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BS2 dead/alive? HELP! — Parallax Forums

BS2 dead/alive? HELP!

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2000-06-21 01:33 in General Discussion
Hay all you stampers,
After spending hours trying to find the problem and not I thought I'd get
some help, Im working on a small BS2 driven robot, afer I finished
building it I pluged in my pc and got the motors to work !yay! so I wrote a
program to move it around my desk (forward back left then right runnning in
a loop then the problem) downloaded the program to the stamp (note- Ive got
a little led hooked through a resister to the power supply lines) and the
power led start blinking as the motors turned so I new I needed a fresh
battery - unplugged the 9v and popped in a new one and nothing! the power
light turned on but the motors didnt even twitch!, fearing the worst I
popped out the stamp and put it in a spare board of education and hooked it
up to the pc, alt i does indentify that the stamp is there but when you
download a prog it say hardware failure.....help? Is the stamp ok but
the com system cooked? Thanx in advance!

-Alex
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Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-06-21 00:45
    Hi Alex

    Have you checked the current draw on those motors? You might be
    overloading the stamps output capacity to sink 25ma. per pin, with a
    total (sink) capacity of 50ma. per port. P0 - P8 equals one port, P9
    - P15 equals the other port. If you are trying to source the current
    through the output pins, the numbers are even lower, 20ma. per pin
    and 40ma. per port.

    I had a problem with an animate head kit where the requested power
    supply was 9 volts at 1 amp. I used a 9 volt, 1 amp regulated
    supply. With one or two of the four servos running, the head worked
    fine, shortly after the third and fourth servos started the head
    would stop moving. I found the supply regulated too well, at exactly
    .99A it clamped down and pulled the supply voltage down enough to
    cause the stamp to lockup. I ended up using a unregulated 9 volt,
    1.5 amp supply and it worked fine.

    Hope this helps.

    Greg




    --- In basicstamps@egroups.com, "Alex Stewart" <robotman5@h...> wrote:
    > Hay all you stampers,
    > After spending hours trying to find the problem and not I
    thought I'd get
    > some help, Im working on a small BS2 driven robot, afer I
    finished
    > building it I pluged in my pc and got the motors to work !yay! so I
    wrote a
    > program to move it around my desk (forward back left then right
    runnning in
    > a loop then the problem) downloaded the program to the stamp (note-
    Ive got
    > a little led hooked through a resister to the power supply lines)
    and the
    > power led start blinking as the motors turned so I new I needed a
    fresh
    > battery - unplugged the 9v and popped in a new one and nothing! the
    power
    > light turned on but the motors didnt even twitch!, fearing the
    worst I
    > popped out the stamp and put it in a spare board of education and
    hooked it
    > up to the pc, alt i does indentify that the stamp is there but when
    you
    > download a prog it say hardware failure.....help? Is the stamp
    ok but
    > the com system cooked? Thanx in advance!
    >
    > -Alex
    >
    ______________________________________________________________________
    __
    > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
    http://www.hotmail.com
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-06-21 00:57
    Hmmm ... the LED blinking would indicate that your motors were resting the
    stamp with their large current draw. Are you powering your motors from a
    separate source? If not, I would highly recommend, as a motor can run a
    $3.00 9v batter dry very quickly. I killed my stamp when I was using
    serarate power sources and go the common ground mix with power and put 15v
    into the stamp. They replaced it for $30 (normally $20, but I got close to
    $200 of free stuff because of the mistake). Just a few ideas. Try checking
    if the regulator is still good. I.E. 5v coming out of the power pins.
    -William


    Original Message
    From: Alex Stewart <robotman5@h...>
    To: <basicstamps@egroups.com>
    Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 10:31 PM
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] BS2 dead/alive? HELP!


    > Hay all you stampers,
    > After spending hours trying to find the problem and not I thought I'd get
    > some help, Im working on a small BS2 driven robot, afer I finished
    > building it I pluged in my pc and got the motors to work !yay! so I wrote
    a
    > program to move it around my desk (forward back left then right runnning
    in
    > a loop then the problem) downloaded the program to the stamp (note- Ive
    got
    > a little led hooked through a resister to the power supply lines) and the
    > power led start blinking as the motors turned so I new I needed a fresh
    > battery - unplugged the 9v and popped in a new one and nothing! the power
    > light turned on but the motors didnt even twitch!, fearing the worst I
    > popped out the stamp and put it in a spare board of education and hooked
    it
    > up to the pc, alt i does indentify that the stamp is there but when you
    > download a prog it say hardware failure.....help? Is the stamp ok but
    > the com system cooked? Thanx in advance!
    >
    > -Alex
    > ________________________________________________________________________
    > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-06-21 01:33
    The servo motors are now on a seperate supply but With the stamp in a
    carrier board it still wont accept a download, the editor says hardware
    communications failed but alt i says hardward indentfied?
    thanx
    -Alex


    >From: gjk@x...
    >Reply-To: basicstamps@egroups.com
    >To: basicstamps@egroups.com
    >Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: BS2 dead/alive? HELP!
    >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 23:45:12 -0000
    >
    >Hi Alex
    >
    >Have you checked the current draw on those motors? You might be
    >overloading the stamps output capacity to sink 25ma. per pin, with a
    >total (sink) capacity of 50ma. per port. P0 - P8 equals one port, P9
    >- P15 equals the other port. If you are trying to source the current
    >through the output pins, the numbers are even lower, 20ma. per pin
    >and 40ma. per port.
    >
    >I had a problem with an animate head kit where the requested power
    >supply was 9 volts at 1 amp. I used a 9 volt, 1 amp regulated
    >supply. With one or two of the four servos running, the head worked
    >fine, shortly after the third and fourth servos started the head
    >would stop moving. I found the supply regulated too well, at exactly
    >.99A it clamped down and pulled the supply voltage down enough to
    >cause the stamp to lockup. I ended up using a unregulated 9 volt,
    >1.5 amp supply and it worked fine.
    >
    >Hope this helps.
    >
    >Greg
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >--- In basicstamps@egroups.com, "Alex Stewart" <robotman5@h...> wrote:
    > > Hay all you stampers,
    > > After spending hours trying to find the problem and not I
    >thought I'd get
    > > some help, Im working on a small BS2 driven robot, afer I
    >finished
    > > building it I pluged in my pc and got the motors to work !yay! so I
    >wrote a
    > > program to move it around my desk (forward back left then right
    >runnning in
    > > a loop then the problem) downloaded the program to the stamp (note-
    >Ive got
    > > a little led hooked through a resister to the power supply lines)
    >and the
    > > power led start blinking as the motors turned so I new I needed a
    >fresh
    > > battery - unplugged the 9v and popped in a new one and nothing! the
    >power
    > > light turned on but the motors didnt even twitch!, fearing the
    >worst I
    > > popped out the stamp and put it in a spare board of education and
    >hooked it
    > > up to the pc, alt i does indentify that the stamp is there but when
    >you
    > > download a prog it say hardware failure.....help? Is the stamp
    >ok but
    > > the com system cooked? Thanx in advance!
    > >
    > > -Alex
    > >
    >______________________________________________________________________
    >__
    > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
    >http://www.hotmail.com
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

    ________________________________________________________________________
    Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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