Hello from Panther Tech team 7885!
We’re building a swerve drive following the design of Team 2605
Pictures of the original are difficult to find, but here is a link to the post loboCNC made on thingiverse using the wayback machine.
The design uses NeveRest motors to steer the wheels and CIM motors to drive the wheels. The CIM motors use AMT103-V encoders. The motors are controlled by TalonSRX motor controllers.
We’re wiring the encoders to the motor controllers. It’s been fairly straight forward. We purchased data cables and breakout boards from CTR. For the NeveRest encoder, we soldered VCC to 5V, GND to Ground, Ch. A to A, and Ch. B to B. For the AMT encoder we soldered 5V to 5V, G to Ground, A to A and B to B.
The part that we are having trouble with is the Omron SB5 Photo microsensor. This sensor is used to identify a gap in the steering plate so that the wheels can calibrate (and perhaps update) their rotation during startup and operation. I believe that this sensor is intended to be wired to the same breakout board as the NeveRest encoder. The sensor has four terminals; A for Anode, K for Cathode, C for Collector, and E for Emitter. Here is a link to the datasheet pdf. This is where I get to the edge of my knowledge. I believe we’re supposed to wire the Anode to voltage, but I don’t know if it should be wired to 5V, 3.3V, or if additional circuitry is needed to modify the input voltage to something else. The Cathode would be connected to ground? Then the Collector and Emitter terminals would be wired to FLMT and RLMT? or vice versa? or something else?
Thank you for taking a look at our post. Any information you can offer that will help us get this swerve working is welcome. If you need additional information I will do my best to provide it.
Here are a couple of pictures of where we are so far.
