Intermittent Communication Issues

[tinkeringtechie]

I've been using the Roboclaw 2x15 with great results for the last couple weeks, but the last few days it suddenly started intermittently reporting 0 volts for the main battery voltage and the motor currents return identical values (normally they randomly fluctuate). I'm using an ESP8266 to communicate with the controller on hardware uart at 38400 baud. The controller seems to be receiving commands just fine (I can still drive it around without any issues), but the voltage and current are not reporting correctly. It does that for a few minutes and then suddenly returns normal voltages and currents. I just updated the firmware this morning and it didn't make a difference. I verified all wiring and connections as well and even replaced the wires used for rx/tx just in case. Any ideas what's going on?

[Basicmicro Support]

Try a different baudrate if you can to see if that has anything to do with it.

Unfortunately I have never used the ESP8266. You will need to dig into it further to see where exactly the problem is happening(right now it could be on the ESP or the Roboclaw). I've never had intermittent problems like you describe that didnt come down to a wiring problem though.

Make sure your firmware is 4.1.23(eg use Ion Studio, not Ion Motion software to do the update).

[tinkeringtechie]

Thanks, I think I'll drop it all the way down to 9600 and see if that fixes it.

What's the most reliable way to connect to the pin headers? The connections are soldered to the ESP8266, but I have to use those silly crimp-on pin sockets for the Roboclaw side.

[Basicmicro Support]

Its best to use female .1 spaced connectors on the Pin headers. Most jumper wires with female connectors are sized properly to fit them as well. Adafruit sells a nice set of row header housings and jumper wires that can be used together to may connectors for the Roboclaw pin headers.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3143 dual row housings, currently out of stock though
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3146 signal row housings
https://www.adafruit.com/product/266 femal jumper wires.

You just remove the plastic housing on one end of the jumper wires and then plug the exposed metal connector into the appropriate location of one of the housings to make your own custom wire harnesses.

[cupoftea]

@tinkeringtechie Are you using esp8266 dev board running arduino or and arduino sending AT commands to an esp? I'm having trouble with the dev board. Be nice to know if someone has one working with roboclaw. At the moment I'd welcome an intermittent problem.

[Basicmicro Support]

Looks like you figured out your problem according to this forum post: http://forums.ionmc.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=521