I have make a submarine and I will use Operator Interface and FRC robot Controller to control my 4 motors (thrusters) on submarine.
Sow I need some help with my Operator Interface and FRC robot Controller.
The Operator Interface and FRC robot Controller is new,sow i dont no what I shall do.however
I have connect all cables,2 Analog joystick and the 4 Motor Controls to FRC robot Controller and the Operator Interface,I use two RS232 converter to RS485 instead of Radio Modem, because the Radio Modem don`t work under the water, sow I have a long cabel.
When I power up Operator Interface and the FRC robot Controller with RS232 converter to RS485, the LEDs indicator on Operator Interface and FRC robot Controller indicate this:
FRC robot Controller
Battery Power : GREEN Blink
Program State : GREEN Blink
Radio Modem : RED Solid
RC Hardware : GREEN blink
RC Mode : OFF/ no LED
Operator Interface
Operator Interface
POWER ON : GREED Solid
DATA TX : GREED Solid
VALID RX : GREED Solid
NO DATA/Radio : NO LED
MAIN Fault : NO LED
AUX Fault : NO LED
RADIO Fault : NO LED
INTERNAL Fault : NO LED
Robot controller
VALID RX : GREEN Blink
NO MAIN BATT : RED Solid
LOW MAIN BATT : Orange Solid
CODE ERROR : RED Solid
BACKUP BATT : NO LED
I will take a photo off Operator Interface and the FRC robot Controller to morrow.
I think u got 3 problems. 1 its not reconizing a main battery, or its seeing it as very low. 2 it doesent like your code. 3 it doesent like what your doing with the radios. That’s all I got.
If the tether isn’t plugged into the “Tether” port on either the Robot Controller or the Operator Interface, it won’t work. You’ll need a red tether as noted (or an equivalent M-M or F-F (I forget just which)) due to the fact that the ports are the same on both the Operator Interface and the Robot Controller.
Sow I can not use a RS485 converters into the Tether port.
I need a longer cable about 100 Meter,how can I do that.
I have talk to http://www.ifirobotics.com they say I can use a RS485 converters, with RS 485 can you use 1000Meter cabel with only 2 Wire TX- TX+
What shall I do no,to run the 4 speed controllers and the 4 motor, forward,reverse?
you can see on the image I have hook up 2 Analog joystick to control the 4 motor.
With the setup you have, the default code should work. (I’m not sure exactly how to set it up, but I think you’ve got it set right.) Try moving one stick forwards and backwards or side-to-side. Make sure that the robot won’t move first! Hopefully, one of the motors will turn on. If nothing happens, the programmers should be able to help.
But, make sure the “Disable” light on the Operator Interface is off first. (I can’t tell from the picture–the light reflects at the wrong color. It looks like it’s off.)
You will also need to connect your motors to Victor 884 Speed Controllers (or similar) which are connected by PWM cable (3 wire, 0.100" spaced pins) to the RC. I forget the outputs to which the default code outputs, I’m sure someone else here will chime in.
Well then if you want to use the RS485 Convertors, you have to connec them to the RADIO porst instead of tether. the tether port is not a standard serial cable, it provides power to the OI as well as the data.
You should download the RC and OI manuals from IFI. Based on where you have the joysticks plugged into, your speed controllers should be plugged into pwm1, pwm2, pwm5, pwm6. It looks like you have them in pwm13, pwm14, pwm15, pwm16.
Your joysticks should be wired per the analog inputs in the OI manual. For each axis - one side of 100k linear pot to an analog input pin , center to +5vdc aux pin, other side not connected.
It looks like your joysticks are not centered. The OI LEDs for pwm1 and pwm2 should be on green and red to indicate neutral.
Last, check the compatibility of the paralax speed controllers to the output from the RC pwm signals.
On the Operator Interface, there is a small section in the middle column of LEDs at the bottom. It is labeled “Competition Control” and has one light: “Disabled”. If that light is orange, your controller is disabled and will not respond to anything until you take it out of disabled mode. If it is off, you’re good to go.
If it is on, I’m not sure how to take it out of disabled mode without a dongle (fancy switch). The schematic for one is available on IFI’s site. It might be a good idea to make one anyway, just to help the robot run only when you want it to.
now I have try to connect the RS485 converters to the RADIO porst,but dont work, after I have remove RS485 converters from RADIO porst,and hook up the Female-Female cable into the Tether port again,come only 1 GREEN LED and 1 Yellow LED on FRC robot Controller.same on the Operator Interface ,but is have 2 Green Led and 1 Red Led
FRC robot Controller
Battery Power : GREEN
Program State : YELLOW
Radio Modem : no LED
RC Hardware : no LED
RC Mode : OFF/ no LED
Operator Interface
POWER ON : GREED
DATA TX : GREED
NO DATA/Radio : RED LED
sow what happen?
Is the FRC robot Controller or Operator Interface broken
tdlrali is correct, Your RC will go into that mode if it does not have a program in it (occasionally the program gets corrupted for reasons unknown, and needs to be reflashed.)
To do this, download the default code from IFI’s website (www.ifirobotics.com) as well as IFI_Loader, if you haven’t already got those, connect your PC to the Robot Controller with a serial cable (and usb-to-serial converter if necessary), press and hold the PROG button on the controller for about 3 seconds (you shouldn’t see any change in the lights on the unit), and then download the code using IFI_Loader. Once you click download on IFI_Loader, you should see some status messages go by on its message bar, and the Program State LED on the Robot Controller should begin to flash yellow. This means the controller is in the act of receiving a program.
Once it is complete, all LEDs on the Robot Controller should return to their normal green state.