Stingray Upgrade Project
thomasheuer9@gmail.com
Posts: 8
I am embarking on an upgrade of a Stingray platform that I had purchased a few years back to help encourage my son's interests (and mine) in robotics and sensor control systems. Alas he was too young and I did not have much time to devote to the re-education that I needed to be a proficient instructor. Now that my son is older, we are now trying to return to this project, and through this upgrade adventure, hope to be able to become more proficient with the powerful propeller processor and the spin environment. I have read the Forum postings in the past and have been impressed by the skill and capabilities demonstrated. I hope to some day measure up to these standards. But until then I need to ask for help with what might be rudimentary to many. Okay with that preface, let me begin my first inquiry.
For this project I am replacing the stock Stingray motors with the updated gear motor w/ encoder product (#28819), using two HB-25 controllers, and a Prop-BOE. The 6-wire motor cable configuration provides (red and black) leads that I expect will connect to the M1 & M2 posts on the HB-25. The remaining encoder connections (green, blue, yellow, white) I expect will connect to the Prop-BOE in some manner. I assume the HB-25 control signal cable (black, red, white) will connect to the servo port (Pin14). So where do the four encoder signal wires connect? I assume they will connect to the BOE and directly address certain Propeller pin positions for program control purposes. Does someone have a diagram or photo I can use to help understand the signal wire interconnections? Secondly is there a source of spin code that I can access, so that I can properly test the connections and make sure the controls are working properly? I find that the web site does not have any program resources to guide this process for a novice like me.
Tom
For this project I am replacing the stock Stingray motors with the updated gear motor w/ encoder product (#28819), using two HB-25 controllers, and a Prop-BOE. The 6-wire motor cable configuration provides (red and black) leads that I expect will connect to the M1 & M2 posts on the HB-25. The remaining encoder connections (green, blue, yellow, white) I expect will connect to the Prop-BOE in some manner. I assume the HB-25 control signal cable (black, red, white) will connect to the servo port (Pin14). So where do the four encoder signal wires connect? I assume they will connect to the BOE and directly address certain Propeller pin positions for program control purposes. Does someone have a diagram or photo I can use to help understand the signal wire interconnections? Secondly is there a source of spin code that I can access, so that I can properly test the connections and make sure the controls are working properly? I find that the web site does not have any program resources to guide this process for a novice like me.
Tom
Comments
Doc
This document for your motor with encoder tells you how to hook up the six wires from the motor. The red and black are the motor itself, the green is encoder ground, blue connects to the same power supply connected to your microcontroller. In your case the propeller supply, 3.3 Volts. The yellow and white are the encoder A and B outputs which will connect to the propeller pins of your choice. The encoder output is quadrature, meaning that your software will be able to determine speed and direction of the motor.
Tom
I assume that the red & black conductors from the Motor-01 encoder harness connector will connect to the M1 & M2 posts on the HB-25 and the rest will connect to pins on the PROP-BOE.
I have prepared the attached exhibit to illustrate my understanding of connections from Motor-01 to the Prop-BOE.
I expect that a separate but similar encoder connection from Motor-02 would occur.
I assume that the ENC-VSS from Motor-01 and Motor-02 encoders can be joined to use one pin position?
Similarly the ENC-VDD from the Motor-01 and Motor-02 encoders can be joined to share one pin?
The two sets of encoder signal conductors will each address separate pins from the propeller (P15, P14 and P13, P12)?
Tom
Thanks for your reply to my questions.
Tom
I think you'll like those new motors. I've done the same upgrade by replacing the original motors with those and I am very happy with them. My robot is running the original Robot control board that came with the Stingray which uses regular H-Bridges to drive the motors. If you use similar H-Bridge drivers then you should be able to leverage existing Stingray code that is out here on the forums. If you go with the HB-25's then you'll need to replace the motor control code with one of the SERVO driver objects and use that method to drive the HB-25's.
On my robot I added a second propeller and also added a body on the top. I originally had an extra Stingray plate that was raised up on standoffs to support the upper body but I recenyly changed that out for a large circular piece of 1/4" plastic that I cut out to match the bottom of the upper body. The project was in the August 2014 issue of SERVO magazine.
http://www.robotworkshop.com/robotweb/?page_id=628
I'm working on a few other updates to it as well as a second version that I need to get pictures of. If you want to do something similar I have a couple extra of the white waste bins that I used for the body.
Robert
Thanks for your input.
Tom