Upload firmware to the Radio Controlled Stepper

This tutorial will show you how to load firmware on to the Radio Controlled stepper.

There a couple settings you can change on the RC Stepper. For example, when you are controlling a stepper motor using the RC stepper and you move the joystick on your remote control from left to the right the stepper motor will turn exactly 360 degrees. But what if you want to it turn 720 degrees instead, or even 89.6? By tweaking and uploading the firmware you can do that.

There are a few assumptions I make on this page: First, I assume you are using a computer that is running windows. Second, you want to spend as little money as possible and not have to buy additional tools. And lastly, you have an Arduino laying around.

For this tutorial, you'll need:

• Arduino Uno or Duemilanove (w/ an ATmega328, not an older board with an ATmega168)
• a 10 uF capacitor (e.g. from Sparkfun or from Digi-Key)
• jumper wires

[Step 1] Install winavr

Here is the direct download link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/winavr/files/latest/download When you are installing it, make sure you the install path you specify doesn't have any spaces in it. That means don't install it in into your "Program Files" folder. A good place to put it in is "C:\WinAVR"

[Step 2] Download the Radio Controlled Stepper source code

Link to the source code. After you download it unzip it someplace you can keep track of it. For this tutorial I'm going to place my source code into the folder "C:\rcStepper\".

[Step 3] Make your changes to the config file.

Once you unzip the source code, look for the file named "config.h". This file will have the settings you can configure. Open it up and poke around inside. Each setting in the file has a short description next to it that explains what it does. Make the changes to the configurations and save the file.

[Step 4] Connect the Arduino to the RC stepper.

<Insert instruction here>

[Step 5] Program the firmware on to the RC stepper

Open up a command window and navigate to the folder where you unzipped the source code. Since I placed my code into "C:\rcStepper" I navigate to this folder by typing into the command window "cd c:\rcstepper". Next type in "make program". This command will compile the firmware and burn it on to the RC stepper.