Looking great man!
Very much looking forward to fighting it at Manchester if you’re in.
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Looking great man!
Very much looking forward to fighting it at Manchester if you’re in.
Rest assured, The Honey Badger 2.2 and I will be there (potentially with another FW if I can find the time to get some electronics in it). ;)
Looks Good, and it looks plenty neat in the pictures, I'll look out for you at Manchester, might have to snap a few pics too.
Well, no idea how this has happened (probably a spark) but plugged the link in after securing the motor to the plate for a test and poof, magic smoke, batteries heating up and general panic. When I turn the speed controller on now, it makes a clicking noise and nothing else happens. In short, the speed controller went bang. :(
Given the TZ85As lack of availability at the moment, I think I'll try out one of the single channel FeatherTwos from Rory when pay day rolls about. Gutted I can't test it at the moment. :(
Having has a root around, I found the test Beetleweight robot made out of a shortbread tin that I had completely forgotten about. 5 minutes with a screwdriver later and now the arm works, albeit at half power but I'll take what I can get for the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTaUEwPH3cw
I noticed that the arm is sitting a bit squiffy in the slot, looks as if the arm isn't quite seated on the hub correctly so I'll rework that to make it flush and then add a pair of ramming spikes to the end of the arm to make it longer and a bit more useful at the moment.
So... yeah...
A FeatherTwo landed on my doorstep today so I went ahead and plumbed that in, went to turn the drive on and the whole thing has practically exploded from a electrical point of view with a zzzzzaaappp and then nothing. The whole thing is dead at the moment.
Isolated the weapon circuit, put back in the Beetleweight ESC (which we know works from the previous post) and I think it is the receiver that has exploded as when that turned on, the arm went down and kept on trying to move past the lowest point, causing the ESC to smoke (I know, limit switches but we ain't even got that far yet).
I've got the TX/RX from either Shu! or Osu to try yet but at the moment, The Honey Badger is dead in the water at the moment.
Oh no! Has the feathertwo gone smoking? What did you change since it was running last and before putting in the controller?
What version of the feather two did you get? And did you wire it in correctly? If you can get a photo that would help diagnose the issue.
I know that feeling Michael, when things go fizzz-it feels bad
it will be interesting to find out whats gone wrong but its not allways
obvious, we are still pondering why our ragebridge blew.
I was thinking about buying a featherstwo for the weapons system
What voltage were you using?
Did you have a second speed controller in play ?
- so keep us informed about the outcome
I've not changed the drive wiring at all since 2.0.Quote:
What did you change since it was running last and before putting in the controller?
Voltage is 13.2v nominal (2x 2S1P LiFePO4 batteries). The only speed controllers I had in were the 2x TZ85A controllers for the drive and this FeatherTwo.Quote:
I was thinking about buying a featherstwo for the weapons system What voltage were you using? Did you have a second speed controller in play ?
I got a single channel FeatherTwo. Picture is as below (I think I have it wired in right, might be wrong):Quote:
What version of the feather two did you get? And did you wire it in correctly? If you can get a photo that would help diagnose the issue.
Attachment 7882
As I noted, when I plugged the drive link in, the whole thing went bang. On reflection, I possibly suspect that the draw through the RX with the two TZ85As and the FeatherTwo plugged in was too much for the receiver. Will go back to the car now and get the receiver for Shu! (The receiver for Osu isn't suitable), see if the drive is still functional and go from there.
Looking at 5he picture it seems you may have wired the controller the wrong way round. The black wire from battery goes to the white wire which then goes into the red wire of the controller.
Looks like the colour change in the link connector has confused you thinking it was the black lead.
Yeah, that'll kill it pretty hard...
Shazbot is the best description I have for this. I thought at first that the picture, which was a recreation of the wiring loom after I disconnected the FeatherTwo and put in the Beetleweight ESC, was incorrect. However, I had recorded a video of this at the time when this took place and it confirms the polarity is wrong.
Attachment 7883
Indeed, time for a complete rewire then I think. The TZ85A controllers also appear dead at this moment time.Quote:
Yeah, that'll kill it pretty hard...
In future it's best to wire in the fuse first, or use a very thin bit of wire as a link. As long as the fuse blows, a FeatherTwo can often cope with being plugged in backwards. However if there's no fuse it's gonna go bang. Also probably best sort out the colour coding of your wiring to make it easier to keep track of.
If you need a new drive controller, a dual channel feather two would work nicely ;)
I agree, the wiring was done in a rush with what I had available (the white wiring was from The Honey Badger 1.0) and it has cost me here.
The slightly more annoying thing appears to be that none of the TZ85As appeared to have survived either. Robotic paperweight at the moment.
Maybe, sometimes you may be able to get the TZS back depending on what has blown in the controller, have brought back some ESC from the dead before from my multirotors. I'd be happy to take a look at the TZS, maybe Rory could take a look at the featherTwo to see if he can repair that?
If the BEC on the FeatherTwo was connected to the RX, it will have powered the RX backward and blown it. If the TZs were connected as well, it may have fed back down into them and made them unhappy too. But first try a new RX and check to see if they are actually dead.
You should always cut all but one BEC supply from the ESCs. They don't play well together even if they are all wired the right way round.
The feather two will be beyond economic repair if it's been plugged in backwards
So I plugged in the substitute RX receiver and one of the TZ85As is working properly. The other one is working but I think requires reflashing, which I can do tomorrow.
Amazingly, the original RX is still working.
UPDATE: So feeling a bit "double or quits" at the moment, I replaced one of the TZ85A speed controllers with the FeatherTwo controller, made sure all the polarities were set correctly and plugged it in. Amazingly, it works and failsafes OK. If I can resurrect the borked TZ85A, then we are back in business.
Excellent! Glad the FeatherTwo survived! 12v reversed must be a bit less instadeath than doing the same with 24v (you are by no means the first to plug one in backwards... )
Hooray, glad things are working out!
So this evening I reflashed the TZ85A and we are back in business, both drive ESCs are working. I also reconnected the FeatherTwo to the weapon motor and after checking that the polarity is right this time, verified that it works. The next thing is to get the two co-operating with each other on the RX. I'll get a JR servo extender cable and put the power lines in there rather than cut the FeatherTwo's wire in case I need to have it powering the RX again.
However, things now look promising to have it done this week, get through Manchester 2018 event with a potential test match beforehand and then get the thing properly rewired for the upcoming FW championships.
UPDATE: I connected up the FeatherTwo to the RX via the JR servo extender with both of the power wires cut, leaving only the signal wire connected and whilst it does turn on (the orange LED blinks), nothing happens when the switch is thrown on the TX. Will look into this tomorrow.
Try reconnecting the black power wire to the RX; need some kind of a signal return.
Thanks, will do when a new batch of extender wires get here ;)
Having a bit of a nightmare with The Honey Badger at the moment. With the addition of the lifting arm, the batteries had to be moved from the tupperware box that they were housed in but where I would like them to fit, they can't because the lifting arm motor catches on it when refitting the lid.
I've temporarily removed the drive batteries and decided to test the lifting arm to see it it would self right the robot. Guess what, it doesn't. :( I suspect this is to do with the lack of leverage the arm or the gear ratio of the motor has (98:1) so I might change it into a impromptu axe or slow rotary weapon just to get through Manchester and then will address at a later date.
I am also going to be changing the transmitter and receiver for a new OrangeRX TX6i transmitter for transmitter mixing and the multiple model memory for all of the weird and wonderful creations I have and... well I rather like the colour. :P
the lifter arm could you bolt some something to it to give it more leverage ? take a photo let us help.
I did bolt a extra piece to the arm but it seems not to help. I really think it is to do with where it is bolted to.
Attachment 7894Attachment 7895
Giving it some thought, going to change it for a axe and see where it goes from there.
It's not a light solution, but could you relocate the motor and use a chain drive? It's could give you some battery space and be re-geared for more torque in one move?
There really isn't that much space inside the robot to begin with once you include the second set of batteries so adding a chain drive would be very difficult.
Actually, rethinking this, I have the same problem as Manta. I am sure that robot uses a pair of curved edges at the rear of the robot to guide the robot over as it is self righting (the two robots are darn near the same shape). Might be worth fabricating something like that out of the spare HDPE I have laying around to see if that helps at all along with more voltage. Would also help with the link protection as well.
If I lift the robot off of the arm a little and then fire the arm, it does manage to get up on its back and then no further so it *is* getting there.
How tall is the badger? It does sound like it's almost there, I've got some PE pipe I could cut you a chunk of if it's any use to you? 250mm I.D. and around 14mm thick...
Anyway... I didn't realise how tightly packed it was in there, although I suppose any dead space is dead weight isn't it?
The Honey Badger is approximately ~20cm tall without the drive wheels at its tallest. I think what I'll do is gut the robot completely to a rolling shell and rearrange everything so it'll fit... and it will. ;) Gives me a chance to sort out the "dodgy" wiring as well.
Hmm.... that might work for the rear. Is there a 250mm long section available?Quote:
I've got some PE pipe I could cut you a chunk of if it's any use to you?
I'm sure I could cut you some off, I've got a 5 feet of it in the garage and a skip full at work...
Only trouble is I've still no car after the MOT, if I could find a way to strap it to the bike I could meet you somewhere... even bring it to Manchester? We can sort something I'm sure.
And packing it all in is the trouble I'm having, I'm getting so unbeleiveably fussy about fitment and overall quality... might never even get a chassis finished at this rate ha
I am quite happy to come up to Manchester in the weekend if that makes it easier for you, I can drive.
Yeah that's cool, I'm free today and Monday, but working tomorrow, I'll pm my number and we can sort out a when and where 8)
I've reorganised the internals and whilst I may need a new battery case to fit the 4x batteries in the one case, I've finally got the internals organised in such a way that the lid finally shuts. My new OrangeRX Tx6i transmitter arrived today as well but I've yet to wire it in, I want to spend a bit of time learning about it first before converting The Honey Badger over to it. I very much approve of the semi-transparent orange.
Attachment 7912
The new JR extender wires also arrived so one was plucked out, the positive wire clipped and the FeatherTwo now works with the current setup, many thanks to Rory for the wiring tip. I don't know if it is standard behaviour because of the wiring calamity last week or so but the ESC makes a whining noise when on, doesn't seem to affect how it works so I'll take it. I know it still needs rewiring properly, it is on my list of things to do.
Anyway, here is a video of it terrorising the vacuum cleaner. :P
https://youtu.be/RDAMrHeOsTU
So with the robot now nearly refitted, I've been working on getting the OrangeTX system plumbed in and after a bit of failsafe craziness, it now runs on it along with one of my Antweights.
Today though one of the TZ85A needed reflashing again. Not entirely sure why, seemed to only be working at half power and developed a mind of its own when the transmitter was turned off. It is cured for now but something tells me it'll be back. I also tidied up my links and got the wiring ready to accept a fuse for the lifting arm or axe which I've put together, a sharp pointy steel thing on the end of a length of HDPE, I fear it may bend sidewards under use but there is still time to reinforce it.
Many thanks to Retroman for the 14mm thick piping, I don't think I'll have it installed by Manchester but Grantham... perhaps.
I do like Gimson's stuff but the hubs are a bit of a pain when either the grub screw bends or the hub itself deforms under load (they being Aluminium alloy, might go shopping for steel hubs next time there is any money to put into this - got Kaizen to work on after Manchester. ;) Still, I put it down to extraordinary use on the arm, the hubs on the wheels are still good.
Important news - the new front lid now has googly eyes!
Attachment 7941
I've since added a locking pin arrangement for the arm and reinforced the substructure holding the motor onto the lid so rather than using 2x M4 bolts, 3x M6 bolts + 1 M4 bolt hold it in place. I've also began work on the front Aluminium bash plate replacing the metal door finger plate from last year that was shredded at Maidstone 2017 (DoubleTrouble was kind enough to donate some 5 bar tread plate at Gloucester 2017). I've bent it into shape but still need to trim off the excess to make it flush with the bodywork, the excess may replace the sticky tape eye brows ;)
Well, the 2.2 refit has been a while coming. It has been 116 days since the 12th of December 2017 when the refit technically started and there has been a few setbacks (largely of my own making) but finally, The Honey Badger 2.2 is completed!
Attachment 7949
The lifting arm is now interchangeable with an axe attachment which although the motor is not ideal for such an application, works as well as I can expect and if I do end up doing a 2.3, that will be the main change. The white safety tether looks slack in the picture but it tenses up as it goes down and should do the job here.
You'll note the large slab of Aluminium for better impact protection this time around and the much thicker and larger side wings being made out of 4mm steel so hopefully being flipped up and over will be a thing of the past.
Internally, apart from the added weaponry wiring, not much has changed apart from the switch over to a OrangeRX system which I am readily getting used to but I do still need some more driving time with it. The armour is still 10mm HDPE with 3x 40mm Oak chassis crossmembers along with the 5 bar tread plate at the front and sides.
There are still tidying up jobs to do, notably the front plate bends over too far grounding out one side of the robot on the floor but that is a 10 minute job to cut off the excess and tidy up so not too concerned yet. I'll see if I can get some videos of it running around tomorrow. ;)
And here is a video of the testing I did today with it. Perhaps the most important one here is get some threadlock on the nuts.
https://youtu.be/VC7vdw3CjO8
Otherwise still as uncontrollable as ever. :D
at Manchester we need to a axe off with Broadaxe =D, now of any other axe/hammer bots going ?
I am hoping Hatchet and Ratatoskr will be at Manchester, a 5 way axe off would be awesome :D
I love seeing just how much this bot has evolved over the months, and it just keeps getting more and more character. The checker plate aluminium in particular really pops!