jmtj6009

justin, they weren't. i was about connect them to their respective pins on the atmega chip. Also, I re-compiled it to 56000 just to make sure im not messing with anything. Still not getting anything -Jim *also, not seeing anything on PD0

justin, whoops, was i supposed to wire PDO to the RX from the serial chip? and the same with Tx? -Jim

Justin, I just ran a check to see if my serial port is working, and it does. I did a simple read and write from labview by shorting the pins on the cable and it worked. Hmm... the code labview used had a rate of 9600. I edited the code in AVR studio, and built the new .hex file but nothing. I'm wonedering, should i be connecting any of the serial ports ( the tx or rx) to the main chip? Right now there is no wiring on my board other than my modified 6 to 10 pin adapter. -Jim

Justin, So i tried the test 2. I programmed the chip, connected the serial cable, and ran labview. I wasn't receiving anything in the inbox. Should I have taken any other steps other than simply programming, plugging, and hitting go? Also, i took a shot at the third test. My scope showed the squarewave (with some overshoot, that shouln't be a problem should it?) but i wasn't able to manipulate it with labview. Perhaps there is a problem with the serial? -Jim * Also, after going through some of my system settings, i noticed that the bits/s on the com1 port can't be set to 56000 like you have in the code/labview. Its currently set at 9600, and the closest to 56000 is 57600.... could that be an issue?

Justin, So I've come to realize after opening up the computer that was given to us by the company who made our Radar, that the serial port on the back isn't actually connected to anything! So, do you think it would be possible to get a serial to USB cable and use that for the board? Would there be some issues with the program or would it still work okay. -Jim * I definately broke some fingers btw edit: i dug deeper and pulled out the motherboard... Got the serial port. NVM crisis adverted. The guys who put the computer together just decided to not connect the serial port on the back of the case to the one deep in the box.

justin, someone is being sneaky and snaggin my stuff. I gotta head up to the EE dept tomorrow afternnon when they're around and see if they grabbed my serial cable, and my scope. Supposing part 2 works out, after that i should set up the PWM run? -Jim

justin, it seems to be working, going on from 0 to 5.05V, Using a voltmeter though, the oscilloscope is MIA . -Jim

justin, Ya, i was pretty excited to see all of the ...OK! responses from AVR after all of the ...FAILED! and red/orange blinking lights lol. So, should i just take out the oscilloscope and check the pins to see if they are sending V signals on and off? -Jim

Justin, I'm trying to set up the programmer, but i keep getting an error STK500II, there seems to be a short circuit on the ISP connector, MOSI and SCK lines seemed to be short circuited. Should i just keep going at it and trying to fix the wiring, or is this a common error? *** Whoops, swtiched some wires, now it's blinking orange.. * ha, this will become an hourly update... Fixed it.. no more blinky orange. * Ugh, can't read the flash from the chip in AVR? The led is solid orange. * Okay, got the progammer to work. Reads and Writes the flash memory just fine (had to fix the ISP freq, and it worked.) So... now what do i do? lol. -Jim

Justin, Sound great, actually... Saturday will be a huge work day for me (working on the design project all day) so i'll probably ask you a question or two... lol. I'm a Mech. Engineer major at The Catholic University of America in D.C. and next year I'll be doing my Masters at the Naval Postgraduate School in Astronautical Engineering . -jim * Over at NPS, they use simulink instead of LabView.. , I'll have to try and persuade them otherwise.

Justin, I attached a wiring diagram and a flow chart, does this make sense to you? I don't have specs for the splitter I'm going to use, but i will shortly. It's pretty rough, but just wanted to give you an idea of how I'm setting this up. -Jim * also saw in your profile that you go to UofW ... lol, had to put something in to cite you

Justin, Thanks so much! I'm back home for the weekend, and I have an interview out in California Monday, but as soon as i get to my lab at school on Tuesday I'll work through all of this. . Just a quick question, i remembered having a problem connecting the 6 pin programmer to the 10 pin slot on the dev board. Is there simple way to wire this together? Thanks again! I'll post some videos as soon as I get everything running -Jim

Justin, No worries... im not in a rush at the moment. One thing i noticed was, the programmer has a 2x3 pin interface and the proto board has a 5x2 pin interface. So I'm thining i may have made a mistake? -Jim

Justin, Got my chips and programmer in the mail today . going to go download the software onto my computer now, just curious tho, how should i start wiring thigns together? -Jim

Justin, My group bought 2 Futaba servos (model S3306). They didn't really bother to mention that we needed to use servos until after they bought it :thumbdown: ... lol, do you think it will be okay to use? -Jim

Justin, I just got the prototype board in, and im expecting the digikey stuff shortly. Once i get everything, should i hook up the programmer and have at it? I was wondering if you had code I could work with to get started. I remember you saying it shouldn't take too long after i get everything to start using the chip . thanks alot! hope your weekend went well. -Jim *also, an EE student over here had some chips he already programmed for a servo to lend me, so i think i should be okay on that side

Once i get it up and going, i'll post some videos on you tube:). Also, Justin, My group decided to throw a servo at me so we can control the throttle of the engine. Should i just go online and buy a servo controller or is it possible to use one of the extra channels in this controller to control the Servo? -Jim

Justin, Definately, no prob. The guy working on the Motor/Alternators will meet up with me tomorrow and i'll start drawing out a diagram to put together. I'll send it to you as soon as we finish it up. In retrospect, we should have talked with the EE department and tried to steal some students for our senior design project lol. -Jim

AK2DM, actually, we have a 40HP engine that will create a 36V power sink using some marine batteries that will be powering the motors seprately than all the other components of the craft. There is a seperate 12V alternator hooked up to the same engine that will be fed into an inverter to create the power source, which i think will be used for the controls. At this point weight really isnt an issue . We had 4 of us in the group stand on the hovercraft at once, plus all the other components (around 600 lbs total weight) and we were floating . -Jim

Awesome! Thanks so much, I'll be ordering the parts in a few minutes, hopefully get them relatively soon . -jim

Justin, the 2 chips will be good for the 4 motors? (I think you mentioned this but just checking) -Jim

Justin, Yea, thats what it looks like. I was wondering, what programmer should i look into buying? *edit: i looked on the atmel website and they have a free prorgammer, the AVR Studio 4, codes in C or assembly, is this worth grabbing? * Also, i'm going to have to explain how i ended up with a programmed microcontroller when i present the overall hovercraft. * Do you mind if I cite you as a source or something since you've helped me so much? -Jim

Justin, I'll be using a Electrifly Hobby aircraft motor . The way we use it now is by sending generating the PWM signal through labview and sending the analog signal to an ESC card the motor comes with. I cant find a .pdf for the ESC, but when i go to school tomorrow i can scan it if you'd like. -Jim

Justin, I have some electronics background, definately enough to hook up some simple circuits. I'm a Mechanical engineer (will be at the end of this semester ) And this project is for my senior design project (need to control motors for the thrusters to my hovercraft). I asked around to my electrical engineering dept., but they were telling me stuff that sounded way more compliated than this. And yes, i was curious about why you were so helpful lol, but i wasn't going to start asking questions . -Jim

Justin, Thank you so much for your help, i really appreciate it. I googled '40 dip' and is this what you're talking about? http://microcontrollershop.com/product_inf...roducts_id=1287 So, I think i'm going to go with this path, Could you walk me through your code a little?Also, essentially, what should I be ordering? And when everything is finished, does this end with me inputing a voltage and then receiving a set frequency at a duty cycle proportional to the voltage? -Jim