570 with camera, bluetooth driven

[SE_machine]

I'm Modding my 570 to drive with a bluesmirf and the Roomba touch drive app. I also have a wireless camera that works on its own frequency. My question is, since the camera is pulling power from my 5volt supply hooked to the SCI port, the image comes through with alot of noise. Would wiring a capacitor in parallel to the camera reduce this noise, and if so, what size capacitor would work the best? I can upload a video if that would help. Also, can the RTS or CTS pins or anything inside the roomba be controlled to output 5 volts to something like an LED?

[mfortuna]

The roomba has no RTS or CTS pins that it drives. It does receive RTS and puts it on the DD pin on the SCI connector. This is used to wake up the roomba.

You could try a bulk cap say 10uf and then a smaller cap say 0.1uf or .01uf. If you have a scope check for ripple on both the input and output of your supply.

I used a switcher for my security bot and the wifi camera quality is pretty good.

[SE_machine]

Sorry. I meant RTS and CTS on the bluesmirf. From what I've been reading, the answer's probably no.

This camera's quite sensitive. I'll look around and see what I can find. Thanks.

[SE_machine]

I worked on the camera, added 10, 47, and 100 microfarad capacitors to the cable. These cleaned up most of the noise, and through experimentation found that the Roomba does some cleaning as well . There is a small component on my donor board that is orange, round (M&M shape), and says 471 on it. Is this a capacitor, also? Would it help to filter minor noise?

[mfortuna]

That sounds like a 470pf cap. It may help filter some high frequency noise. You may want to try a 0.1 or 0.01uf cap. Those would be labled 104 or 103.

[SE_machine]

Thanks. I tried the 471, no difference. I also tried a 470 microfarad capacitor, which made it worse. So I found 4 AAA rechargeable batteries and wired them in, noise gone. Now I just need that Bluesmirf. Also, I should have a video uploaded to my YouTube channel either tonight or tomorrow. Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrTsolar?feature=guide

[SE_machine]

I got the Bluesmirf today. It's much smaller than I thought. So anyway, I soldered my custom cord on it and plugged it in. It paired quickly and easily to my tablet and worked with the 570, no problem. Also tried Roomba Status and RealTerm, and both work.

[mfortuna]

Very nice! You may want consider powering the bluesmirf and camera from the roomba, once you come up with a way to clean up the camera noise you described. And you can bury the bluesmirf inside the roomba as vic7767 did with his rootooth. Not being critical of your effort, just suggesting ways to make it a bit cleaner and efficient.

Again, great job!

[SE_machine]

Thanks. Having the camera on makes things difficult, although I did find a cleaner power source. I also tried to use three LED's in series with the camera to both reduce voltage and give me lights. It worked good to clean the image until I docked it. The voltage spike blew one out, disconnecting the camera. Now I have one LED on front with a resistor hooked to the new converter. The Bluetooth for now is still hooked to the old one, with the camera on the new one. Eventually I'll get it right.

[SE_machine]

I took the camera off. I also re-did the bluetooth wiring to make it extremely low-profile. A 530 faceplate fits on it almost completely flat. The electronics are sitting in the handle well.