Building first robot, need help getting started

[airman00]

Yes that programmer you posted is good.

the controller board itself takes between 5-10V

also, you don't need connectors? You can also just strip the wires and solder them together.
Check the website I'm sure that they specify which connector.

it probably is a 2 pin male connector in which case the Hitec/JR Standard should connect .

If you find the diameter of the pins we can tell you for sure.
Check the website for something about Specifications.


Side question: Which  orangutan controller are you using?

[Nastybutler187]

The one Ro-Bot-X suggested earlier, http://www.pololu.com/products/pololu/0225/

I'm not sure the Hitec/JR will work, I looked at some pictures and it doesnt seem to fit.

I guess I could solder it though, except I would still need to take off the battery to recharge it (right now, I can't find any batteries, so I'm just using my phones batteries  )

[airman00]

Why not solder to the pins your own wire connector?

Use the connector that came with the phone battery( its in the phone)

[Ro-Bot-X]

I am sure that on the linked page there was a programmer for the controller...
As for the battery connector, on the board there are 2 regular male pins where you can plug any battery using a Hitech compatible plug.

[Nastybutler187]

Hey guys, I'm back. I've got all my parts ready to go. I started putting it together, but I'm really new to this, and I can't seem to find a good step by step tutorial on this. So of course I have questions, hehe.

All I've done so far is mounted the encoder onto the motor, and started the wiring. However, I can't figure out how to wire the encoder to the microcontroller. It has a mounter thingy that fits 8 wires, however they only sent me 6. On their website (http://www.solarbotics.com/assets/documentation/ww02-product_manual.pdf) they are as follows:
1. Clk
2. VCC
3. Dir
5. ChB
7. ChA
8. Gnd

All I know is that GND is for ground, everything else is a mystery.

On the microcontroller itsself, there is 3 lines of 12 I/O ports that are as follows:
                     Always VCC on power pin          VCC VBAT                     VCC VBAT
Signal 
Power             PC5, PC4, ADC6, ADC7         PC0, PC1, PC2, PC3          PD0, PD1, PB6, PB7
Ground


So, nothing really matches up. Could someone please explain to me in a simple way at least what these all mean, what should be connected to what, and how I would physically connect it? The wires had special connectors to attach to the encoder, but on the side that goes away from it, they are just regular ends. Do I need some sort of extra connector for this?

Thanks guys.

Oh yeah, one more question. Do you know where I could find a replacement for the WinAVR studio, that is similar to it except is in Java? I'm familiar with Java at least a little bit, so it would be useful.

[Ro-Bot-X]

After looking up the pdf file, I have to say this:

You need to install 2 jumpers (wires) to enable power on the right and middle group of pins. Connect Vcc (left pin) to the middle pin of each group.

All PCx pins have analog to digital converters; pins PD0 and PD1 are Rx and Tx pins for the hardware UART; a cristal can be connected to pins PB6 and PB7 to increase the operating frequency.

Unfortunatelly the push buttons are tied to some pins of the LCD so they can't be used together. For your application you will need to add separate push buttons that you can connect to any input pins (connect one pin of the push button to the GND and the other pin to the Signal pin of any group of 3 pins on the board - if you use the right group of pins don't connect the power jumper to that group).

The wheel watcher wires you have to connect as follows:
the Red (Vcc) wire to the middle (Power) pin of the PC5 group;
the Black (GND) wire to the GND pin of the PC5 group;
the Violet (Clk) wire to the Signal pin of the PC5 group;
the Orange (Dir) wire to the Signal pin of the PC4 group.

You should have mentioned Java in the first place, there is no possibility for Orangutan to be programmed in Java. But there are other microcontrollers... like OOPic-R (not LCD and more expensive) and IntelliBrain (has everything, but is $$$).

Good luck!

[Nastybutler187]

Thanks for the explanation of what to connect. But are there special connection add-ons that I have to buy? Because like I said, the ends of the wires for the microcontroller do not have any special attachments like the sides that went into the encoder were.

Also, when you say install jumpers, do you just mean solder a wire to them? So I would have to connect the power port on PC0 to the power ports of PC1, PC2, and PC3, and do the same thing for the right-most group, or am I getting confused? Exactly which pins are getting power, and which ones aren't that need it?

Lastly, you said that the buttons and the LCD can't be used together. Why is it made like this? Or is that only when you attach more things to it? For my purposes, I'm guessing I would need to use the LCD. So are you suggesting I should buy separate push buttons and attach them on?

Thanks for all the help.

[Nastybutler187]

I just realized that all the connections you were telling me about were on the left side of the I/O panel, so would I have to activate the rest of it with jumpers if I only need that left side? The only thing I really need to know right now so I can move on is if there's a special connector for the wires to attach them to the microcontroller. Thanks.

[Nastybutler187]

Hey guys, where could I find some other push buttons to attach to the I/O ports?

[Rebelgium]

you can buy them at any webshop that sells electronic components
better:
buy them locally at a diy shop
much better:
de-solder them from an old electrical appliance you have lying around...
There are bound to be push buttons in almost everything.