This little bug has a bug

RE: This little bug has a bug

Workshopshed — Wed, 24 May 2017 21:36:35 GMT

Great progress, glad to hear you got your motor driver problem fixed.

RE: This little bug has a bug

balearicdynamics — Thu, 18 May 2017 16:55:03 GMT

Hello Idan, thank you for the mention; I am happy to read that the motor now is running. I suggest - if you have some buzzer around you - to complete the project - IMHO it is the worth! - making some notes in the different situations. You are always in time to reborn the project for further more sophisticated versions (i.e. with mp3 playing) as you get the pieces. Don't you agree? Despite the most quality option there are many other easy ways to make sounds, it depends on what is available to you in this moment.

P.S. What is the reader you ordered for Arduino ?

Enrico

RE: This little bug has a bug

balearicdynamics — Thu, 11 May 2017 20:31:36 GMT

Hello Idan,

I took a look in depth to your well described steps and some questions arises; in the circuit design the power goes to the motor but I don't see how the Arduino is powered. Are you using the same battery?

What is the power of the power supply you are using? If the motor is done to move the toy with 4 AA Batteries, it seems that it is a nominal 7V motor. If you are powering with the same batteries (or equivalent power) the motor and Arduino it is possible that there is not sufficient power for the entire system.

In your update 3 you write:

For some reason when the motor in drive state, it just making weird buzz and don't turn, in rare cases it does.
If I remove the motor when the button pressed and test the open circuit voltage of the motor wires (in the board) I see 6V, but when the motor is connected I only see 0.5V with the multimeter.

If this behaviour is systematic and repeats I suppose there are not components broken or fired. Maybe there is too low power to turn the motor?

Before the tests I suggest below, there is another detail that can make the difference in the case the motor is low powered. Why don't use a Darlington transistor instead of the 2N222? you can try with a TIP120TIP120 that in my opinion sounds better than the one your using now.

In past with DC motors I have experienced using PWM to change their speed that there is a minimum PWM value that enable the motor to start else it just buzz. Maybe that the motor inside of the black box normally is not powered sufficiently to start moving (and moving the mechanism too). Did you tried to change the PWM values for example between 180 (lower) up to 250 (higher) and see what happens?

As the doubtful component is (or maybe) the motor and the circuit power if you have another spare DC motor you can try to use it outside the circuit and see what is the behaviour. Also a LED can be the worth to try testing (add a higher resistor to the end to avoid to fire it). After a couple of tests you have an idea where is the weak point of your project.

Enrico

RE: This little bug has a bug

idanre1 — Thu, 04 May 2017 11:50:26 GMT

Moved comment to "update 1" section in main thread

Idan

RE: This little bug has a bug

tariq.ahmad — Wed, 03 May 2017 14:57:24 GMT

Hi [mention:fe32d88c0ee5484cb304cbb56cb3e12c:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] ,

Looking forward to seeing how this goes!

Let us know if you have any questions as several community have expressed interest in helping fellow community members with their projects!

RE: This little bug has a bug

DAB — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:45:43 GMT

Spoken like a true maker.

Devices do not become toss away. They just transform into a newer and neater device.

DAB