1. Have you tried just hooking it up to a reliable power source and turning it on with no load (plain board w/ bs2 and nothing else)?
2. Have you ever taken it off the BOE Bot and programmed it while it was on a table? The table top might have short circuited the board.
3. What exactly gets hot? Is is the regulator? Is it the BS2? something else?
4. What voltage are you giving it? Standard four AA batteries or something else?
5. What is the voltage (as given by a multimeter) at the VDD header?
6. Is your battery pack installed correctly? Sometimes the battery pack can get shorted on various things...
The batteries get hot, the place between the bread board and the switch gets hot. Four AA batteries 6v. I always program it in the bot. I ran out of VSS ports in the prototyping area so I plugged one of the Qti Sensor's B connection into the X1 Vss Port. The only place the BS2 has ever been was in the BOE, and the foam.
Sounds like you have a short somewhere. Can you try powering it from a wall wart? Something 6-12 volts would work for testing. Another thing you can do before that is to take everything off your board, and see if the problem is still there (see #1). Also, do you have #5? Another thing: check the battery voltage before and after you hook it up to the board, and see if they're different.
No, no, NO! If there's a short, the LAST thing you want to do is provide it with MORE power! Do not plug in a wall transformer! The best thing to do is remove all your wires and components from the breadboard and power it up empty to see if the short persists. If not, add one piece at a time until your circuit either works or things start to heat up. Then you will have isolated the problem.
Remember your frame is your system ground (VSS) anything touching it will be a short! Since the batteries are heating up check the continuity with your meter with out the batteries installed and connect the ground (Black) lead to the frame of the BoeBot to the ground wire inside of the battery compartment you should see a short, then check the positive side (red wire) inside of the battery compartment, at this point you should not get any reading at all or as an open connection, this is good. By checking the connections in the battery compartment you just also checked the wires as well. next thing is to check and see if and components are touching the ground metal frame of your bot if so this will cause a short, correct this problem and retest your bot. When testing electronics make sure your use a logic approach just like you do when you program and always start with the source (VIN) and work backwards till you find the problem with either a component that has shorted such as an LED or transistor, ect. But remember ALWAYS use Logic to trouble shoot your problems.
Jax
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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
GWJax said...
Also remember, You said that you used up all your VCC lines, Really you did not since the entire metal frame on the bot is your command ground (VCC)!
VCC is not ground, it's the positive voltage. VSS is ground.
I know that's what you meant, but let's try to avoid confusion here.
I think that the best route here is to remove things and add them again one at a time, powering it up each time to make sure it's working. There is clearly a short somewhere. Starting from scratch will be educational and safe.
The one thing I don't have is an external PSU for my bot. I should've bought one...
And one more thing any more IDEAS? MY Boe-Bot's not even turning on now. I can't even tell if its on or not because the PWR Led never turns on.
Can somebody tell me, How do I fix this thing? I bought this just about 2 weeks ago and I haven't even got it to move forwards with PBASIC 2.5!!!
All I was doing was physical modifications!!!
You can start by removing anything on the board and check to see if you have the 5 Volts coming out of pin 21 (Vdd) on the basic stamp 2 and if you have the homework board check through the Vdd pins. If not then check to see if you have any voltage comming into the board via pin 24 (Vin) and on the homework board again the Vin pins. If you have 5 or more on this line the next thing is to check the 5V regulator on the board.
Do these checks first then well go from there.
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
GWJax said...
You can start by removing anything on the board and check to see if you have the 5 Volts coming out of pin 21 (Vdd) on the basic stamp 2 and if you have the homework board check through the Vdd pins. If not then check to see if you have any voltage comming into the board via pin 24 (Vin) and on the homework board again the Vin pins. If you have 5 or more on this line the next thing is to check the 5V regulator on the board.
Do these checks first then well go from there.
Jax
Dude What's Pin 21? I don't have a HOBO-BOT though.
Also pay attention to how we're trying to help you. You haven't said yet whether or not you've removed things from the board to see if it works like that. You've simply repeated that it doesn't work. We can't tell whether or not you've tried what we're suggesting, and as a result, we can't help you.
As GWJax said, remove anything that you added from the board (that means no servos, no LEDs, no sensors, nothing but bare board), power it up, and see if you're getting the proper voltage at the VDD pin (21). Then report to us that you've done that, and tell us what happened.
You should also make sure that you're using fresh batteries. You had some kind of short in your setup, and that can mess up the batteries.
Post Edited (sylvie369) : 1/18/2009 12:03:01 PM GMT
GWJax said...
You can start by removing anything on the board and check to see if you have the 5 Volts coming out of pin 21 (Vdd) on the basic stamp 2 and if you have the homework board check through the Vdd pins. If not then check to see if you have any voltage comming into the board via pin 24 (Vin) and on the homework board again the Vin pins. If you have 5 or more on this line the next thing is to check the 5V regulator on the board.
Do these checks first then well go from there.
Jax
Dude What's Pin 21? I don't have a HOBO-BOT though.
The board of education that comes with the Boe-Bot has a BS2 chip module on it that can be removed! the Homeworkboard has the BS2 mounted via SMD to the board so I would not tell you to check pin 21 on this chip due to the pins are too small together and you might short out the BS2 interrupter. follow the above link for the pin outs of your stamp. And one more thing I'm not Dude but Jax or GWJax, Please refrain from using the younger slang to me please , Thanks..
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
GWJax said...
You can start by removing anything on the board and check to see if you have the 5 Volts coming out of pin 21 (Vdd) on the basic stamp 2 and if you have the homework board check through the Vdd pins. If not then check to see if you have any voltage comming into the board via pin 24 (Vin) and on the homework board again the Vin pins. If you have 5 or more on this line the next thing is to check the 5V regulator on the board.
Do these checks first then well go from there.
Jax
Dude What's Pin 21? I don't have a HOBO-BOT though.
The board of education that comes with the Boe-Bot has a BS2 chip module on it that can be removed! the Homeworkboard has the BS2 mounted via SMD to the board so I would not tell you to check pin 21 on this chip due to the pins are too small together and you might short out the BS2 interrupter. follow the above link for the pin outs of your stamp. And one more thing I'm not Dude but Jax or GWJax, Please refrain from using the younger slang to me please , Thanks..
Jax
I said, I do not have a HOBO-BOT. Which means, I use the BOE. I have a Board of Education USB version Rev D. What is it with the Homework board stuff? Isn't this topic about the BOE? Anyways I know the BS2-IC can be removed but, it'll be a lot harder to use the module because I'm a noob with Basic Stamp.
Comments
1. Have you tried just hooking it up to a reliable power source and turning it on with no load (plain board w/ bs2 and nothing else)?
2. Have you ever taken it off the BOE Bot and programmed it while it was on a table? The table top might have short circuited the board.
3. What exactly gets hot? Is is the regulator? Is it the BS2? something else?
4. What voltage are you giving it? Standard four AA batteries or something else?
5. What is the voltage (as given by a multimeter) at the VDD header?
6. Is your battery pack installed correctly? Sometimes the battery pack can get shorted on various things...
Post Edited (Ezsynn) : 1/17/2009 4:19:59 AM GMT
-Phil
That's what I was getting at... Didn't quite get there! :b
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
Post Edited (GWJax) : 1/17/2009 6:11:39 PM GMT
VCC is not ground, it's the positive voltage. VSS is ground.
I know that's what you meant, but let's try to avoid confusion here.
I think that the best route here is to remove things and add them again one at a time, powering it up each time to make sure it's working. There is clearly a short somewhere. Starting from scratch will be educational and safe.
Starting from scratch is correct but one must check the wires from the battery compartment as the first step in my option.
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
And one more thing any more IDEAS? MY Boe-Bot's not even turning on now. I can't even tell if its on or not because the PWR Led never turns on.
Can somebody tell me, How do I fix this thing? I bought this just about 2 weeks ago and I haven't even got it to move forwards with PBASIC 2.5!!!
All I was doing was physical modifications!!!
....
Do these checks first then well go from there.
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
Dude What's Pin 21? I don't have a HOBO-BOT though.
Here is a diagram of the BS2, with all of the pins labeled.
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/schem/BS2revJSchematic.pdf
Also pay attention to how we're trying to help you. You haven't said yet whether or not you've removed things from the board to see if it works like that. You've simply repeated that it doesn't work. We can't tell whether or not you've tried what we're suggesting, and as a result, we can't help you.
As GWJax said, remove anything that you added from the board (that means no servos, no LEDs, no sensors, nothing but bare board), power it up, and see if you're getting the proper voltage at the VDD pin (21). Then report to us that you've done that, and tell us what happened.
You should also make sure that you're using fresh batteries. You had some kind of short in your setup, and that can mess up the batteries.
Post Edited (sylvie369) : 1/18/2009 12:03:01 PM GMT
The board of education that comes with the Boe-Bot has a BS2 chip module on it that can be removed! the Homeworkboard has the BS2 mounted via SMD to the board so I would not tell you to check pin 21 on this chip due to the pins are too small together and you might short out the BS2 interrupter. follow the above link for the pin outs of your stamp. And one more thing I'm not Dude but Jax or GWJax, Please refrain from using the younger slang to me please , Thanks..
Jax
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
I said, I do not have a HOBO-BOT. Which means, I use the BOE. I have a Board of Education USB version Rev D. What is it with the Homework board stuff? Isn't this topic about the BOE? Anyways I know the BS2-IC can be removed but, it'll be a lot harder to use the module because I'm a noob with Basic Stamp.
Post Edited (Ezsynn) : 1/19/2009 8:13:26 AM GMT