Use HC-8+ to control servos in a talking head

[JonnyMac]

You must download to EEPROM (F11) to have the program run from power on.

[davisgraveyard]

Well, THAT makes sense.  Then I'd say we are done.  This seems to work just as well as my Prop-2 version with the addition of the extra space for show data and now the smoother servo movement.

Next step is to replace the prop2 with this programmed HC-8+.  Get the wiring working and test it on the real prop.

[davisgraveyard]

Thank you so much for all your help Jon.  You guys provide the best damn tech support help in the industry as far as I am concerned. 

Jeff

[JonnyMac]

I'm glad we were able to get it working. I hope you'll post a video of the prop in action.

[livinlowe]

I'm glad we were able to get it working. I hope you'll post a video of the prop in action.

Yes! Please!

[davisgraveyard]

Getting some odd behavior with my LED light and the LCD eyes

They are wired to OUT0 and OUT1 connecting the pair of wires to the OUT1 and GND and OUT2 and GND pair.  The PWM isn't fading the LED it sort of flickers a couple of times and then just turns on.   And the LCD eyes take a while to power on?  The head movements start and then the eyes finally power on few seconds later?

Any ideas?
I'll see if I can grab a video of what is going on

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJ0BzAn5tyocU5Oa1pNdUdLN1E/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJ0BzAn5tyoZ044SUIyYVg5NmM/view?usp=sharing

[davisgraveyard]

added some video of the issues.  What is funny is when I tested this on the bench I used a couple of simple 12V red 5mm LED's I had sitting around.   When I ran the program with them the one faded up and the other turned on instantly both before the head started moving.   code hasn't changed?

[davisgraveyard]

One other odd behavior.  When the board first powers up the servos swing into a very strange position for the skull.  Is there a place in the code that I can have the servos start at the positions in the first line of data?  164, 161, 162

Jeff

[JackMan]

Kind of a shot in the dark. Are the LCD eyes instant on when powered or do they require a warm up period before they actually come on? Also, does your LED light have an internal driver? It looks pretty powerful so I'm guessing it might. That would be a problem with PWM.

[davisgraveyard]

Remember this hardware was all hooked up to a Prop2 and ran fine.  LCD eyes power up almost instantly with HIGH PIN1 and the LED would fade up slowly.  The LED is NOT powered.  Just straight 12vDC.  It is a Gantom One spotlight. 

[davisgraveyard]

Regarding the servo startup I see where you are initializing the idle vales from the first line of data but something is not right with that code because the servos are going to what appears 0?  I'll have to put the board back on the bench to debug that code?

[JackMan]

Remember this hardware was all hooked up to a Prop2 and ran fine.  LCD eyes power up almost instantly with HIGH PIN1 and the LED would fade up slowly.  The LED is NOT powered.  Just straight 12vDC.  It is a Gantom One spotlight.

That spotlight does have an internal driver. Not sure how the PWM fade is configured in the code but that light has to have a minimum of 10%.

[davisgraveyard]

Could it have anything to do with the way I wired it?   It is connected to the OUT1 & GND post pair on the outside of the board.  My version has OUTX & GND pairs instead of V+

Again this light fades just fine on the Prop2 using this.

  led            PIN     1
  FOR level =0 TO 255
    PWM led,level,10
  NEXT
  HIGH led

[JackMan]

Sounds like it's wired correctly. If the program works as it should using a 5mm LED, then it's not the program as you pointed out. I believe that Gantom spotlight is non-polarized, probably won't help but did you try switching the leads?

[davisgraveyard]

Swapped the led wires with same result.   The gantom light fades fine with the prop2 and prop1.