Hi, I’m baffled by a problem I’ve just started having and would really appreciate some help please.
For the past 3-4 years I’ve been successfully using Arduino Nano’s with a Jrk 21v3 USB Motor Controllers. Then this past couple of weeks I’ve discovered that the Nano’s I now have for my builds are V3’s, so had to update my Arduino IDE to the latest version Arduino IDE 1.8.15 to enable me to load my program onto the V3 Nano. And that all worked fine.
The problem that has arisen is that the linear actuator no longer moves!?! And I can’t for the life of me figure out why all of sudden it has stopped working, after no problems for 3-4 years.
The program is working correctly, all other external lights, buttons etc… operate as normal.
The Jrk 21v3 USB Motor Controller works as before, tested it via USB.
The program uses SoftwareSerial.h, and always has, and has always worked.
The only things that have changed are the Nano’s are now V3, and the Arduino IDE was updated to the lastest version.
If anyone has had this problem recently, or can shed some light on it I would very much appriciate it, as I’m currently at a standstill
So after many many hours trying all sorts of things, I have finally nailed down the point where it stops working, but still don't have the definite reason, but at least it's working again! And wasn't something I had missed thankfully!
I had no errors on the Jrk 21v3, baud rate was still fixed at 9600, all connections correct. Tested the arduino and Jrk with a sample test program, all worked perfectly, on both the old and new arduino's, new and old bootloader with Arduino IDE 1.8.15.
Now the problem came when I loaded my program back on to the new and old arduino's. I had to obviously switch between current and old bootloader for either arduino. Checked the program was running with serial monitor, but still again no motor movement!?!
For the next few hours I went back through all the previous releases of Arduino IDE un-installing and installing each old version IDE. I needed one with an old and new boot loader, and eventually came across the last release that worked for both boards, loaded the program to either board I have, and the actuators still runs!
The last release of Arduino IDE that works for me is 1.8.6, after this something must have changed, as the program runs, but the actuator does not. Now in my program I only use FreqCount.h, and SoftwareSerial.h, so it may be FreqCount that is being affected? Who knows. All I do know is that something changed in release 1.8.7 that my program does not like
