Servo control via TLC5940 breakout boards

[sighmon]

Hey guys,

Damien recommended using TLC to control my 18 servos for the hexapod
I'm building, so I was wondering if this breakout board might be a
good idea to keep my wiring neat?

http://bildr.org/2012/03/servos-tlc5940-arduino/

Looks like the Arduino TLC5940 library makes it pretty easy to control
the servos too.

tlc_setServo(servoNumber, servoAngle);
Tlc.update();

So, if Damien and all think this is a good idea, I'll be putting in a
Sparkfun order for 2 of these:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10616

Anyone else want to add to the order? I'll be making it at 5pm tonight
(Friday 22nd June).

Simon.

[Tamsyn Michael]

Hey Simon,

It was you I was thinking of with this Arduino compatible board:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcbotics/hexy-the-hexapod-low-cost-six-legged-open-robot/comments

$30 for 32 servos (+$10 shipping :() - but another option.  Not sure how much your board is?

[sighmon]

Hey Tamsyn,

My two boards will be $26 for 32 servos, and available now. :-)

s.

On Jun 22, 1:33 pm, Tamsyn Michael <tamsyn.j.mich...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Simon,
>

> It was you I was thinking of with this Arduino compatible board:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcbotics/hexy-the-hexapod-low-co...

[Matthew Croucher]

Wow, how did I not see that board on Sparkfun when I did an order from
them a month ago? I've been looking at making my own TLC5940 board, but
there's is awesomely cheap! Thanks for the link guys!

And that Kickstarter looks awesome too... *drool*

Matt

[Jamie Mackenzie]

Bildr has some great guides on the TLC5940.

Those boards could be used for LED based stuff too by just attaching the data and Vcc pins.  Or is it data and GND?  Either way, super flashy fun times.

Actually just had a more in-depth look and you potentially need to add an extra resistor to drive LEDs but they have designed the board to make that easy.

I have also been mocking up a TLC5940 design in KiCad but this seems easier in the short term.

I'm in for 4 boards.

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[Matthew Croucher]

Simon, Could you please put me down for two boards? Forgot to add that
to my previous email..

Cheers,

Matt

On 22/06/2012 2:18 PM, Jamie Mackenzie wrote:
> Bildr has some great guides on the TLC5940.
>
> Those boards could be used for LED based stuff too by just attaching
> the data and Vcc pins. Or is it data and GND? Either way, super
> flashy fun times.
>
> Actually just had a more in-depth look and you potentially need to add
> an extra resistor to drive LEDs but they have designed the board to
> make that easy.
>
> I have also been mocking up a TLC5940 design in KiCad but this seems
> easier in the short term.
>
> I'm in for 4 boards.
>
> On 22 June 2012 14:14, Matthew Croucher <unit...@gmail.com

> <mailto:unit...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Wow, how did I not see that board on Sparkfun when I did an order
> from them a month ago? I've been looking at making my own TLC5940
> board, but there's is awesomely cheap! Thanks for the link guys!
>
> And that Kickstarter looks awesome too... *drool*
>
> Matt
>
>
> On 22/06/2012 2:09 PM, sighmon wrote:
>
> Hey Tamsyn,
>
> My two boards will be $26 for 32 servos, and available now. :-)
>
> s.
>
> On Jun 22, 1:33 pm, Tamsyn Michael <tamsyn.j.mich...@gmail.com

> <mailto:tamsyn.j.mich...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Hey Simon,
>
> It was you I was thinking of with this Arduino compatible
> board:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcbotics/hexy-the-hexapod-low-co...
>
> $30 for 32 servos (+$10 shipping :() - but another option.
> Not sure how
> much your board is?
>
>
>
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[Steven Pickles]

is anyone else terrified that their daisy chain setup is almost exactly the same as the lantern?

pix

[Peter Wintulich]

It is very similar. The important difference very short wires, instead of nearly 60 cm.

Peter W

-- 

Peter Wintulich

Voicetronix Pty. Ltd.
Level 1, 246 Pulteney Street,
ADELAIDE  5000
South Australia
AUSTRALIA
+61 8 8232 9112

[Jamie Mackenzie]

I was wondering about that.

I have not seen anywhere what the practical limits of daisy chaining TLC5940 chips are.  There must be a limit.  Surely you can't just chain as many as you like.  Maybe we hit such a limit on the lantern?

[sighmon]

Pix: is there a way to avoid the daisy chaining with 2 TLCs?

On Jun 22, 2:43 pm, Steven Pickles <thatpix...@gmail.com> wrote:
> is anyone else terrified that their daisy chain setup is almost exactly the
> same as the lantern?
>
> pix
>

[Steven Pickles]

daisy chaining two should be fine, but with enough of them it will eventually start exhibiting the problems we experienced on the lantern.

but i really think the TLC chip daisy chaining is intended to be on one board, not sending the high speed signal lines between boards. 

pix

[sighmon]

Okay, well lets see how they work out.

So, no more call for bits from sparkfun? So far I've got:

Jamie x4
Matthew x2
Tamsyn x1 + (various parts)
Peter x2 + (various parts)

s.

On Jun 22, 2:59 pm, Steven Pickles <thatpix...@gmail.com> wrote:
> daisy chaining two should be fine, but with enough of them it will
> eventually start exhibiting the problems we experienced on the lantern.
>
> but i really think the TLC chip daisy chaining is intended to be on one
> board, not sending the high speed signal lines between boards.
>
> pix
>

[Damien P]

On Friday, June 22, 2012 1:38:02 PM UTC+9:30, sighmon wrote:

Damien recommended

Make that a suggestion rather than a recommendation!  But there are libraries around to use them, so hopefully they're not too difficult.
 

I'll be putting in a Sparkfun order for 2 of these:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10616

Is there much advantage to using these, instead of using the DIP versions (that we use on  the lantern)?

On Friday, June 22, 2012 3:17:44 PM UTC+9:30, Jamie Mackenzie wrote:

I have not seen anywhere what the practical limits of daisy chaining TLC5940 chips are.  There must be a limit.  Surely you can't just chain as many as you like.  Maybe we hit such a limit on the lantern?

You can probably connect as many of them together as you want.  One chip will drive the data line that goes in to the next chip, so that won't be a problem (the data lines are just shift registers).  The problem would be distributing the clock signals to each one.  On a small board that would be fine (you're more likely to have fan-out problems), but in our case we were distributing them over a long distance.

[sighmon]

Damien: The breakout board will keep things nice and neat.

They've arrived at my desk.. so I'll bring them to the hack session to
play with tomorrow. :-)

si.