Hey Youngti-

Quote from: youngti on October 11, 2023, 09:08:56 AM1) does anyone have any Prop 1's or Prop 2's that they would be willing to sell me?

I do have a few, but sorry, now that I found them again I have plans.

Quote from: youngti on October 11, 2023, 09:08:56 AM2).  Can you substitute a prop 2 or maybe a PropSX (which i have one) for a prop 1 and use the same code?

The Prop-2 uses different code so that wont work. You'd have to rewrite new code.
I dont know about the PropSX, but think it's also different.

Quote from: youngti on October 11, 2023, 09:08:56 AM3) does anyone have any possible other suggestions for troubleshooting the prop?

Do no lights come on at all when connected to the power supply?  Certainly check the power supply. I've had a couple go out over time which caused the issue you're describing.

Quote from: jukingeo on October 25, 2023, 12:14:53 PMHowever, I am now building an Interactive Electric Chair and find myself in need of a Prop-1 (preferably).  But I could just use one of the Parallax experimenter boards and add a ULN2008 or just use an Arduino since I have a couple of those laying around.

Have a look at buttonbanger.com, for the Four-Banger and Octo-Banger controller options.  Haven't used them yet but they do look nice.

I had a need to use an RPi for something and Arduinos for a couple others, and they worked very well and everything I've  done over the last few years have been with those. But I agree, those EFX-TEK boards were nice and easy to use!

I recently found I do still have one unopened Prop-2 and a few unused Prop-1 controllers that were buried in a pile of equipment. Sorry, don't think I want to let them go though.:)

Thanks for the reply.

I will give that code a try.  I don't remember if we modified it after that.  I will reach back out and let you know how it goes.  I appreciate your help

Steve

I looked up your old posts and found the discussion where you had JonnyMac helping you with the code.

Is this it?  Scroll to the last post:
https://www.efx-tek.com/php/smf/index.php?topic=2311.15

Sorry, programming a Prop-1 or a Prop-2 (or any microcontroller) is a one-way process.  The source code gets converted into a small version that removes all the human-readable stuff and fits onto the controller.

However, if you can completely describe what the program does - all the buttons/switches, every light or buzzer - then it's possible to write new code that will work the same way the original code did. 

Have you programmed in Parallax Basic much?  I've done quite a bit and might be able to help.

I have an old puzzle that runs on a prop2 controller. The computer that was used for programming it was stolen. Can I download the code off the Prop2 or has it become a relic?
Thanking y'all in advance.

So you fixed it?  Great!  Glad it worked out.

After I replied I realized what you were saying.  The code I posted was the only backup I could find and it was very old.   I was sure I had edited it for the trigger but must have also updated to the AP16 to.  I made the changes and now the code runs sort of.  The audio player works and it falls through the code. But the DC16 was not driving the solenoid.  Looks like I moved it from the Prop1 Pin1 to the DC16 Pin 9.   But now I have to do a SEROUT command to the DC16 to trigger the solenoid.   Here is the final working code.



' =========================================================================
'
'   File......
'   Purpose...
'   Author....
'   E-mail....
'   Started...
'   Updated...
'
'   {$STAMP BS1}
'   {$PBASIC 1.0}
'
' =========================================================================


' -----[ Program Description ]---------------------------------------------


' -----[ Revision History ]------------------------------------------------


' -----[ I/O Definitions ]-------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  Sio             = 7                     ' SETUP = out; no ULN
SYMBOL  Trigger         = PIN6                  ' SETUP = DN

SYMBOL  Solenoid        = 1


' -----[ Constants ]-------------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  IS_ON           = 1                     ' for active-high in/out
SYMBOL  IS_OFF          = 0
SYMBOL  Baud            = OT2400


' -----[ Variables ]-------------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  timer           = B2
SYMBOL  i               = B3


' -----[ Initialization ]--------------------------------------------------

Reset:
  PINS = %00000000                              ' clear all outputs
  DIRS = %00111111                              ' make P0-P5 outputs

  PAUSE 10                                      ' reset devices
  SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!AP16", %11,"X")
  PAUSE 10
  SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!DC16",%11,"X")


' -----[ Program Code ]----------------------------------------------------

Main:
  timer = 0                                     ' reset timer

Get_Trigger_1:
  PAUSE 5
                                          ' loop pad
  timer = timer + 5 * Trigger                   ' update timer
  IF timer < 50 THEN Get_Trigger_1              ' 50ms for valid input


Force_Release:
  timer = 100                                   ' set 100ms release timer

Get_Trigger_0:
  PAUSE 5
  IF Trigger = IS_ON THEN Force_Release
    timer = timer - 5
    IF timer > 0 THEN Get_Trigger_0

Make_Sounds:
  FOR i = 1 TO 7
    SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!AP16", %11, "PS", 1)
    PAUSE 1000
  NEXT

Light_Steps:
  FOR i = 0 TO 6
    PAUSE 5
    SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!AP16",  %11, "PS", 1)
    PAUSE 5
    SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!DC16", %11, "P", i, 1)
    PAUSE 1000
    SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!DC16", %11, "P", i, 0)
  NEXT

  PAUSE 1000

Rattle_Solenoid:
  SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!DC16", %11, "P",9, 1)
  PAUSE 10000
  SEROUT Sio, Baud, ("!DC16", %11, "P",9, 0)
  PAUSE 100

  GOTO Main

It is a code issue - you have commands in the code above that are for the AP-8, not the AP-16.  Look through your files and see if you have the right version.

This line is for the AP-8:

Power_Up:
  SEROUT Sio, OT2400, ("!!!!!AP8",%11,"X","!DC16",%11,"X")
This is from the AP-16 docs to reset the AP-16:

SEROUT Sio, OT2400, ("!AP16", %00, "X")
So look for code that has "!AP-16" in it.

Here is a photo of the entire prop

The concept here is that the Prop-1  is connected to the AP-16 and DC-16.  The AP-16 is used to play a 1sec audio footstep sound and the DC-16 is used to turn on a LED footstep.  Using the Prop-1 to send the serial commands in a pair the sound and lighted foot appear to be in sync.  There is a audio relay trigger board that takes a sound and turns on a relay that acts as the trigger.  We play a looping video and there is a loud sound that plays at the beginning of the video that triggers this effect.  The small solenoid relay board reverses polarity of the solenoid with 1 second timer so that when you apply the 12v power to it it will rattle the solenoid as long as the power is applied.

The entire setup has worked for MANY years and was working fine when we set this up the beginning of the month.  I then added the solenoid relay and solenoid and had to reprogram the prop1 to increase the delay for the solenoid rattle from 1 second to 7 seconds.  the old solution used a 15v DC jigsaw from Harbor Freight which was too violent but worked for years.  This new solenoid is more of a slow subtle gate rattle instead.  I don't think this is a hardware issue and has to do with the code.   I'm not sure why the debugger isn't showing any of my DEBUG statements?