Search found 75 matches

by gpvillamil
Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:48 am
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Digging the power features!
Replies: 5
Views: 11237

Re: Digging the power features!

Here's a start, attached a quick Sketch to display voltage on the left wing and current on the right wing. It's fun to fire up VNC, startup various video and 3D programs, and see the current usage climb... ... In the short term I'll also test a little routine to treat the left wing as a voltage mete...
by gpvillamil
Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:54 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Quick Update - Working on Pi Code Today!!
Replies: 14
Views: 25281

Re: Quick Update - Working on Pi Code Today!!

Thanks for the update! What I would find incredibly useful is a simple way of sending and receiving strings between the Arduino and the Pi using SPI. It would be straightforward to work up a simple protocol for the Pi to send commands to the Arduino (given my background probably based on OSC or some...
by gpvillamil
Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:48 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Digging the power features!
Replies: 5
Views: 11237

Re: Digging the power features!

Cool. So if I were to write a power monitor routine, I'd probably switch the LED to amber at voltageWarning, and fast blink red at voltageEmgShutdown? In the short term I'll also test a little routine to treat the left wing as a voltage meter and the right wing as a current meter. Hey guys. Yea ther...
by gpvillamil
Mon Feb 05, 2018 4:52 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Digging the power features!
Replies: 5
Views: 11237

Re: Digging the power features!

Yeah I noticed the jump, from 400ma to 900ma. Have you tried using rpistill -t 0? You won't be able to see it over VNC but it will give you a sense of how much power turning the camera on takes, vs encoding and processing. Yeah, they're pretty nice. Now that I can program the AVR directly, I'm start...
by gpvillamil
Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:25 am
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Feature request: Trim for drive motors?
Replies: 1
Views: 7742

Re: Feature request: Trim for drive motors?

This looks easy to do, I'll work on it tomorrow. I'm going to provide a trim value (negative, turn left; positive turn right) applied as a percentage to the motor speed (divide the trim value / 2 and use it to increase one motor and decrease the other). I'll look into the EEPROM code to see where I ...
by gpvillamil
Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:21 am
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Is there an IMU on board?
Replies: 5
Views: 11224

Re: Is there an IMU on board?

Good to know. I've done a bit of stuff with drone IMUs. I couldn't find any documentation for accessing the IMU, but I guess that will be forthcoming?
by gpvillamil
Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:44 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Connecting XBee?
Replies: 0
Views: 13101

Connecting XBee?

I have a bunch of XBees around, and thought it might be handy to plug one in to monitor battery power as it discharges. I have the matching dongle for the PC side so it would be trivial to set up a serial monitor.

Any info on how to address the Xbee from the Arduino?
by gpvillamil
Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:43 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Is there an IMU on board?
Replies: 5
Views: 11224

Is there an IMU on board?

The Spirit overview (http://www.plumgeek.com/spirit.html) references a 3-axis gyro and 3-axis accelerometer. Are those really there? Would be useful to keep the rover moving in a straight line...
by gpvillamil
Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:27 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Digging the power features!
Replies: 5
Views: 11237

Digging the power features!

I take it powerVoltage shows battery voltage * 1000, and powerCurrent shows milliamps? Seems very accurate - I wrote a little Arduino program to dump voltage and current values, and you notice immediately when you fire up the camera over VNC! Any thoughts on what the critical low voltage value is? W...
by gpvillamil
Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:13 pm
Forum: Spirit Technical Discussion
Topic: Note: zero trim values in your copy of the Base Sketch
Replies: 0
Views: 12871

Note: zero trim values in your copy of the Base Sketch

Just a quick note, hopefully it will avoid headaches. If you have set the servo trims by modifying the trim values in the Hardware tab, make sure to then zero the trim values in your own copy of the Base Sketch from then on, otherwise you'll be using the trim values in that sketch! I think by defaul...