Hello, I’d like to introduce myself first. My name is Joe and I have a problem. :mrgreen:
I am new to electronics and want to learn how it works, build my own circuits, and eventually build robots. I have been flying model airplanes and helicopters for over 10 years. Flown everything from 12" to 120" I also make my own designs and build them. I am great at mechanical stuff but my electronic designs are…funky to say the least. (Using a solenoid to hit a switch that turns on power to a relay just to provide power to a motor type funky! ) Starting to get into parts of the model aircraft/robot hobby that requires Mixes that the radio simply can’t do. I normally would just do it mechanically but I want to learn a new skill while at it. I am currently serving overseas, about to deploy so I do not have my full work shop, just the minimum. Since I am somewhat new to electronics, I have a limited assortment of parts to choose from. But I am already taking things apart, chip harvesting.
A few years back a friend gave me a micro-computer kit he put together from his misc. collection. Tried learning C++ with the mixed matched components on an ancient computer and no help. I’m sure you can guess how that went. After looking around for a bit and talking to a few of my friends, they recommended I get the Arduino Inventors kit from Sparkfun. Did a little research, read the manual, looked at some reviews, I am real impressed with the library and overall support for the thing. My Arduino kit is on order now!
Right now, I know I need to learn the very basics before I can do the cool stuff. I actually just made my first circuit. I needed to drive a few HS-55 micro servo’s but did not want to turn on my radio system to do an Ops check. So I brushed the dust off my Radio shack Electronics learning lab. I knew 555’s could be used to drive servos but did not use the many schematics I saw online. The first schematic in the RSEL lab is a 555 based LED pulse. I know servos run off a pulse. I then removed the LED/resistor for that, replaced the two timing resistors with a 100k and 10k pot then plugged the servo signal into where the LED was. Put 4.5v on the servo and fired it up. The servo went berserk, luckily it was already going bad. :mrgreen: I played with the two pots and eventually got it to move but it made a terrible humming sound like it was stalled. I played with the resistors some more, replaced the 100k pot with a 10k resistor which made a huge difference. The circuit worked but not that great though, servo still made humming sound. I did more research and it turns out I have it set up as an astable multiviberator. I don’t have the parts to make the ones in the schematics (real limited on parts) but I am HOOKED!
My long term goal is to build a set up that can interpret the PWM (or is it PPM?)signals from my standard off the shelf model aircraft receivers and output multiple signals that can drive servos. (Here is a link to a similar radio I use, except mine is an older 72mhz FM radio)
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/De … ID=SPM2710
For example on a normal set up if I give my radio some throttle, the signal will go to the receiver which puts out a signal to move the throttle servo to a corresponding position. (IE half throttle on the radio means the servo will be at half of its travel) When you try to drive multiple servos that automatically “go back and forth” while holding the radio stick at one position, you simply can’t do with a standard RC radio. (Even the $2000 14 channel ones) I know I can program the Arduino to do that on its own but the purpose is to control it using a RC radio. So the real question is how could I input a signal into the Arduino to get it to drive multiple servos in different directions at the same time? is analog and I think the Arduino has 6 analog inputs. I’m not sure exactly how it works. BUT I do have Electronic speed controls for brushed motors. I might be able to hook a lower voltage ESC up and have it read that. (Not sure if it varies the voltage or pulses the voltage) Since its a long term goal that might require hardware upgrades and what not, I have plenty of time to think about it.
Any input is appreciated!