Today, I am testing the CPU solution
I got a converter 24V to 12V from Maplin to power the CPU and other 12V devices. It is a switched converter. it is more efficient than a simple LM7812 regulator and i can get much more power out of it.
So now, I can power up the CPU, and LCD screen to install Windows. After some simple test, I can also leave the battery charger on all the time. That's good news as I can leave the CPU on while charging the battery.
The bad news it that my LCD monitor has been damaged during all these years in storage. There is a big patch of dead pixels. That will do for now, but I may have to find another one :-)
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Saturday 23 May 2009
Update... It has been a long time !
It has been a long time since my last post and since I worked on my robot. Few months ago, I ran into problemwith the USB_to_I2C interface. i could not get this interface to talk to any on my I2C devices.
Few years ago, I created a parallele to I2C interface using information from the web and it was working very well. I could talk to the Gamoto PID boards and other components such as temperature sensors, I/O interface, CAN, etc.... But this time i wanted to use USB as my new PC does not have a printer port. I was able to talk to the USB interface, but any attempt to communicate to I2C devices failed. even simple devices with simple commandes.
For the last few days, I played with the COM and serial interface. I have a small board that use a MAX232 to connect the Gamoto PID to the computer in order to configure it. As this way of talking to the Gamoto is also good for controlling the motor and allow up to 7 board on the same serial signal, I decided to use it instead of the I2C.
The only limit of not using I2C is that I can only talk to the PID board, I cannot interface any other I2C devices I was planning to use.
But the PID boards provide some I/O that can be controlled via the serial port:
-2 limit switches per motor (for front left/right and rear left/right bumpers)
-4 analog input per motor (possible for temp sensor, battery monitoring, Sharp distance sensor, etc...)
So it is not so bad.
I am not working on a basic interface that will allow me to give simple direction and distance order and the robot should execute then.
Few years ago, I created a parallele to I2C interface using information from the web and it was working very well. I could talk to the Gamoto PID boards and other components such as temperature sensors, I/O interface, CAN, etc.... But this time i wanted to use USB as my new PC does not have a printer port. I was able to talk to the USB interface, but any attempt to communicate to I2C devices failed. even simple devices with simple commandes.
For the last few days, I played with the COM and serial interface. I have a small board that use a MAX232 to connect the Gamoto PID to the computer in order to configure it. As this way of talking to the Gamoto is also good for controlling the motor and allow up to 7 board on the same serial signal, I decided to use it instead of the I2C.
The only limit of not using I2C is that I can only talk to the PID board, I cannot interface any other I2C devices I was planning to use.
But the PID boards provide some I/O that can be controlled via the serial port:
-2 limit switches per motor (for front left/right and rear left/right bumpers)
-4 analog input per motor (possible for temp sensor, battery monitoring, Sharp distance sensor, etc...)
So it is not so bad.
I am not working on a basic interface that will allow me to give simple direction and distance order and the robot should execute then.
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