AutoTop DIY

[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