-Added software change of direction for digital contact-less position encoders with fixed direction.
For example (6127V1A360L.5 or 6127V1A180L.5). Now you can choose between all six sensors being:
a. Positive (CW) for 1-2-3-4-5-6
b. Positive (CW) for 1-3-5 and Negative (CCW) for 2-4-6
c. Negative (CCW) for 1-3-5 and Positive (CW) for 2-4-6
-DIP2 switch defines the Serial speed on startup.
a. DIP2 position ON defines 115200bps serial speed.
b. DIP2 position OFF defines 230400bps serial speed.
The new firmware can be found in the dropbox file library of the AMC644USB project.
Here is a video explanation of the software change of direction for the contact-less position encoders:
Here is a video of AMC644USB connected to x-sim with 6DOF values, I used 3 axis for the acceleration of X,Y,Z and another 3 axis with the relative rotation speed of X,Y,Z.
Turns out to be 9DOF, if take in consideration the data for the Digital Dashboard (Speed,Gear,RPM), all devices working together with 1ms delay in the USO section of X-sim Profiler. The Digital Dashboard code had to be fixed to work with these high refresh speeds with custom serial speed 125kbps. Also added blinking for the dashboard lights for gear shift indicator.
The AMC644USB runs in 230kbps baud serial speed and 16-bit data for positioning.
I decided to shape up the digital dashboard a little bit. I made a base board for the Arduino Nano with socket header same as the TM1638 displays use. Added external power supply jack with 5v regulator, in case the arduino is connected to a USB hub and can't draw lots of current from the USB.
Changed the code to improve the serial communications. Custom baud serial speed of 125kbps. Now its stable enough to run with delays of 1ms along AMC644USB without running out of buffer space or freezing because of the high speed 16-bit data transfers. This change was mandatory to be able to have the x-sim USO running all devices (AMC644USB + Dashboard) with delay of 1ms. Among others added some extra code for flashing the shift indicator lights without delay, just by using a custom timer.
After a long waiting, my 6DOF extension boards arrived from France. I wish there was a "next day" PCB service. No matter what you use, it will take at least a month to make boards (production + shipping time etc).
I made them single layer with a few jumper connections on the top side. I was going to use PCB jumpers for the data connections to the various modules but in the end I just soldered them on the bottom leaving one row for each signal set exposed for special interfacing. Since there was no option for silkscreen I had to resort placing the port labels on the connectors, but I think that it look good.
I started assembling them yesterday and I hope all will be ready by Friday for shipping all around the world. The post office lady will hate me for having to process that many custom declaration forms.
Here are some photos of the tests I performed on them as well some details:
