Hi everyone, Last november I asked the feasability of using an arduino uno board along with some cui capacative encoders and some astronomy programs to have a telescope find objects in the night ky. To put it simply the system worked fine it showed the position the telescope was pointing and after selecting a target would guide me to the target with very good precision. Now I have a problem of my own doing and want to fix it. Having a very limited knowledge of how these things work I’m asking you fine people for help. The cause of the problem was my incorrect insertion of the usb B plug into the jack on the arduino board. I removed the plug to see that the jack pins were bent. I very carefully used a pair of tweesers to straighten the pins out and then insert the plug the correct way. The fir seemed normal so I started the computer and then slected the program to connect the program to the arduino, instead of getting instructions, there was a warning stating that com7 did not exhist com7 was for the operating program. Can somebody please help me??? The parts of the system are as follows the computer is an old compaq evo which is connected to the arduino uno board (rev3) via a usb cord. Also connected to the arduino are the inputs from two cui capacative encoders each encoder records the position of the telescope in altitude and azimuth. The astronomy program is cartes du ciel , it also uses the program ascom as a driver, please excuse me if I am not using the right wording. As a follow up I went into the computer management device to see what com ports were there. under comp and lpt were com 1 and lpt 1 electric printer. In addition on the control panel for the program I checked the settings for the program and it said the setting for it was com7 Any help would be appreciated and please keep it very basic I very little electronic knowlege, thanks for your time. navee8or :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:
Please excuse me for forgetting to mention, after I corrected the bent pins, that when it was plugged in and the command to connect was given, two leds lit up on the arduino board.
Since you reversed the USB plug, you also reversed the poloarity of the power pins. Meaning, you put a postive voltage to negative and negative on positive. You probably smoked the 16U chip and probably the voltage regulator. If you don’t know how to solder, than you should buy another Arduino…
codlink, thanks for responding, yes I do have soldering skills, but as far as what parts you are talking about, I have no Idea what they are or where to find them. Any photos and descriptions of what to do would be greatly appreciated, does this means the dammage is limited to the arduino??? do you think these parts are available at a radio shack store?? Thanks for the help, and I do hope to hear from you soon. navee8or
No, they won’t be at Radio Shack. The entire Uno board will be there…
The 16U is just an AVR Microcontroller that acts like a USB Bridge for the '328. Unless you have a hot air station, then I don’t think you will be able to solder this chip with a regular solder gun. The regulator is also SMD, you might be able to solder this with a gun (or pencil type) if you have sturdy hands.
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e … ND/2050821
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e … ND/1967217
DISCLAIMER: As I do not have your board in my hands, I cannot guarantee that these parts will fix your board.
codlink, Hi again, I have recently purchased a new legal arduino verses repairing the old one. I have installed the program on the computer and arduino tells me it’s on com8 I have checked comp and lpt and confirmed it is there. However, when I go to connect the arduino to the program I’m using I get the message the device has clocked out, I aloso have gotten the message that it can’t find com8. I had looked a a part of the system don’t ask which and it listed 3 comports com1 com 4 and com8 with a check mark next to com8. Is there any way I can designate anothe comport to run the arduino??? Please bare in mind, I’M A STUPID NOBODY WHEN IT COMES TO ELECTRONICS, please do step by step instructions, Thank you for your time. PS the leds on the board there is one for power on that is on solid which is green and another led which is flashing yellow if that is any help. Thanks navee8or 
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Let’s get some facts down first. Are you still running EZDSC on some old Windows98 computer ? When you say :
The program "you're using" is EZDSC ?? Was/is there some known restriction of EZDSC that it can only use COM1-4 ? Have you tried plugging the Arduino's USB cable into a different USB port on the PC ?However, when I go to connect the arduino to the program I’m using …
Mee n mac
Thanks for responding, I am using cartes du ciel with ascom 6 on to an old pc laptop. I do not have any Idea as to what tother things are requiered I do know what I am missing is some kind code for the arduino to talk to encoders and computer. Sorry, that is all I know. I hope you understand my explanation. navee8or