Arduino Micro with Talon SR

[Rman1923]

Hey all, (This is not for our robot but for a personal project)

So I am trying to connect a Talon SR to an Arduino Micro (With the Leonardo Processor) to power a Mini-Cim. I think I have all the electrical down but I'm not sure how to connect the PWM from the talon to the Arduino. My guess is that I cut the pos and neg wires on the PWM and just connect the white wire (since I already have 12 volts going through the talon). If this isn't how to do it, where should I connect the pos and neg terminal to on the Arduino (or in my circuit)?

Thanks!

[Jacob Bendicksen]

You do want to connect the positive and negative to the Arduino - negative to a ground pin, positive to (I believe) a 5V pin.

[Rman1923]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

You do want to connect the positive and negative to the Arduino - negative to a ground pin, positive to (I believe) a 5V pin.

Cool, Thanks!
And I'm guessing the White Wire goes to a PWM pin right?

I found this image like ten minutes ago

[teslalab2]

you don't need the red wire, its not connected to anything inside the talon

[asid61]

Connect PWM output od Arduino to PWM input of Talon, and connect the twos' grounds.
Not sure about the power wires.

[timytamy]

There are a myriad of other threads out there that go into detail about connecting motor controllers to Arduinos.

But to get you started, read up on servo PWM, it's not the same thing as the pseudo analogue PWM you get from the PWM pins (with analogueWrite()). You'll probably need the Arduino Servo library to create the appropriate signals for the Talon.

[teslalab2]

When you are writing the pwm signal make sure neutral = 47, 74 = full forward, 20 = full reverse. These are the correct values the controllers expect, otherwise you will have to re-calibrate the controllers for them to work properly.

[Rman1923]

Thanks All, I figured it out, you have to connect the red to the VCC (5V or 3.3V depending on the board) black to ground and then the white one to a PWM pin. I used the Servo library and read the vals from a potentiameter and fed them to the talon during calibration. Now if i could get the underglow working...

[AdamHeard]

I'd skip the servo function and instead use servo.writeMicroseconds.

Cleaner control numerically.

1000 is rev, 1500 neutral, 2000 forward.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I'd skip the servo function and instead use servo.writeMicroseconds.

Cleaner control numerically.

1000 is rev, 1500 neutral, 2000 forward.

These are nitpicks ... (everyone's a critic )

Servo.writeMicroseconds() is a function in the Servo library, and not a substitute for that library.

And, I think the Talon has a max/min pulse range larger than 1500+/-500.

Read the Talon's fine manuals (easily found using a Google search) to see wiring and pulse range information.

FYI: I'm using an Edison Arduino in a project, and having pretty good luck so far. I have worked around the one WiFi bug that was giving me trouble, and I don't have any other show-stoppers on the horizon (yet). At about $100, it gives you built-in WiFi, and a lot of computing bang for your buck, in situations where Arduino-style I/O is useful. Consider using one in your next project....

Blake

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I'd skip the servo function and instead use servo.writeMicroseconds.

I don't agree here at all. If you have a working, well tested abstraction that does exactly what you want it to do but can be easily adjusted if the parameters are just a bit off, and you have enough resources to implement it, why would you work around it?

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

I don't agree here at all. If you have a working, well tested abstraction that does exactly what you want it to do but can be easily adjusted if the parameters are just a bit off, and you have enough resources to implement it, why would you work around it?

You're missing what I'm saying. servo.write() takes 0 to 180 degrees as an input and controls a "Servo". servo.writeMicroseconds() explicitly takes the pulse you would like to generate, which for a talon is 1000-2000 w/ 1500 at center. This leaves you a nice +/- 500 integer swing for clean math.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

You're missing what I'm saying. servo.write() takes 0 to 180 degrees as an input and controls a "Servo". servo.writeMicroseconds() explicitly takes the pulse you would like to generate, which for a talon is 1000-2000 w/ 1500 at center. This leaves you a nice +/- 500 integer swing for clean math.

Arduino also has a really handy little map function even in the case of ugly math.

[Rman1923]

Does anyone know how to calibrate the SR so it doesn't go reverse, I'm making an electric skateboard and don't plan to parallel park.

[EmileH]

Here are the calibration instructions from per 7 of this document.

6) Calibration
The calibration procedure takes the minimum, maximum and center
values of the PWM input signal and scales the output based on these
values. Calibrating the Talon will allow full range of control with PWM
signals that are not within the default range. Calibrating will also
correct any non-center issues with input devices such as gamepads
or joysticks.
To calibrate the Talon:
1. Press and hold the button labeled “CAL” with a paper clip. The
LED should begin to blink red/green.
2. Continue to keep the button pressed while moving the joystick
full forward and full reverse. You may do this as many times as
you like.
3. Center the joystick and then release the CAL button.
4. If calibration was successful, the LED will blink green several
times. If the LED blinks red several times, the calibration was
not valid. If this happens, the Talon will use the last valid
calibration values.
All calibration values are retained after power cycle or reset.