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Project Parts List Help

Jeremy072021Jeremy072021 Posts: 12
edited 2009-12-06 20:00 in Propeller 1
Okay,
I'm trying to build a Quad Rotor Helicopter, I've made a couple entries on the forum but they haven't been very clear. I'm having a very difficult time putting together a parts list from Parallax. I have 4 brushless motors, 4 speed controllers, and a bunch of sensors including: the GPS module, an Accelerometer, a Gyro, a compass module, 5 ping sensors, and a TSL1401 Linescan Imaging Sensor Daughterboard. There will also be 4-5 servos, an SD Card reader with about 4gb of memory, and either an 11.1v battery or a 14.5v battery (both are lipo). Now, the hard part for me is that I need the thing that controls all of that, I need a propeller chip, but I'm not familiar with it at all. The only thing I'm pretty confident with is the BS2. So I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out what I need in order to get all this stuff hooked up and working. I know this is asking alot, But if someone could please help me out with this, you would help me so very much, and every bit of time is very much appreciated.

I'm not a very experienced person with soldering or anything like that, so a breadboard for now would probably be best...

I have a half decent 3d model of it, I'll attach a picture of it if you need to know what it looks like.

If you have any questions or any suggestions about anything please feel free to email me or reply as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Comments

  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2009-12-04 01:37
    Quite a project!
    For a propeller based board, I would look at:
    http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/Stingray/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/584/Default.aspx
    Should have all the I/o's you need, I think. (I didn't add all of them up yet).
    Or you could pack it all on a Proto Board:
    http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerDevelopmentBoards/tabid/514/CategoryID/73/List/0/Level/a/ProductID/423/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2cProductName
    There is a BS2 oblect in the Object Exchange that could help you make the transition:
    http://obex.parallax.com/objects/30/
    but i feel·it would run out of steam in a short while with all that tou want to do. Spin would be better, and PASM even better.
    But just get started putting the pieces together. One step at a time.

    Jim
    Jeremy072021 said...
    Okay,
    I'm trying to build a Quad Rotor Helicopter, I've made a couple entries on the forum but they haven't been very clear. I'm having a very difficult time putting together a parts list from Parallax. I have 4 brushless motors, 4 speed controllers, and a bunch of sensors including: the GPS module, an Accelerometer, a Gyro, a compass module, 5 ping sensors, and a TSL1401 Linescan Imaging Sensor Daughterboard. There will also be 4-5 servos, an SD Card reader with about 4gb of memory, and either an 11.1v battery or a 14.5v battery (both are lipo). Now, the hard part for me is that I need the thing that controls all of that, I need a propeller chip, but I'm not familiar with it at all. The only thing I'm pretty confident with is the BS2. So I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out what I need in order to get all this stuff hooked up and working. I know this is asking alot, But if someone could please help me out with this, you would help me so very much, and every bit of time is very much appreciated.

    I'm not a very experienced person with soldering or anything like that, so a breadboard for now would probably be best...

    I have a half decent 3d model of it, I'll attach a picture of it if you need to know what it looks like.

    If you have any questions or any suggestions about anything please feel free to email me or reply as soon as possible.

    Thank you.
  • Jeremy072021Jeremy072021 Posts: 12
    edited 2009-12-04 20:21
    Hey thanks for your reply, theres a few problems though, the propeller based board that you suggested would work perfectly, but only has slots for 2 dc motors, I need 4 slots.

    and also I'm not very good with soldering or very experienced with assembling circuits...

    What is "Spin" or "PASM"
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2009-12-04 20:26
    I am not convinced your application will fit on one propeller board - unless it is custom with extra I/O

    Start with making an I/O list

    4 motors, 3 I/O each
    5 servos, 1 I/O each

    etc

    when you have the list, and final I/O count, post again, and we'll try to help [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    Jeremy072021 said...
    Hey thanks for your reply, theres a few problems though, the propeller based board that you suggested would work perfectly, but only has slots for 2 dc motors, I need 4 slots.

    and also I'm not very good with soldering or very experienced with assembling circuits...

    What is "Spin" or "PASM"
    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    www.mikronauts.com Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
    Morpheusdual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
    Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
    Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2009-12-04 20:46
    Ok, Looking back, the Propeller Robot Control Board might not be what you need. You do not need the H-bridge to run the Speed Controllers (ESC). Th ESC's only require 1 I/O pin each, just like a servo. The Proto Board has 32 I/O pins, but I haven't done the final count on what you need yet, (a little busy today).

    Once you have the hardware put together, you'll need to program the propeller chip. Spin is the native Parallax programing avenue for the·Propeller, just as the Basic Stamp Editor is use for programing the BS2 chip. PASM is the assembler tool used to create programs to run faster on the Propeller chip, faster than Spin.

    ·Keep the questions coming, as Bill said, we are here to help.

    Jim
    Jeremy072021 said...
    Hey thanks for your reply, theres a few problems though, the propeller based board that you suggested would work perfectly, but only has slots for 2 dc motors, I need 4 slots.

    and also I'm not very good with soldering or very experienced with assembling circuits...

    What is "Spin" or "PASM"
    Post Edited (hover1) : 12/4/2009 8:51:56 PM GMT
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2009-12-04 20:50
    I also did not have time to do an I/O count, but it seems like he needs more than the easily accessible P0-P27... I'd probably add an I2C MCP23017 for the slower digital I/O.
    hover1 said...
    Ok, Looking back, the <SPAN id=dnn_ctr1492_ProductPage_ProductName>Propeller Robot Control Board might not be what you need. You do not need the H-bridge to run the Speed Controllers (ESC). Th ESC's only require 1 I/O pin each, just like a servo. The Proto Board has 32 I/O pins, but I haven't done the final count on what you need yet, (a little busy today).

    Once you have the hardware put together, you'll need to program the propeller chip. Spin is the native Parallax programing avenue for the Propeller, just as the Basic Stamp Editor is use for programing the BS2 chip. PASM is the assembler tool used to create programs to run faster on the Propeller chip, faster than Spin.

    Keep the questions coming, as Bill said, we are here to help.

    Jim


    Jeremy072021 said...

    Hey thanks for your reply, theres a few problems though, the propeller based board that you suggested would work perfectly, but only has slots for 2 dc motors, I need 4 slots.

    and also I'm not very good with soldering or very experienced with assembling circuits...

    What is "Spin" or "PASM"
    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    www.mikronauts.com Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
    Morpheusdual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
    Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
    Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2009-12-04 20:53
    You are right Bill. I think there may be some expansion needed.

    Jeremy, do you have a look at this thread?:

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=757602

    Jim
    Bill Henning said...
    I also did not have time to do an I/O count, but it seems like he needs more than the easily accessible P0-P27... I'd probably add an I2C MCP23017 for the slower digital I/O.
    hover1 said...
    Ok, Looking back, the <SPAN id=dnn_ctr1492_ProductPage_ProductName>Propeller Robot Control Board might not be what you need. You do not need the H-bridge to run the Speed Controllers (ESC). Th ESC's only require 1 I/O pin each, just like a servo. The Proto Board has 32 I/O pins, but I haven't done the final count on what you need yet, (a little busy today).

    Once you have the hardware put together, you'll need to program the propeller chip. Spin is the native Parallax programing avenue for the Propeller, just as the Basic Stamp Editor is use for programing the BS2 chip. PASM is the assembler tool used to create programs to run faster on the Propeller chip, faster than Spin.

    Keep the questions coming, as Bill said, we are here to help.

    Jim


    Jeremy072021 said...

    Hey thanks for your reply, theres a few problems though, the propeller based board that you suggested would work perfectly, but only has slots for 2 dc motors, I need 4 slots.

    and also I'm not very good with soldering or very experienced with assembling circuits...

    What is "Spin" or "PASM"
  • Graham StablerGraham Stabler Posts: 2,510
    edited 2009-12-04 20:54
    Personally I would buy a protoboard as this is a nice cheap option, it does require soldering but you could just add some sockets around the chip and link these to a small bread board and you are going to need to learn to solder some time! You also need a prop plug to program it.

    Then learn the program the propeller, flash lots of LEDs and such

    Then try interfacing with each of your devices.

    Then you can think about quad rotors!

    Graham
  • Jeremy072021Jeremy072021 Posts: 12
    edited 2009-12-06 07:18
    Hey thanks everybody for helping me with everything so far, you really don't understand how thankful I am to have everybody here, I've been searching for the small amount of time that I do have, and since I'm not so familiar with propeller I figured why not start out with a simple kit. This kit looks like it could do most of the things I need it to do for my helicopter project. But then again I'm not so sure...

    Here's the kit: http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerProgrammingKits/tabid/144/ProductID/415/List/1/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName

    now for what I have planned for this project, How far do you think this kit will get me?
  • Cats92Cats92 Posts: 149
    edited 2009-12-06 08:30
    Hello,

    Begin with the PE kit and look at the PE kit Labs it is very usefull for learning with the Propeller.

    Coming from the BS2 I found it nice.

    Go step by step . Take some time before starting the quad rotor project.

    JP
  • Graham StablerGraham Stabler Posts: 2,510
    edited 2009-12-06 12:57
    Jeremy,

    I think that would be a great way to start, you can learn how to program the propeller, then play with all of your peripherals and then you will be ready to move on to making something that might fly. At that point you will have to abandon the bread board because it will be rather heavy, a cut down protoboard is an easy way to get something light and easy to deal with.

    Graham
  • Jeremy072021Jeremy072021 Posts: 12
    edited 2009-12-06 20:00
    oh ok, I'll stick to this kit for now then, do you think there will be a lot of other components needed to hook everything up and have it working?
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