Hi, I am a new Robotics teacher and just purchased an older transmitter and receiver kit. I want my my students to be able to control their robots with a joystick. I have two newer joysticks that use the vex net keys. They work good but are expensive. I paid $60 on Amazon, however I do not know how to use it.
I believe there is no programming involved.
Once it is connected to the correct frequency does it automatically recognize specific ports?
The older transmitters worked with a small yellow receiver (I think I see it in your picture). The receiver plugged into the older style PIC controllers. Your other choice was to use the 75 MHz Signal Splitter 276-2217 – this lets you control 6 motors/servos directly. I use this set up my summer demo robots, so it’s pretty easy to use. There are crystals for both the transmitters and receivers. The Signal splitter appear to still be available.
For awhile the VEXnet 1.5 “Backpack” Upgrade Modules were the first units to use the VEXnet System and would work with the PIC controllers. That was the crossover, but I haven’t seen them in years and years.
The simple transmitters and signal splitter would be the easiest way to go. Battery pack into the transmitter and put the L shaped crystal in it. Put the corresponding chicklet crystal into the yellow receiver. Wire from the receiver into the signal splitter. The 6 motors and batter plug into the signal splitter. That’s all there is to it.
You can run a clawbot: two wheels to drive (one each side), one motor in the shoulder, one in the wrist and one on the claw. And have a channel to spare. I only run the smaller motors on them, I don’t know what the fuse levels in the splitters are. Stalling a 393 may not end up with a happy result.
The transmitter does have some programming capability to mix channels, invert some channels, etc.
If you have the newer joysticks, then I assume that you have Cortex processors for the robots. As far as I know, those will not work with the older crystal controllers. So the only solution is to find the older PIC processors or do what Foster has suggested above. If you find the PIC processors, there is a default map for ports and joystick controls, however it is also programmable using Robot C or Easy C or other languages and you can do your own mapping. Good Luck.
