I have wired up my new TReX controller to a 6v 12AH SLA battery, and a pair of motors from cordless drills. I am using the serial RS232 interface, and can use the TReX configurator to access it, change baud rate, etc. My problem is, every time i select “Motor Control” the application freezes and needs to be killed from the task manager. The TReX status lights say the same, and i can see the LED’s flashing indicating data transfer. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I really want to verify my hardware setup is correct before i start working on software!
Hello.
I’m not sure what is causing the problems with the configurator. What operating system are you running it on? The behavior you’re describing could be the result of the program waiting for response from the TReX (it is constantly querrying the motor currents) that never comes. There is a check box that disables automatic motor updates and instead only sends the commands when you click the button. Can you check this box and see what happens when you just perform a single update at a time (I don’t remember if you are able to check it before you connect your TReX)? Unfortunately, I won’t be able to look into this until Wednesday. Please post if you keep having problems or if you figure anything out before then.
- Ben
Ben,
Setting the motor control to single update seems to have resolved the problem!
Now to try and sort out the root cause…
Cheers!
Oh - i forgot to mention. Windows XP, MCT323 (iirc) USB-serial cable that works fine at high baud rates with a pololu 8 servo serial controller. In this case however i have hacked up a PC serial cable header to plug onto the trex, and a cisco serial console cable, with a breadboard in between. I uploaded the 11 firmware to see if the delays would resolve the issue, no luck.
For laughs, i fired up my python/wxwidgets pololu program and started fiddling - some of the serial commands must clash, as some semi-random clicking caused the motors to spin, or not.
I’m glad to hear that the single-update mode got things working. Does the configurator correctly read back the motor currents when you perform a single update? Please let me know if you find anything out about why continuous update mode fails.
- Ben