How to code Macanum ddrive

[whcirobotics]

The mentor suggested that we try this and we did try to get 1 victor at a time and it worked fine. Then we tried 2 at a time and it worked fine. Then i tried all together and one of it failed. So i guess it is a software problem, either that or that one is calibrated. But i doubt that it is hardware partly because of the fact that i tried again but this time i opened new project and tried writing the code and then deployed it and this time the front left one did not spin as seen in video but front right did. :S and the front left was moving for 5 seconds and then a jerk. So on and so forth. And secondly because i confirmed all the hardware things with our mentor who is electrical engineer (Mr.Thomas) and he said everything looks good except one might be calibrated. BUT if one was calibrated why did it not spin when i ran the new code, but front right one was spinning :S Something is very wrong somewhere in hardware or software :S

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

The mentor suggested that we try this and we did try to get 1 victor at a time and it worked fine. Then we tried 2 at a time and it worked fine. Then i tried all together and one of it failed.

Describe in greater detail what you mean by "one of it failed". What exactly did you observe?

[whcirobotics]

One of them was spinning without any input from the joystick

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

we did try to get 1 victor at a time and it worked fine.

Just to be perfectly clear: Did you do this for each of the 4 wheels individually, and each of them worked fine?

Then i tried all together and one of it failed.

Again, to be clear:

- After you tested each wheel individually, you then tried running all 4 at the same time?

- And when you did all 4 at the same time, with zero command, one of the wheels was spinning?

- And the wheel that was spinning had previously worked correctly when tested individually?

Is everything above a correct description of what you did and what you observed? If not, please explain what you did.

[whcirobotics]

Yes that is correct

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

Yes that is correct

OK, two more questions:

1) How fast was the "failed" wheel spinning, when the command was zero? I don't need a number, just a description, like was it really fast or was it slow?

2) When the command was zero and the motor was spinning, what was your Dashboard saying about the PWM command signal being sent to that motor?

[whcirobotics]

The speed was about the same speed that the wheel is spinning in the video. The dashboard did NOT say anything about the pwm. No conflict or anything

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

The dashboard did NOT say anything about the pwm.

I don't know what you mean by the above. The Dashboard always tells you something about the PWM command signal. It tells you what the signal level is... it tells you what your software is commanding. This piece of information is very useful to isolate the cause of the problem.

[whcirobotics]

Yes i meant to say that it was normal it was not showing anything awkward

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

Yes i meant to say that it was normal it was not showing anything awkward

I don't mean to belabor the point here, but does "normal" and "not awkward" mean it was reading zero? If you don't remember it's OK, I just need to know in order not to give you a misleading answer.

[whcirobotics]

I cant remember sorry but i can confirm what is happening accurately on January 3 when the school starts ?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by whcirobotics

I cant remember sorry but i can confirm what is happening accurately on January 3 when the school starts ?

Sure!

[Mark McLeod]

Offhand, based on the video evidence, I'd calibrate that Victor.
The status light did not go to Neutral that I could see.
It seems to be controlled properly and reverses fine, but just doesn't appear to go to neutral.

It's easy to tell though if you watch the Victor status lights. When your hand is off the joysticks (neutral) all the Victor status lights should be solid yellow/orange. If a light is not solid then the wheel should be turning.

It's safest to calibrate them while using a brand new simple default framework program. That's Arcade drive and eliminates the possibility of any software errors you may have. However, make SURE the Drive motor Open in Begin.vi gets changed to "Victor." You can also change the Drive to 4 Motors, so you don't have to move PWM cables around. It'll also give you a chance to tell which PWMs may need reversing.
When you get back into school before making any changes test:

• Neutral - all Victors = solid yellow/orange
• Full Forward - all Victors = solid red or green
• Full Reverse - all Victors = solid green or red

If any of these don't happen with the default Arcade drive, then the associated Victor needs calibration.

[Mark McLeod]

In engineering, it's unusual to throw a lot of new things together, turn it on and expect it all to work together.

Normally, we'd test each sub-system independently, and work out the bugs in each, before trying them together.

Errors in one sub-system can mask errors in another sub-system. Two wrongs can make an inadvertent right, then later on when an unnoticed error gets corrected, suddenly the software that was working so perfectly stops working.

Then, when you begin to put sub-systems together, you want to develop a step-by-step test plan to verify that each piece is working properly. Inspecting the PWM orders coming from the software is one of those tests.

[whcirobotics]

Hi CD i tried the code it worked fine but it is rather .. complex to use both joysticks .. so i want it to turn when say button 2 is pressed.

I do realize that i cant just take the button and connect it directly to the rotation obviosaly. How do i do it? I am just asking for the sake of having ease of driving. Can someone provide an example? Like if button 2 is pressed then rotation is enabled?

I attached a picuture for what i did but i highly doubt it is correct.