specs

made a visio document for the specs of our hardware. link to spec sheet Linnked File test 2 AA batteries making 3V to power DC motor and lauch car from ground

H-bridge Power

Tonight we found out the h-bridge does not have enough power to power to the d/c motor when there is any kind of friction like the ground. We are going to investigate this farther. When the wheel is in the air week get 3+V going to DC motor. When on ground in the beginning there at 150mV. We connected a 9v battery directly to the d/c motor and the car moved instantaneously. We test the other h-bridge again. It was lacking voltage power to drive the motor as well. We know it is power issue with the h-bridge. Our h-bridge powers our 3 sensors as well. We disconnect them hoping it would have an impact. Test failed, still could not move in the beginning by itself.

Right L turn

fixed battery charger.

started to program a pathfing algorithm.
ping sensors report distances in inches from left and right. so i was attempting to program if it recieves a signal closer to the left side the car would move right. if the car recieved s signal closer on the right side it would move left. 

need to figure out how to change speed, because its picks up speed fast.  front left sensor need to be screw back on. fell off when test code. 

was able to write code to recieve distances from all 3 parallax ping sensors to display in terminal. worked on presentation. 

need to figure out how to get car to go in reverse. wanted to test other h-bridge because i thought my code should run properly.  however when i plug the spare h-bridge up. i switch 2 cables and it fried the board.  Also, the end came off the battery charger so i need to fix that as well.

testing

able to test some code on the car tonight.
all compants are working as they should. everything is wired up correctly.
able to get code to read input distances from sensors and report them on a consol on my laptop for testing perposes.
code i wrote tonight goes in a circle clockwise one rotation and then heads in a straight line, then a shallow left turn. then repeats.

Velcro for sensor mount

sensor mount

Center sensor (3 pin parallax)

Right + Center sensor

Right + Center + Left

3 pin parallax ultrasonic sensor

 Base car + Sensors

Car w/o body

Car + Arduino

 Car + Arduino box cover

Car + Arduino box cut out for wires

Arduino box with spacers

lexan mounted to Arduino box spacers,

breadboard on lexan, 

4 spacer on lexan for h-bridge 

2 spacer on right for switch pannel

H-bridge mounted

switch pannel mounted

rear DC motor connected to MOT1 on H-Bridge,

Switch 1 connected to H-bridge and 9.6 battery,

Switch to 2 connected to Arduino and 9V battery

H-bridge wired to Arduino,

Arduino out 5volt power to breadboard to power servo + Sensors, 

Steering servo wired to Arduino through breadboard,

3 ping sensors wired to Arduino through breadboard

Rear spoiler added for looks!

Car conversion complete, and ready for code.

Note:

Should have one more quick disconnect between DC motor and H-bridge and stronger velcro to hold Arduino box 

switches

I wired up 2 switches today.

One switch was for the arduino board. And the other one was for the big H-bridge.

I can not use a single switch because we have two different battery sources

I tried to test out the small h-bridge. There is no input for an extra battery supply. I gave it the required 5v it says it need to run. However it does not even turn the DC motor. I used the same code as the Big H-bridge when the car was running in a circle. I need to investigate farther.

Mod Part 1

Conversion wiring diagram

Pin	Item	from	To	color	other
	Arduino	5V pin	Breadboard	Red	5V Power Rail
	Arduino	GND	Breadboard	Black	GND Rail
PWM 7	servomotor	Servo	Arduino	white	Steering communication
	servomotor	Servo GND	Breadboard GND Rail	Black	GND
	servomotor	Servo Power	Breadboard Power Rail	Red	5V.
Digital 30	H-bridge	ENA	Arduino	Blue	Enables motor controller
Digital 52	H-bridge	IN1	Arduino	Orange	Spins dc motor one way
Digital 53	H-bridge	IN2	Arduino	Green	Spins dc motor opposite way
	H-bridge	MOT DC	Battery +	Red	(6-35)V
	H-bridge	MOT DC	Battery -	Black	GND
	H-bridge	MOT 1 (+)	car	Red	Power
	H-bridge	MOT 1 (-)	car	Black	GND
	H-bridge	5V-Power	Breadboard  5V Power Rail	Red	Power
	H-bridge	GND	Breadboard GND Rail	Black	GND

Making Servo ext. cable:

1.      Snip male end off

2.      Separate the 3 cables (B,R,W)

3.      Strip 3 wire ends

4.      Twist bare wire together

5.      Place 1 peace of heat shrink on each set of cables

6.      Dip wire ends in flux

7.      Tint all 6 wire ends

8.      Solder 3 connections servo ext cable to other wire

9.      Place heat shrink over connection

10.   Melt heat shrink

Findings:

·        Car was responding to embedded program as expected.

·        H-bridge: 

o   Mot DC plug can handle 6-35v

§  Battery wire melted instantly with 22gage. It had 10v coming from battery connected

§  Made new cable 18 gage, work beautifully

o   Heat sink gets extremely hot when powered on (don’t touch)

DC Motor code

/*      digitalWrite(52, HIGH); //forward yellow light on H-bridge
          digitalWrite(53, LOW);
*/

/*      digitalWrite(52, LOW);  //reverse red light on H-bridge
          digitalWrite(53, HIGH);
*/

Accomplishments of the day:

·        Car mods

o   Servomotor ext cable made

o   Added 2 additional cables from DC motor (+,-)  on car; for micro controller to provided power to DC motor through H-bridge

o   H-Bridge extra battery connector made 18gage with red connector ends

·        Steering   

o   Tested servo code

§  rotate wheels from 0-180 degree in increments of 20 degree

·        Program Arduino to drive the car in a circle

o   front wheels set to 20 degrees and constant power in forward motion

Mod still not done

o   We need to figure out a way to secure the three components on the car:

o    Arduino,

o   Breadboard

o   H-bridge

o   Sensors

Naseem soldering

cables connecting Arduino to H-bridge (chart above for color coding)

Nathan connecting cables to H-bridge

H-bridge cable after first test

gage of wire to small.

Video of test car going around in a circle at constant speed.

wheels are set  20degree to the left

pictures