Evaluation Board Gyro
 

What exactly is the difference between a normal gyro and the evaluation board gyro? Can you do everything with the normal as with the EB gyro?

Specifically ADXRS150 and ADXRS150EB, as ADXRS150 is what you can get free in the KOP (and what we already have).
From Kevin.org I got "They all come in a package that's too small to work with, so it's best to purchase the evaluation board version of the gyro."

EDIT: Same thing for accelerometers, as I'm going to depend on the gyro, accelerometer and camera alone for autonomous.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

The evaluation board is a PCB with the accelerometer mounted to it, and maybe a few passive components, so you don't have to solder a bunch of tiny bits yourself. It's definitely a lot easier to work with.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

How hard would it be to use the non-EB gyro? What exactly would you have to do to interface with it the same way as the EB gyro? And does its accelerometer completely replace the KOP accelerometer? (It's a 2-axis I think.) What do the passive components include? Are there any functional differences? And what exactly is 'easier to work with'? I really tried, I can't find anything definitive online.... Links would be just as appreciated as continued info.

Thanx in advance

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Here is a link to the product page for they gyro from Analog Devices: http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0%2C28...S150%2C00.html

From there, you can find out a lot more info about the chip itself and the evaluation board, including what is included on the evaluation board.

The standard chip is packaged in what is called a ball grid array (BGA). The pads are located underneath the chip and are impossible to reach with a soldering iron. You need specialized equipment in order to solder a BGA.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Definitely go with the evaluation board. It comes preassembled with the proper set of capacitors and other doo-dads that make it ready to use. Otherwise you have to read through the spec sheet for the gyro chip and figure out how to set up. Why bother?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

On the board that FIRST sent us, we're supposed to connect three of the pinouts to the analog inputs on the FRC. That was easy.

But we're also supposed to jumper something on the board. I'm a bit confused as to what exactly we're supposed to jumper. Can someone help me out?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

I don't recall having to jumper anything. It should work out of the box.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Actually you do have to do a little wiring, it's still much easier with the eval board. Here's what you do (hopefully I'm remembering correctly). Below is the link to the spec sheet for the eval board for the 300 deg/sec model. Wiring is the same for the 150 deg/sec. Under the heading "Circuit Description" it sort of gives you clues to how to connect the thing.

http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/...XRS300EB_0.pdf

Mounting eval board:
1. Use a project circuit board from Radio shack. Doesn't have to be big.
2. Solder a wire from pin 1 to pin 13. This is your jumper.

Now you need to connect your PWM wires:
1. Black wire is ground, connect to either pin 8 or pin 12 as they are bridged in the EB.
2. Red wire connects to pin 1 or pin 13 (the same pins you jumped).
3. White wire is for the signal. Connect to the rate out pin (pin 2).

This is the simplest implementation and seems to work ok for us since we don't have any electrical engineers on the team. Further wiring can be done to help bias the output based on temperature and reduce noise, etc. but we found it to be unnecessary for the short duration of the competition.

Hope this helps a little!

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Okay, so I figured it was 1 and 13 on the diagram in that pdf (I actually already had that pdf open :D), but I can't seem to figure out what that physically translates to on the board first sent us. Does anyone have a picture of their jumpered circuit?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Ok, I think we need some clarification. The 150 deg/sec gyro that FIRST is providing shouldn't require any jumpering. You need TWO pwms, one for the yaw rate signal, the other for temperature correction signal. The temperature correction is handy because the yaw rate gyro outputs a voltage (0-5volts) proportional to the rate of twist. At 0 deg/sec the output is nominally 2.5 volts. Temperature makes the 0 point drift up or down. So in competition it is possible that the gyro temperature may change and thus throw off the reading.

Now what I was talking about for jumpering is the Eval board you can order directly from Analog Devices, which is what the supplied link is describing. The drawing shows pin 1 and pin 20. The rest of the pins are numbered counter clockwise (looking from the top of the board, not the pin side). The EB has pin 1 printed on the board.

Uh does this help or make it even more confusing?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

How exactly would you hook up the normal gyro and how impossible is it?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

You can use the gyro with code created by Kevin Watson, available at http://kevin.org/frc. Readme files included in his code instruct you on what needs to be done to get the gyro working, and it is pretty much as easy as following those directions to be able to use it (though it will probably take a good 30 minutes or hour to get the gyro working if you've never done it before).

As for what you can use the gyro for, that's left up to your team's imagination.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

And is there any difference between the programming for the normal gyro and the EB gyro?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

programming wise if you use the AnalogDevices gyro it will be the same. I believe Kevin Watson's code is set to use both the 150 deg/sec and the 300 deg/sec gyro, if that is what you are using. If using EasyC I think you need to scale the output by a certain factor to get the correct output. It depends on which model you are using.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

So do I have to wire all six pinouts for the one that FIRST provided to work? I only wired the "Twist" pinouts. And it wasn't working. Maybe I should wire up the other pinouts :p

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

It should work if you just wire the twist pins, but go ahead and do the temp pins two. Perhaps the board wants power at both. You don't have to do anything (program wise) with the data. Then make sure your program is accessing the correct analog port for the twist signal.

Clarification
 

Just to clarify a couple of things:
The KOP gyro is an ADXRS150. It is already on a small PCB with the necessary components to make it work. I see no reason you would want to use an ADXRS150EB in place of the KOP board.
If you are going to buy additional gyros, get the EB version.
The software interface to the both gyros is exactly the same - it's the same chip.

Re: Clarification
 

Thank you very much, StevenB. :)

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

So I wired up both the rotation and twist pins (all 6), and I'm still not getting any output. This is on the KOP gyro, btw. Any suggestions?

ah, fixed it. Slight wiring issue (I blame it on the freshman that did a lousy job soldering : P).

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

Hi

Team 1629 requested the KOP GYRO by email, but all we got was a set of Target Light lamps.

I swear I saw an email/blast or something about what to do if the gyro didn't turn up, but I've searched and can't locate it.

Has everyone else received their Gyro?

EDIT: I tried the obvious of re-emailing FIRST, but the sensor address is bouncing
Remote host said: 550 <sensors@usfirst.org>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table

Phil.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

We got ours with our light, so yes you should e-mail them.

I know it's an answer in the Q & A, I'll try to find it later today and post it up here.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread...highlight=gyro

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

From our experience, if using Kevin's code, you'll probably also want to narrow the gyro deadband if you're using a 300 deg/sec gyro (else it won't see small rotations).

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

we used the gyro ordered from FIRST and wired just the 3 twist holes to pwms, but we get the same random reading if the gyro is attached or not. im assuming this is a soldering issue. but what else could it be? do you need to wire the Temp (R)?

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

You don't need to wire them up to the Temp.

It's probably a soldering issue.

Re: Evaluation Board Gyro
 

i hooked up the gyro to an oscilloscope and it worked fine there. and the soldering looks ok too. what exactly would we be looking for when the gyro is connected to the RC with WPI?