PINNED - Plug & Play PGDT for Radio Control

[woodygb]

It would be great if you could loan the complete setup to me .

[Burgerman]

Yep I will post it. I have your address somewhere but cant see it...

http://www.pennyandgiles.com/getattachm ... 0_jun07(EN)

Centre tap = reference. It says this joystick will work. 5V. So 2.5 centretap. Pin 6...

If those colours don't go from RX to your board in the same colours, then I know what I did wrong...

[woodygb]

The coloured wires Rudder, Ele, Aile, 5v ,GND, TX ,RX etc simply plug onto the male pins of the DB9 and have NO relationship to the colours of the cables internal wires.

Edit ...oddly enough they do seem to have a rough relationship ...but it is not exact.

[Burgerman]

Interesting. Because I presumed they were the same...

I connected 1kr to the red. 1k to the brown. And took the tip to pin 3...

Now it doesn't light up. But 1k cant damage anything can it? So I just need to figure out the real colours...

[woodygb]

Brown of plugged in lead = Pin 9 of DB9 plug = Gray of cable into interface = GND

Red of plugged in lead = Pin 2 of DB9 plug = Brown of cable into interface = 5 v

I think.

[woodygb]

This pic is from my notes ...and whilst I think it's right ..it may not be.

The pic shows 3 DB9 connectors ... one Male Omni ...and the ends of a Serial lead that I cut in half .. the female plugs into the Omni and the colours are dictated by the Omni's male pins ...

The other end of the Serial lead that was cut in half is Male ...and it just happened to have pins that I could conveniently plug my DuPont leads onto and also just enough connections to incorporate a Serial and RX interface so I utilised it.

OMNI CONNECTIONS4.png

[woodygb]

Tsk ...The blue & grey from the Omni aren't 5v ...they are the 12v feed to the 5v regulator! ..it then becomes 5v.
Previous drawing deleted.

OMNI CONNECTIONS5.png (212.14 KiB) Viewed 16162 times

[Burgerman]

All I need to know is where to get 5v and 0v on your board. My eyes cant tell me!

[woodygb]

Here's a really rough drawing that shows the layout and 2 suggested locations for the divider... either /or locations.

RESIST2.gif

[woodygb]

I've added in the 12v and GND wires from the Omni.

RESIST2.gif (102.82 KiB) Viewed 16162 times

[Burgerman]

I will take a look when up. But I am not sure my eyes are up to it... Or my soldering.

Why don't they make these things big enough to see with 53 year old eyes...

[woodygb]

Mine eyes are older than yours ... but bifocal glasses ... with a little added extra for close work ...certainly help.

[Burgerman]

OK I did that. Still no go. Maybe I killed it?

Should I return it with an Omni, and a cable and a Pilot plus 100Amp controller?

The pilot plus needs 24v to wake up. Everything then connects up and works although it will show a motor error...

But you can go past this.

Give me an address and I will send you all.

[woodygb]

No worries about the possible "death" ... the parts ( singularly ) aren't very expensive and I ordered extra's ...as I always make up to the £20 minimum R.S. order.

The Digipot chip and or reg will only take minutes to replace.

The return Addy is on the box ... however ... here you go.

Alan Wood
52 Millards Close
Cranfield
Bedford
MK43 0HJ

It's very good of you to lend me the complete setup.

[woodygb]

As an aside ...

Was the R/C setup / Calibration any problem?

[Burgerman]

No, dead simple. Press, wiggle, let go, wait, all lights went out. They come one only when you move a stick.

Its the 2.5v to the red wire (pin 3) on the Omni that caused the only issue.

I left the resistors connected so you can see what I did (2nd time...)

All lights off now though. I suspect it would now work if I hadn't connected it wrong the first time.

[woodygb]

Would you like a second one to try... seeing as how I have one ... MODIFIED ?

[Burgerman]

OK. Sounds good.

I will not ship this package back yet then... Saved by the bell!

Can you make me a big one using valves and 6 gauge cables etc?

[woodygb]

LOL ...Steam powered?

[Burgerman]

No but it will need a vibrating coil and a transformer for HT. Wonder how many valves it would need.

[woodygb]

Well this one is around 1/3rd the physical size of the one you have.

Do you have any interest in watching the streaming data? ..if not I'll retain this particular Serial interface.

[woodygb]

I've hopefully made the Receiver connections more obvious.

Just one row of 5 pins coming out the side of the box.

receiver colours.png (4.09 KiB) Viewed 16272 times

[Burgerman]

Do you have any interest in watching the streaming data? ..if not I'll retain this particular Serial interface.

No not really. Don't know how it would help me.

Smaller?

Ideally you need 3 servo leads coming out, that are marked Aileron, Elev, Rudder. Doesn't matter for me but for other users. And set in a block of resin or something.

Then you could sell these on my site. There was always some interest in people wanting RC powerchairs.

[woodygb]

Posted 1st class.

[Burgerman]

Thank you!
Fingers crossed.

But that has to work! ??

Without the series resistors on the output the throw may be too great though? Although 1.1 to up to 1.3v is able to be calibrated by the Omni software.

We will see.

[woodygb]

But that has to work! ??

... well I certainly hope so ...but as you say it's a case of suck it and see.

I think that this one is less confusing without the use of a DB9 male plug as an output for the R/C leads AND Serial interface.

The 5v reg would... in this build... be inside the DB9 shell ...if I could find a spare shell ...so it's currently soldered to the DB9 Female socket then hot glued and shrink wrapped into place.

[Burgerman]

OK. New version very neat!

Calibrates easily as before.

And the same error.

Says:

J/S mid ref error.

So, I tried with a little left, right, up, down trim, both ways, one stick, both sticks, from a bit to a lot... Same.

So what gives? My old 35mhz setup gives a different error, because the two speed controllers are not at "mid" position until armed by going to zero throttle, (full down, full right) and back to centre. Then it works.

That gives me 12v and 6v reference and 6v centre.

With your board, do you have 2.50v with both channels and both leds "out" AND 2.5v on the reference pin? If so it should work!!!

[Burgerman]

The difference must be that the Omni is expecting the reference pin to be at about 6v? And a matching 6v centre on the "swing" voltage.

[woodygb]

With your board, do you have 2.50v with both channels and both leds "out" AND 2.5v on the reference pin? If so it should work!!!

Correct ..I've used a simple divider ..consisting of 2 resistors of 1.2K value across the 5v output of the voltage reg.... the output of the centre of these is connected to pin3.

When the LED'S are OFF ...the output from the Digital pot is also 2.5v .... the LED's brighten once a dead band is exceeded ... getting progressively brighter as the voltage swing away from Centre increases.....
The voltage output from the digital pot follows along much the same lines with a + - swing about the 2.5v centre value ( once the dead band has been exceeded ) with separate swing supplies to pins 1 & 2 .

[woodygb]

You could check the voltage outputs on the bench if you like.

Disconnect EVERYTHING ... supply 5v to the RED /+ and BLACK / GND ... with NOTHING else connected .

The interface will enter failsafe ( Flashing LED's ) ...and you can then probe from the DB9 pins 1,2 & 3 to Black /GND ... they should all be 2.5v .

IF you wish to go further add in the R/C RX using the same 5v power supply...Turn on the Transmitter...Flashing LED's should go off ....and probe the DB9 pins again but move the sticks.