup screen and all the servos had been disabled.
I’m running all servos and the SSC-32 from the same 6V 2A wall wart which I calculated from the servo data sheets should be sufficient to run all 6 servos with current to spare.
Thanks for all the help.
Hugh
It is sure not a COM or Serial problem.
Serial communication work or not, it would work for all or no servo.
You sure have a problem of power, you should power that from a very higher source of power like 5+amp or a battery
Or at a bare minimum, run a separate power connection to the VL terminal of the SSC-32 and remove the VL=VS1 jumper. That way when the current demands of the servos causes the voltage level to drop, it will not drop too low to the processor on the SSC-32 and cause it to reset.
Good Luck
Kurt
Just for future reference, windows XP may consider the same USB serial adapter as a different adapter and assign a new comport to the adapter each time it is plugged in, leaving the previous comport identified as in use. To fix the problem, go in the comport advanced settings and assign the adapter a lower comport known not be in use (like com5). Windows will then assign the adapter that comport from then on. As to comports 1-9, some older programs were developed using software that only recognised the old windows limit of this range of comports.
I haven’t seen that happen. I have a USB pendent, which is only 1 port, that I plug everything into because it’s easier than unburying the USB hub. The same device always attaches to the same COM port. A device made by different manufacturers will be assigned different COM ports, which is why all the ports are ‘in use’. I’ve had to try different keyboards and mice because of arthritis. I don’t want to arbitrarily uninstall COM devices not knowing which are really needed.
You should not need to worry about keyboard and mice, they do not use COM ports. Also, if you uninstall a com post, its driver will remain in you system, and will be re-installed the next time you connect it.