Custom built digital power base misbehaves

Ok. Thanks for the tip. I have actually thought about sending Ian an email, but have been too busy coding my win application that communicates with the processor the last weeks

The idea of the project is to not buy the rather expensive advanced power base but instead build it myself, as all the hard work is already done by the guys at Electric Image, with the addition of an USB interface to communicate with the device.

I can tell that at the moment I can read all handset data, track current (not verified if accurate), track power enabled flag and show this data in a WinForms application. I can also take control over the power base and let data flow through the application, read from the handsets, before sent to the cars, and thus be able to control separate channels (cars) from the application as I like. This gives me the possibility to have pace cars running around the track at static speed. In future I might implement some recording/playback to run ghost cars (just for the sake of learning).
I have also built a translation module that converts my PIC communication protocol to the SNC protocol so that my application can forward and receive data to/from e.g. PC Lap Counter or SSDC over a virtual COM port which should give me all the joy these applications can provide with fuel consumption etc...

The next big thing to get to work is car detection using IR sensors, which also can be found on Electric Image's pages. My goal is to incorporate this code into the same PIC and get that data over the USB line too.

If someone is interested I could post some pictures/screenshots with the current hardware/software status.
I'm might perhaps release the code of the application as open source licensed sometime, but I think I'll wait 'till it's more stable

I've actually started a blog about my home projects (mostly scalextric stuff at the moment). Please take a look at techmantel.blogspot.com.

I got the ID sensors to work and now it's only a matter of software hacking to get it into PC Lap Counter or SSDC!

QUOTE (chris99 @ 1 Jan 2013, 17:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Anttu,

Did you ever get any further with this project?

Chris

QUOTE (GregK @ 1 Jan 2013, 17:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think that this might be the result.

Hah, funny you

I've actually found a fix to the "crashing-at-lane-changer" problem by adding a electrolytic cap with a few houndred uF near the PIC.

I've also finally got the circuit board built into a box with connectors, so anyone (at least I think) can set it up and drive.
Regarding the ID sensor, it's also implemented and connects to the box, however I'm having some problems with it not "seeing" all cars all the time (at least last time I tested with a faster car).

Below is a picture with the whole setup


What's working so far is of course standard driving but using my own software I can also
- make throttle calibration
- setup brake settings
- override any hand controller and that way create pace cars
- lap timings (best lap for each car)
- convert my usb data to the standard SSD protocol and using a virtual COM port fool any SSD compatible software to belive it's communicating to a real device and make use of their fuel management, pace cars, lap timings etc etc

However, I still have a few problems that must be fixed
- for some unknown reason the USB communication is dropped randomly, causing the virtual COM port commuinication to be dropped and the cars to stop working.
- the ID sensor (as mentioned above) drops too many laps to be usable at all, however, other time I tested it, it almost worked 100%.

One thing I can admit, in case someone else tries to build something similar, you will certainly not save money on it!
I thought the original SSD PB was overpriced, but have changed my mind now that I know how much the parts costs and how much work it actually takes to build your own. However, I have the luxury to be able to implement whatever I want in my PB And it has also been interesting and I've learned a lot!