Gyro/Accelerometer Wiring Questions

[1chess2u]

My team got an accelerometer/ gyro chip in the KOP, but there are no connectors. is there a way to fab a connector for it? the Gyro has six connections, in a 2x3 grid, the Accelerometer has two strips of connectors, facing 90 degrees apart, one has 8 connectors in a 1x8 grid, the other has four connectors in a 1x4 grid. Here are some pictures of it and the pins.

[DuaneB]

Originally Posted by 1chess2u

My team got an accelerometer/ gyro chip in the KOP, but there are no connectors. is there a way to fab a connector for it? the Gyro has six connections, in a 2x3 grid, the Accelerometer has two strips of connectors, facing 90 degrees apart, one has 8 connectors in a 1x8 grid, the other has four connectors in a 1x4 grid. Here are some pictures of it and the pins.

For the gyro, you can get by with a single PWM cable from the three pins next to the "Rate" label, to an analog port on the cRIO. See the Sensor Manual for the pin-out diagram. You can add a second PWM cable if you need temperature. If your board already has pin headers, then you'll need to make a PWM cable with the female contacts on both ends.

For the accelerometer, you need at least four wires for the I2C interface. The SPI interface requires six wires and four DIO ports. It's not too hard to make your own connectors. You can get parts from Hansen Hobbies, and others. If you don't have one already, you'll also need a crimp tool. You can probably find four-conductor security/phone wire at a hardware store.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by DuaneB

For the gyro, you can get by with a single PWM cable from the three pins next to the "Rate" label, to a DIO port on the Digital Side Car...

That won't work for a couple of reasons. First, a PWM cable has the right connector at one end, but it has pins at the other end. You'd need to cut two of them and splice the proper ends together in order to get a cable with a "socket" at both ends.

The other reason is that the gyro connections have to go to an analog input on the Analog Breakout, not a digital one on the Digital Sidecar.


If you intend to make your own cables, I second the recommendation for Hansen Hobbies.

[RyanN]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

That won't work for a couple of reasons. First, a PWM cable has the right connector at one end, but it has pins at the other end. You'd need to cut two of them and splice the proper ends together in order to get a cable with a "socket" at both ends.

The other reason is that the gyro connections have to go to an analog input on the Analog Breakout, not a digital one on the Digital Sidecar.


If you intend to make your own cables, I second the recommendation for Hansen Hobbies.

Why wouldn't a PWM cable work? One end is male, the other is female. The female end goes to the Analog breakout, while the male end goes into the gyro. You can then trim the pins and solder them in place. Makes a much cleaner system than cutting the wires and soldering the wires in place.

Now... if the team wants to put in some header pins, then that is a different story.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by RyanN

Why wouldn't a PWM cable work? One end is male, the other is female. The female end goes to the Analog breakout, while the male end goes into the gyro. You can then trim the pins and solder them in place. Makes a much cleaner system than cutting the wires and soldering the wires in place.

Now... if the team wants to put in some header pins, then that is a different story.

The sensors this year come with headers installed (at least on some of the boards).

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

The sensors this year come with headers installed (at least on some of the boards).

The headers are clearly visible in the posted photos.

I thought ours came with unfilled holes. I wasn't the one who opened the antistatic package to verify what was in them when we inventoried our Kit of Parts, but what I saw was definitely flatter than I would expect if it had headers.

We've been using last year's parts on our testbed robot. I'll take a look tomorrow at the ones still being safeguarded in our KoP tote.

[RyanN]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The headers are clearly visible in the posted photos.

I thought ours came with unfilled holes. I wasn't the one who opened the antistatic package to verify what was in them when we inventoried our Kit of Parts, but what I saw was definitely flatter than I would expect if it had headers.

We've been using last year's parts on our testbed robot. I'll take a look tomorrow at the ones still being safeguarded in our KoP tote.

Ok, I knew that... I'm thinking of previous year's robots instead of this years. I remember one of the students had spliced two female PWMs together.

Doh!

[DuaneB]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

That won't work for a couple of reasons. First, a PWM cable has the right connector at one end, but it has pins at the other end. You'd need to cut two of them and splice the proper ends together in order to get a cable with a "socket" at both ends.

The other reason is that the gyro connections have to go to an analog input on the Analog Breakout, not a digital one on the Digital Sidecar.


If you intend to make your own cables, I second the recommendation for Hansen Hobbies.

Thanks for the correction. I fixed my post. Last year our board came without pin headers. I'm not sure now if it had them this year but, if not, we added them since we make PWM cables.

[1chess2u]

I thought ours came with unfilled holes. I wasn't the one who opened the antistatic package to verify what was in them when we inventoried our Kit of Parts, but what I saw was definitely flatter than I would expect if it had headers.

Thank you all. these may be a previous year's part, but I do not think so. (My controls mentor may have made it custom made) thank you for the help.