Showroom 12v Winch Motor Driving Simpit

Sorry I forgot we placed a ~ at the end of the axis statement to help phrase the data in the Ard.
Picture changed with the right settings, My bad.

arrrgg...

It is 2AM (ish) here. Still no luck with those settings Rob. When I start output testing or a game (race 07) both servos go nuts; moving erratically back and forth. They actually tore themselves from the model, lol. Nothing some super glue will not fix

I studied the manuals for both the game engine and the game manager and everything seems to be working correctly with Race 07 although both Dirt 2 and Dirt 3 crash as soon as I start them up. The crash is before they pop on the screen leaving me with a normal desktop.

Not sure what I am doing wrong, I am getting telemetry from the game when using it, and the admin window shows telemetry when using the output test screen. Eventually the ard crashes and has to be unplugged to reset, as well as crashing the game engine.

Tomorrow I will swap out the servo's in case they both prove to be defective but I do not count this as likely. I tried each in turn without the other to test and both acted the same.

I am using the sketch that aarondc posted on your RC thread and the interface settings that you took a screenshot of earlier.

Here is a screenshot of my setup:





Thanks again for your help, sorry to be a bother. As I get older these things seem to get harder, lol.

Thanks again for your help, sorry to be a bother. As I get older these things seem to get harder, lol.

My 85 year old sim racingmate was trying to tell me that while I was setting up simtools with him over the phone, now he tells me stuff I dont know about it.

When powering up model (ah could be an issue, to run more than one servo off the Ard Uno R3 I have found that a 5-6v 1amp Power Supply hooked to the Uno was needed. (radical movement, sometimes nothing) ) the servos should come to their centres and hold there until Sim Tools send them a command, Is this true on yours.

Ah you made a little error, and when first testing disconnect the levers.

The space is missing from Interface Output.
Interface output should read R<Axis1>~(space)L<Axis2>~.
If not give me some time and I will do a video of setting from uploading code to finished test in game.
Need to test via Output testing before moving onto game mate.

More info in my original post to come, sorry

David, all is clear! I should wait until I am 85!! The way I feel today that might not be too far off, lol.

Rob, you have nothing at all to apologize for. You have been extremely helpful.

I added the space in the output but that did not seem to help the issue. I am also using an external power supply for the uno.

When I plug in the Uno the servo's both snap to their midpoints (90 degrees) and hold there. They do not go haywire until the Uno starts to receive information from SimTools.

The servo's are definately disconnected from the model now

Don't hurry about this, I have lots of other things to do with this project. I picked up the lumber to build the full size prototype yesterday (snuck away from the fair for a bit) and hope to get that assembled today.

Thanks again

After any changes in sim tool have you pressed the save button, important one.
If just clicking the output test do the servos jump around ?
Are you using the last code Aaron posted, first one caused this type of issue.
Reflash Ard with last code show in my post.

Ok had a little time up my sleeve, Here is images of my axis and interface profile, including the profiles for coping onto your machine.



Axis profile for above , start with this and if the motion seems inverted invert the roll , pitch to get this correct for you.



Profile for the Interface settings , too supplied below.
Note you will have to change the com port , after selecting the profile , change comport to -
then select the com port the Ard is on.

Ok the profiles

RC Model Test Profile.zip

Ok now open the zip and copy and paste this into the correct folders, to find these folder click on the arrows shown below and copy the right file to the right place, pretty straight forward. Sorry Auto Updater in that bit has a issue. Good old copy and paste.
From there I would restart Game Engine and select each profile and save as you go and then test the output with the in built test app.



Hope that helps , plus here is a quick vid showing settings and test. With all the above plus the last version of RC Model recoded By Aaron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eo9jTs8QUE

:

Hi Rob, wow...you are a great source for information. Thanks for taking the time to post all of that. Unfortunately it still doesnt work, lol.

I think it might be the servos so tomorrow I will swap them out with a pair that I know work. I followed your directions exactly.

On a different note, (this is where someone hums or whistles); I put together my wooden prototype today:

The motion platform. I found that I need to stretch it a bit as my long legs are scrunched up too much. But still usable. I will make those and other changes to my design.





The motion base, the monitor tree is really tall but you will see why in a bit.





And assembled with the PC, and two of the five planned monitors (see why I need that tall tree?)

wicked.

off topic what is the other sim pit in the background.

Plus if you choose to use wipers you need to remove the ground from the body of the wipers , they use the body as the earth circuit from the motor, need to modify them to use in sim, hence I don't recommend there use, some are a real bugger to modify and some just don't go back together nicely. What happens when you don't remove the earth, when the motor reverses power , the earth becomes a positive and it will charge 12 volts through anything connected electrically to the earth region, which is normally ya pot which in turn sends 12v down a line and receiver that's only developed for 5v (feed back system on a jrk or analogue pin on a Ard. This can short the controller even short the usb connection which in turn can short ya motherboard , Poooop!!!, Not fun, been there made that error.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the heads up on the motors. These are heavy duty wheel chair motors not wiper motors, they have individual leads for power. Just to be safe I did a continuity test on both leads to verify that there was no connection between the wires and either the shaft or housing. I will hook them up to a battery and do a voltage test to see if there is any leakage when they are in operation. THat would have been a nightmare trying to figure out if you had not warned me. Thanks again.

In the background is my Mechpit. I built it to play Mechwarrior Online as I am a huge Battletech geek but that game stagnated into a first person shooter rather than the Mechwarrior sim that had been promised unfortunately. I recently converted it to a race pit but as I mentioned in the first post; I was worried that if I tried to use it for motion it would fold in on me!

Since I am not getting much done on the motion project I thought I would share something that is actually done...well...pretty much done. Still want to replace the plywood with an aluminum plate and make a lever system rather than the pull rod to engage the sequential mode.

My DIY shifter thanks to Elnino and Willynovi for posting their designs and sharing ideas.







DX Input is via a Teensy++2.0 controller board (Arduino compatable) programmed to be a 32 button/8 axis joystick.



I can engage sequential mode by lifting a rod which brings up the platform with two additional switches and captures the bottom of the shifter arm.

wow

Thanks for the ducks guts pics.
Good to know whats inside.

This has to be the first complete setup I have seen, well done looks brilliant. :clap: :clap:

Thanks gents, the shifter is incredibly smooth and best of all it has the weight or heft of the read deal. The action is spot on as well.

I just have to find a why to make an enclosure for it on the motion platform. In the enclosed pit it was easier I just bolted it under the console.

More pictures of the motion project!

The motion pit in the embryonic stage. The steel was purchased at PADNOS Recycling Solution in Cadillac Mi. Thanks Wayne and Chris for your help! Both were extremely interested in this project and wanted to follow along so after being given their business cards I emailed them the thread. I look forward to their input.



I picked up a 90amp mig welder from Harbor Freight (a discount tool store for those who have not yet heard of this chain). For 99.00 it works very well, not a professional tool but good for the hobbyist. It is rated for steel up to 3/16 thick and seems to work very well.



I purchased 1x2x.125 tube for the base rails of the motion platform and base. The 1x1x.125 will make up the bulk of the design.

The motion platform assembled. There will be plywood sheets bolted on to help with the rigidity.

Cool looking good, just beware of ya weight for the motion table, I tend to use 25x25x1.6 SHS Dural Gal in my normal creations , moving frame needs to light but rigid to aid in being able to mount everything on and not get too heavy, my old base weigh in at 12kg without seat and wheel, seat was 3kg and wheel wasn't much heavier all up.
But in turn if you balance point is in the right place its not too bad, weight will affect the interia the motors need to punch at to change directions and when they are changing every 10ms, too much weight or in correct balance will cause the motion to fell lagy

But keep us all informed looking good.

Great shifter !!
Nice beginning for the plateform !

To find the center of gravity, I used a tube :
- keep the tube perpendicular
- put all your equipments
- and yourself on the plateform (you will be the most significant mass ;-)
- ask someone to move the plateform back and forth until the equilibrium is reached
- mark the point


About the dimensions and the weight :
+1 for eaorobbie : keep light !!

for example :
+ my plateform structure weight 8,6 kg
tube 30x20x1,5 (1,1 kg/m) 5,4m : 5,9 kg
tube 16x16x1,5 (0,7 kg/m) 4,1m : 2,7 kg
+ tube seat : 9 kg
+ harness : 1 kg
+ logitech MOMO wheel and pedals : 4,5 kg
+ buttkicker 1 kg
subtotal : 25 kg

+ driver !
grand total : 100 kg which is heavy and much more when in mouvements !

Rob, weight is always on my mind. Keeping it down is good, too bad the driver is so large

Mat, that is how I did the CG (Center of Gravity) for my wooden prototype, Dave had sent me a few pointers on how to do it. But thanks for the confirmation.

But unfortunately...I have been thinking of adding even more weight!

I picked up a trailer wheel hub today that would be perfect for adding a 3rd dof for traction loss. I have flush mount rollers and if I create a second layer for the motion platform and a third 24v wheel chair motor as well as various sprockets and chain to provide linkage for the traction loss module.

The motion platform painted up pretty

Quick question: I plan on using two deep cycle 12v batteries in series for 24v and an electronic trickle charger to keep them topped up. Any issues that you can see using batteries only?