Wireless connection to Velleman K8055/VM110

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Couldn't upload the static or moving sketches onto my nano's under the new Arduino v1.8.5 had to revert to my old trusty v1.6.4 which did the trick.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

For some really stupid reason the Arduino IDE was updated so that cloned Nano's won't load unless you change the settings in Tools / Processor to 'ATmega328P (0ld Bootloader)'

This change has caused loads of problems and caught out loads of people!

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

Testing the circuits on both the moving & static boards I'm not getting a 12v circuit. just checking the component layouts I'm wondering if any of the "yellow" ceramic capacitors are polarized. normally they are not.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

The only polarized capacitor is the 22uF electrolytic in the 3.3 volt rail so that shouldn't be a problem. The ceramics can be inserted either way round without problems. What are you using as your 12 volt supply - perhaps that is where the problem is if it's the only thing common to the moving and static boards? 

Sorry for your troubles. If you can give a bit more information I may be able to work out what's going wrong.

Regards, Hugh

 

[Gina]

I use 470µF electrolytic and 100nF ceramic capacitors on the supply input to my control boards.

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Gina,

The input voltage regulators used on the Magic Wire boards only need ceramic caps which makes them easy to use. The electrolytic cap is to give a little boost to the nRF24L01 radio module when it goes into transmit mode. I looked at a few circuits for these and they all recommended using something like a 22 uf cap accross the 3.3 volt rail located very close to the module. So, I just copied what everyone else had done.

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Hope you've had a good Christmas and looking forward to the New Year. Finally had a chance to resurrect this project and after a few tweaks and a lot of cussing I finally  got the shutter motor circuit working correctly in SGPro. It does help having a circuit diagram, which I have mislaid, and had to resort to a failing memory & photo's I had taken during the initial build, many months ago. Connected both the Static & Moving bords into the circuit & added power. I had two red lights lit on the Static arduino & one green light lit on the Moving arduino. Initiated the Open Shutter command in SGPro and no movement from the motor, although one of the arduino red tx/rx lights blinked once on the Static board. I tried the Stop & Close commands, again no movement from the motor, although the red tx/rx light blinked once on each initiated command. There is definitely 12v dc going to each board.

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Happy New Year to you.

I have been out all day so only just seen your message. I will reply tomorrow and we can have a go at working out what's happening.

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Happy New Year to you too.

I've been troubleshooting both boards and found the MCP1825 regulator is not functioning on the Static Board. I have 12v going into the 3302E (7805) and 5v out, but nothing in or out of the MCP1825. The Moving board voltages are ok. I've ordered a new MCP1825 and I'll try again. I do have continuity between the regulators & the respecting capacitors.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

I have just looked at your latest photos and I am afraid that you still have the electrolytic capacitors in the wrong way round. The RED stripe on the top of the capacitor is on the NEGATIVE side. That may well be why you are not seeing any output from the 3.3 volt regulator on the static board.

The correct orientation for the electrolytic capacitors is:

Static Board: Side with red stripe nearest to the Safety Sensor terminal block.

Moving Board: Side with red stripe nearest to Arduino Nano.

For now, I suggest just removing the two capacitors. The boards will likely work OK without them so you can carry on testing before you replace them.

I suggest the following order for testing:

Static Board

1. Check voltage at Arduino Nano pin VIN - should be close to 5 volts

2. Check voltage at nRF24L01 pin 2 - should be close to 3.3 volts. If not the MCP1826S-3302E/AB regulator may be fried and you will have to wait for the replacement.

3. If the voltages in 1 & 2 are OK, hook up the Arduino Nano to your computer via a USB port as if you are going to program it. Set up in the Arduino IDE Tools menu for: 

Board "Arduino Nano"

Processor "ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)"

Port - whatever the actual com port you are using.

Now open the Arduino serial monitor by clicking the icon like a magnifying glass in the top right of the screen. After a short pauseHopefully you will see the following

MAGIG WIRE: STATIC MODULE
STATIC Build Version 1.0

OPTIONS SELECTED ARE:

          OPTION TWO: DETECT_UNSAFE_CONDITION: This Option is ACTIVE

If you see this then the Arduino side of things is working OK. If not, I suggest that you try uploading the code again and retrying. If it still doesn't work after a fresh upload it is possible that the Nano is duff. To test this, try to upload the  'blink' sketch - The command chain in the Arduino IDE is File - Examples - 01.Basics - Blink. if this won't work it is likely that the Nano is duff - so next would be to try the Nano from the Moving board. Hopefully, you will get to having a working Nano on the static board.

After this you can repeat the same procedure, but this time with The Moving board. The Serial Monitor message you see should be:

MAGIG WIRE: MOVING MODULE
MOVING Build Version 1.2

OPTIONS SELECTED ARE:

          OPTION ONE: USE_LIMIT_SWITCHES: This Option is ACTIVE
          Shutter State is Case 0: No switches active. Shutter position not known

          OPTION THREE: CLOSE_ON_LOW_BATTERY: This Option is ACTIVE
          Shutter will close when voltage falls below 11.20 volts

          OPTION FOUR: CLOSE_ON_COMM_LOSS: This Option is ACTIVE

That's probably enough for now. Let me know how you get on and once you get to having both Arduinos working OK we can do some testing of the radio modules.

Regards, Hugh

 

 

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Can't believe I've connected the capacitors wrong again., that's what happens when you think you have time and you haven't.  I've ordered new capacitors and MCP1826S-3302E/AB regulator. They should be here by next week. Time to do some more testing.

Steve

[Gina]

Strange that those capacitors should have a red stripe on the negative side when the common standard is to use red for positive!!

[hughgilhespie]

14 minutes ago, Gina said:

Strange that those capacitors should have a red stripe on the negative side when the common standard is to use red for positive!!

I expect the marketing department thought it was a really good idea. Not something that any technically minded person would do but.....

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

I have been working on the updated documentation for the PCB version of Magic Wire. It is still a work in progress with quite a lot left to write but I am sending you the document as far as I have managed to date. The last 3 pages are very relevant!!

Regards, Hugh

LESVEDOME DOME CONTROL HARDWARE_A4_MASTER_1_r1.pdf

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

I'll have a good read tomorrow. I have now received the replacement components to rectify my cockups on the boards 😞

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

It seems a long time since the last postings. I spent quite a bit of it looking for an elusive software bug in the MOVING module code. Eventually, after nearly abandoning the whole project I discovered it wasn't a bug at all. My ULN2003 chip had died! 

Anyway, I have made a bit more progress on the User Manual side and I have now (I think) finally finished the software. It has been tested using my actual observatory computer with LesveDomeNet and everything seems to work as planned.

The latest files are attached. Let me know if you have any problems.

Regards, Hugh

Manual_Rev0.pdf MagicWireMOVING_master.ino MagicWireSTATIC_master.ino

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Sorry for not replying, but have recently returned from our 2 week winter break. I have replaced the components and ready to test again. I'll have a look at the updated user manual tomorrow.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

No problems and I hope you had a good time. I am also off gallivanting with the family for one week on February 15th. We have rented a large house in St Ives and there will be 10 of us there so it should be fun, albeit exhausting!

Take care, Hugh