Installed the software as instructed. Win XP shows device is working properly. Device manager shows no errors on the ports.
Leds on device: Green led rapidly blinking, yellow led off…then two quick blinks…off then two quick blinks.
USB connected for power (obviously) and known working continuous rotation servo connected to channel zero with signal wire toward the interior of the device (per pinout diagram)
Maestro control center:
upper right of window error code 0x0000
status tab: channel 0 checkbox checked to enable, mode servo speed and acceleration set to one.
so, when i slide the slider for channel zero …the servo connected to that channel should move accordingly yes? I tried clicking “apply settings” get a green status bar for a second or two like its updating…no movement of the servo.
I have used a pscon serial controller some time back and the software for this device seems overly complicated. I mean we are trying to write code to move servos.
It sounds like you didn’t connect a power source for your servos. See the “Powering the Maestro” section of the user’s guide for example wiring for powering servos:
You know I kind of agree with the software being complicated. I guess there could be two different modes like it loads in basic mode which is a easy interface just to move the servo and then if the user wants more control you can click a button for advanced mode or something.
I went past the “powering up” to the “getting started” section of the pdf and assumed that while attached to the pc the usb connection would power everything and the 6v power source was only needed when untethered from the pc…oops.
As to ideas for the software instructions…just at first glance I would say, have a simple step by step after software install for the novice to see the thing turn a servo. For example:
Connect USB Cable and open Maestro control center.
Connect a servo to channel 1 with the black (ground) wire at the outer edge of the controller.
Connect a 5V battery to the power pins (see diagram) with the black (ground) wire at the outer edge of the controller.
On the status tab, check the box for “enable” on channel 1
Slide the slider on channel 1
If the servo moves, your Maestro is set up properly!
I know for me…after proof of concept, it makes me want to dig in and see what this baby will do. Being frustrated off the bat…not so much.
I will have to play around with it for a while to see from my “haven’t used this software before” perspective what I could suggest. I will continue the thread with things I come up with.
Can you write scripts in notepad (or use an example script) and upload it to the device, disconnect from the pc and just run it untethered? I haven’t pored over the pdf yet, so forgive me if this is a silly question, but I don’t see any sort of button on the device to start a script from onboard memory.
To be honest, I tend to learn more quickly seeing what a sample script does and tweaking from there and adding new commands as I go.
You know you can create sequences in the program under the “Sequence” tab and have it copy it to a script and have it run it at startup without being connected to the USB.
Yeah, my old serial controller had a button on the board. I just scavenged an rc receiver pack switch to do the same thing. I’ve got it working now. Loaded a sequence to script…clicked “apply settings” powered off and back on and it ran autonomously…success!
Next question, how to send a sequence to a script without it creating a looped script. Just run the sequence/s and stop.
To the admin:
Suggestions so far:
Packaging: Include a USB Cable and a Mini CD with the PDF file and software on it in the assembled version. The cost would be under $2.00 per unit in bulk I’m guessing, and I would be more than happy to pay $34.95 instead of $29.95 to play with the thing out of the box. In my case I ordered up what I thought was the correct cable on ebay, only to find out I now have a spare USB cable for my smart phone that doesn’t work on the servo controller. It turns out I had the correct cable in a drawer (for my camcorder)…but this whole process took a few days. Also, having to surf pololu.com for the PDF and software is a pain.
Also, I didn’t see any mention of clicking “apply settings” in the PDF. Unless I read it wrong, it read to me like as soon as you send a sequence to the script it is loaded automatically onto the device.
More on how I think the software could be more user friendly as I play with it.
Back to sequencing…heh
If I can remember correctly in the “Sequence” tab there is a play looped or play in loop or something checkbox or button that you can select. Maybe thats what your looking for?
That’s just for running a sequence from the pc. Here is what the PDF says about sending it to a script:
Copy Sequence to Script sets the script to a looped version of the sequence. In most cases, you will also want
to check the “Run script on startup” option in the Script tab so that the script runs automatically when the Maestro
is powered up, enabling fully automatic operation without a connection to a computer.
So did you ever get this working how you would like? If you still need help feel free to post. If I didn’t make myself clear with the above post after you write your script or generate a script from your sequence you can remove the"begin" and “repeat” statements so that it just runs through once.
