I was looking through the other FEZ products and I noticed the 16 Channel servo board, and I have a couple of questions.
The board has a I2C interface but the brochure talks about a serial connection. Which is the one the FEZ mini uses?
Also with servos, they need to be refreshed constantly otherwise they go into a powerdown state. When one issues the servo command does that tell the servo board to handle the refreshing also or do you need to write code to do the refresh?
When the board is first powered - does it set the servo’s to a particular position or does this happen upon the first access to the servo. Sometimes a servo needs to start at a non-midway position.
Is there anyway to turn off a servo once initalised, sometime it is handy to power down a servo when batteries run low and you need to conserve power, or when it is nolonger critical to maintain a position.
Many thanks for any advice/comments
Dave
Where do you see i2c?
You need a byte array of commands to control all servos then send that in a thread. Should be real easy
Hi Gus
Sorry - my mistake on the I2C (been reading code and brochures all morning) but the other questions still stand re the default position and is one can power off a servo once its initialised.
I best explain my long term project. When you see a movie like Underworld or Preditors the actor is wearing a animatronic costume that is controlled by a group of people off screen. This can be very difficult to duplicate on a amatuer level.
I am designing a small system where the user can program in a set of animatronic sequences onto an SD ram card, and then have the controller play back the desired sequence.
The suit i am working on is fairly complex - and because I cannot see throught the characters eyes I am using a remote viewing system made from hacked iPod video glasses and tiny video camera’s. To assist in knowing the suit’s functions and status (like battery, distance to objects, lighting levels) I will have a MAX7456 OSD chip overlaying this onto the video feed.
Hopfully I can make the whole system for under $200 and let other amateurs have fun in making their suits live.
Many thanks
Dave
Sounds like a very exciting project. I want one of those 
This would be perfect for the Halloween contest but I am not sure if you can finish it in 2 weeks 
