AutoTop DIY

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by JayG

could be your battery

They are electric motors, so if the voltage was lower, they would be slower

Thanks. Seems to be absolutely fine, might have been something to do with me constantly testing it in a short space of time. It's perfect now

[jpc763]

Has anyone done this recently? I have been waiting for a RoboTop or a ComfortTop to become available and they are not so I am ready to pull out my soldering iron and get to work.

I would think that the basic Arduino will have changed a few times over the past 2 years.

[Polaris]

Arduino is still the same as it ever was, so no problem there. Just make sure you get one of the Atmel ATMega 328 based boards.

[jpc763]

Originally Posted by Polaris

Arduino is still the same as it ever was, so no problem there. Just make sure you get one of the Atmel ATMega 328 based boards.

Can you confirm if this works?

Uno R3 ATMEGA328P CH340 Micro USB Board for Compatible Arduino | eBay

Also, what gauge wire did you use?

I am a SW guy, not a HW guy but I have done HW projects.

Thanks, John

[jb92563]

The CH430 part of of the arduino means its a clone of the original, only difference is that you will need the CH430 driver on your PC in order to upload the software.

Otherwise its identical to an arduino and should work just fine.

[oldskool73]

Hey guys, I need some help with this, I've built this twice now and I just can't get it to work. The code and electronics in theory are working fine, I've breadboarded it all up with a couple of led's to simulate the top motor and can turn them on and off with the buttons, but when I get it in the car... nothing.

If I put a multimeter between the regular harness and switch, when I press the button I see 12v @ ~70ma when the top's moving, which drops to ~10ma when the top stops. But when I do it between the arduino and the harness I see 12v @ ~30ma. I'm guessing this is the reason it doesn't work, not pushing enough power through to activate the motor, but I don't know why?

I've built it twice now, thinking I must have screwed up the first one, but the second has exactly the same result :/

The only difference I can see in my build is I'm using a nano, which has no +/- and only 2 GND. So the VR goes to the VIN and one GND, leaving one free GND which I connect to from the harness, and which both switches (via the 10k resistors) and both transistors (via the collector pins) are wired to. Is this wrong?

I'm just a simple software guy, so all these wires and pins confuse me. Any help appreciated!

Thanks!

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by oldskool73

Hey guys, I need some help with this, I've built this twice now and I just can't get it to work. The code and electronics in theory are working fine, I've breadboarded it all up with a couple of led's to simulate the top motor and can turn them on and off with the buttons, but when I get it in the car... nothing.

If I put a multimeter between the regular harness and switch, when I press the button I see 12v @ ~70ma when the top's moving, which drops to ~10ma when the top stops. But when I do it between the arduino and the harness I see 12v @ ~30ma. I'm guessing this is the reason it doesn't work, not pushing enough power through to activate the motor, but I don't know why?

I've built it twice now, thinking I must have screwed up the first one, but the second has exactly the same result :/

The only difference I can see in my build is I'm using a nano, which has no +/- and only 2 GND. So the VR goes to the VIN and one GND, leaving one free GND which I connect to from the harness, and which both switches (via the 10k resistors) and both transistors (via the collector pins) are wired to. Is this wrong?

I'm just a simple software guy, so all these wires and pins confuse me. Any help appreciated!

Thanks!

Personally I'd buy a One just to be absolutely sure that everything is the same as the build. I did and it works as I didn't want to get anything wrong. Originally I bought a cheap ebay rip-off and it didn't work, then I bit the bullet and bought a proper Arduino One for £20 and it worked first time

[VIW9419]

Thanks, I will build it tomorrow.