Another big step forward tonight and I’m not really sure where to start or if I can remember everything I did.
Maybe it’s easier to say where I’m at – I now have a lot of the electronics installed in the body, from fuse block and power distribution to the speed controllers and sound system. I can now control the dome and periscope from my Vex transmitter and trigger sounds with my RF remote.
There was a lot of stripping of wires, routing them, testing, and moving stuff around to make it all fit on the back panels. I also installed a second Vex in the dome to control the periscope, and eventually it’ll control some servos on the pie-panels.
From the photo it really doesn’t look like a lot but there’s a lot packed in there
I’m now realizing that it may not be a good idea to run R2 around naked / skin-less at C4. I could easily see someone pulling on the wires and frying something.
Here’s a quick demo video as well.
You’ll notice in the video that the periscope doesn’t run up and down smoothly and it chatters. Some of it is due to the speed the motors run at which I can limit in the Vex, but there’s also a lot of play in the lift mech screw system itself which I need to fix somehow.
I still need to wire in the RoboteQ speed controller which will drive the feet, but you can see it at the bottom of the frame.
One problem I noticed again is that the Vex in the dome has problems receiving a signal. This maybe a big show stopper unless I can route the antenna somewhere else.
The 12 channel RF Remote also has a “problem”. The new models have a little speaker/siren on them which makes this awful bleep every time you press a button on the remote – I’m sure for most applications this is fine, but for R2 it’s got to go. You’d think it could be disabled easily, but I can’t find anything. I’m going to have to fix it before it drives me nuts.
A couple of people have written and asked how I configured the SyRen10 Speed Controller and how I connected it to Vex Micro controller, so I thought it best to document it here for future reference.
Setup and wiring was very easy, and I simply went through the online SyRen setup wizard and picked logical answers.
As you can see all but dip switch one are set to ON.
And here’s how the controller is connected to the Vex
There’s only 4 other wires needed, 2 to the battery (V+/-) and 2 to the motor (M+/M-)
Big milestone for me tonight. I finally got around to wiring up my dome periscope lift mech to a speed controller and my VexLabs RC setup.
This is my first time wiring up anything like this, so I was a bit apprehensive. The good news is I didn’t pop anything and it worked first time.
I was really surprised on how fast the little motor spun the mech up and down. So fast that the threaded rod squeals a bit. I may have to program in limits on the controller to cap the max speed.
Here’s a quick photo of the test setup and a video
