2 questions wrt pololu and newsoftserial

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hello:

I have the pololu servo controller working with Serial - no issues. I'd like to use NewSoftSerial and use a different pin for output, but no matter what I try, I get the red LED on and flashing green (baud rate too high). Stumped - is there a compatibility issue? I am setting the baud rate to 9600 - same as for Serial.

When using Serial, after some time of no output changes, the yellow light comes on and the servo moves slightly - can anyone tell me what's going on here?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,

b...

2

How do you have the controller connected?

What code are you running on the Arduino?

3

Hello -

I am running version 0020, hooked to a pololu servo controller. Everything works fine when I use Serial but I'm trying to move to SoftwareSerial or NewSoftwareSerial. Using SoftwareSerial, I have added:

SoftwareSerial sss = SoftwareSerial(2, 3);

In the setup function:

pinMode(2, INPUT);
pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
sss.begin(9600);

And then in the function that outputs the bytes:

for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
{
      Serial.print(buff[i], BYTE);
      sss.print(buff[i], BYTE);
}

If I connect the pololu SIN to pin1 (TX) everything is fine. If I change the SIN wire to pin3 (output for sss) then when the arduino powers up, I get the red light and flashing green (before any calls to move the motor - this is just on power up).

I had the same experience with NewSoftwareSerial.