As for the camera. I don’t have that serial port on any of my computers (laptops or desktops). Are you suggesting using the mini usb to serial cable as well and using a mini usb adapter?
I would like to go the ssh route for monitoring whether the camera is detected or not, but i don’t know the ipaddress. Is there a way to detect that on my local network? or do i need to preset the address.
I did watch the thumbscrew connecting video before i initially connected them. But i’ve only had a connection twice out of 40ish connection attempts.
FYI for me the trick seemed to be to cut all motor power, unplug the camera, wait a minute, then plug the camera back in. In my factory setup the USB camera was not getting enough voltage when competing with motors (even if they are just maintaining position).
To deenergize the motors you can set “always power motors” to off for all axes or E-stop it. The camera seems to come up without interaction if the FB is E-stopped already at boot. I think that happens after a crash or something. Make sure you take a photo and wait for it to return before doing anything else.
@Shuza FYI, that page has moved into the Farm Designer. We are slowly making a move to put garden-related things (like device settings) in the farm designer. That meant getting rid of the device page and moving it into a designer panel.
Thanks @aronrubin for the suggestions. So far it has not effected the outcome. I’m going to take out the usb cable and camera and test them on my computer to see if i can diagnose the issue.
thanks @RickCarlino for the headsup about the new layout
@Shuza yes, I usually use an adapter to plug into my macbook, which only has USB-C ports on it. For finding your bot’s IP address, you can click the FarmBot OS version for a semi-secret popup with additional information.
@roryaronson Thank you for showing the ‘hidden’ popup. was very useful. I was able to ssh in to the raspi to quickly see if the camera was detected or not.
When i have the micro usb -> thumbscrew out of the Y axis housing it detects the camera (which remained in the Z axis housing). When i rethread it through the Y axis housing it fails to detect the camera. The few times i got it to work while in the housing, if i adjusted the camera position i would lose connection. This suggests to me that it is the micro USB -> thumbscrew connection that is faulty. It could be the camera again, but the fact that i left the camera in place while moving the micro USB -> thumbscrew around makes me think that the micro usb cable is the culprit here. Is it possible to get a replacement?
@jebba brings up a good point. I am curious if there is interference at play here. I am more than happy to send a replacement cable, though could you try a few more tests for us? Perhaps try unplugging the Y and Z motors from the Farmduino to see if that makes a difference.
What are your motor currents set to? And, do you have Always Power Motors enabled?
So i tried with the motors unplugged. So far no difference. I also tried putting the camera cable on the other side of the water tube from the other cables.
@jebba what would i do with the ferrites? I’m unfamiliar with them other than what google says
@shuza Ferrites go on the ends of cables. There are some snap on kinds. They would have to match the outer diameter of the cable. They reduce interference.
I just tried putting a powered USB hub between the bore cam and the Farmbot Pi, but that didn’t help, fwiw.
I sure am. I gave up and I am using a cheap USB endoscope. I think I killed my FB camera when I rewired the USB cable. In any case, note, if you also decide to get a USB endoscope/boroscope you will need to adjust the focus. All this was fine in my situation because I know ultimately I will install a different camera with a switchable IR cut and red filters. That will allow me to use NDVI calculations for plant health estimation
@shuza, I was able to get the borescope camera to work with my workstation, but I have not been able to get it to work with the Farmbot Raspberry Pi yet. I’m not sure what the issue is.
@aronrubin Which camera are you using for a replacement? If anything, I’d like to upgrade from the 640x480 resolution.
@aronrubin That looks super cool using NDVI and NRG. I’m also curious about what camera you will upgrade to and how that works. I suppose if i can’t get the FB camera to work i will follow suit.
I wonder whether this micro usb camera would work
Bummer that the lights are not controllable via software.
I’m going to try and thread the micro usb cable from outside again avoid the wire mess by the solenoid and see if i can maybe just run it on the top of the snake if necessary.
