4.0 KiB
Getting started
Welcome to the 640 board - this guide will describe all the features of the 640 board and show you how to control up to 6 motors or 3 stepper motors and 2 servos very simply.
Board layout
Before we start to assemble your board, we'll take a look at what each section is and what it is for.
CPPM / PPM-SUM
This is the connection that allows you connect a Radio Control (RC) receiver so that you can extend the range of control for your robot.
Servos
The 640 board has connections for two Servos. They default to being powered by the Raspberry Pi 5v supply, but we can switch them to be powered by the external battery supply if we want to.
Motors
The 640 board can control 6 independent motors. Each motor has a connection with two pins (or terminals if you are using the screw terminal connections). It doesn't matter which way around you wire your motor, just make sure that you wire them all the same way. If you find that sending a Forward command makes your robot go backwards, then you can switch the wires around.
Power
The power connection can accept from 2v all the way up to 11v DC - the power you connect here is isolated from your Raspberry Pi and only goes to the motors. Make sure you match your recommended motor voltage as too much power can damage them, and too little won't make them turn.
Expansion area
Address selection
Setup your 640
Assemble the parts
IMPORTANT - if you have an expansion board that you want to add to your 640 board, then you should add that first as it will be a lot easier than adding it after soldering connectors to the board.
Attached the 2 pin servo header
Attach the motor and power terminals
Attach the header
Setting up your Pi
Before we can start using the 640 board we need to enable the interfaces that the board uses on your Raspberry Pi.
The 640 board is controlled using the I2C interface. Any expansion boards attached to your 640 board are controlled using the SPI interface.
Enable I2C and SPI in Pixel
If you are using the graphical interface on your Raspberry Pi then click on your main menu icon, move down to Preferences and click on the Raspberry Pi Configuration menu item. Once open click on the Interfaces tab and you should see something like in the image below.
Make sure that the line labelled I2C is set to enabled.
If you have an expansion board then you'll need to enable the SPI interface as well on the line above, so click the Enabled setting next to the SPI label
Once you click Ok you may be promtped to reboot your Raspberry Pi - go ahead and reboot.
Enable I2C and SPI on the command line
If you are only using the command line on your Raspberry Pi then you will need to use the text version of the Raspberry Pi configuration tool to enable the interfaces.
Type the following to bring up the configuration interface:
$ sudo raspi-config
Once the menu is showing, scroll down to the Advanced Options menu and press Enter.
Now we'll need to enable the I2C interface, so move down I2C menu and press Enter. You'll be asked if you want to enabled I2C - select Yes and you will see a confirmation and be returned to the main menu.
Go to the Advanced Options again and do the same for SPI
This time when you are returned to the main menu, move down to the Finish option (pressing the right arrow key twice will get you there) and press enter.
You have now enabled the interfaces you need to use your board.