New To All This

[Mike]

Hi I bought the PROP 2 and I am a little confused how it works.  Do the inputs 15 and 14 control the chip P8 to P15 and the inputs 13 and 12 control the chip P0 to P7?  The pins marked W R B are they for servos ?  And if so Does the pins marked W or B the same as the screw terminal out meaning that P1 has the same output as OUT 1 ? Can inputs 12 thru 15 control P0 to P15 depending on how the code is written ?

[JonnyMac]

Mike,

Pins 12-15 have setup jumpers on them but do not control anything except what you code them to control; with a general-purpose controller like the Prop-2 you are completely free to program its behavior (using PBASIC 2.5).  All I/O pins have servo-compatible connectors on them; these can be used for servos, a PIR, to connect to serial accessories like the RC-4, etc.  The W pin from each I/O point is buffered through a ULN2x03 channel to provide a high current output (the OUTx connections are OUTPUT only).

Note that the WRB pin headers may be used as inputs or outputs (based on your program) -- though we've made P12-P15 easier to use a inputs with the SETUP jumpers.  And note that these pins are TTL level, i.e., 5 vdc only; be very careful what you connect to the TTL pins.

This presentation will get you started and answer a lot of questions: http://www.efx-tek.com/downloads/prop-2_programming_basics.pdf (we have a printer-friendly version of it as well; go to the Prop-2 page on our web site).

And if you haven't had a chance, do download and read the Prop-2 docs: http://www.efx-tek.com/downloads/prop-2_docs.pdf

[Mike]

Hi Thanks Jon for that information.  I am a little confused on the prop 1 trainer how do you use it ?  And where do you plug the chip in that came with it ?  And what do the three pins do on the card ?  And also should you turn the power off when switching the switch from 0-1-2 positions ?

Thanks Mike

[JonnyMac]

The docs for everything will help -- they're all online to save trees (you can print them if you need a hard-copy).

The Prop-1 Trainer can plug into the P8-P15 ports on the Prop-2.  First, though, you'll remove the ULN2803 that controls OUT8 through OUT15 and replace it with the ULN2003 -- the Prop-1 Trainer Docs use the Prop-1 as reference but the socket alignment is the same.  We'll add a short white-paper on using the Prop-1 Trainer in a Prop-2.   Remove the SETUP jumpers except for the one on P14; this should be set to DN for the button on the Prop-1 trainer to work properly (an active-high input).

The three pins on the P1T are an extension of the P6/P14 connection so that you can use the P1T with an external trigger device like a button, mat switch, or PIR.

For the power switch: 0 is off; 1 is power for the processor/TTL pins only; 2 routes power to V+ terminals so that the OUTx outputs can be used.