Cant get RC to work

[comphappy]

I have never used this controller before, I just finished wiring up the motors RC OI etc... and when i powered it up all of the lights are flashing yellow. I have fully charged both batteries, what am i doing wrong?

[Jon236]

Did you tether it to the Operator Interface?

[Pavan Dave]

You must tether it to the OI to make sure the OI and RC are on the same channel and team number. Also you may want to make sure that any other robot may be off. By default all of the robots are on c_40(?), if you don't change the channel than there will be interference between the two robots even if the team numbers are different.

[comphappy]

Still not working, i am using the tether, and on the UI i have c40 on the LCD and valid rx flashing on both the OI and RC columns, PWM 1 and 2 are solid, in the OI column TX is also flashing. Main battery voltage is 12.51 and the back up is 8.17.

[keen101]

You need to tether the OI and the RC together at least once after you have your team number with the dip switches (in binary) on the OI.

Once tethered it programs the team number in the board. Once that is done you are able to use the radios.

But, sometimes it's just easier to use the tether cable for early testing.

most of what you need to know is on http://www.ifirobotics.com/

[comphappy]

I said nothing about radios, i am doing it in tethered mode. I have read through the documentation there with no effect.

[Andy A.]

Originally Posted by comphappy

I have never used this controller before, I just finished wiring up the motors RC OI etc... and when i powered it up all of the lights are flashing yellow. I have fully charged both batteries, what am i doing wrong?

Comphappy-

I am assuming you have already read the RC-reference guide on IFI. If not it is located here as a .pdf. I suggest if you haven't done so already you right click and save that file for future reference. One of the most important trouble shooting tools for the RC is on page twelve of the RC reference guide, table 8.3. This outlines what each of the LED color and blink codes on the robot controller means.

The blink codes for the Operator Interface can also be found through IFI, along with other helpful documents at http://www.ifirobotics.com/oi.shtml . In the OI reference guide, on page fourteen, tables 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 list the blink codes specific to the OI.

If you can't figure out what your blink codes mean, please post a detailed description of exactly which LED's are on and in what color and what the conditions are. I suspect that your problem is related to having your team number properly set, but there may well be a genuine hardware/firmware failure. If that is the case you'll want to contact IFI soon, but first lets make sure that it's not something simple that we can fix online. You didn't mention any red led's, so that means theres a 99.99% chance this isn't anything serious.

Good luck. Let us know what you find out.

-Andy A.

[comphappy]

Red Green color blind so here is a picture of it

Sorry that it is so blurry, i had to use a long exposure so that all the leds were lit.
All of them are blinking with the exception of Power On and the two PWMs

[Andy A.]

Comphappy-

It would seem that your controller and interface are healthy and operating fine. All lights are blinking green with the exception of the two PWM feedback lights, which is normal.

You've said that it isn't working. What, exactly, isn't working? The RC doesn't seem to be connected to anything, so aside from the feedback LED's there isn't any way to establish that it is operating correctly. I would suggest either using some servo's connected to PWM 1 and 2 and a joystick to confirm that pwm outputs are enabled, or connecting a computer with the dashboard program running to see the outputs.

Have you downloaded your own code to the controller? The program state LED is blinking green, which means there is a valid program, although it's easy enough to write a valid program that doesn't accomplish anything.

-Andy A.

[RyanN]

From your picture, it looks as if you don't have your PWM cables connected. Also, if you have connected them, make sure they are plugged in properly so that the white wire is plugged into the SIG pin and the black wire is plugged into the black pin. Same with on the Victor; the white wire should be facing the outside of the Victor. I've also found that sometimes when you insert the plug into the hole, it does not make contact, and therefore, does not work. The easiest way to try to connect the PWM to the Victor is while the Victor and RC is on (but please be careful not to touch the power wires o the left).

Here is the PDF for the Victor: http://ifirobotics.com/docs/ifi-v884...al-9-25-06.pdf

And here is the Spike: http://www.ifirobotics.com/docs/spik...uide-sep05.pdf

Good Luck! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

[comphappy]

The dashboard shows things fine. So are those lights meant to be flashing all the time?

[robbrad]

I have not turned on this year's controller yet, but in years past we have used the PWM LEDs as indicators for the driver. We set their state in the program. I didn't do that section, but in hobby projects I have misinterpreted what turns OEM board lights on/off. If they are pulled up internally, and you tell everything to initialize to 0, the lights will turn on. Check your code. Please correct my asumptions of the inner-workings if they are incorrect.

[Andy A.]

Originally Posted by comphappy

The dashboard shows things fine. So are those lights meant to be flashing all the time?

The old saying 'if it's blinkin' it's thinkin' comes to mind.

Yes, the lights are supposed to blink green or hold a solid green, depending on which one your talking about. The manuals linked earlier have the specific meanings of each LED, and what the norm is. From the picture you posted everything is working normally, so thats the state you should learn to recognize and love.

As for the program, I believe the default code enables PWM 1 and 2, with 1 mapped to the y axis on joystick port 1 and pwm 2 on joystick port 2. A programmer should be along shortly to correct me though.

The easy way to test that your PWM outputs are functioning correctly is to plug a servo into each enabled output and a joystick into the correct port. The servo should move with the joystick. Make sure that the backup battery is plugged in and charged though.

The dashboard program should also show you the state of each PWM output, along with a bevy of other information. It sounds like you've already played with this. It's a really useful tool thats underutilized, so keep using it.

-Andy A.

[comphappy]

It appears that it was working all along, it is just the the blinking threw me off, usually when something is blinking it means that something is wrong and it is trying to get your attention. Anyway off to plow through the digi-key catalog for connectors and wire.