Problems with the "$50 Dollar Robot" Tutorial

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

1) For the battery, it says on OnlyBatteryPacks.com the part number 10403 is a 6v 2000mah NiHM battery pack when in fact it is a 1400mah NiMH pack... not too big a deal but still an inconsistency

However, it was the 2nd item to arrive at my home, and am very pleased with the service

2) For the servos, the tutorial says that it should have come with "black box shaped rubber things that have holes in it" to mount them on their sides when, in fact, there were no such thing in the servos' boxes...

The servos were the first items to arrive at my home and it even had a little bag of candy in it much to my surprise

3) and perhaps one of the biggest problems is for the AVR ISPII Programmer it says that part number ATAVRISP2-ND should be perfectly compatible with the circuit and fit nicely to the 5x2 pin header group for programming the ATmega8 but what i received is the AVR ISP mkII In-System Programmer which has only a 3x2 head that runs into a small translucent blue box that converts the output to USB 2.0B and comes with a cable that is USB 2.0B to USB 2.0A for plugging it into your computer and also a "Technical Library" CD... im sure these would all be nice if the circuit was made for them...

This part is my fault but I spent literally all day today working on translating the poorly angled pictures into an actual device and had to desolder the entire circuit once to retry it and see if it worked. I worked on it from about 2:00pm to about 1:30am (currently 2:18am) soldering, debugging, etc with maybe a total of 2 of 3 hours of time that I wasnt working on the circuit... so about 9 hours... mostly because my soldering iron had a fatter tip that it should because its very very old so I had to go out to my bench grinder and make it a thin tip after I desoldered the whole thing the first time. That bit did help a bit

heres a tip:
*When things are that close together and they have to be perfect, dont have low angle pictures with very translucent dots to show where connections are made. Get 90? to the board and have opaque dots to show solder points. Pretty much zero confusion.



Basically I spent about $101.38 for parts and shipping costs as well as about 9 hours of day time for no reason... and im pretty aggravated about it and I dont want it to happen to anyone else so please look into the parts and image problems to try and work out any possible quirk...

BTW for all of you who cant pick out tone in text, im not shouting or being snobby in this post or anything like that. Im simply stating it

[Eco19R]

never grind or use anything abrasive on the tip of your soldering iron, it will wreck it.

[Qubix]

2) For the servos, the tutorial says that it should have come with "black box shaped rubber things that have holes in it" to mount them on their sides when, in fact, there were no such thing in the servos' boxes...
The servos were the first items to arrive at my home and it even had a little bag of candy in it much to my surprise

This seems to be quite true of a lot of servos, definitely all servos I've bought, they don't come with servo mounts. You can buy them separately but they tend to be expensive for what they are. Best bet is to make you own.

[jthtiger]

2) For the servos, the tutorial says that it should have come with "black box shaped rubber things that have holes in it" to mount them on their sides when, in fact, there were no such thing in the servos' boxes...
The servos were the first items to arrive at my home and it even had a little bag of candy in it much to my surprise

This seems to be quite true of a lot of servos, definitely all servos I've bought, they don't come with servo mounts. You can buy them separately but they tend to be expensive for what they are. Best bet is to make you own.

of course the easiest way would be just to use e-tape or zip ties to but them on!  VERY cheap and it works. I'm sorry about what happened to your robot. i thank you for posting this because i am starting on my first robot (which is the $50 robot) and i hope it will go smoothly.

Tiger

[ed1380]

how did you spend $100.   

[rgcustodio]

Sorry to hear that you're having problems.

and perhaps one of the biggest problems is for the AVR ISPII Programmer it says that part number ATAVRISP2-ND

This ISP is designed to work for the 3x2 header as you've found out the hard way but, if you have extra cables (I have jumper cables that fit standard pins perfectly) you can open up the ISP and directly wire the 3x2 header to the 5x2 header on the robot. You just have to know where to put the wires since the signals provided by the ISP are the same, they just have different headers.

Also if you are having difficulty seeing the solder points verify with the solder against a wiring diagram. The tutorial has a simple wiring diagram (and it's color coded) that could be used as a reference.

Good luck.

- Rommel

[NOOBinDistress]

Idk what you mean... my servos came in 2 black boxes with mounts...

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

how did you spend $100.   

In order of arrival:

ServoCity.com
$17.98 both servos
$5.95 shipping
TOTAL = $23.93

OnlyBatteryPacks.com
$16.50 battery
$1 connector for the end of it
$5.95 shipping
TOTAL = $23.45

DigiKey.com
$0.49 Voltage Regulator
$3.66 ATmega8 AVR
$1.58 28 pin DIP socket
$0.28 220uF Electrolytic capacitor
$0.26 .1uF Ceramic Capacitor
$1.68 36 position breakaway header (I accidentally only bought one instead of two so I had to get created and desoldered an IDE header off of an old motherboard I had laying around and modified that to work as my 5x2 ISCP programmer header........)
$0.95 340ohm Resistors
$0.49 1620ohm resistors
$0.19 3mm red clear LED
$35.91 AT AVR ISP2 In-SYstem programmer
$2.73 sales tax
$5.95 guessed shipping, they didnt include it on the written bill
TOTAL = $48.22 + $5.95 = $54.17

23.93 + 23.45 + 54.17 = 101.55

thats how =)

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Sorry to hear that you're having problems.

and perhaps one of the biggest problems is for the AVR ISPII Programmer it says that part number ATAVRISP2-ND

This ISP is designed to work for the 3x2 header as you've found out the hard way but, if you have extra cables (I have jumper cables that fit standard pins perfectly) you can open up the ISP and directly wire the 3x2 header to the 5x2 header on the robot. You just have to know where to put the wires since the signals provided by the ISP are the same, they just have different headers.

Also if you are having difficulty seeing the solder points verify with the solder against a wiring diagram. The tutorial has a simple wiring diagram (and it's color coded) that could be used as a reference.

Good luck.

- Rommel

dont suppose theres a tutorial for this somewhere?
----
or perhaps a quick fix to the circuit you may know about?

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

oh yeah, even if its not programmed, should the LED turn on as soon as you plug the 6v battery pack in? Mine doesnt...

[Admin]

1) For the battery, it says on OnlyBatteryPacks.com the part number 10403 is a 6v 2000mah NiHM battery pack when in fact it is a 1400mah NiMH pack... not too big a deal but still an inconsistency

Hmmm either I made a dumb mistake or they changed the specs . . . Just corrected it . . . Anyway, any of these batteries will work:
http://www.onlybatterypacks.com/items.asp?db=7
Just pick the size and mAh that you like. The 1400mAh one will still work, too.

2) For the servos, the tutorial says that it should have come with "black box shaped rubber things that have holes in it" to mount them on their sides when, in fact, there were no such thing in the servos' boxes...

hmmmm someone else said this too . . . not sure whats going on here cause some people got the mounts . . . well, another way to mount servos is to use industrial strength double sided sticky tape. it holds really well . . .
sorry about this! its very inconsistant with what the servos come with, sometimes its missing servo horns for example . . . I have tons of servo mounts I dont use . . .

it says that part number ATAVRISP2-ND should be perfectly compatible with the circuit and fit nicely to the 5x2 pin header group for programming the ATmega8 but what i received is the AVR ISP mkII In-System Programmer which has only a 3x2 head

Did it come with an extra 5x2 cable? Mine came with an extra cable but it wasnt installed - I had to open it up and plug it in.

translating the poorly angled pictures into an actual device

my pics were meant more as soldering examples . . . use the schematic if you are ever not sure of the connections. . . I really should make a 'how to solder tutorial' at some point, many people expressed problems with this part . . . Ill add that to the vote.

even if its not programmed, should the LED turn on as soon as you plug the 6v battery pack in? Mine doesnt...

It should only turn on after its programmed. I set up the LED so that it can be controlled by software.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

It didnt come with the extra 5x2 cable to change it out... so unless you can point me to a tutorial to convert the thing to work with a 3x2 header I wasted $100 until I figure out how to make it work .... im sure ill figure it out sometime soon... gotta google some AT Mega8 AVR specs and study em and stuff like that to see if I can get it to program on the 3x2 header....

[Admin]

It didnt come with the extra 5x2 cable to change it out... so unless you can point me to a tutorial to convert the thing to work with a 3x2 header I...

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=1045.0

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Thanks ill try that out

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

just opened the little box for the ISPII and theres only a header for the 3x2 cable. Just letting ya know

[Admin]

just opened the little box for the ISPII and theres only a header for the 3x2 cable. Just letting ya know

ok thanks for the heads up . . . i think i need to mention that in the tutorial that its no longer offered

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

yeah might also want to create an alternative part of the circuit for people that receive the 3x2 ribbon so they know what to do? just a thought... BTW I posted a question in the thread you linked me to..... sorry for the noobish questions but I swear once I learn the stuff you wont hate me

When I figure out or am told which pin is which on the ribbon and such based on the orientation set by the arrow im just soldering in an extra 3x2 header and leaving the 5x2 where it is just in case...

[Admin]

nah your questions werent noobish . . . you arent the first to find a flaw in my tutorials and wont be the last either

When I figure out or am told which pin is which on the ribbon and such based on the orientation set by the arrow im just soldering in an extra 3x2 header and leaving the 5x2 where it is just in case...

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=1045.msg7804#msg7804

[ed1380]

wow $23 for abatery pack. boy did you get ripped off. for $21 you can get 3 batteries

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

wow $23 for abatery pack. boy did you get ripped off. for $21 you can get 3 batteries

well the shipping I think is what killed me the most. the battery was only about $17... besides thats the site the tutorial gave me so thats where i went

[ed1380]

still. $17 for just a battery

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

yeah but its a pretty decent battery so I dont mind the expense. 6v 1400mah NiMH rechargeable and stuff so w/e ya know?

[ed1380]

yeah, but still could have gotten a 4 AA battery holder at radioshack and 4 rechargable nimh batteries for cheaper.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

battery pack looks more professional 

[JonHylands]

yeah, but still could have gotten a 4 AA battery holder at radioshack and 4 rechargable nimh batteries for cheaper.

Except that NiMh AA batteries are only 1.2 volts, so your nominal voltage would only be 4.8 volts. You need five NiMh cells to make 6 volts...

- Jon

[ribs]

2) For the servos, the tutorial says that it should have come with "black box shaped rubber things that have holes in it" to mount them on their sides when, in fact, there were no such thing in the servos' boxes...

hmmmm someone else said this too . . . not sure whats going on here cause some people got the mounts . . . well, another way to mount servos is to use industrial strength double sided sticky tape. it holds really well . . .
sorry about this! its very inconsistant with what the servos come with, sometimes its missing servo horns for example . . . I have tons of servo mounts I dont use . . .

FYI I did not get mounts either... but I was not expecting to because I didn't read the tutorial thoroughly enough   So I bought some metal brackets, too, but they don't quite fit.  Time for the old trusty dremel.

it says that part number ATAVRISP2-ND should be perfectly compatible with the circuit and fit nicely to the 5x2 pin header group for programming the ATmega8 but what i received is the AVR ISP mkII In-System Programmer which has only a 3x2 head

Did it come with an extra 5x2 cable? Mine came with an extra cable but it wasnt installed - I had to open it up and plug it in.

FYI, mine didn't come with a 5x2 cable either.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Sounds like the tutorial might need to be redone....

[Admin]