@theonelinerkid You might be able to use a solar panel in conjunction with a battery but the voltage going to the servos and the analog oscillators needs to be fairly stable otherwise they'll be excessive glitching. Perhaps in full sunlight with a voltage regulator but I've never tried it that way.
Success. Pulse 1.3 mS wide. Change cap - now 'MKT 1.0 uF K 250 V' everything seems to work. Now hours of educational fun. Best regards. Thanks very much for quick reply, much appreciated.
Maybe it's too late at night... I get the pulse at 'servo out' (at pin 3) and I'm assuming that any 'add-on' bubbles (ie potentiometer/servo tester) are then tied to pin 5... I've read all the comments and it seems everybody else got it but me... With a continuous-rotation servo I have to apply the signal line from pin 3 to get rotation and that seems to work fine. With a standard TowerPro servo all I ever get is an attempt at clockwise rotation - regardless of potentiometer setting.
@LoreKrill I've seen this problem before. It's either a pulse width at pin 3 that's outside of about 0.7 to 2.3 mSec or the feedback potentiometer in the servo itself isn't set correctly. Do you have an oscilloscope?
@t3du I usually use a single transistor sine wave oscillator. Pretty much any oscillator of low enough frequency (1 Hz or so) can work. A 555 timer set up as a 1 Hz or so square wave generator with a low pass filter works well.
I strongly recommend getting an oscilloscope if you're going to start playing with sine or other oscillators. I do show in the vid, though, that one can use a cheap analog multimeter to set up and tune a single transistor sine oscillator. Connect the oscillator to pin 5
Tom: the 555 sound sensor test servo in the output pin must will connected to pin 2 or pin 7 for the 555???. By the way the 555 must setup as astable or mono. Thanks
@roboanalogtom Dude the 555 sound servo... I setup circuit seen on 2:20 min from the video the output was conected to pin 5 for astable 555 (works fine the astable, thanks for you), but the lm358 cant oscillate. I tried put a led to pin 1 and snap the mic but the doesnt blink to test first to get connected to the 555. Could you please help me a little more nad thanks
@t3du The most likely problem is that you don't have the potentiometer connected to pin 2 adjusted properly. This is set up as a very high gain DC amplifier (there's no capacitor between the mic and the op amp) so adjustment of that potentiometer is very important. Tweak the potentiometer so that your LED always stays on and then and then adjust it back to where it only comes on with sound.
@teehbr Good question! The reason is that in my experience, 1uF caps tend to have a better tolerance while a lot of the .1uF caps true value can be all over the place. I wanted to make this as easy as possible for the beginner to duplicate without an oscilloscope. This is actually the only reason why I showed a 1uF cap but a wide variety of cap/resistor values could be used.
In the end it doesn't matter as long as the circuit produces the 1-2mSec pulse with the proper input to pin 5.
@keithosmarferrer No, you have to use servos. DC motors themselves have no feedback. Inside of a servo there's a potentiometer that provides position feedback info to the servo itself.
One can always make there own simple servos using a DC gearhead motor, potentiometer and a few op amps. I've made a ball smacker doing this but just using a servo is a much easier way to get started in playing with dynamic systems. Just use a servo.
Home brew servo design would require its own video.
@miceuz The 555 timer is working in astable mode. It is producing a series of 1.5 mSec pulses when there's no input to pin 5. Pin 5 is actually frequency modulating the pulse train but servos can accept a wide range of pulse train frequencies (about 20-100 pulses per second).
The net result is that with zero volts on pin 5 (through the 15K resistor) you get a 1mSec pulse and 5 volts gives you a 2mSec pulse.
It is very important that you use the diode between pin 6 and 7 with this circuit.
@xperryment1 Do you have any previous experience with robotics? The balancing robot really isn't a good first project. Also, the light source must be close to the robot and the position of the LDRs is important.
Yes, I'm going to do a vid on how to tune these simple PD systems. Basically, you want to make the RC time constant of the input to be about 8 times higher than the total swing time of the robot. This is called 1/8 wave dampening. I'll be showing a graph that'll help.
@roboanalogtom yup i've finish doing some line follower robot with differential drive but this is my first experience in doing a balancing robot..i'm also a noob when it comes to control system, PID, mathematical model and other stuff.....i hope you'll post more educational videos coz i'm very very willing to know more about robotics....thanks alot.......ahm can i request a full explaination of the example circuits that you are using on the next vids tnx
i build it, but when I turn it on, the servo goes only counterclockwise. should i change the resistor values? What value is the potentiometer, i have a 2k pot. thanks for your videos, like them very much!
@FPGAPete The servo only needs to be modified if it's going to be used for continuous rotation otherwise unmodified servos are used. My balancing robot vid shows modified servos.
I love this kind of stuff, thanks for sharing that information. I like how you start with the small servo control scheme then progressively go more into it with applications.
This is awesome stuff.
kdwormy 1 month ago
1:47 It's a cat!
eKettle 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Great video keep up the good work.
NewAgeDirector 3 months ago
coule it use a sloar panel and work in light? how would you make this
theonelinerkid 4 months ago
@theonelinerkid You might be able to use a solar panel in conjunction with a battery but the voltage going to the servos and the analog oscillators needs to be fairly stable otherwise they'll be excessive glitching. Perhaps in full sunlight with a voltage regulator but I've never tried it that way.
roboanalogtom 4 months ago
holy sh@#..this guy is god to me no sh@#...he has nailed it down to reflex he could change mankind...;}
uptownborg 5 months ago
all of this is freaking awesome!
hempseeds 5 months ago
Success. Pulse 1.3 mS wide. Change cap - now 'MKT 1.0 uF K 250 V' everything seems to work. Now hours of educational fun. Best regards. Thanks very much for quick reply, much appreciated.
LoreKrill 5 months ago
@LoreKrill Have fun experimenting!
roboanalogtom 5 months ago
Maybe it's too late at night... I get the pulse at 'servo out' (at pin 3) and I'm assuming that any 'add-on' bubbles (ie potentiometer/servo tester) are then tied to pin 5... I've read all the comments and it seems everybody else got it but me... With a continuous-rotation servo I have to apply the signal line from pin 3 to get rotation and that seems to work fine. With a standard TowerPro servo all I ever get is an attempt at clockwise rotation - regardless of potentiometer setting.
Thanks
LoreKrill 5 months ago
@LoreKrill I've seen this problem before. It's either a pulse width at pin 3 that's outside of about 0.7 to 2.3 mSec or the feedback potentiometer in the servo itself isn't set correctly. Do you have an oscilloscope?
roboanalogtom 5 months ago
this guy is my hero. wow.
egptan13 8 months ago
Tom tell me how you can sweep (i mean moving left-right) your servos using the ic 555 like your robot, Thanks for your teachings
t3du 8 months ago
@t3du I usually use a single transistor sine wave oscillator. Pretty much any oscillator of low enough frequency (1 Hz or so) can work. A 555 timer set up as a 1 Hz or so square wave generator with a low pass filter works well.
I strongly recommend getting an oscilloscope if you're going to start playing with sine or other oscillators. I do show in the vid, though, that one can use a cheap analog multimeter to set up and tune a single transistor sine oscillator. Connect the oscillator to pin 5
roboanalogtom 8 months ago
Great video. Great applications for simple IC chip. Keep up the good work.'
J.P.
jp040759 9 months ago
Tom: the 555 sound sensor test servo in the output pin must will connected to pin 2 or pin 7 for the 555???. By the way the 555 must setup as astable or mono. Thanks
t3du 9 months ago
@t3du For all circuits, pin 5 is used as the input to modulate the 555 timer and pin 3 outputs to the servo. The 555 timer is running in astable mode.
roboanalogtom 9 months ago
@roboanalogtom Dude the 555 sound servo... I setup circuit seen on 2:20 min from the video the output was conected to pin 5 for astable 555 (works fine the astable, thanks for you), but the lm358 cant oscillate. I tried put a led to pin 1 and snap the mic but the doesnt blink to test first to get connected to the 555. Could you please help me a little more nad thanks
t3du 9 months ago
@t3du The most likely problem is that you don't have the potentiometer connected to pin 2 adjusted properly. This is set up as a very high gain DC amplifier (there's no capacitor between the mic and the op amp) so adjustment of that potentiometer is very important. Tweak the potentiometer so that your LED always stays on and then and then adjust it back to where it only comes on with sound.
Let me know if this solves the problem.
roboanalogtom 9 months ago
@roboanalogtom How you sweep your sservos using the ic 555. I have the hextronik 900 for my studies of your projects
t3du 9 months ago
Congrats on the multiple wins!
hazardandy 10 months ago
Why not use C = 100 nF, R1 = 15k, R2 = 330k, will be a t1 = 0.00104 and fq = 40 Hz +/- 10% ?
the input pin5 receive a sine wave 0-5v and 0V is to 1 ms and 5V to 2 ms, modulade ?
teehbr 10 months ago
@teehbr Good question! The reason is that in my experience, 1uF caps tend to have a better tolerance while a lot of the .1uF caps true value can be all over the place. I wanted to make this as easy as possible for the beginner to duplicate without an oscilloscope. This is actually the only reason why I showed a 1uF cap but a wide variety of cap/resistor values could be used.
In the end it doesn't matter as long as the circuit produces the 1-2mSec pulse with the proper input to pin 5.
roboanalogtom 10 months ago
@roboanalogtom where can i find the circuit of the ball smacker? thanks....advance
keithosmarferrer 8 months ago
@keithosmarferrer All of the schematics are in the video. It's just that 555 circuit with a LDR and a resistor.
roboanalogtom 8 months ago
@roboanalogtom can i use a dc motor instead of servos?
keithosmarferrer 8 months ago
@keithosmarferrer No, you have to use servos. DC motors themselves have no feedback. Inside of a servo there's a potentiometer that provides position feedback info to the servo itself.
One can always make there own simple servos using a DC gearhead motor, potentiometer and a few op amps. I've made a ball smacker doing this but just using a servo is a much easier way to get started in playing with dynamic systems. Just use a servo.
Home brew servo design would require its own video.
roboanalogtom 8 months ago
Great work and great video!
gandreou 10 months ago
could you please explain the servo controller cirquit? as i understand, it's not a standard astable mode?
miceuz 11 months ago
@miceuz The 555 timer is working in astable mode. It is producing a series of 1.5 mSec pulses when there's no input to pin 5. Pin 5 is actually frequency modulating the pulse train but servos can accept a wide range of pulse train frequencies (about 20-100 pulses per second).
The net result is that with zero volts on pin 5 (through the 15K resistor) you get a 1mSec pulse and 5 volts gives you a 2mSec pulse.
It is very important that you use the diode between pin 6 and 7 with this circuit.
roboanalogtom 11 months ago
can you teach me more about PD control and balancing robots do you have some links????? we made a simple balancing robot but it doesnt work V_V
xperryment1 11 months ago
@xperryment1 Do you have any previous experience with robotics? The balancing robot really isn't a good first project. Also, the light source must be close to the robot and the position of the LDRs is important.
Yes, I'm going to do a vid on how to tune these simple PD systems. Basically, you want to make the RC time constant of the input to be about 8 times higher than the total swing time of the robot. This is called 1/8 wave dampening. I'll be showing a graph that'll help.
roboanalogtom 11 months ago
@roboanalogtom yup i've finish doing some line follower robot with differential drive but this is my first experience in doing a balancing robot..i'm also a noob when it comes to control system, PID, mathematical model and other stuff.....i hope you'll post more educational videos coz i'm very very willing to know more about robotics....thanks alot.......ahm can i request a full explaination of the example circuits that you are using on the next vids tnx
xperryment1 11 months ago
i build it, but when I turn it on, the servo goes only counterclockwise. should i change the resistor values? What value is the potentiometer, i have a 2k pot. thanks for your videos, like them very much!
LarreyBikini 11 months ago
ok thanks i did it! many thanks
LarreyBikini 11 months ago
Why must the servo be modified? The 555 is acting like a pwm right? Shouldn't it just be able to run the servo directly?
FPGAPete 11 months ago
@FPGAPete The servo only needs to be modified if it's going to be used for continuous rotation otherwise unmodified servos are used. My balancing robot vid shows modified servos.
roboanalogtom 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
This is great one !!!
valajbeg 11 months ago
I really like this video, hope you post more on the 555 or even better the 558 if you can. thumbs up dude.
SBUCompEngr 1 year ago
It's alive!
frankbuss 1 year ago
Thanks for posting, great inspiration.
goallinjj 1 year ago
This video is a light shade into the darkness ....
elverdecandelas 1 year ago
This is like a new awakening for me. amazing.
chully00 1 year ago
This i the greatest 555/analog/robotics video and tutorial i have ever seen
mnash123 1 year ago
Rock on, man. Thanks for sharing all of this.
ejfh2000 1 year ago
loving the smacking rig, pretty entertaining
gonepishing 1 year ago
gather there, you minion ;P
rampike74 1 year ago
Outstanding and inspiring. You rock dude. Thank You for your generosity in sharing. SmokeTester
kemcoy 1 year ago
Your chaotic scope pics are awesome too!
ptdecker 1 year ago
Really excellent work. You should consider authoring a book.
ptdecker 1 year ago
You gonna be my new master, thanks for teach me
t3du 1 year ago
I love this kind of stuff, thanks for sharing that information. I like how you start with the small servo control scheme then progressively go more into it with applications.
drOffset 1 year ago