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Greg's journey into the world of 2DOF simulators

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by Greg83, Feb 17, 2015.

Page 5 of 9
  1. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    First of all, SMC3 will stop the motors if they will pass the clip input or latest at the Max Limits line. If one motor do that like you have described IMO the polarity of this motor has to be checked out. If I plug in the USB connector while the PSU is on and the motors are at different positions the motors should turn into the middle position and then they are stopping.

    To measure the voltage you disconnect the motors from the MM and connect the volt meter. Sine is a welcome test to check out if the polarity will switch and if the voltage is 12V (or -12V) and not less.

    If you want to be sure if the Ard or the MM has some errors, you have to switch the Ard wiring and then the MM wiring as well for testing with.

    PS: do not give up ;)
    Pit, Apr 26, 2015
    #81
  2. Alexey

    Alexey Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Have you tried changing the port that you use on the arduino? Change the physical analogue port to a different one, not just swapping the ones already used. For instance of the pots are wired to:
    Motor 1 = A0
    Motor 2 = A1

    Then change the faulty port to:
    Motor 1 = A0
    Motor 2 = A3

    You will actually need to open the SMC3 code and change it in the Arduino sketch.
    There will be a part in the code that states what ports are being used and read. You will need to change every instance of the faulty port to the new port.

    I suppose the question is, how good are you at reading/using code?
    Alexey, Apr 27, 2015
    #82
  3. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    @Pit : So tested the things and it seem the motor 1 part of the MM does not give down that much voltage when the motor should be going downwards, but chech my video maybe my conclusion is not good:
    Motor1:
    Motor2:


    Original cabling where green line moving towards blue target properly on both motors:
    IMAG0342[1].jpg

    Since I have no better idea I think I will take apart the MM solderings and resolder the blue things of A1/B1, maybe there is some kind of problem...
    Greg83, Apr 29, 2015
    #83
  4. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    @Alexey : I'am absolutely a noob with Arduino code, even the code upload went wrong somewhere for me because at first the program did not import the code upon double clicking on it so messing around with the code might cause more problems for me than to solve anything :D
    What do you recon from the above post?
    Greg83, Apr 29, 2015
    #84
  5. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    Redoing the soldering of A1/B1 was not the problem, the swithed polarity still sucks.. So I guess that is the source of my suffering?
    Greg83, Apr 29, 2015
    #85
  6. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    @Alexey SMC3 supports 3 pots/motors already. Code editing is not needed.
    Pit, Apr 29, 2015
    #86
  7. Alexey

    Alexey Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Edit: read back further and saw you have new MM, maybe the reverse voltage did damage your arduino port.

    According to the SMC3 page, connect your pot to A2 on the arduino and swap the faulty port to digital pins 11, 6 and 7.

    So:

    A2 = potentiometer
    6 = Motor ENA
    7 = Motor ENB
    11 = Motor PWM

    Swap those pins with the faulty ports.
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
    Alexey, Apr 30, 2015
    #87
  8. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    @Alexey : Thanks for the tip, I will try it out tomorrow and hope for the best :)
    Greg83, Apr 30, 2015
    #88
  9. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    @Alexey : So tested it, but the same results came back:

    IMAG0350.jpg
    But if we get the same results from the A2 port then...?
    Greg83, May 1, 2015
    #89
  10. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    Greg83, May 1, 2015
    #90
  11. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    So getting both the Arduino and the MM changed, thankfully the ebay sellers are top sellers.
    • Like Like x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    Greg83, May 5, 2015
    #91
  12. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    [​IMG]


    Finally everything is working properly.
    It seems both motors have a little lag?!
    Now I went through the setup guide of simtool, but when trying to test the simulator manually nothing happens.
    Settings:
    simtools settings.jpg
    Greg83, May 19, 2015
    #92
  13. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    bitspersec should be 500000 and interface output 10ms
    Pit, May 19, 2015
    #93
  14. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    Changed it but no luck.
    But if the SMC3 Utility can control the Arduino then its a setting issue with simtool?!
    Greg83, May 19, 2015
    #94
  15. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    Pit, May 19, 2015
    #95
  16. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    BTW the interface settings are not SMC3 code related. Did you use a code from @RacingMat?
    Last edited: May 19, 2015
    Pit, May 19, 2015
    #96
  17. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    Greg83, May 19, 2015
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  18. Pit

    Pit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    Forget about it. You are welcome. Hopefully you are near at the finish line :)
    • Like Like x 3
    Pit, May 19, 2015
    #98
  19. Greg83

    Greg83 Active Member

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    Sooooooooo, fiddled about with things, finalized the box holding the electornics and fired up the baby :)
    For some strange reason only AC gets me motion, LFS no, but that is not that bad.
    Made a small video, unfortunately the program is trial so sorry about the text in the middle... Can't seem to find a normal software for this?!...(any tips welcome)

    To me it looks like the right hand side motor is not really doing much?!!!..
    Also the starting position of the two arms seem to be a bit off...
    These are my settings:
    settings.jpg

    Can someone please suggest a direction I should start going in?
    I will install Project Cars too, but AC is my main simulation for now.

    Thanks for the help guys! :)
    Greg83, May 30, 2015
    #99
  20. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Have a look at the open source Open Broadcaster Software, it is free and you can record multiple sources including game windows, monitors and webcams: https://obsproject.com/download

    It seems the motors spend the majority of their time at or near a fully extended position, why is that?

    Your axis % allocations should be around 100%, you can go a bit over but don't overdo it.

    Why the axis limiting and low main level %, are you being so cautious for a reason?
    Last edited: May 30, 2015
    noorbeast, May 30, 2015
    #100
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