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Author Topic: Winter project - RF control  (Read 11774 times)

prb238

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Winter project - RF control
« on: November 05, 2010, 04:11:23 PM »
Hi all -

My winter robot project is to enhance the RF mod I've already made to my 3200 to include On/Off/Pause/Charge.  Right now I have the ability to remotely pause/unpause the robot with my iPhone/Ipad from anywhere in the country.  My plan is to add the other three rear button controls as well.  On/off is not that big a deal, but Charge will be more important.  Being able to remotely control that function will allow me to force the robot out of a zone and back to the charging base if it is done - basically the same functionality if the manufacturer were to add a timing function to the zone feature.

My implementation involves using X10 to send a signal from my home PC to an X10 relay which then triggers an RF remote to send a signal to the robot.  I have tapped into the wires that come off the control board in the robot and I have a relay mechanism in the robot that completes the circuit of two of the wires which then simulates a person pressing a button on the back of the robot.  There is an X10 app for the iPhone and iPad that allows you to connect to the same app on your PC which sends the signals out.  I have added an extra 12V battery in the second bay of the robot to power the RF relay in the robot.  I am using a lead-acid battery for now because it is cheap, but may look at Lithium-Ion or some derivative.

My lawn is not huge but the RF transmitters and relays that I am using work anywhere in my yard - I have the transmitters in my garage.

In order to simplify the mod, I decided to not hook up the extra battery to any external plates to allow for automatic charging when the robot is in the base.  The RF receiver lasts for upwards of a month on one charge and will last even longer if I can get a higher Amp/hr Lithium battery in there.

The next step from here may be to reverse engineer the RF commands from the remote so that I can then put my own RF receiver on the serial port and allow control of the robot from other devices.  I've thought about doing this before, but I'm not sure what the practical use of this mod would be other than it would be cool to do.

toolbelt

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2010, 06:06:29 PM »
Just a thought but would be possible to short out the rain sensor probes as that should cause it to return.

prb238

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2010, 07:35:58 PM »
Probably - I'd have to look at it, but that would be another way to force it back. I forget - does the robot go into some rain delay mode after the rain sensor is triggered?

toolbelt

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2010, 11:37:58 PM »
Hmmmm, not sure.  I think it depends on which version of the s/w you have.  You could always put a screwdriver across the probes and see what happens.... again I'm assuming (and yes I know...) that all the rain does is short the probes out.

I keep my Junior's probes covered with a baggie so it mows even if it's raining.  We have sandy soil so there are no mud holes.  The rain sinks in right away.

prb238

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2010, 12:18:46 PM »
Well - that went quicker than I thought. I already had the pins on the display board figured out so last night I added a couple of wires to the custom harness that I made to tap into the additional functions.  I also already had the extra RF transmitters that I needed as well as a 4 channel RF receiver/relay to put in the robot. I went ahead and wired the RF transmitters to 12v power supplies so I don't have to worry about replacing the batteries. I've tested all the functions and I can now turn on, turn off, pause/unpause, and force the charge feature all without touching the robot. Now I just need to set up the X10 software so I can do all that from my iPhone.

shermbb

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2010, 09:49:34 PM »

My 3500 is still dead, but if I bring him back to life in the spring I will definitely need to do this mod - along with a camera mod.  I really need to be able to remotely control, or cycle the power, since it often gets the dreaded "blackout" error (and thus just sits there for days). 

Can you share the wiring schematic?  I've got tons of insteon stuff in place already, so I suspect this should be relatively easy!

1Realjunior

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #6 on: December 20, 2010, 05:12:03 AM »
It's fairly easy to my mind. Let's share our products after finishing ;)

shermbb

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2011, 07:51:40 PM »

With the $50 survey coupon, I decided I would go ahead and do the LB3500-to-LB3510 upgrade. I suspect that my motherboard was dead, so this should solve that issue.

Now I want to be able to remote control my mower as described in this thread, mainly to help resolve various errors (bump, border, and blackout) remotely.  I think I would like to add a camera as well.

Can you guys give me a head start with the wiring for the buttons?

RobotLady

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2011, 11:34:40 AM »
After rain, Lawnbott goes back to the base and recharges.  There probably is a delay if the battery is already almost or fully charged.  Then it backs out and checks for rain again.  If it finds rain right away, it will pull back into the charger.

shermbb

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2011, 10:23:45 PM »
You were right, on/off/pause/charge wiring was easy.   Does anyone know if a diode-protected circuit and a wireless-controlled set of relays would be viable to control the wheel motors as well?  I am worried about the occasional "blackout" error while on the perimeter wire, and the inability for any of the above-mentioned commands being able to send the mower back home (due to already being on the perimeter wire).

Also, any recommendations for a mower-mounted wireless camera so that I can tell which way to drive the mower to get away from trouble (or the perimeter wire)?

RobotLady

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Re: Winter project - RF control
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2011, 03:38:44 PM »
Quote
Does anyone know if a diode-protected circuit and a wireless-controlled set of relays would be viable to control the wheel motors as well?  I am worried about the occasional "blackout" error while on the perimeter wire, and the inability for any of the above-mentioned commands being able to send the mower back home (due to already being on the perimeter wire).

Also, any recommendations for a mower-mounted wireless camera so that I can tell which way to drive the mower to get away from trouble (or the perimeter wire)?

Interesting thoughts.  My intuition is leaning toward both of these being on the difficult side.  If you can figure out how to control the wheels, then I may want to hire you to invent a new navigation algorithm (straight lines would be good...).  While you are at it, how about improving the mowing algorithm, too?

 

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