TDP & Associates, Inc.
Electronics for the Model Railroader
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TDP & Associates, Inc.
Electronics for the Model Railroader |
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This page will be updated with any new technical tips for our products. ServoMaster 4/10/2007 Servo position programming -- We have finally figured out what is causing the most confusion during position programming. There are two kinds of button 'presses' needed to program the ServoMaster. A 'long' press will advance you from one phase of the servo programming to the next (for example, from servo 1 position setting phase to servo 1 speed setting phase. The other kind of press is a 'short' press. This locks the servo's position and/or speed in the ServoMaster's memory. This 'short' press is really meant to be a very quick 'tap' of the button. Many people are holding the button down too long and inadvertently advancing to the next phase. The time you need to hold the button down to advance to the next phase is only slightly longer then one second. So, when you are trying to set the position release the button as soon as you feel it 'click'! I have made a change in the software to increase the time you need to hold the button down to advance to the next phase to about 6 seconds. If your chip has a red dot with a 'B' on it you have this change so you shouldn't have any problems. A simplified 'step by step' programming guide is available here. We have found several defective servos in our last shipment of servos from our supplier. We have now begun to test all servos before shipment. If you have a servo that doesn't seem to work correctly please contact us. There are two major failures, one where the servo doesn't move at all and one where the servo will make a sudden jump as it moves. Some servos will buzz upon powering up. These servos are not bad. The servo will stop buzzing and operate smoothly once they have moved through their range of motion. One way to verify this is to grab the servo arm while the servo is buzzing and turn it until it firms up and stops buzzing. This is most often caused when you power up the ServoMaster without the sensor cable attached. The initialization routine moves the servo to position 2 (gates down) upon powerup, then delays a few seconds and moves the servo to position 1 (gates up). If the sensor cable is not connected, or the sensors do not have enough light on them a grade crossing event will start before the servo can move back to position 1, and since the servo didn't move through its range of motion the servo may buzz. I have found the easiest way to mount the blue servos is with 'exterior' mounting tape (Scotch 4011 Exterior Mounting Tape). Provided no force is applied when the servo reaches the end of its movement (i.e. no over-drive of the gate arm against its hard 'stop') the tape will work quite well. |
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