Connecting SSC32 to BB2

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
1

Hi all,

Now I’ve got to the point of connecting the SSC32 to the Bot Board II, When bought the BB2 it was supplied with a servo extender cable but there are only two wires in it a black and a yellow, on one end of the cable there is a three pin terminal and on the opposite end there is a two pin terminal. Is this the correct cable to use to connect the two boards together? Below is step 13 of the Phoenix Bot Board II / BASIC Atom Pro Tutorial in which a servo extender cable is modified but looking at the schematic it looks like the red wire is plugged into the board also.

Step 13.
To connect the Bot Board II to the SSC-32, you will need to modify a 6" servo extender cable. Remove the header pins from the cable so you have two female ends. Then use an exacto knife to gently pry the tab up to pull the red wire free on one end. Cover the exposed female connector with heat shrink to avoid accidental shorts.

Remove the TX and RX jumpers from the lower-right corner of the SSC-32, and plug the unmodified end of the cable in. Yellow on TX, red on RX, and black on ground.

lynxmotion.com/images/html/build159.htm

Schematic.gif
Schematic.gif600×696 83.2 KB

2

Just did some more reading up on the topic and I found out this cable with two wire is for unidirectional and the cable with three wires is for bidirectional communication. Would I be correct on saying I need the cable with three wires?

3

Yes, you have TX, RX and ground

4

Thanks Putt Putt

5

Is there a way to test if the BB2 and SSC32 are communicating properly? Right now I’m trying to move the hexapod using the Phoenix code. At first I though it was the Lynxmotion controller not communicating with the receiver, but I ran the PS2 test program and it seemed to be working just like the tutorial said (also the receiver goes from GREEN:ON, RED:BLINKING to GREEN:ON, RED:ON when I turn on the Lynxmotion controller. So I figured it might be the bidirectional connection between the BB2 and SCC32.

6

If you are running something that you believe it outputting something to the SSC-32, you should see the LED on the SSC-32 flash on and off. This says it is receiving something, but maybe not something that is right.

If you have bidirectional communications setup between the BB2 and the SSC-32 you can always issue the: “ver” command and see if you get any results back from the SSC-32…

ab var byte(30)
  serout cSSC_OUT, cSSC_BAUD, "ver", 13]
  serin cSSC_IN, cSSC_BAUD, 25000, timeout, [str ab\30\13]  ; read into our large buffer...
  serout S_OUT, i9600 "SSC version: ", str ab\30\13, 13] 
  goto NoTImeout
timeout:
  serout S_OUT, i9600, "SSC Timeout", 13]
NoTimeout:
...

Warning I typed the above in directly so there may be problems with it… But it should give you an idea of how you might try… Also there is code similar to this already in the phoenix code.

Also as there is not much information in your post to tell me much other than I assume Bap28 and the like. Also you did not mention which version of the phoenix software you are trying to use. There are some versions of the software up on the forums that use binary commands to talk to the SSC-32, but these require you to update to a version of the firmware that supports it, such as: lynxmotion.com/images/files/ … EGP_A4.abl

Good Luck
Kurt