Comments by Brandon

New Pololu distance sensors with digital and pulse width outputs

Hello, Arash.

These boards use an 850nm emitter, so you would need to use a material that is transparent to that wavelength. I recommend looking at documentation for sensor components (e.g. like these) for more information and ideas.

For example, they link to these, which might work for you (although please note that we have not specifically tried them).

Brandon

New product: TB67H420FTG Dual/Single Motor Driver Carrier

Hello, Brenda.

We cannot give any meaningful suggestions without more details about your setup and the problem you are having, but this is not an appropriate place to get into troubleshooting. If you post your request for help on our forum or email us and include more details about what you are doing (including pictures of your setup that show all of your connections), we would be glad to help. Additionally, you can find some general troubleshooting advice and recommendations for what information you should include when you contact us on our support page.

Brandon

Raspberry Pi Solar Tracker

Hello, Robert.

Unfortunately, we do not have any affiliation with the creator of this project or Helistat Control, so we do not have any advice or suggestions.

-Brandon

Video: Getting started with the Maestro

Hello. Jim.

In the video from this blog post, we just used some #2-56 screws to mount the Maestro directly to the Pololu RP5/Rover 5 Expansion Plate, but our #2-56 M-F standoffs (or #2-56 F-F standoffs if you prefer) should work to elevate it if that's what you are after. I am not sure what you mean when you say the threaded portion is too big, but if you continue having problems with it, you can post on our forum or email us with more details, such as pictures, and I would be happy to help there.

Brandon

Addressable through-hole RGB LEDs are back

Hello, James.

Yes, you can control each LED individually (each one has its own WS2811 driver, and the 3 channels control the red, green, and blue output).

Separately, please note that LED color data is encoded in a green-red-blue order (GRB), so compared to the WS2812, the red and green colors are swapped.

Brandon

Video: Getting started with the Maestro

Hello, Colin.

Thank you for your suggestion. We will keep it in mind. In the meantime, you can find information about using the Maestro with an Arduino (such as connections and Maestro configuration settings) in the README of our Maestro Servo Controller library for Arduino. Additionally, that library has various examples. If you have additional questions, you can post a request for help on our forum, and we would be glad to help.

Brandon

New product: Tic 36v4 USB Multi-Interface High-Power Stepper Motor Controller

Hello, Kevin.

To use a 6-lead stepper motor like product #1475 as a bipolar stepper motor, you can leave the center tap wires (yellow and white) disconnected as they are not used for bipolar operation.

Brandon

New product: Logic Level Shifter, 4-Channel, Bidirectional

Hello, Kevin.

That is the normal behavior of the level shifter. As described on the product page and in the post above:

• When Lx, the lower-voltage input, is driven low, the MOSFET turns on and the zero passes through to Hx.
• When Hx, the higher-voltage input, is driven low, Lx is also driven low through the MOSFET’s body diode, at which point the MOSFET turns on.
• In all other cases, both Lx and Hx are pulled high to their respective logic supply voltages.

New products: more special servos with position feedback

Hello.

As described in the post above, the feedback wire gives direct access to the servo's feedback potentiometer. It is an analog voltage signal, and it varies linearly throughout the servo's range of motion by a couple of volts.

Brandon

New product: Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi

Hello, Andrew.

The Motoron controllers do not have any special support for processing encoder signals, so while it can be used to drive motors with encoders, you would need to process those signals separately.

Brandon