Camera servo trouble
 

I know that you are supposed to connect the servos on the camera to the PWM ports, but for whatever reason, they don't work. Perhaps it has something with the program code. Do I need to write special code? I hooked up the servos to ports being controlled by the joystick, thinking that they would respond to the pulses, but without success. In fact, in furter trouble shooting, I discovered that the power pins on the PWM ports didn't even produce voltage! (from multimeter tests) The strage thing is, the victors still work on them....

If it's the wiring, could you suggest possible programming techniques please?:o

Demothesis

Re: Camera servo trouble
 

The most common reason for this kind of problem is failure to connect the backup battery to the RC.
Unlike all the other I/O connections on the RC the PWM power comes solely from the backup battery.
Your servos won't run without it, but the Victor's will operate just fine because they don't actually use the PWM power (having plenty of 12v power of their own).

Re: Camera servo trouble
 

I agree with Mark. Testing the camera will probably involve having a spare backup battery, as a few good session can drain it.

Also, you might check Kevin Watson's site (kevin.org/frc) for affirmation that you're hooking up the PWMs correctly. He hosts a great step-by-step walkthrough of hooking up the camera.

Re: Camera servo trouble
 

Demo,
Before you say you had the backup connected, I must add that the backup battery comes discharged. You need to charge it overnight before you use it the first time. How are things up north? We had relatives in Minnetonka until last spring.

Re: Camera servo trouble
 

From my experiance, I've found the servos given to us are crap. This year the servo we were given didn't even work. It kept forcing the servo to move up. When we plugged in another servo on the PWM it would operate just fine. If all else doesn't work, its broke. :) We had to disable last year's camera and take the servo.

Re: Camera servo trouble
 

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. We don't have an Internet connection at the build-site:( , so I am doing all my Internet stuff at home. Anyway, it seems like what you suggested should work. I know MY servos aren't broken because I took them home and tested them on my trusty BASIC Stamp ;) . Yeah, it's BASIC, but it does the trick.

By the way, things in the north are great! We have had a really weird winter like everyone else (almost NO snow :( ), but it's finally getting cold. Tonight it's supposed to get down to zero deg. F.

Honestly, Demothesis :cool: