4105 control panel relocation

[jer361]

Hi I am in the process of mounting and Omnibot on top of my Roomba 4105. This will cover the control buttons and curcit board. Does someone make a more compact board that I could remote mount as this one it to long to mount in the omni. I was think of cutting it into two parts the main three button's and the side led's and power button. The problem is I know nothing about electronics and this looks like a nightmare. I was hoping someone had a kit or smaller board available. The robots going to be controled by an EZ-B if that helps.

TIA

Jason

[Fraggboy]

Jason. Sorry I can't help you with an pcb's that might work, but I'm sure one of our many talented members here will assist you. I really love the idea that you are creating and will be lurking for sure.

Do you plan on adding a camera? Keep up the great work!

[vic7767]

Some creative cutting of the User Interface can possibly make the UI panel have a small enough footprint to fit into your Omnibot. You might also consider a different model Roomba that has less buttons. Pictured here is the backside of the Dirt Dog UI and demonstrates how much plastic can be removed and still be functional.

[jer361]

@Fraagboy Yes it's going to have a camera mounted under it's eye's like a nose and the head will be on a titl/pan servo for tracking and when he will be driven remote. I started a build thread on EZ-Robot that I'll be updated as I make progress but will post here as well if people are interested. Here's the link http://www.ez-robot.com/Community/Forum ... eadId=1918

@vic7767 I think that I should have researched this a bit more before I started cutting. I have already started to bondo the 4105 case to prep it for mounting so I might be at the point of no return. Would it be possible to swap my control board to one like the dirt dog? Here is a picture of what I have to work with.

Thanks for your help,

Jason

[vic7767]

Would it be possible to swap my control board to one like the dirt dog? Here is a picture of what I have to work with.

I suspect that the Dirt Dog UI will not work with the main circuit board in your Roomba. However you could search ebay for a 407 or 440 model with a single button UI that you could then use to replace the 4105 completely. The UI compatibility issue is due to your model having a separate Pwr button that the single button Roombas don't have.

I've also started a Roomba mod using the EZ-B but I'm waiting for the mini EZ-B board so that it will fit inside the Roomba. I've been test fitting some of the EZ-B hardware into a Roomba Red but may migrate to a 500 model once the mini EZ-B is made available.

[jer361]

Hi Vic very nice looking robot you have. How do you like the EZ-B? How are you using the sonar my one concern with the omni is the Roomba base going under furniture and having the omni's arms or chest get caught. I'm going to order mine as soon as I can get the omni mounted. I was looking at the wiring harness and it 15 wires to drive 4 buttons send 3 led's. Do you think it would be possible for me to bypass the control board all together and just direct wire my own buttons and led's?

If not I might just have to go with one of the models you suggested with the single button control.

[vic7767]

You might be able to wire up your own controls using button switches and leds but there are no schematics for the UI panel.

I haven't used the sonar EZ-B software since I don't have it wired into the Roomba yet. I'm still waiting for the smaller EZ-B board first. I did try using the voice commands in the EZ-B on a 780 Roomba and that went quite well although timing the Stop command is a challenge.

To keep your Roomba from running under things have you considered adding some vertical rods to the top of the front bumper ?

[Gordon]

... just direct wire my own buttons and led's? ...

Here is some out of the box thinking. Possibly, when running Roomba in EZ-B Controlled Robot Mode NO UI switches are needed. The 4XXX SCI Spec says: "The Roomba SCI has four operating modes: off, passive, safe, and full. On a battery change or other loss of power, the SCI will be turned off. When it is off, the SCI will listen at the default baud bps for an SCI Start command. Once it receives the Start command, the SCI will be enabled in passive mode."
IOW, ask EX-B to send the Start command to Roomba.

OTOH, two other operating modes should be considered: Robot Test Mode, and Robot charging Mode.

When the robot appears to have some driving / navigation problem you might want to run its BiTs (Built In Tests), and those test ops require all functions shown in the following image, except the MAX switch & LED:

button_n_lights.jpg (30.17 KiB) Viewed 2942 times

So, one way to handle that BiTs' requirement is to package your existing 4105 UIP assembly as a test panel that is normally kept near your workbench. Then, when needed, you strip off of Roomba's back your add-on robot stuff so you can take off Roomba's cover and plug in your test panel to perform the tests.

Now a second OTOH has a little zinger with it. This would be the Robot Charging Mode. You would certainly want the charging indicator LED to be functional. Yes? To replicate that indicator it would be necessary for you to reverse engineer that little portion of the 4105 UI PCA to permit construction of a duplicate indicator that can be mounted in a convenient location on the Roomba chassis.

[jer361]

@Gordon Thanks I like the idea of a test panel my questions are will it run with the panel unplugged and how can I turn it on and off?

[Gordon]

...my questions are will it run with the panel unplugged ...

I don't see why not, however, I have never tried it. Just try it.

Also, in separate trials, try operating Sage w/o the two brush-motors connected, and with the bin-motor disconnected (you don't want those unneeded loads draining Roomba's battery).

...and how can I turn it on and off?

For those tests just use your Discovery IR-Remote Control Unit to couple in start / stop and wheels' driving commands to Roomba's IRCON receiver.

Later on, when you get your EZ-B to control Roomba, just use it to, err, control Roomba. You might check with the resident experts, mfortuna and vic7767 since they have done the work. I'm just 'talkin'.