2019-03-20, 02:08 AM
I'm excited to finally have the Pypilot working through the Opencpn plugin. Just making it move the rudder while I'm in the slip at the moment, but things are looking good.
My setup is a VNC connected RPI 3B+, MPU9250, PWM motor controller that's probably too low amps for the real world, and an Arduino UNO, after the NANO took a dive. Not entirely unexpected, the NANO had been a participant in a number of hexacopter crashes.
It's driving a fairly new Alpha 3000 ballscrew linear actuator. I've got current sense through a DIY shunt resistor, which I haven't got calibrated yet, but I can see it work. Rudder position sense is working through the Alpha 10k pot feeding a voltage divider. No limit switches yet. I put LEDS on the motor controller Direction, PWM, and Enable inputs for troubleshooting.
My big problem is serial communication through the Pi GPIO to the Arduino. I've finally gotten a loopback test to work on the 5V side of the level converter, so I know the Pi TX and RX are working, but nothing on either Arduino. I'm almost ashamed to say how much time I've put into this issue without success. Finally plugged in USB and Bingo!
While I can get a USB Isolator on Amazon, I'd really like to get things working with an opto-isolated GPIO serial connection. Probably something simple to someone of experience, so any helpful hints would be appreciated
Thanks
My setup is a VNC connected RPI 3B+, MPU9250, PWM motor controller that's probably too low amps for the real world, and an Arduino UNO, after the NANO took a dive. Not entirely unexpected, the NANO had been a participant in a number of hexacopter crashes.
It's driving a fairly new Alpha 3000 ballscrew linear actuator. I've got current sense through a DIY shunt resistor, which I haven't got calibrated yet, but I can see it work. Rudder position sense is working through the Alpha 10k pot feeding a voltage divider. No limit switches yet. I put LEDS on the motor controller Direction, PWM, and Enable inputs for troubleshooting.
My big problem is serial communication through the Pi GPIO to the Arduino. I've finally gotten a loopback test to work on the 5V side of the level converter, so I know the Pi TX and RX are working, but nothing on either Arduino. I'm almost ashamed to say how much time I've put into this issue without success. Finally plugged in USB and Bingo!
While I can get a USB Isolator on Amazon, I'd really like to get things working with an opto-isolated GPIO serial connection. Probably something simple to someone of experience, so any helpful hints would be appreciated
Thanks