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INDI Library v2.0.7 is Released (01 Apr 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Astroberry Focuser with Adafruit Motor HAT

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I'm glad you find it useful. I should find time for the Adafruit Motor HAT driver soon. Stay tuned
6 years 11 months ago #16785

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Kaczorek: Will there be an option for backlash steps?
6 years 11 months ago #16845

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6 years 11 months ago #16852

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Excellent! I'm looking forward to giving this a spin.
6 years 11 months ago #16853

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There's really bad news on this driver. Adafruit provides only python library for this board and no c++ library is available that can be used directly. As the result a driver for this board needs to use low level PCA9685 driver (which basically means writing everything from scratch) or bind python library into c++ code (which reuses the library but still requires lots of coding).
In summary, for now a stepper focuser build on Adafruit Motor HAT can only work outside of INDI, controlled with python scripts released by a vendor. Integration with INDI will be possible if c++ library is available for the device.
6 years 11 months ago #16883

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Oh no. That's not good.
6 years 11 months ago #16887

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I'm trying to exercise my Google Fu and have come up with a couple results, it would seem other's have the same issue.
www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1598518
github.com/threebrooks/AdafruitStepperMotorHAT_CPP
www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=112415&p=908267
mjmeans.github.io/Adafruit.IoT/doc/html/...21e-7d84815c826d.htm

I hope some of this can be of use.
6 years 11 months ago #16889

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It seems that the second link would be quite useful. So we're back to the game ;-)
The following user(s) said Thank You: Andrew
Last edit: 6 years 11 months ago by Radek Kaczorek.
6 years 11 months ago #16902

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Hi, I have just finished the first version of the focuser driver for Adafruit Motor HAT.

Check it out at github.com/rkaczorek/astroberry-amh

I have developed it without hardware so please test it and let me know how it goes. Please be careful with stepper speed option.
Last edit: 6 years 10 months ago by Radek Kaczorek.
6 years 10 months ago #16992

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That's Fantastic! I am out of town this weekend, but will eagerly test it once I'm back. Thank you.
6 years 10 months ago #16993

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I encountered an error in the final Make Install step
Never Mind. Must first install WiringPi.
Last edit: 6 years 10 months ago by Andrew.
6 years 10 months ago #17033

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Ok. I got it working! :woohoo:
I am accustomed to running everything from a profile in Ekos. So starting it from terminal was a challenge for me, and the folder /var/run/indi does not exist on my system. How can I add it to the list for focusers in the Ekos Profile Editor?
Onto my tests.
The motor drives very well. But once it reaches a position there is a hum.
Parking the motor via driver disconnect is fine, and power off properly, no hum.
I had no issues with speed set to maximum. Could even go higher.
100 Backlash steps is not enough for me. Will need at least over 200. Please increase to a generous 500 step limit.
It may be interfering with USB devices, such as WiFi dongle. Not necessarily the driver's fault. Will have to test further with more equipment attached.
I noticed a bunch of messages in the terminal that started up the indiserver that coincide with my WiFi dongle cutting out momentarily. They read
astropi@AstroPi:~$ indiserver -p 7624 indi_amh_focuser
2017-05-29T23:04:13: startup: indiserver -p 7624 indi_amh_focuser
2017-05-29T23:09:01: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:09:51: Client 5: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:10:23: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:11:23: Client 5: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:12:05: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:13:01: Client 5: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:13:34: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:14:40: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:14:40: Client 5: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:15:15: Client 8: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:17:22: Client 0: read: Connection reset by peer
2017-05-29T23:18:26: Client 5: read: Connection reset by peer


Thank you :)
Last edit: 6 years 10 months ago by Andrew.
6 years 10 months ago #17034

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