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07-09-2015, 11:01 PM #1
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI
- Posts
- 55
Tutorial: Initial Task: OC Servo Motors Card And A Servo Motor
Moderator, please consider making this "sticky," or posting it in the Tutorials section (or both). Other users (Zlatko, Kiek/Nico) kindly gave me their assistance so far, and I wish to pass-on my education to help others. My apologies for the lack of photos (due to time) -- I'll try to incorporate photos later. I hope to provide more advanced tutorials as I learn. If anyone can add or correct me on anything, please do:
OBJECTIVE
- To get an RC servo motor working with the Opencockpits Servo Motors Card. This tutorial can be thought of as "Step 1" when starting-out. (HELPFUL INFO: an RC servo motor is used in radio controlled airplanes, etc., to control landing gear, control surfaces, etc. The concept here is to use these same servo motors to control real-world flight instruments, via the Opencockpits Servo Motors Card.)
THINGS TO BUY
- At opencockpits.com, buy:
* Servo Motors Card (http://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/...ml?language=en)
- At a hardware store, buy:
* Wire stripper tool
* 22-16AWG twist-on wire connectors (i.e., wire nuts)
* Electrical tape
- At a servo supply company (i.e., servocity.com) buy:
* Some RC servo motors (recommend standard RC servo motors, such as Hitec HS-322HD, around $10 each)
* Tamiya 2-pin connector or JST 2-pin leads (see below)
GETTING A STANDALONE 5V POWER SUPPLY
- If you have an old, unused computer, unscrew the ATX PSU (Power Supply Unit) from it. Unplug all of its power cables that are plugged into other cards. (HELPFUL INFO: If you don't know what this device is, search the web for ATX PSU.)
- Ensure the PSU is not plugged in. (HELPFUL INFO: It is inadvisable to open the case of the PSU unless you have full knowledge of its inner workings. High voltage internally can cause serious injury.)
- Look for the 20-pin connector (some PSUs have a 24-pin connector). Splice the green wire (called the PS_ON wire) to an adjacent black wire (i.e., a ground wire). (HELPFUL INFO: the green PS_ON wire is used by the computer's motherboard to tell the PSU to turn on; the process of splicing it to a ground wire simulates this task, enabling the PSU to be "told" to power-up.)
- Look for a thin 22-gauge red wire (which is a 5V wire) coming out of one of the cables. There is also a black wire (which is a ground wire) next to it. These might be part of a connector that has four wires on it; the red and black wires must be converted to a 2-pin connector, so that it can be plugged-into the Opencockpits card. (HELPFUL INFO: At servocity.com > Wire/Connectors & Accessories > Tamiya Connector or JST Leads, you can buy the 2-pin connector already wired. Using wire connectors (i.e., wire nuts), splice the wires of this 2-pin Tamiya or JST leads into the red/black wires of the other red/black wires from the PSU.)
- On all other PSU power cables, carefully wrap all (unused) cable connectors with electrical tape, to prevent shocks, shorts, etc.
- Plug the big residential power cable into the PSU and turn it on; the fan should start, indicating successful power to the PSU.
OBTAIN THE OPENCOCKPITS SERVO MOTOR CARD MANUAL
- Go to http://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/...ml?language=en, click the Downloads tab, and click the link "Installation and user's manual USBServos." NOTE: As of 07/08/2015, there are two versions of the manual: version 1, and version 2. You want version 2. This link should download version 2.
- Read it carefully, paying careful attention to how the servo motor's wiring must be modifed for use by the Opencockpits Servo Motors Card.
- Read all other warnings in the manual.
ATTACH THE 5V POWER SUPPLY AND THE SERVO MOTOR TO THE SERVO MOTOR CARD
- Attach the red/black 22-gauge 2-pin connector that you made, above, to the Opencockpits Servo Motor Card J2 male connector. NOTE: Ensure that you connect it with proper polarity (i.e., the red 5V power cable goes to pin 1, the positive (+) side, and the black ground wire goes to pin 2, the negative (-) side).
- Rewire the servo motor that you purchased, such that the wiring of it matches the instructions in the Servo Motor Card Manual, above. The idea is this: the servo motor comes with three wires: 5V power (+), Signal (S), and ground (-). These three wires are wired into the motor's 3-pin connector in a certain order, yet the Opencockpits Servo Motors Card's male pins expect them to be in a different order. You typically must swap the order of the wires on the servo motor's connector. The easy way to do this is to cut the + and S wires, and splice-together each opposite wire using wire connectors (i.e., wire nuts).
- Attach the 3-pin servo motor's connector to the Opencockpits Servo Motor Card at the Servo 1 position. NOTE: ensure it is plugged-in correctly, noting the diagram in the Opencockpits Servo Motor Card Manual. In other words, the 5V + wire on the connector must go to pin 1, the S wire must go to pin 2, and the ground - wire must go to pin 3 for the Servo 1 position.
INSTALL THE OPENCOCKPITS SIOC SOFTWARE
- Go to http://www.opencockpits.com/index.ph...egory/software, and download IOCards Software ver 3.4 Update. UnZIP it, and install it.
- From your Windows Start menu, launch the application called Opencockpits SIOC. NOTE: The installation gives a compiler error right away. To eliminate this, click the Setup button > click the yellow folder icon > browse for location C:\Program Files (x86)\IOCards\SIOC\, choose the file sioc.ssi > click Save & Exit.
- You might need to exit the Opencockpits SIOC application and restart it. Upon restart, note that the screen's data is populated, no error messages appear, and the Servo Motors Card's red LED illuminates. If this is not the case, there might be a further configuration problem, or your 5V power supply might not be connected properly, etc.
TEST YOUR SERVO MOTOR
- With the Opencockpits SIOC application running, click SIOC Monitor button.
- The SIOC Monitor application opens in a separate window. Look for the green icon with the label "IDX = ...". DOUBLE-click that line.
- The servo testing application appears. Using the slider for servo 1 (S-1), drag it left and right, and note that your servo motor reacts.
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