This is the construction instructions for the SonarDT1 (Rev. B) RoboBrick. The status of this project is work in progress.

SonartDT1 RoboBrick (Revision B) Construction

The instruction steps for building the Light4 (Rev. B) RoboBrick are listed below:

  1. Take the board and orient it vertically. By convention the upper edge is north, the lower edge is south, the left edge is west, and the right edge is east. Orient the board so that N1 is in the north west corner. [Step1]
  2. Take a 1×5 male header and using some diagonal cutters, snip off pin 2 using the diagram below:
    1 X 3 4 5
    Pin 2 is the pin marked with an `X'. Insert the header into N1 with pin 1 to the west. Turn the board over and solder one pin. If the header is not pointing straight up, re-heat the pin and reposition the header until it is straight up. Now solder the remaining 4 pins. [Step2]
  3. Find a 1×3 male header, insert it into N4, solder one pin, verify that it is still vertical, re-heat and reposition if necessary, and solder the remaining 2 pins in. [Step3]
  4. Find a 1×3 male header, insert it into N3 in the north east corner and repeat the steps from the previous instruction. Note that the legend for N3 can be a little hard to read some times. [Step4]
  5. Find the 1×5 female header, insert it into N2, solder one pin, verify that it is still vertical, re-heat and reposition if necessary, and solder the remaining 4 pins in. [Step5]
  6. Find a 10pF capacitor and insert it into C1. Spread the leads a little so it will not fall out. Turn the board over and solder one lead. Turn the board over again and verify that the capacitor is still positioned vertically. If not, re-heat the lead you just soldered an reposition the capacitor. Now solder the remaining lead. Snip off the excess capacitor leads. [Step6]
  7. Find a 220 Ohm resistor (Red Red Brown). Bend both leads 90 degrees so that the resistor comfortably fits into R1. Just for consistency, place the red band to the east. (Resistors are symmetric, so there is no damage done if you install the resistor with the red band west.) Turn the board over, and spread the leads a little to keep it from coming out. Solder one lead. Now turn it over to verify that the position is acceptable. If not, re-heat the lead you just soldered and get it positioned to your liking. Solder in the remaining lead. Snip off the excess leads sticking out the back. [Step7]
  8. Repeat the preceding instruction with five more of the same resistors and insert them into R2 through R6. Solder them as in the preceding instruction. [Step8]
  9. Find a small green LED. The LED has one lead that is slightly longer than the other. The longer lead is the positive (`+') lead and the shorter lead is the negative (`-') lead. Insert the first LED into D1 with the positive lead on the east, and the negative lead on the west. It is important that you get the LED oriented correctly; otherwise the LED's will not work. Solder one lead, verify that the LED is flat against the board, re-heat and reposition if necessary, and solder the remaining lead. [Step9]
  10. Using the previous instruction, install the remaining 5 green LED's into D2 through D6. You may find that the LED's are just a tiny bit too wide. If so, just use your diagonal cutters to snip off the plastic edge from both sides of each diode. [Step10]
  11. Install the crystal oscillator into U2 with pin 1 in the north west. Pin 1 is the square corner or the corner with the dot next to it. If the dot is missing or not particularly close to a corner, use the square corner to find pin 1 instead. Spread the leads to hold the crystal in. Solder one lead, verify position, solder the remaining leads, and snip off the excess. [Step11]
  12. Install the 18-pin DIP socket into U1. Place pin 1 to the north west. The sockets typically have a notch on the end that has pin 1. In the picture, the notch is highlighted with some white marker. If the socket is installed the upside down, no harm occurs. [Step12]
  13. Find the pre-programmed PIC16F628 and insert it into the socket at U1 with pin 1 pointing up. [{Step 13 picture is missing}]
  14. For this next step we are going to install a male header on the SRF04. The two metal cans on the SRF04 are the ultrasonic transducers for the SRF04; they are on the front side of the SRF04. The male header will go on the back side of the SRF04, pointing away from the two metal cans. {We need a picture here}.
  15. Find the 1×5 male header and snip off pin 2 as shown in the diagram below:
    1 X 3 4 5
    Pin 2 is marked with an `X'. Orient the SRF04 so that the ultrasonic transducers are pointing down and so that the five holes are on the north. Insert the 1×5header into the 5 holes with pin 1 to the west. Solder one pin, verify that it is vertical, re-heat and reposition if necessary, and solder in the remaining 4 pins. [Step14]
  16. {Install the two screws (what size).} [{picture missing}]
  17. Insert the SRF04 into N2. [{picture missing}]
  18. Insert the shorting block onto N3 on the north two pins. [{picture missing}]
The assembly of the SonarDT1 (Rev. B) RoboBrick is complete.

SonartDT1 RoboBrick (Revision B) Check Out

Perform the following steps to test out the SonarDT1 RoboBrick:

  1. Make sure that both the PIC16F628 (U1) and the 20MHz oscillator (U2) are not plugged into their respective sockets.
  2. The pinouts for the connectors are listed below:
    N1 - RoboBrick Cable Connector
    N1
    1 2 3 4 5
    GND n/c +5V SIN SOUT
    N2 - SRF04 Connector
    N2
    1 GND
    2 n/c
    3 TRIG
    4 ECHO
    5 +5V
    N3 - LED's Enable Header
    N3
    3 +5V
    2 LED's
    1 n/c
    N4 - Servo Connector
    N4
    1 2 3
    SIG +5V GND
  3. The pin-outs for the two sockets are listed below:
    U1 -- PIC16F628
    U1
    1 RA2 RA1 18
    2 RA3 RA0 17
    3 RA4 OSC1 16
    4 RA5 15
    5 GND +5V 14
    6 13
    7 RB1 12
    8 RB2 11
    9 TB3 10
    U2 - 20MHz Oscillator
    U2
    1 +5V 8
    2 7
    3 6
    4 GND 20MHz 5
  4. Using a continuity checker (i.e. an ohm meter), verify that N1-1, N2-1, N4-3, U1-5, and U2-4 are all connected. (N1-1 means connector N1, pin 1.)
  5. Using a continuity checker, verify that N1-3, N2-5, N3-3, N4-2, U1-14, and U2-8 are all connected together. When testing N2, you will have to stick a wire into the appropriate hole of the female socket to get electrical connectivity out.
  6. Using a continuity checker, verify that N1-1 and N1-3 are not connected together (i.e. there is no power supply short.
  7. Apply 5 volts to the SonarDT1 RoboBrick. This is done easily by connecting a standard RoboBrick cable from a master RoboBrick such as the BS2Hub8 RoboBrick or the PIC876Hub10 RoboBrick.
  8. Using a volt meter, verify that there is 5 volts from U1-5 (GND) to U1-14 (+5V). These are the upper two pins.
  9. Put a shorting block across pins 2 and 3 of N3. This is the upper two pins.
  10. Using a wire that is bare on both ends, plug one end into U1-5. Now tap pins tap pins 17, 18, 1, 2, 3, and 4 of U1 to verify that the LED's light up one by one. If they do not light up, you've got the LED's installed backwards or you installed the shorting block on the wrong pins.
  11. Turn the power off. Plug the PIC16F628 into U1. Plug the SRF04 into N2. Apply power. The LED's should start to show the distance being read from the SRF04. Using your hand in front of the SRF04, move your hand forward and backwards to watch the LED's count in binary.
You are done.

Copyright (c) 2002 by Wayne C. Gramlich. All rights reserved.