Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

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jdowdall
 
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Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by jdowdall »

I'm able to get the16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board to work fine with an Arduino Mega, but not with an Arduino Nano 3.0. Think I'm using the correct I2C pins (A4 and A5) and the same sample program that worked for the Mega. Is there something special that needs to be done on the Nano to get the I2C working properly? I also noticed that the voltage regulator on the Nano was getting pretty warm. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

We don't carry the Nano here and I haven't tried it. But from the schematics, it should work using A4 & A5 for I2C.
I also noticed that the voltage regulator on the Nano was getting pretty warm.
I'd definitely use a separate power supply for the servos.

jdowdall
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by jdowdall »

Thanks for the fast response! Yes, good idea not to power the driver board from the Nano ... added separate power supply and the Nano's regulator stays cool. I'm running out of ideas to try and get the driver board working with the Nano. I have gotten the example (servo example from the AdafruitPWMServoDriverLibraryMaster library) to work with Mega, Uno, and Pro Micro Arduino boards. Both the Uno and the Nano use the ATmega328 microcontroller, so it seems really strange that I'm having this many problems getting it work. It does look like the Nano is basically a smaller Duemilanove rather than a small Uno. Unfortunately I don't have a Duemilanove to test. A search for Duemilanove I2C problems came up with several open problems and no answers. A few things I've tried :

Using internal pull up resistors on the I2C pins for the Nano
Trying different Nanos (I've tried 3 different Nanos so far)
Trying different driver board (I've also tried 3 different driver boards)
Using the +3.3v line for VCC instead of the +5v

Any ideas you might have would be great.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Differences between the Uno and Duemilanove are related to serial communication and bootloading. I2C operation should be identical. If you look at the schematic, the A4 and A5 pins are connected directly to the Atmega 328. http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Ardui ... ematic.pdf
There are pullup resistors on the PWM/Servo breakout, so that should not be an issue either.

If you post a photo of your setup we may be able to spot something.

jdowdall
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by jdowdall »

Thanks for the prompt replay again! Attached is the wiring setup. There is another know issue with the Nano ... its FT232RL breakout board has a floating pin (should be grounded and isn't) (post : http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,23025.0.html). This causes the Nano to not be recognized properly by the computer sometimes when connected via USB. Any chance this might be causing an issue with the I2C communication? I get around this issue by externally powering the Nano before connecting the USB, so I haven't bothered to fix it (solder pins 25 and 26 on the FT232RL together), but if you think it could be the problem I'll give it a try. I haven't done it yet because the pins on the FT232RL are small enough that it will be tricky to solder them together with my generic soldering iron (50/50 I'll make a horrible mess of it).
Attachments
Photo of wiring. The red/black wires are from a Turnigy 3A voltage regulator (set at 5.1V).
Photo of wiring. The red/black wires are from a Turnigy 3A voltage regulator (set at 5.1V).
nano with PWM board.JPG (868.78 KiB) Viewed 1934 times

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

jdowdall wrote: This causes the Nano to not be recognized properly by the computer sometimes when connected via USB. Any chance this might be causing an issue with the I2C communication?
That seems unlikely to me.

What's more likely is that there is some sort of connection problem between the nano and the servo driver. If you've got a multimeter, check the resistance between the SDA and SCL pins on the Nano and the SDA and SCL pins on the servo driver. Should be close to 0.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It also looks like you are still drawing servo power from the Nano. As mentioned before, it is better to use a separate supply.

jdowdall
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by jdowdall »

The connections look good to me ... with the wiring as shown in the pic the resistance between the SDA pin on the Nano (A4) and the SDA pin on the PWM board is 0.3 ohms, for the SCL pin on the Nano (A5) to the SCL pin on the PWM board is 0.4 ohms. I put it in the photo caption, but should have put it in the reply that the black and red wires going into slot 9 on the PWM board are from the voltage regulator not a second servo. So the V+ pin is hooked up to power the Nano, not to power the PWM board. I could have put the power into the terminal input blocks on the PWM board instead, but my voltage regulator already had the nice servo style connector (with the data pin missing obviously) ... so it was easier to use one of the servo slots. The PWM board is using the 5v regulator on board the Nano to power the electronics, but I think this doesn't draw more current than the Nano can handle (it was only getting hot when the Nano was powered from the USB only). This is the same wiring/power configuration that works with the Mega, Uno and Pro Micro. Let me know if I'm doing something idiotic ... wouldn't be the first time ;-) Thanks for the assistance.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Hmmm. Have you verified that the I2C pins on the Nano are working? Do you have another I2C device to test it with?

Alam_Brito
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Arduino Mega 2560

Post by Alam_Brito »

Sorry I'm new in electronic.

I'm trying to connect an Arduino Mega 2560 to an Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver, But I can not make it work, I hooked it to an arduino UNO and work perfectly, but it doesn't works with an Arduino Mega 2560. I used the sketch: SERVO that came with the library to test both of them.

Are Arduino Mega2560 and the servo driver compatibles? They are a way to modified the the library? or any other solution to make it works?

Thank very much.

Alam

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working with Nano

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

@Alam_Brito - Please start a new thread for this topic.

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avatar1337
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working w

Post by avatar1337 »

Has anyone got this to work yet? I have the same problem and I am connecting it correctly. I have tried it on raspberrypi and teensy 3.1 but I can't get the same setup and code to work on nano.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM/Servo Driver Board not working w

Post by Franklin97355 »

avatat1337 - Please start a new thread for this topic.

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