How to control Arduino relay and extra motor with Navigator+BlueOS+QGC?
Hi everyone. I could really need some help with the set-up of the navigator. We are trying to control:
2 off Arduino relays
1 extra brush motor, via PWM control card
The N-Gripper
Camera servo
Lights *2
but we are not able to figure out how to configure the pins. And I must admit that I am a little confused by all the settings. Are the pins to be set in both BlueOS and QGC? On the Navigator the PWM goes from 1-16 while in QGC its 1-8 and then Aux 1 to…I don’t recall. And then there is all the options of momentary, min max, toggle…you name it…Is there a tutorial wit pictures for all the setting and when to choose what? See below picture for curret set-up. Motors 1-8 not showing.
Hi @SDI -
I’m working on an update to this guide to put this confusion to rest, but in the meantime…
This setup was traditionally accomplished by editing the parameters / settings in QGC, but as we’re moving away from that it is better to do so from BlueOS (with QGC not open!) in the Vehicle Setup page.
ArduSub supports 3 servo channels via joystick button controls (this will be soon updated to 5x.) You can use these for the Newton Gripper, your extra PWM output for the motor, and have one extra (use 9 & 10, 11 stays free.) These aren’t configured anywhere, currently at least - they are hardcoded so that it works as the graphic shows above.
Leave the Camera servo on 16, and keep the lights to use 13 and 14 as you have shown (this is the default.)
The relays can then be setup on any free pins, and configured as Relay 1 & Relay 2. To do this, navigate to Autopilot Parameters, and set Relay1 and Relay2_Function to “1” . Then, click the power button in the lower left and choose “restart autopilot:” Finally, search for Relay1 and Relay2_pin - set these to use pin 12 and pin 15 (ignore the auxout#s, and just put the pin # you want.) Also change the default relay state as desired here. You can then map buttons to Relay on/off or toggle, in QGC or Cockpit.
