[SOLVED] S4/S5 enable

General discussion of using Roboclaw motor controllers
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Basicmicro Support
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by Basicmicro Support »

I was able to reproduce the S3 E-Stop problem. After power up but without doing anything else the S3 mode does not get set. It appears it was an order of operations error. If I re-read the settings S3 worked correctly. I reordered the pin setup code so it wouldnt be a problem anymore. I've tested it and S3 is correctly set on power up now.

I am currently running regression tests on the update and once that is done I'll upload the update. This update will include the MixedSpeedAccel fix as well as support for the new Roboclaw 2x7A boards. I've also made some changes to the Velocity autotuner and added support for multiple Roboclaws in IonMotion(eg multiple units can be connected to the PC at once and individually selected/updated).
GeeklyGrey
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by GeeklyGrey »

Well done, pleased to hear about that. That makes sense with what I have seen as well. I will be pleased to see the back of that issue and other current users will be pleased to see their issues sorted as well in the new release to come. Thank you.
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by Basicmicro Support »

Im publishing the new release now. I also updated the python examples a little if you are using those.
GeeklyGrey
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by GeeklyGrey »

Attempted to update this morning.

I am running into 'Unexpected communications error: The operation has timed out" notice, and this occurs almost instantaneously on clicking the update button, ie: before I can even get my finger off the mouse button.

Start Roboclaw in bootloader mode. Connected Roboclaw to IONmotion and the bootloader description comes up in the re-positioned text box. Clicked update. Instantly times out.
Led's on Roboclaw stopped at whatever part of the rolling sequence they were at, Roboclaw does not respond to buttons or S3. Need to power it off. Power on comes up in bootloader mode by itself. IONmotion seems ready to try again, click update button, times out. Have tried restarting IONmotion, no difference, it seems to restart the USB very quickly now.

I have not been able to stop the bootloader mode or find a path through this glitch.

So where I am at the moment is that Roboclaw starts up in bootloader mode and seems not to be able to be updated to clear that mode.
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by Basicmicro Support »

I think I know the problem. Im fixing it now and will have the update up later tonight. I chaneged the timeouts to 10ms on the read functions. This is fine for normal packetserial commands but may be a problem with the bootloader on some PCs. My work computer is new and very fast so it never saw the problem.
GeeklyGrey
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by GeeklyGrey »

Ok-Thanks for letting me know.

For reference I was working with my Toshiba Laptop Satellite Pro C50-A running Windows 7. Its about 18 months old so not too far behind the pack. I'm a bit surprised the speed was so different to your computer. Interested to know what you use.

I also use my old Pentium Pro II Tower running 32 bit XP for software compatibility reasons. That was a high end product in its day, a lot slower than the laptop but still very useful to me. Can check the IONmotion connection against that one maybe as a low speed computer comparison when update is available. Will let you know how that goes.
GeeklyGrey
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by GeeklyGrey »

OK. Suspect we are there.
I was able to update IONmotion and then RoboClaw on my old PC so speed of timeout seems ok to me.
S3,S4,S5 led's all seem to be operational on first start up so that issue seems to be sorted as well.

Will do more checking tonight when I get home from work but all good at this stage.
GeeklyGrey
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Re: S4/S5 enable

Post by GeeklyGrey »

Ok - i'm back again. Had some major issues with PC- sorted now.
Have done work in my system to bed in the homing routines.
Seems that Homing functions are working ok now - We can call this thread solved.

acidtech-Thread could probably be flagged as solved but first post was not mine to edit. cheers GeeklyGrey
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Re: [SOLVED] S4/S5 enable

Post by Basicmicro Support »

The pins used for S4 and S5 on the older version roboclaws are not connected to anything. I would not recommend it but you could technically wire something directly to those pins on the main processor.
SouthernAtHeart
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Re: [SOLVED] S4/S5 enable

Post by SouthernAtHeart »

Using S4 and S5 for the home microswitches: The manual is only partially correct. On page 57, in the details where it says, "74 - Set S3, S4 and S5 Modes" it shows modes 0 thru 4. I spent about 5 hours trying to figure out why I'm getting erratic behavior from my roboclaw, ready to break out the sledge hammer. Setting it as mode 4 is the "auto" mode. I needed to set it as mode 5, which is not even an option in the data sheet. I was very glad to find this info in the forum.

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