Help Figuring Out ServoDog

[GeekDadKen]

Hope someone can give me a little basic help.

I've added a ServoDog to my network for the first time this year, to do some simple motions on some signs (wagging Pluto's tail). I just can't get it to work yet.

The device is on my network, and I can get the servo I have attached to its first sub-channel to move in the ServoDog Utility. But when I try to make it work in a sequence, there's nothing. It's in my Preview with the proper Channel ID, and like I've seen on the one video example here in the forums, I'm just ramping the channel up and down, to no effect. What am I missing?

 

Thanks!

[Dennis Laff]

Are you using the DMX values in the sequence editor to move the servo .

[GeekDadKen]

Hmm, no. My understanding from the one video I could find on this issue here in the forumes is that when the channel was configured in servo mode, the sequencer treats the channel like any other light, and turning it "on" and "off" on a given beat would move the servo arm back and forth through its range of motion (as defined in the ServoDog Utility). Is that the wrong take? 

 

Thanks for your help!

[Oliver Blatt]

I feel like I had this issue when I first started using servodog for my Halloween show. If memory serves me correctly, you need to make sure you're adding the servo dog channels correctly to your sequence. I think there is a choice to add a servodog as opposed to just generic channels. I could be way off base here as I'm not in front of my show/sequencing computer at the moment, but try that, and see if you can get it to work in your sequence.

Once I had all the network stuff set up correctly, the servodog has been a great little piece of hardware.

[GeekDadKen]

Yup, I added it to the preview design as a ServoDog, which meant it added the 8 sub-channels to the sequence. I have the servo wired to the first sub-channel, which works in the utility, but not in the sequence. I'm sure this is something simple somewhere, but there's so little info online about sequencing with servos that I'm lost.

[Oliver Blatt]

This doesn’t sound like a sequencing issue, because adding a “ramp up/ramp down” command in the sequence editor should move the servo. I have to start making sure Christmas is ready for this year. When I’m looking at that, I’ll try and create a dummy sequence with my servodog and see what I did.

[GeekDadKen]

16 hours ago, Oliver Blatt said:

This doesn’t sound like a sequencing issue, because adding a “ramp up/ramp down” command in the sequence editor should move the servo. I have to start making sure Christmas is ready for this year. When I’m looking at that, I’ll try and create a dummy sequence with my servodog and see what I did.

Totally appreciate that! I'm wondering if there's some network setting or similar thing that I've tweaked wrong, that might affect working via Sequencer rather than the utility. 

[k6ccc]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:23 PM, GeekDadKen said:

the sequencer treats the channel like any other light, and turning it "on" and "off" on a given beat would move the servo arm back and forth through its range of motion

The first part is certainly right, but I am concerned about your second part.  I'm concerned that on vs off may not be right.  I have no experience with servos, but I would think that ramp up vs ramp down would be the better way to do it.  I would think that at least for a 360 degree motion servo, off and full on would be essentially the same point.

 

[GeekDadKen]

43 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

The first part is certainly right, but I am concerned about your second part.  I'm concerned that on vs off may not be right.  I have no experience with servos, but I would think that ramp up vs ramp down would be the better way to do it.  I would think that at least for a 360 degree motion servo, off and full on would be essentially the same point.

 

Indeed, I've tried it both ways, and haven't seen any movement. 😕

[k6ccc]

1 hour ago, GeekDadKen said:

Indeed, I've tried it both ways, and haven't seen any movement. 😕

As I said, I have never used servos (although I have several ServoDogs - used for inputs before the InputPup came out).

Sorry I could not of more help.

 

[Oliver Blatt]

I think I you have a servo that does 360 degrees, totally off and totally on would still rotate it. Try setting a ramp up to see if it moves. With a servo, even if you have a full “on” command (setting the channel to full) it still takes a half second or so to complete the move. I’m still thinking the issue is in the network assignments. I really will try and find time today to set up a new sequence here!

[Oliver Blatt]

Ok, I had a few minutes to pop into lightorama and create a test sequence. I know you may have done all of this, but here is what I did and my servodog worked. Apologies in advance if this is old news to you, just attempting to help you!

1. I opened the hardware utility to search for my servodog. (I had forgotten which device ID I had assigned to it!). It was assigned device ID 2

2. I opened sequence editor and created a new sequence. Once open, I right clicked on the first channel (Unit 1.1).

3. In the popup list, I chose "add device" and then chose servodog, with device ID 2

I also tried just changing my first generic channel to device ID 2, channel 1, and the servodog responded.

For hoots and hollers, I didn't do ramps when  I tested, and my servo (which I had previously configured in the SD utility so it wouldn't exceed range of motion) did move as expected.

Hopefully this helps you. I'm still leaning towards a unit ID being assigned incorrectly, or something silly like having the servo plugged into the dog but not in the first slot.

Let us know if this helps with your issue!

[GeekDadKen]

On 11/23/2019 at 9:52 AM, Oliver Blatt said:

Ok, I had a few minutes to pop into lightorama and create a test sequence. I know you may have done all of this, but here is what I did and my servodog worked. Apologies in advance if this is old news to you, just attempting to help you!

1. I opened the hardware utility to search for my servodog. (I had forgotten which device ID I had assigned to it!). It was assigned device ID 2

2. I opened sequence editor and created a new sequence. Once open, I right clicked on the first channel (Unit 1.1).

3. In the popup list, I chose "add device" and then chose servodog, with device ID 2

I also tried just changing my first generic channel to device ID 2, channel 1, and the servodog responded.

For hoots and hollers, I didn't do ramps when  I tested, and my servo (which I had previously configured in the SD utility so it wouldn't exceed range of motion) did move as expected.

Hopefully this helps you. I'm still leaning towards a unit ID being assigned incorrectly, or something silly like having the servo plugged into the dog but not in the first slot.

Let us know if this helps with your issue!

I very much appreciate your working on this! I actually made significant progress when I realized I had purchased digital servos, and probably wanted analog. I picked up some analog, and for the first time actually got them to move inside Sequencer. But they are still somewhat inconsistent. I played it once, and they did what I wanted them to. Stopped the sequence, started it over, and they just clicked slightly, rather than moving through the full range of motion. I'm wondering if this has to do with how you set them up in the utility to deal with the end of coms or power down?

[Oliver Blatt]

To be honest, I don't truly understand all the nuances of setting everything in the servodog. When I designed my Halloween bird last year, I remember tweaking range of motion for the servos, but I don't think I messed with anything else. The servodog has been rock solid for me, so I would suggest getting into the servodog utility and taking some time to make sure everything is set correctly. There are a lot of settings, and it's pretty easy to miss something.

But the good news is that you made progress getting the servos to move! I never thought about the kind of servo, I just grabbed some off of Amazon and off I went! I'm happy to help if I can, so keep plugging away, and we'll get it figured out eventually!