Controlling DJI Ronin via Arduino

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hi There,

Before I start, I just want to point out that I'm a total noob to all this. I've been reading a lot on here and some makes sense and other stuff really doesn't. So please bare with me :slight_smile:

I have a DJI Ronin gimbal that I currently operate from the supplied controller. It uses joy sticks to control the pan and tilt axis, but I feel the sticks don't yield the best results...

Here's what I'd like to do - Instead of using sticks to control the Ronin Pan and Tilt axis, I would like to use wheels. So for example, when I turn the wheel 90 degrees to the left, the Ronin pans 90 degrees to the left and stays there. 90 degree back to the right on the wheel and the Ronin again mimics the wheel and stays there.

I have a 3rd party controller (Turnigy er9x) that binds to the DJI Ronin via the s-bus port. It has 3 pots on the controller but right now, if I use any of the pots on the er9x to control the pan axis, the more I turn the pot the faster it goes, which I know is normal but not what I'm after.

A friend suggested building a custom controller using Arduino, so here I am! I'm just looking for a starting point, as I really have no clue about where to begin right now.

What I'm trying to figure out is, is there a way to have the Ronin behave more like how a servo would? When the pot is turned, it mimics the movement like on a servo?

The Ronin accepts a PPM signal (I think) through an S-Bus port. It doesn't talk back to the controller. So I understand that this will never be 100% precise. But if I could just build some kind of potentiometer that controls the angle of movement fairly accurately, that would be enough.

Can this be done with Arduino and if so, please could you point me in the direction of where to begin?

Again, sorry for the noob questions, I'm still trying to get my head round all this.

Cheers, Bob

2

Any help would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

3

Yes, use one of the many examples of an Arduino driving a regular servo. Buy yourself a cheap micro servo to test with - make sure it moves how you expect. Then take that output into the PPM input of the gimbal.

I've worked with other gimbals, not this exact one. It may be different. Your mileage may vary.

4

Hi, Thanks for the reply. Will the servo idea not just give me a way of controlling a servo and then when I try to implement it into the brushless gimbal, it will react differently?

Reason I ask is because right now I can operate a servo correctly directly from my Turnigy 9x. The servo follows the pot position. But when I plug my Ronin into the same channel, moving the pot more simply speeds up the movement of the Ronin gimbal.

Would be good to know which code I should be looking at.

Thanks!

5

I see it has been quite a while since you posted this, BobTBuilder, but as soon to be owner of a ronin I'm curious: have you found a way to control yours via an arduino?