Updates

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  Paul Warren replied to a topic in the forum Support:

  As you've noticed, I'm experimenting in a couple of directions!  I've got one motor that I want to drive faster, hence the increased voltage, and another that I want more control over, hence the lower PWM.  As you say, lowering the PWM...  moreAs you've noticed, I'm experimenting in a couple of directions!  I've got one motor that I want to drive faster, hence the increased voltage, and another that I want more control over, hence the lower PWM.  As you say, lowering the PWM frequency also solves the problem I was seeing with driving these motors at higher voltage.
  FWIW, I did try moving one of the motors to another SBrick (at default PWM) and I didn't see a repeat of the problem there.
     

  • January 22, 2021
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  Paul Warren replied to a topic in the forum Support:

  I've no idea how I overlooked the 0x01 command!
  I'll need to have another play with 0x33 to see what duration of drive I need.  It may be that with the lower speed I can get with lower PWM frequency that 0.2s is actually OK.

  • January 22, 2021
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  Paul Warren replied to a topic in the forum Support:

  Hi Tamás,
  Thanks for the reply.  I did a bit more testing after sending my message and figured out that there must be only one PWM counter.  In this case I don't need to run servos and M motors on the same SBrick, so I think it will...  moreHi Tamás,
  Thanks for the reply.  I did a bit more testing after sending my message and figured out that there must be only one PWM counter.  In this case I don't need to run servos and M motors on the same SBrick, so I think it will still work.
  What is the preferred way to control SBrick outputs?  The documentation says that quick drive is deprecated for setting outputs, so i assumed that 0x33 was the alternative.
  Regarding possible uses for 0x33, I actually started looking at it because I wanted to be able to move the M motor a small amount so I was trying to send a higher power for a very short time, but it turned out that even the minimum 0.2s moves it more than I wanted if I use enough power to move it at the default PWM frequency.
  regards,
  Paul  less

  • January 21, 2021
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  Paul Warren posted a topic in the forum Support:

  Varying PWM frequency

  I've been trying to drive PF M motors slowly, and have been struggling because they seem to take a lot of power to get them moving.
  I've discovered that if I drop the PWM frequency right down (e.g. 100Hz) they reliably work at very low power.
  I have a...  moreI've been trying to drive PF M motors slowly, and have been struggling because they seem to take a lot of power to get them moving.
  I've discovered that if I drop the PWM frequency right down (e.g. 100Hz) they reliably work at very low power.
  I have a few questions about the protocol:
  1. Command 0x1F (set PWM counter) says it takes 1 byte value: I assume that this is a typo, and it should be 2 bytes?
  2. How does this command interact with 0x33 (send signal)?  Is there a way to get the default value when using 0x33 or does 0x1F just provide a default for quick drive mode?
  3. Is there any reason not to use such low PWM frequencies?  less

  • January 19, 2021
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  Paul Warren posted a topic in the forum Support:

  PF M motor stalling with increased voltage

  I've got a couple of SBricks that I've been running at 9V and now at around 10.5V, and I've found that the two PF M motors regularly stall at the higher voltage, but work fine at 9V.  I've read some of the past threads on driving M motors so I...  moreI've got a couple of SBricks that I've been running at 9V and now at around 10.5V, and I've found that the two PF M motors regularly stall at the higher voltage, but work fine at 9V.  I've read some of the past threads on driving M motors so I assume the higher voltage results in a higher current which is tripping the over current protection.
  The same model has a third, fake Chinese M motor on a different SBrick which seems to work absolutely fine.
  Unfortunately it's not very easy to swap stuff around, so I don't know if it's the different motors or the different SBricks that makes the difference.  Is there much variation in this behaviour between individual items?
  I've read about the capacitor in the M motor being the problem, but I'm not sure where this is the pictures I've seen only have a thermistor in them.
  Any other  suggestions, or should I just stick another diode in to drop the voltage a bit?
     less

  • January 18, 2021
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  Paul Warren replied to a topic in the forum Support:

  When you assign channels to outputs, you should get a list of all ports on all connected SBricks, so if you have two connected, you should see 8 ports.

  • December 29, 2020
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  Paul Warren → Coding app beta test: Has anyone succeeded in getting a Buwizz and SBrick running at the same time with the SBrick powered by the BuWizz? My Buwizz doesn't apply any power to the output lines unless you're connected to it, which means the app can't find the SBricks. If I...  moreHas anyone succeeded in getting a Buwizz and SBrick running at the same time with the SBrick powered by the BuWizz? My Buwizz doesn't apply any power to the output lines unless you're connected to it, which means the app can't find the SBricks. If I connect to the BuWizz on the home page of the app, power comes on, but goes off immediately again when you close the test page.  

  • December 29, 2020

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    Paul Warren I should have said, this is with the Android app. Turns out that it works pretty well on Windows. Unfortunately, I have to borrow my wife's laptop for this, as my laptop runs Linux :-)

    • December 29, 2020
  • 
    Paul Warren Hmm. I managed to it working once on my phone the android app, but can't now replicate it. As has been noted before, there doesn't seem to be any way to (re)connect to an SBrick if you're not on the home screen. Mine are permanently stuck in a...  moreHmm. I managed to it working once on my phone the android app, but can't now replicate it. As has been noted before, there doesn't seem to be any way to (re)connect to an SBrick if you're not on the home screen. Mine are permanently stuck in a "connecting" state. The scan button doesn't seem to do anything.
    
    For the brief period it was working, it worked beautifully.  

    • December 30, 2020
  • 
    Paul Warren I can now sometimes get it to connect by using the BuWizz app to power up the BuWizz then launching Sbrick Pro, then disconnecting the BuWizz app. Seems to work about 50% of the time. Once I've managed to get all the hubs connected at the same time it...  moreI can now sometimes get it to connect by using the BuWizz app to power up the BuWizz then launching Sbrick Pro, then disconnecting the BuWizz app. Seems to work about 50% of the time. Once I've managed to get all the hubs connected at the same time it works really well.  

    • December 31, 2020
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  Paul Warren → Coding app beta test: For some reason, the LEDs on my SBricks are now flashing whenever I'm controlling them with the Android app. Doesn't happen when I'm using my laptop, and it only started a few days ago. Not a big issue, but curious about why it suddenly started, and...  moreFor some reason, the LEDs on my SBricks are now flashing whenever I'm controlling them with the Android app. Doesn't happen when I'm using my laptop, and it only started a few days ago. Not a big issue, but curious about why it suddenly started, and it'd be really nice to be able to turn them off altogether.  

  • December 23, 2020
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  Paul Warren → Coding app beta test: I've given up trying to use the main SBrick app because it keeps deleting my creations (see other post), so now trying the beta. For some reason it's suddenly changed the scaling on the app so all the controls on the UI are unusably tiny. Any fix for...  moreI've given up trying to use the main SBrick app because it keeps deleting my creations (see other post), so now trying the beta. For some reason it's suddenly changed the scaling on the app so all the controls on the UI are unusably tiny. Any fix for this? I've tried restarting my phone and uninstalling/reinstalling the app, but no change.  

  • December 19, 2020

  • 
    Lénárd Pásztor Can you create a screenshot about that? Is it on android or ios?

    • December 21, 2020
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    Paul Warren Android. Unfortunately, I can't take a screenshot as it says that screenshots are disabled by the app or organisation. If I go to the start screen for the app the orange "create" box is a 1/4 of the height of my screen in landscape mode, with the...  moreAndroid. Unfortunately, I can't take a screenshot as it says that screenshots are disabled by the app or organisation. If I go to the start screen for the app the orange "create" box is a 1/4 of the height of my screen in landscape mode, with the consequence that the little "play" and "edit" buttons are tiny - about 3mm on my 5.5" phone screen. All other UI components are similarly tiny. I'm pretty certain that when I first started using the app all these components were twice the size. Hopefully that describes the problem clearly. If not, I'll do a ghetto screenshot with my wife's phone!  less

    • December 21, 2020
  • 
    Lénárd Pásztor Interesting. We not disabled the screenshots for the application. Can you please take a photo with an another phone?

    • December 21, 2020
  • 
    Paul Warren Here's a couple of screenshots. Things like the close button are only 2-3mm across so very hard to press reliably.
    
    https://tinyurl.com/ycsjnznt https://tinyurl.com/y7d8msse

    • December 22, 2020
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  Paul Warren Anyone else having problems with the SBrick app losing all data? It seems that most days when I open the SBrick app, it asks me to agree to all the Ts&Cs and all my creations have gone and have to be recreated from scratch. Once day it seems to...  moreAnyone else having problems with the SBrick app losing all data? It seems that most days when I open the SBrick app, it asks me to agree to all the Ts&Cs and all my creations have gone and have to be recreated from scratch. Once day it seems to last a day and then does it again. SBrick 4.6 update 6.  

  • December 19, 2020

  • 
    Lénárd Pásztor Hi Paul, I've sent you custom build with logging, please install it and try to reproduce the problem so we can fix it. Thanks!

    • December 21, 2020
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  Paul Warren replied to a topic in the forum Support:

  Sounds like you've got the polarity reversed.  SBrick is powered from the 9V and 0V power supply lines, which need to be the right way round.  Motors are powered from the C1 and C2 lines and take either polarity to determine which way they...  moreSounds like you've got the polarity reversed.  SBrick is powered from the 9V and 0V power supply lines, which need to be the right way round.  Motors are powered from the C1 and C2 lines and take either polarity to determine which way they run.
  If you're planning to make this a permanent thing, why not just splice into an extension cable and lose the battery box altogether?  

  • November 13, 2020
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  Paul Warren → Coding app beta test: Just been trying out SBrick Pro on Android, and whenever I set a motor power to 50 the motor stops. Any other value (49, 51, etc) works fine. Happens using a slider, manually setting the power, or using the test sliders in the virtual ports config....  moreJust been trying out SBrick Pro on Android, and whenever I set a motor power to 50 the motor stops. Any other value (49, 51, etc) works fine. Happens using a slider, manually setting the power, or using the test sliders in the virtual ports config. SBrick Plus hub, f/w 26, PF L motors.  

  • November 12, 2020

  • 
    Paul Warren Also affects LEDs. Output 0-100 gradually increases brightness, except a value of 50, which turns it off.

    • November 13, 2020
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  Paul Warren joined the group Coding app beta test

  • November 12, 2020
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  Paul Warren posted a topic in the forum Support:

  Slider + linear circuit not working reliably

  I'm trying to make one slider control two motors, with one motor running more slowly than the other.
  I've set this up using a slider and a circuit which seems to work fine unless I drag the slider slowly past the mid-point. i.e. put the slider full...  moreI'm trying to make one slider control two motors, with one motor running more slowly than the other.
  I've set this up using a slider and a circuit which seems to work fine unless I drag the slider slowly past the mid-point. i.e. put the slider full forwards, then slowly drag it back to reverse.  As you pass the mid point, the motor controlled by the circuit stops working until you close and restart the creation.  Is this a known bug?  

  • November 12, 2020
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  Paul Warren posted a topic in the forum Support:

  Game controller joystick support

  I interested in using a game controller but don't currently own one to try it out.  Can anyone confirm if using a game pad joystick to control an sbrick slider or joystick gives proportional control, or is it just on/off?  
  Are there any...  moreI interested in using a game controller but don't currently own one to try it out.  Can anyone confirm if using a game pad joystick to control an sbrick slider or joystick gives proportional control, or is it just on/off?  
  Are there any recommended controllers for working with the Android app?   

  • November 8, 2020