I built a bot that is 550 pounds, uses a roboclaw 2x300, Arduino and RC control. The Arduino is management and manages the snowplow which has a angle actuator with feedback and a lift actuator. In my Arduino program as you drive forward the plow goes down, when reversing the plow goes up. Easier than using a switch on the RC. The issue is that I used a Y splitter on the throttle wire from the RC running it to the Roboclaw and the Arduino. It works but it’s too glitchy. I am using a 4 channel RC surface transmitter and need all 4 channels. My only answer so far is to buy a different transmitter with more channels. Any ideas?
Hello.
I generally wouldn’t expect a servo splitter cable to affect the signal like that (unless it is damaged or causing an intermittent connection). How did you determine that it was the cause of the problem?
Brandon
Thanks Brandon, determined by connecting one at a time, BasicMicro work fine when connected only and the plow works when connected only.
Could you post some pictures of your setup that show all of your connections?
Have you tried looking at the signal with an oscilloscope to compare what it looks like before and after connecting it to both? Also, if you are using a pull-up on the Arduino input pin (i.e. pinMode(INPUT_PULLUP);), you might try disabling it (i.e. pinMode(INPUT);) to see if it makes any difference.
Brandon
Thanks again Brandon, I’ve been out of electronics for many years due to work and enjoying getting back into it, I may be able to find the on/off switch on my osscilloscope, who knows. I’m going to try a different approach, I ordered a Sbus SBD-2 Futaba device which should let me use channel 5 to mimic the throttle channel. My hope being that two channels will solve the issue.
I spent some time with my 5VDC and grounds, I didn’t see any difference. If I disconnect the Arduino the Roboclaw works, disconnect the Roboclaw and the Arduino works. I probably should operate the Roboclaw from the Arduino since I want to add a Rasberry Pi-5 to move to a Autonomous snowplow using GPS RTK. A lot to consider and so much is new to me. My operational thought was that the Arduino manages all the motors and include code for safety using sensors and connection to the RC system. I.e. if RC is lost, the bot stops, if it comes close to an object it knows. If the Rasberry Pi asks it to do something and the Arduino says no it gets final control. Seems like a lower/higher brain function is a good idea. I’m really enjoying this.
