[LukeZ]

I am glad you are such a good troubleshooter, some of these problems would be very difficult to diagnose or resolve remotely on the internet. Thankfully the problem was simple in the end (if not simple to find or fix). Onwards and upwards!

[NS-21]

Since there is such lively communication that it cannot but rejoice, the project must live and develop, and it is especially pleasing that the author did not abandon the project, I will write my question.

Although I started a separate topic in “show and tell”, at the stage of this post preparation and testing-studying the settings, I was faced with the problem that I can’t configure the settings when I:

I turn on the transmission, and the smoke machine toggle switch is turned off in turn.

The tank starts up and the smoke machine works.

To turn off the smoke machine, I have to click the smoke switch on the machine.


I read inattentively somewhere, and did not understand the settings, or is it not a bug, is it a feature?

How to make sure that if the toggle switch of the smoke machine is in the off position, when the engine starts, the smoke does not work.

P.S.

I don’t need a ready-made solution, just give me a hint where I should direct my efforts.

I’m interested in sorting it out myself, with a minimum of hints.

Спасибо. Thanks.

[LukeZ]

Hi NS, another user reported this very same problem recently in this thread. It is a bug, if the smoke switch on your transmitter is in the OFF position, the smoker should not start when the engine is started.

Can you verify what version of firmware you are using? Version 0.93.68 fixes this bug, but was only just released about a week ago so I would not be surprised if you are using an earlier version.

[NS-21]

Yes, I read that there are some difficulties.

But English is not my native mother tongue, and yes, and the maximum that I was taught in the army was the questioning of a prisoner of war.

Do I understand correctly?

Is there some kind of problem in the code that sometimes the processing position of the smoke machine switch does not occur?

Or am I wrong configuring triggers?

I can’t say for sure at the moment what firmware I have, but I tried the following parameters of your project, and I dance with joy:





The printed circuit board works. Partially figured out how it works.

Checked by:

1. The work of the smoke machine. Damn, cool, there is a proportion. But for today, a bug is saved in the firmware, the author has a note about it, it works.
2. Tower operation (ESC with commutator motor)
3. Work and calibration of the modes of operation of the lifting tool. (as in HL on the gear motor, and from the servo, in the mode of holding the position by deviation (pan-effect)
4. Rollback tools by means of servo. I did not spread Airsoft on my board, because I did it. I parted the pins of the mikrik of the airsoftorudia, and the power unit - laughed.
5. Light, dimensions, brake light, machine gun and their configuration via USB
6. Work from the Sbus successor. (I do not have an Ibus receiver, in my version of the board I implemented work from both types).


Not verified:

1. Work of a high-brightness flash of a shot (not available, there is a connector on the board)
2. Configuring the control board through the broomstick. There is a connector, there is a blue-tooth, it’s just that his hands have not yet reached his tests.
3. The operation of the motion motors, assembled on the tank, and the setting of delays, inertia and other things have not been verified.
4. Also, the logic of the jerk of the tank during firing has not been verified. Luke made changes there.
5. The port has not been tested for connecting the sound card of the openpanzer, Benedini and others, due to the reason I do not have it. I’m working on my version of the sound card from the openpanzer (I’ll just remove the flexibility and versatility of the original as unnecessary and reduce the size).
6. The operating modes of the IR battle and its performance have not been verified. .

[LukeZ]

Do I understand correctly?

Is there some kind of problem in the code that sometimes the processing position of the smoke machine switch does not occur?

Or am I wrong configuring triggers?

I can’t say for sure at the moment what firmware I have

There was a problem with the code, but it should now be fixed with the latest firmware.

To know what firmware you have, simple connect in OP Config, the firmware of your TCB is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen.

To update firmware, first check for OP Config updates (go to "Help" menu and select "Check for Updates"). If an update is detected, install it.

After OP Config is updated, then go to "Firmware" tab and select "TCB" firmware, and click the "Get Latest Release" button. This will download the latest TCB firmware from the web. Now with your TCB connected to the computer click the "Flash" button and the new firmware will be loaded onto your board.

Hopefully that fixes the problem with your smoker switch, but if not let me know.

[Lotuswins]

Hi Luke,

So I've built my second 'Homebuilt TCB', now:

But it takes me a week or so to do all the wiring, testing, etc.  Which could be saved by manufacturing a board.  So I've been working on Eagle for the past few days and have gotten the schematic changed to remove all that I hadn't needed in the past, and made a board image as the program does.  Unfortunately Eagle only gives a top and bottom layer in the free version.  This apparently isn't enough for my schematic, even with the changes.  Also, I'm concerned with the size of the current pathways being too small for certain of the circuits (smoker in particular). 

I am considering renting the full version ($60/mo.), but I want to ensure I can get it done, produced, and tested before the subscription runs out.  Would you know what additional information I will need for the additional layers?  Like pathway sizes, ground planes, via sizes??  I'm new to all this, so if you have any tips, they are most welcome.

Jerry

PS:  I'll try and .zip up the schematic and board (with only the airwires) for comment also.

[Lotuswins]

Hi Luke,

Here are my drawings in zip format. 

Thanks, Jerry

[LukeZ]

Hi Jerry, you should be able to get the "personal use" version of Fusion 360 for free, and then the Eagle add-on is only about $16 a month, at least that's what I'm paying right now. Maybe they have increased the prices.

The TCB itself is only two layers and that includes fairly comprehensive ground and power planes! Your design should be possible to do in 2 layers too, being even less complicated than the original TCB. Possibly you are trying to use the auto-router and it says it can't be done. The auto-router is really of no use in my view; I've never used it. You can do a lot with 2 layers (manually) but it definitely is like a massive puzzle.

Looking at your design I can see it will be a challenge, but without actually getting into it I don't know how bad/impossible/practical it might be.

I certainly don't think if you are new to circuit design that you will complete your design in a single month. Eagle takes a long time to learn, and routing even longer. There are many tutorials and resources on the internet, but even so it still requires a lot of effort on the part of the individual. Just like you can't put together a 10,000 piece puzzle very quickly, neither can you route a crowded board very quickly.

Even if you don't mind paying for the full version keeping a design to 2 layers is a good exercise. I would probably suggest you try it and see how far you get, that saves you from having to buy anything. Component placement is important, try to place things near to the pins they will be connected to, this way you don't have as many traces that run all across the board and will have to cross each other. You can also give yourself more room just by increasing the size of the board, but of course that makes it more expensive to produce and also we would prefer smaller for our models...

It's really beyond my abilities to give a tutorial on PCB design and traces sizes and such, and I'm no expert myself. But for signals you can always use down to 10 mil (0.01 inches) and that is the vast majority of what you have. For high power circuits like the smoker I usually don't even use traces, but rather planes/polygons. It might be useful to examine the board layout on the TCB to see how things like the ground and power planes were done. Notice the smoker MOSFET was placed quite close to the power input terminals, as were the onboard motor outputs, and things that needed less current were progressively farther away.

You are in for a lot of work if you want to make your own boards, but it can be a satisfying hobby if that's what you want to do!

[Lotuswins]

Thank you Luke,

I went straight to Eagle, which is where I got the $60 price, I'll try the other route to see if it is different if I cannot get the 2 layer model to work.  $16 is a lot better.

Only 2 layers??  Hmmm, I could have sworn!!

I'll swap around the components, now that I think of it I can arrange the grounds for the interposing transistors into a central strip down the middle of the Arduino connections, and align them better, closer to their end connections.   Should make it more rout-able, 

Yes, I did use the auto router, it would take 10 minutes, and overheated my laptop a few times so I had to blow out the dust to get it to finish the calculation.....HA!!

And using polygons is new to me, I'll give it a try to see how that goes too.  I'm enjoying discovering new things like this, hopefully I can get it to work.  Not having access to a HK product has given me a reason to proceed, otherwise I'd be bored....

Thanks again, Jerry

[LukeZ]

Well I'm glad we're keeping you from boredom! That's the right attitude to have. Good luck with the Eagle routing, it is quite satisfying when you get a massive tangle of air wires all neatly routed in the end, but it can be a job to get there. I think people who like puzzles and Sudoku and things like that would probably like routing boards just for the fun of it. Someone should make a game out of it.

[Lotuswins]

Hi Luke,

Well, thanks again for the tip again with Fusion360.  It wouldn't load on my laptop so I installed it on my gaming computer and in the end (very confusing) I eventually got the lower price for Eagle. Then figuring out how to enable more layers took a bit too, but finally got that going.  I couldn't do it in two layers, since the through wire components are so large, so I added 2 more and got all the signals into the inner layers (or most).  It took a while even then to get them all routed.  So it all checks out, and I did the B/M today but on excel instead of in the Eagle system (talk about time consuming).  I also got the quote for the board in the on board system at $333 which I thought way too much.  But OSH Park said $10  per sq. in.($80 total) for 3 boards, which is more manageable, so I have yet to do the Gerber files. 

Anyways, chipping away at this.....Jerry

[LukeZ]

Well you are making progress and that is a good price for 4-layer boards. OSH is definitely the best place to get prototypes in the US, unless you have special board requirements. Will be interested to see how they turn out!

[Lotuswins]

Hi Luke,

I hope COVID19 isn't impacting your life too much.  Being retired, it is only the stay at home that is tiresome, but then I do modeling a lot and I just got a Prusa Mini in the mail which is keeping me occupied 

So I am still chipping away at the Arduino shield, and got my first set back from OSH.  I had worked a few more days on the board layout and finally rearranged it down enough to get it onto a two layer board.  That was a chore!!  I found four errors on the OSH boards after initial testing, and have those corrected so I sent version 2 off to Seed since they have thicker boards (the 30 mill OSH ones are nice, but prying off the arduino really stresses them) and I can get 10 boards for almost the same price ($49).   Once I have those tested I can share it all. 

So the reason for my post is the Robotdyn Mega2560Pro auduino boards I have been using seem to now have a defect.  The ones prior have all worked, as long as you get the right one as was brought up earlier, but now apparently they have changed the 5v on board regulator to a more recent version and on both boards I just received, the regulator has failed.  One on initial power up, and the 2nd after a few days of testing. 

Details on the 5v regulator:

Earlier boards that work fine:  AMS1117 5.0 H904LP

These, faulty boards: AMS1117 5.0 GMIC 1938

I don't know if these are clone chips or not.  Anyways, I replaced the regs on both and they are now working.

So my question is: Does anyone know of another source of the Arduino Mega2560Pro other than Robotdyn that can be flashed okay by OPConfig??

thanks, Jerry

[jhamm]

Hi Jerry,
i use the cheap Mega2560 Pro Mini R3.
But i desolder the Voltage-Regulator because it deliver only 1000mA - this ist not enough for the TCB.
I use a little external circuit with LT1085CT = 3A  or LT1084 = 5A for Tanks with a lot of Lights.

[LukeZ]

So my question is: Does anyone know of another source of the Arduino Mega2560Pro other than Robotdyn that can be flashed okay by OPConfig??

To answer that question specifically, any board with an ATmega2560 processor can surely be flashed by OPConfig, but I understand your actual issue is the regulator on these. It may be that the regulator on those boards is not so much faulty as they are unable to handle the loads your shield may require, as Jurgen says (on the other hand, being a Chinese product I also would not be surprised if in fact they are using poor quality components).

At any rate I don't have any personal experience with other aftermarket boards, but I suspect they are all going to have regulators in the ~1 amp range (the specs for the RobotDyn regulator actually says only 800mA).