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Help....Penguin has taken up smoking — Parallax Forums

Help....Penguin has taken up smoking

Capt.KerryCapt.Kerry Posts: 28
edited 2011-01-09 01:28 in Robotics
While trying to calibrate servos the stride servo refused to adjust and started smoking. Both servos are free to move and the stride servo was not at its limit stop at any stage during the operation. Any suggestions as to what might have caused this?

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-12-26 19:28
    That's a curious thing. Sometimes good Penguins just go bad... http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/557690

    http://www.fugly.com/videos/3525/penguin_freakout.html
  • Capt.KerryCapt.Kerry Posts: 28
    edited 2010-12-27 02:31
    I was looking for another servo and the ones on the Parallax website (discontinued) are GWS Naro STD but the ones on my Penguin are GWS Naro HP/STD. What's the difference? I presume the STD are fine for the application if I can find them. (I'm in Ireland).
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2010-12-27 03:35
    Capt.Kerry wrote: »
    While trying to calibrate servos the stride servo refused to adjust and started smoking. Both servos are free to move and the stride servo was not at its limit stop at any stage during the operation. Any suggestions as to what might have caused this?
    So you have one good servo that calibrated properly and the other one smoked? You can double check wiring with the online Penguin manual which has the colored wires indicated for plug in, and the voltage across the header pins with a meter. Servos can occasionally go bad with some internal short and smoke but I've never seen this happen on Penguins, even ones with heavy use. Also my Penguins have only the GWS Naro STD servos. The HP stands for High Powered.
    • Model: GWS Naro High-Power BB Servo
    • Dimension: 21.8 x 11.0 x 19.75 mm (0.86 x 0.43 x 0.78 in)
    • Weight: 8.80 g ( 0.31 oz)
    • Speed @ 4.8 V: 0.09 sec/60 deg
    • Torque @ 4.8 V: 1.4 kg-cm (19.00 oz-in)
    • Speed @ 6.0 V: 0.07 sec/60 deg
    • Torque @ 6.0 V: 1.70 kg-cm (24.00 oz-in)
  • Capt.KerryCapt.Kerry Posts: 28
    edited 2010-12-27 14:20
    Penguin has been operating for over a year without trouble and was working fine just before re calibration attempt. The tilt servo was adjusting fine but the stride servo would not move. Then I noticed the smoke coming from his nether regions and pulled the batteries. I have unplugged the servos and run some programs that do not require movement and cerebrally he seems ok. I guess I will try to source a servo on ebay.
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2010-12-29 10:57
    Use a meter to verify a shorted servo. You have one good one for comparison. I've taken these apart for repairs. Usually the pinion wears out. Sometimes I'm successful. Sometimes not.
  • Capt.KerryCapt.Kerry Posts: 28
    edited 2011-01-04 09:31
    Just to follow up.... I had sent a message to Parallax tech support on this subject and without any fuss they sent me two replacement servos free of charge. Thanks Parallax
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-04 10:33
    Thanks for following up and thanks to Parallax for their fantastic support! Are you writing programs for your Penguin now?
  • hhoouummhhoouumm Posts: 1
    edited 2011-01-07 09:15
    Thanks fantastic support!
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-07 13:51
    When I saw the thread title, it reminded me of the original cig smoking robot. It appeared in school films back in the 60s. It would smoke one cigarette and collect the nicotine in a test tube. A human would then drip one drop into the mouth of a mouse. It only took a few seconds of spasmodic writhing around and the mouse was dead as a door knob.
  • promit4promit4 Posts: 4
    edited 2011-01-08 21:20
    Humanoido wrote: »
    When I saw the thread title, it reminded me of the original cig smoking robot. It appeared in school films back in the 60s. It would smoke one cigarette and collect the nicotine in a test tube. A human would then drip one drop into the mouth of a mouse. It only took a few seconds of spasmodic writhing around and the mouse was dead as a door knob.
    oh god...did you really need to post that?
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-09 01:28
    promit4 wrote: »
    oh god...did you really need to post that?
    The odd thing is that while I never took up smoking, my classmates did and today they are all dead from throat and lung cancer and emphysema from smoking. I only tell the story because in hope it may help someone to stop smoking and save their own life. So that smoking robot and mouse was a benefit to those people that got the moral of the story.
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