ElectroTonic
- Apr 18, 2014
- 5
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2014
- Messages
- 5
Hello, I'm trying to figure out the best way to control a Bescor MP-101 camera head with an arduino. I want to use PWM to control the speed of each axis.
The head comes with a controller that you can use to manually rotate the unit left and right as well as manually tilt up and down. The controller plugs into a the unit via a 7-pin midi jack.
I have made a cord that plugs into the midi port and breaks out 5 of the 7 pins because these are the only ones necessary to make it move in all directions. I have figured out each wire's role by touching each together and using a multimeter. One of the wires is a common V+ at 6 volts and the other 4 are for each direction
The confusion comes when trying to hook it up to the arduino. I have used transistors for switches in the past but only with common ground. Since I cannot just attach the 6 volt wire to the arduino's V+, I don't know how to hook this up. I feel like this is a simple problem but I just can't wrap my head around it.
One solution I think would work is to use opto-isolators instead of simple transistors but I would like to use transistors because I have a bunch of them but I don't own any opto-isolators.
The head comes with a controller that you can use to manually rotate the unit left and right as well as manually tilt up and down. The controller plugs into a the unit via a 7-pin midi jack.
I have made a cord that plugs into the midi port and breaks out 5 of the 7 pins because these are the only ones necessary to make it move in all directions. I have figured out each wire's role by touching each together and using a multimeter. One of the wires is a common V+ at 6 volts and the other 4 are for each direction
The confusion comes when trying to hook it up to the arduino. I have used transistors for switches in the past but only with common ground. Since I cannot just attach the 6 volt wire to the arduino's V+, I don't know how to hook this up. I feel like this is a simple problem but I just can't wrap my head around it.
One solution I think would work is to use opto-isolators instead of simple transistors but I would like to use transistors because I have a bunch of them but I don't own any opto-isolators.
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