Essentially, as outlined by the original author, I used an Arduino Uno with the v3 CnC shield, two Nema 17 stepper motors stacked. One for Az, the other for El. 3D printed a connector to do that. The code pretty much worked flawlessly when uploaded. However, I don’t have / want end stops (at this point).
So, I wanted to root out that code and run it through ChatGPT to optimize it and suggest how I should add LCD components. I’ve played around with that from another program SatTracker by K6VUG. Condensed and works as well but I don’t understand his logical elements in the code. Honestly, I wanted to use the steppers due to the torque they have. But I’ve stumbled upon some decent servos - Hitec HS-485HB that I want to use a Adafruit Motorshield. Runs at lower voltage, etc.
I just hooked up the LCD via the I2C on the Arduino. SDA/SCL/Grnd/+5v
I put together satnogs rotator with cnc shield and I would like to put an lcd down in the shack but I don’t understand your .ino with that enough and what would be the connections
im a little late to the rotator game but im setting up one with the cnc shield and i have a question…how is the current position of the antenna read by gpredict? i dont see any sensors anywhere except for the end stops. so far as soon as my arduino powers on the steppers pulse for a few seconds and stop, but the batch file is saying read error. also is there a picture or something somewhere that shows which color wires from the nema 17 motors connect to the shield pins correctly? any help would be appreciated.
it knows the position by homing the axis to the end stops at startup, then keeping track of how many steps it has moved since. this is reported back on query to the arduino firmware.
I’m not sure what batch file you refer to here…
the colors of the wires doesn’t matter too much, you need to get the winding pairs together (ohm dmm), then simply rotate the entire connector if the axis moves in the wrong direction.
well still not working. i did a continuity check and found the 2 pairs. on the cnc shield, i assume 1a and 1b are a pair and 2a and 2 b are a pair? so here is whats happening now, before the board is powered, i can rotate each motor by hand easily, but as soon as the board has power, nothing happens and the motors are impossible to turn. i am powering the board with 12v 2a. i changed nothing in the code, it compiled fine and i uploaded it to the uno/cnc shield. i am about to pull my hair out :). any ideas would be appreciated
The motors should be stuck when powered.
With the rotator firmware, no movement at startup either means it is already homed, or that the switches does not match the DEFAULT_HOME_STATE setting, thinking it is already homed when not.
Simplest test is to press the end stops while powering it up, it should start moving. Do note that it will not stop properly if this is the case, either change the home state setting or change the switches between NO/NC.