I am having trouble with callibration and from the existing questions, seem to be encoder related. I have verified all limit switches are working. the callibration of each motor individually is also very strange, but with enough tries, they all succeed to touch the limit switch and back off. the other thing i observe is when i plug in both usb cables to the boards, the relay lights all click off. Is that expected or does that mean there is a short somewhere?
I am a complete newbie to electronics, so I am looking for guidance on how to probe the limit switches with a multimeter. what are the values i should be expecting? can the enoders be probed independent of the boards?
Thank you for any information you can provide. Again thank you for outsourcing the robot!
Hello, it does sound like you have a grounding issue. Please note that in the earliest version of the manual I had the teensy, arduino 5v supply and the relay board on a common ground. The purpose of the 5v supply is simply to power the relays as the arduino (usb 5v) does not have enough amperage to power the relays. In the current architecture to reduce noise the teensy usb 5v powers the encoders and the limit switches and does not share a ground signal with anything else. If there is any grounding issues with your limit switches you will get unpredictable calibrations. Please make sure all 6 limit switches provide -5v when open and +5v when closed or clicked on during calibration.
Thank you Chris for this help! Do you have any tips on probing the encoders as well?