Turnigy tz85a from BotBitz

[RogueTwoRobots]

Gary, the ISP connector you showed me at the champs, did you get it from the website link provided on the Robowars forum page (http://littlebirdelectronics.com/pro...-connectors-12) or somewhere else? Just seeing if I can find a closer supplier than Australia.

EDIT: eBay might have me sorted actually http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-len...item4d0bccf4837

EDIT 2: Scratch that, just noticed the cable is provided with the Pololu AVR programmer

[typhoon_driver]

Yeah you get a cable with it. Let me know if you need a spare though. I bought a few spare cables as I also wanted to use the programmer to program an orangutan chip.

[PJ-27]

@Gary can you post how you get on withe Orangutan chip? I would quite like to get one for an Ant.

[typhoon_driver]

Played with it about a year ago for an experimental melty brain spinner

[limpet]

You need a programmer, a soldering iron, good skill with a soldering iron and a computer with the appropriate software. Read through the links ast the start of this thread for details. When we talk about reprogramming we are changing the fundamental program that the speed controller uses. Think of it as changing a computer from windows to linux

Thanks, I`ve done a bit of reading and it looks simple enough. Will any AVR programmer work or does it need to be certain ones?
(most of the links don`t work or don`t show up in full making them not work)

[typhoon_driver]

I would recommend the pololu avr programmer. Didn't have any issues with it

[limpet]

ok thanks I'll get that one.

[Flag Captured]

Didn't see much point posting a new topic about it so I just thought I'd just ask here - does anyone happen to know how much it would end up costing for 2 of these hacked BotBitz ESCs, including postage and packaging to the UK? I know it comes to about £80 for the two not including the postage so, not sure if it's worth just attempting to hack some myself if I can find a guide on the internet...
Thanks in advance!

[shakesc]

Have a look at

http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1609

[limpet]

Ordered two a couple of days ago, it came to £94 including postage. That was converted from Australian dollars.

[typhoon_driver]

That include import tax at 20% and handling of around £8.50 for parcel force?


Programming them is far far cheaper

[limpet]

No doesn't include that as they havnt arrived yet.
I plan to program my next ones but I got these due to lack of time available before Newport.

[marto]

So guys I am currently working on V2 Firmware for our controllers.

As some of you may know I have already reverse engineered one of the programming boxes from HK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJLFngpuvRE
I am working on finishing this off and adding even more features.
See: http://robowars.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1893

This will be used to make all of the settings configurable out in the field. This will give you the ability to tweak your robot on the fly.

The one which I am most excited about is being able to reverse my speed controllers as at an event as I always seem to bloody solder the wires on backwards when I replace a motor. The other thing which is interesting is that I drew up ways to make ESCs into on/off switches by just changing parameters. This is not that interesting for the TZ85A but for the 10A ESC it provides an easy way to get a cheap RC switch for triggering weapons.

For those who are programming ESCs themselves this won't be open source. But for those who have had DX6is this should make all your problems go away.

I also aim to provide the tools to read parameters from your current robot and ESC setup to allow you to dial in your driving and tweak your ESC so that it gives you the best possible control and performance. Oh and it will also have serial control if you want to use ESCs in an automation type application.

Well that is the plan. Hope to have new firmware done in 1-2 weeks and decent testing will take a month or two before I am willing to release it. For people who have currently bought ESCs from BotBitz we are looking at offering a upgrade program, if there is interest let me know.

Regards

Steve

[limpet]

Ordered two a couple of days ago, it came to £94 including postage. That was converted from Australian dollars.

These arrived yesterday so about three weeks for delivery.
No import duty or tax etc. just came through the letter box :-)