Troubleshooting Blimpduino (B6) control

Hi, I put together the blimpduino kit but I seem to be having some issues with the behavior the motors and servo. RC mode has been tilting the servo up and down appropriately but the two motors both spin at full speed (I can't seem to slow them down with channels 1 or 2). I noticed there were three pads on the PCB with the labels PW, AN, and JB2 and I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be soldered together or not so I removed the solder. However, now the servo seems to just spin continuously in one direction without stopping. I must have messed up something else also though because now I can't get the thing to stop spinning after I added the solder back.

Is anyone familiar with any of these problems? I've loaded the code a few times but I'm fairly certain that's not the problem. Checking the receiver with a multimeter reveals that the channels are operating appropriately (the levels should be fairly low right?). Thanks for any help.

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Permalink Reply by William Martin on October 18, 2009 at 1:42pm
Well the servo was blown out I guess because it works correctly now after replacing it. I still can't get the two motors to blow at variable speeds though.
Permalink Reply by William Martin on October 24, 2009 at 2:28pm
Boy am I confused now. I replaced the motor driver and now the motors are acting very odd. They only spin one at a time and keep alternating between themselves. There does not appear to be any reaction to my RC controls. Any ideas?
Permalink Reply by Ricardo Colas on October 27, 2009 at 2:20pm
I'm having similar problems with the servo as well. It only spins in one direction and isn't responsive to changes in altitude. The only time it moves is on start up and when I practically tilt it upside down. Does the same with different servos. Do you think it's software or hardware issues?

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on October 27, 2009 at 2:32pm
You shouldn't have removed the solder. That solder jumper determines whether the ultrasonic sensor is read in digital (PWM) or analog (AN) form. When you removed the solder jumper you disabled the ultrasonic sensor.

It sounds like you've got some soldering problems. It's hard for me to diagnose the problem, since needless to say no boards we have exhibit this. I assume you downloaded the latest code?
Permalink Reply by Ricardo Colas on October 28, 2009 at 1:04pm
I assume the latest code is here : http://code.google.com/p/blimpduino/

I'm having similar problems, but I didn't solderer anything.

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on October 28, 2009 at 1:12pm
Well, you must have soldered something or you didn't build the kit ;-)

It's very hard for me to diagnose these problems from afar. There are so many things that could be wrong, from bad solder joints to faulty components. Needless to say, we've made scores of them and we don't ship anything that doesn't work, so each one of these problems is unique.

If you'd like you can send your board back to me and when I'm back in the country in a couple weeks I'll test it.
Permalink Reply by Ricardo Colas on October 28, 2009 at 1:29pm
"I'm having similar problems, but I didn't solderer anything."

Sorry, I meant DE-SOLDERED. I also tried with another ultra sonic sensor from another blimpDuino kit, and received the same results. Same goes with the other blimp board and sensor combo.

I guess I could send one back to you, but I think I'll wait a little bit, sense our staff has another kit on its way! They're soooo confident in me!(sorry for that little bit of sarcasm, but its kinda funny)

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on October 28, 2009 at 1:42pm
Just make sure you're using this code: http://blimpduino.googlecode.com/files/blimpduino.zip

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