How do I give a radio control car autonomous control

[Kenjones1935]

I understand that my receiver gets its power from the ESC which in turn is fed by the 7.2volt Ni-Cd battery. Do you all feel that powering the whole kit and caboodle from that one battery is OKAY? If that is the case many of my (imagined) problems are solved. Will the voltage regulator in the ESC withstand the added amperage? If it will then other potential problems disappear.

I still think I need two batteries. One to power the car. The other to power the microchip. The Ni-Cd runs dry after a few high speed runs of the car. It must be recharged. When used as I have been imagining by middle school students it will run down quickly. What happens to all the information in the PIC while I swap batteries?

Ken

I anxiously await the arrival of my PICkit.

Ken

[mackrackit]

The program memory in the PIC will stay there forever. Any variables will be reset a power up if they are not written to EEPROM. I do not think you will need to worry about that for this project, at least not to start with.

[Kenjones1935]

You suggested I check out:
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/show...17&postcount=6

I see the reference to latching relays. I found at Newark only 12 volt and greater versions. My mental image of my car/truck carries a 7.2 volt Ni-Cd and a 6 volt AA battery pack. Do you know of an appropriate latching DPDT switch?

Ken

[John_Mac]

The ESC should work fine for both PIC and steering servo power. I would try it before loading up with separate battery packs. Typically the PIC will reset if you get a glitch on the power. You would see a short dead time while the PIC resets if this happens. You can also flash some LEDs in software on init if you want.

Just look at the ESC output on a scope and see how good/bad it is.

[Pic_User]

You suggested I check out:
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/show...17&postcount=6

I see the reference to latching relays. I found at Newark only 12 volt and greater versions. My mental image of my car/truck carries a 7.2 volt Ni-Cd and a 6 volt AA battery pack. Do you know of an appropriate latching DPDT switch?

Ken

Hi Ken, John and Dave,

I have seen some 5 V relays but it might be better to power a relay directly from your battery supply.
Then control it with the 5 V signal from the PIC digital pin.
You then, are not limited to the coil current of the PIC pin and more important, the electrical noise from the coil is outside the “inner sanctum” of the sensitive control circuit.
You would need an additional 20 cent transistor driver.


Here in the states these are some of the places that “mail order” electronic supplies.

These are full price electronic part distributors.
They generally have lots of choices and ship very quickly.:
Jameco Electronics http://www.jameco.com/
Mouser Electronics http://www.mouser.com/
Newark Electronics http://www.newark.com/
Digi-Key http://www.digikey.com/DigiHome.html
Allied Electronics http://www.alliedelec.com

These are surplus, few of a kind, less of a selection overstock type places.
Stock quantities are limited and they ship a little slower:
All Electronics Corp http://www.allelectronics.com/
Electronic Goldmine http://www.goldmine-elec.com/
BG Micro Electronics http://www.bgmicro.com/
Marlin P. Jones & Assoc., Inc. http://www.mpja.com/
Fair Radio Sales http://www.fairradio.com/
Hosfelt Electronics, Inc. http://www.hosfelt.com/

I buy most of my parts, to stock the parts bin, from eBay:
eBay Inc. http://www.ebay.com/

You guys are starting an interesting project for all the right reasons!
-Adam aka Pic User-

[mackrackit]

Hey Adam,
Do not be a stranger...
I think Ken could really benifit from your insight on a project like this.

[Pic_User]

Hey Adam,
Do not be a stranger...
I think Ken could really benifit from your insight on a project like this.

You guys are pretty much on top of the whole “Getting Ken up and running with a PIC” mission.

We should caution him and other “newbie PIC users”:
Start slow. Before diving into the atomic powered matter transporter project, blink a LED .
Then make a switch toggle a LED.
Baby step your way, to world dominance.

We are all reading this thread and pulling for Ken to continue with this excellent idea.
-Adam-

[Kenjones1935]

I looks so innocent - so small. It is difficult to imagine it can cause me so much frustration and consternation. Do I need to be careful with static electricity?

Happily I have located a dust covered oscilloscope which should arrive this week. Thanks for the support. It feels good!!!

Ken