Using the USB Chicklet with a steering wheel

[PhilBot]

Since overdrive is essentially a race track, I'm sure lots of teams will be considering a steering wheel this year.

The IFI site says that the USB Chicklet is compatible with the "NASCAR Racing Wheel".

Does anyonw want to comment on the reliability/ease of use of the USB chicklet, and in particular, does anyone have experience with the NASCAR racing wheel, or other USB wheel?

[basicxman]

i forget where i saw it but somewhere i saw a steering wheel that just had microswitches inside and gave digital outputs
someone should track this down

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by PhilBot

Since overdrive is essentially a race track, I'm sure lots of teams will be considering a steering wheel this year.

The IFI site says that the USB Chicklet is compatible with the "NASCAR Racing Wheel".

Does anyonw want to comment on the reliability/ease of use of the USB chicklet, and in particular, does anyone have experience with the NASCAR racing wheel, or other USB wheel?

The chicklets work great. You may not be able to do everything with it, but you sure can do a lot. For something like a steering wheel though you may want to read the IFI instructions FOUND HERE and read the user manual and check on page 6 how to calibrate it than let us know if you have any more problems.

[Ice Berg]

Would any steering wheel with a serial output work straight to the controller, or do only some work?

[neilcooper]

Sorry to hijack the thread but are drivers allowed to use pedals?

[Tottanka]

Originally Posted by neilcooper

Sorry to hijack the thread but are drivers allowed to use pedals?

Yea, onlt problem is they will need to sit down to use them. and therefore not see the field

[neilcooper]

Using only one pedal as a fwd or reverse would be good using a button to switch and another one to switch the controls from left to right when the robot is driving towards you.

[waialua359]

Does anyone know which steering wheel by Logitech we can use? There are several types. We just ordered by mistake 3 Logitech Momo ones that needed an external power source. Ouch!
We found one on amazon called the Xbox Logitech Nascar Racing Wheel.
Can anyone confirm that that is the right one before I buy a few?
Thanks.

[B.Johnston]

No.

You need the PC Logitech Nascar Racing Wheel.

Last year there were many problems with the use of "other than" PC devices.

Apparently they differ in their data schemes even though they share the same USB type plug.

Once we recieve our refurbished PC Logitech Nascar Racing Wheel.

I'll program the chicklet and try our PC Momo Logitech wheel for compatibility.

This may be a longshot but I'm more confident between different PC compatible models from the same Manufacturer than with different target versions of the same product.

[waialua359]

thank you Bruce. I almost bought 2 of them a few minutes ago, thinking that a post here would confirm what I thought.

The chicklet user guide is not specific on the target version.

any suggestions on where to buy? anyone?

thanks in advance.

[987HighRoller]

I was thinking about using the chicklet for a wheel, but then I heard that you can open up a wheel and wire the potentiometer inside to the desired port on the oi. I think that may take a little more work than just plugging in to the chicklet, but it would be cheaper.... Has anyone actually done this? I have yet to try it and I'm not sure which wheel to buy. I'm also still entertaining using the chicklet for a wheel if that doesn't work.

[synth3tk]

Ok, we're thinking about steering wheels also. Just making sure that pedals on the floor are legal, even if we stand up. Otherwise someone will have to control it on the shelf.

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by blakcheez

Ok, we're thinking about steering wheels also. Just making sure that pedals on the floor are legal, even if we stand up. Otherwise someone will have to control it on the shelf.

Please read this Q&A response
Basically The Driver has to hold the Pedals during Hybrid

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

Please read this Q&A response
Basically The Driver has to hold the Pedals during Hybrid

Thanks for the clarification!

[daneelshof]

I can tell you from experience that the Logitech Nascar Steering Wheel works well with the robots, however it was a lot of work and basically had to focus on it for the entire build season. Here are some things to think about:

1. With skid steering (either 4-6 Wheels or tank treads) the zero-turn radius of the robot will not be as intuitive as two joysticks.
2. The steering wheel is much more accurate, linear, and stable with regards to PWM signals to the controller than any joystick I have tried.
3. There are two pedals to work with (possible reverse accelerator).
4. There are shift paddles and several other buttons on the wheel, however you must figure out bit masks to use many of these buttons because they are passed to the controller through the unused y axis.

Don't be afraid of standing while using the pedals on the floor, and remember to give your drivers time to practise and take their feedback to improve the system. Oh, and make sure to thoroughly read and understand the chicklet documentation.

Regards, Dane Elshof (Mentor Team 1619)