<< return to Pixycam.com

Flaky Pixy - continual errors?

Pixy Hardware
#1

Pixy arrived in Scotland! Hurrah! :slight_smile:

But … Pixy appears to be VERY very flaky. Tried various USB cables and USB ports. No improvements…

Pixy detected.
CCB1 frame data
...
Pixy firmware version 0.1.43
CCB1 frame data
...
> runprog 2
response: 0 (0x0) 
CCB1 frame data
...
error: Pixy has stopped working.
> 
Pixy detected.
CCB1 frame data
...
Pixy firmware version 0.1.43
CCB1 frame data

repeated a lot… :frowning:

I’ve had about 1 minute of continual running without it totally flaking out so far. Always requires USB to be unplugged and reconnected to get it to start again. Disappointing.

What can we do?

#2

Is it also significant that sometimes Pixy suddenly decides to flicker the LED red even when not in active use… just blinking and flickering oddly and looking strange. :frowning:

#3

Oh, and I’m also seeing these ‘total death’ messages… :frowning:

...
error: Pixy has stopped working.
> 
Pixy detected.
error: Unable to connect to device.
Pixy detected.
error: Unable to connect to device.
Pixy detected.
#4

Oh, and the servos sometimes go utterly insane, thrashing around wildly in every direction, even though the colour appears to be detected cleanly and correctly according to the rectangle shown in pixymon. It’s all unusable :frowning:

#5

Hi Ian,

Sorry about the problems you’re having. I know you said you’ve tried different USB cables, but it really sounds like a USB power issue. What are the lengths of the cables you’re using?

Scott

#6

Oh blimey. Yes! Using a short and thick branded Belkin cable and Pixy’s performing perfectly. That’s crazy. I can’t really use Pixy on a short cable as my PC’s on the floor. How close to the power limit is Pixy running - is that the issue? Can we supply a beefy external 5v power somewhere?

Thanks for the quick reply!
Ian

#7

Hey Ian!

Don’t tell anyone, but we’re doing something that’s considered outside the USB power realm: running servos. The big advantage is that you don’t need batteries, and batteries are real pain as we all know. The disadvantage is that you need to use a short cable, and not an “el cheapo” cable with flimsy-gauge wire. This has tripped up many users — and it totally makes sense because it’s sort of a poorly-defined recommendation (there are lots of USB cables out there and the only way to find out if a given cable works is to just try it out. And when it doesn’t work, things sort of behave, uh, ungracefully, like what you’ve described.) For example— this is a good cable, consider throwing this in your cart if you’re ordering Pixy from Amazon:

OK-- the best alternative to USB power is to use a battery to power Pixy and the servos through Pixy’s dedicated power connector. Check out the info here:

http://cmucam.org/projects/cmucam5/wiki/Powering_Pixy

but it is important to point out that if you are using Pixy with an Arduino, and Pixy is receiving power over the Arduino cable (which is totally cool, BTW) the servos plugged into Pixy won’t receive enough power. You need to apply battery power to Pixy’s dedicated power connector (and the Arduino can then be powered by Pixy through the Arduino cable, not the other way around.)