FRC: Reset and Program Controls

[yanksrock777]

My team is having some troubles with the electrical layouts and we want to make things much easier for the programmers. We were thinking of creating a switch for the reset and program buttons on the FRC controller. There is a three pin port where is says Reset/Prog. I was wondering if we could create a switch for the reset and program buttons instead of having to press them directly on the board. If that is possible than how would I wire the push buttons switches to the pins? Does anybody have a schematic? Thanks :)

[steven114]

Yes, you can. Directions are found right on the Innovation First website under Robot Controller Reference Guide, page 13.
http://www.ifirobotics.com/docs/rc-ref-guide-01-31-2005.pdf

[Alan Anderson]

You can make things very easy on the programmers by extending the switches all the way to the PC they're using. The program port only uses five of the available nine pins in a serial cable. We "stole" three of them with a little adapter at each end of the cable, putting a reset and program switch right at the programmer's fingertips.

[skrew-ball]

I am pretty much new to the electronics, but I'm putting a button and toggle system for this to work. First the ground runs to the button, then from the button to the common pin of the toggle. From the toggle it finishes it's loop to the pin outs. This will work by only completing the circuit when the button is pressed on the desired toggle side. Making it plug in next to the cables allows for a quick plug-in and setting in a simple place ment.

[ay2b]

You can make things very easy on the programmers by extending the switches all the way to the PC they're using. The program port only uses five of the available nine pins in a serial cable. We "stole" three of them with a little adapter at each end of the cable, putting a reset and program switch right at the programmer's fingertips.

That's an excelent idea! I think I'll build a similar setup for our team. For the curious, take a look at the "program-port-y-cable.pdf" and "program-port-4-7-05.pdf" files on the IFI site (I don't have exact links off hand, just my downloaded copies). You'll see that the following pins are used: 2,3,5,7,8 (5 is ground). If anyone else makes a simlar setup, make sure that the wires you "steal" are not those pins.