Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Thanks a ton! I will try this tonight. If it works, I will report back.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

In general light conditions should not matter since these have their own IR source, however, if your lighting conditions have a significant IR output or there are night vision security cameras, you may have a problem with ambient light.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

@Al and @Phil, just wanted to let you know we got the sensors working thanks to your inputs. It was mostly just a matter of getting them calibrated correctly.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

I tried to run example code given by ni !

we had sensors lined up exactly as document, we ran the robot, and wheels were turning it in opposite direction !

and driver station gave an error

:: too many loops

another thing tht when when we put tape on the sensors they led changed the color !

robot was way too fast almost caused injury any idea how to slow it down ?

if u guys programed, can someone send me the code ... bec. i can't understand the example code provided to make changes

thanks

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Richard,
I will slide you over to the success column. Good luck!

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

First question...

How does the robot drive in teleop? Does it go in the correct directions forward/rev, turn etc. This must be correct before auto. What about speed? Our robot is pretty fast in teleop, but still very managable in Auto.

Next: How was the robot positioned when you started auto? Were the sensors on the line etc. If not, the robot WILL turn.

>>> another thing tht when when we put tape on the sensors they led changed the color !

The fact that this surprizes you means you have not read the instruction on how to calibrate them. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Find the small sheet of paper that came with them and read what the LED's mean. Until you adjust the sensitivity to be correct, they are worthless.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Hey,

I have looked at all of the posts so far and I have checked and my wiring looks correct for my photoswitches but one of my sensors is flashing yellow and then orange over and over. I looked it up online and it said something about a teach mode. Can anyone help me out by telling me how to teach it or if that is not what is happening?

Thanks

Morton

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Flashing orange means you have probably powered your signal wire by mistake.

You say "my wiring looks correct". How did you verify it? (Looking isn't enough with electrical). When you post for help, it's no use saying "I did everything correct". We all think that. You really need to say what steps you took to verify correct wiring. That way we can suggest the ones you didn't take.

eg: Did you try unplugging the PWM cable and leaving just the power connected? This would ENSURE that you are not accidentally powering the signal line. I suspect that the blinking wil stop if you do this, which means you may have plugged the PWM cable in incorrectly. It's easy to do with the DSC cable clamps. Tripple check it. Sensor's black wire goes to WHITE PWM wire, which goes to the inner most pin (furthest from the edge) of the DSC connector.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

As many people would assumed, looking correct is not just looking at it. I re-did my wiring a couple times and tried many different I/O Ports to see if I was wiring the power into the signal as many other people have said this. Reposting an old problem would be silly and thats why I didn't. The signal is going to the signal pin on the Digital IO Board (the innermost pin). The power is the same for all of the photoswitches coming from the Power Distribution Board. The white wire from the photoswitch is connected to the white signal wire on the PWM.

I was wondering if people knew anything about the teach mode because I was trying to find the calibration screw and turned the front black piece. Now when I turn it on it is always flashing between the yellow and the orange lights.

Thanks,

Morton

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

1. we ran the robot it in atonoumus ...
2. robot runs perfectly on tele op
3. you can see led change color as shinig tape is provided (meaning calibrarted)
4. code was used from ni (default robot frame work)



^^^^^

1. if any one has made thier own code regarding line tracker.... can you please please provide us as we only have one guy doing programming and he is new to labview as well

Thanks Phil bot for your anwser

error :: too many loop for robot drive

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Well, rsisk and I have gotten them working just fine. Now we have an issue that the carpet seems to be reflecting more then the tape? We are completely unsure of what is going on. If someone can make/has a tutorial, video or typed with pictures, that would AWESOME. If I had gotten these to work myself. I would be making it.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

You didn't say whether you tried unplugging the PWM cable to see if it stopped blinking, so I'm still not convinced that you don't have a wiring problem....

However, the black slot on the front IS the Callibrate adjustment, so you use this to set the sensor for your field. (I've not heard of a LEARN mode for this sensor.... but who knows).

Once you stop the flashing, Calibration is pretty simple. Put the sensor over the carpet. Turning the screw all one way should make the LED go green (this is the LEAST SENSITIVE setting).

Now position the sensor over the tape. Slowly turn the screw the other way until the LED switches to Orange. Turn it a little further, and then move the sensor over the carpet again, it should go back to green.

It may take some tweaking but you want to ensure that the LED is green over the carpet, and orange over the tape.

Note : My experience is that most students assume that "looking correct" IS "correct". I don't always track down credentials before answering a post, but base my reply on what's written. Sorry.

Phil.

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

No its fine, I know where you were coming from. When i pulled out the PWM cables it did stop flashing but I checked the wiring again and the white wire goes to the white wire. I don't know where else the wiring could go wrong because it is only the white wire that is connected to the PWM and then to the D I/O.

Can you think of any other reason past the wiring that may cause that or is it just the wiring because otherwise I am at a loss for answers.

Thanks

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Disregard my last comment. I found the problem. We had a bad PWM cable that touched the signal to the power which caused it to go into the short circuit protection state. We replaced the PWM cable and now its working fine.

Thanks all

Re: How should we wire the photoswitchs?
 

Okay, so now that the wiring is fixed, our calibration is now not working.

We believe that we were not supposed to turn the tuning knob over the ridge on the circle but we did before we realized this. The one photoswitch that we did not do this to is now working perfectly but the other two are not.

Can anyone tell me how you would reset the calibration on the photoswitch, or how to calibrate it once you passed the ridge, or if the photoswitches are now broken beyond repair?

Thanks