1. Do not share user accounts! Any account that is shared by another person will be blocked and closed. This means: we will close not only the account that is shared, but also the main account of the user who uses another person's account. We have the ability to detect account sharing, so please do not try to cheat the system. This action will take place on 04/18/2023. Read all forum rules.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For downloading SimTools plugins you need a Download Package. Get it with virtual coins that you receive for forum activity or Buy Download Package - We have a zero Spam tolerance so read our forum rules first.

    Buy Now a Download Plan!
  3. Do not try to cheat our system and do not post an unnecessary amount of useless posts only to earn credits here. We have a zero spam tolerance policy and this will cause a ban of your user account. Otherwise we wish you a pleasant stay here! Read the forum rules
  4. We have a few rules which you need to read and accept before posting anything here! Following these rules will keep the forum clean and your stay pleasant. Do not follow these rules can lead to permanent exclusion from this website: Read the forum rules.
    Are you a company? Read our company rules

Nutkicker_ControlBox - Wiring a rig with as few wires as possible

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by Dirty, Sep 24, 2019.

  1. Dirty

    Dirty Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2017
    Messages:
    736
    Occupation:
    All the way up front.
    Location:
    Germany
    Balance:
    7,825Coins
    Ratings:
    +859 / 2 / -0
    Hey there :)

    After working on my software for the past ~9 months straight, I had to take a little time off from coding. Instead I started to work on the hardware controller that runs the PID loop for the actuators :)

    Initially I thought I could throw an Arduino onto a breadboard, plug a few wires in here and there and that would be about it. Boy, was I wrong!!! I found out to drive the PID loops for 6 actuators (with sufficient precision) I needed...
    1. Two general purpose In/Out chips (MCP23017)
    2. Two 16bit analog/digital converters (ADS1115)
    3. One PWM driver (PCA9685)
    4. One logic level shifter (BSS138)
    5. One I2C bus to read/write all the data from/to the breakout boards
    6. One SPI bus to display some basic status-info on...
    7. One OLED screen
    8. Lots of processing power (ESP32 Feather, 2 cores @ 240MHz)
    ...phew.....!!!!!

    With me being a total noob, who literally never held a soldering iron in his hands, it became quite obvious that aside from having to write a firmware for the controller, the real challenge would be to keep overview of the circuitry and the 150+ wires required to build it. Not to mention the nightmare it would be trying to find a loose connection in this spaghetti-mess of wires.

    I looked around and found www.easyeda.com. A program to create electronic circuits and have them printed onto a PCB (printed circuit board). I can't go into too much detail here, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube, but let me tell you: IT'S GREAT!!! I can TOTALLY reccomend it.
    Tutorial part 1
    Tutorial part 2

    I created the entire circuit for the controller of the rig in the editor, placed all parts onto a PCB, let the autorouter do the routing for me, paid 7$ plus shipping and got 5 squeaky-clean PCBs a few days later in the mail:
    IMG_0479.jpeg IMG_0481.jpeg

    Soldered the components (breakout boards from Adafruit) on, printed a nice enclosure for it and out came this:
    IMG_0453.jpeg IMG_0454.jpeg IMG_0452.jpeg IMG_0472.jpeg

    I wanted a screen to display some basic info:
    IMG_0470.jpeg

    So, what I have now is a little orange box. One cable goes in (USB), six cables go out (Cat5 network cable to the actuators). Thats it. I won't have to spend time crawling under the rig trying to find that loose connection, but can instead spend more time here sippin' coffey :)
    IMG_0475.jpeg

    I can imagine that pro's like @Thanos may well chuckle at easyEDA, but it is beginner friendly and it allowed me to do something I would otherwise not have been able to. Try it out!

    Cheers,...

    Dirty :)
    • Like Like x 3
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1