I don't know where to start

Hi all,

I have been reading this forum for a couple of months now. I want to build my own system. I know that i need a windows machine. But I can’t seem to find if i actually need a pcb or if i can make multiple modules. I saw a yt video of potatofarmer of power over ethernet PoE. This seems like a nice tidy setup. I want to have autosteer on an old deutz by using a motor on the steering wheel.

I don’t know if i need a pcb or if i can use multiple modules with PoE like potatofarmer is his yt video.

Thanks in advance,
A young farmer from the netherlands

@PotatoFarmer could tell us more if Ace is public available or not…I use the PCB V2(not the AIO v2.4) and Panda which are connected over Ethernet. I think the only place POE would work would be to the Panda since POE couldn’t power a steer motor.

My default advice for a new beginner today is to build the latest version of the AIO Micro.

Micro designs are being released before Standard designs because the Micro is where the new development is happening. The AIO is pretty good and does everything that most people need. The latest AIO versions have been designed so that they can easily be modified for some new (small) performance upgrades that are being tested.

In the future things will change, but that’s my advice to a newcomer today.

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I started with breadboards, DuPont wires, an Arduino and a couple of boards. Put this all in a plastic box and got it all working, then upgraded to a PCB.

Autosteer costs about £50 to build with breadboard, wires, etc, £100 to build a PCB. Your next biggest expense will be the F9P board which is £250. The whole thing, including motors is going to cost around £500.

That’s just for the rover which is probably good enough to get someone started. If you need better accuracy, then you will need to add a base station to which will be another £300. The base can literally be just a configured receiver, but if you want a UI, then strap a Pi3 to it and run RTKBase which makes everything really simple.

Thank you for your reaction. Could you elaborate more on the breadboards? I looked them up and they seem like a good way to learn how the hardware goes together so I can implement my own ideas in the future.

I am a student with a tight budget so I want to try it as cheap as can be, as long as it works :smile:

As you live in Holland i assume your fields are flat. And you do not need to use panda system with a teensy.
One of my tractors use the old pcb v2, now with UDP and combined with a teensy on another board running panda.
So your could create a breadboard using the schematics for pcbv2 that use a nano.
It is not neccessary to have the in going on off relay, I never got one on the pcb, because I have an on/off switch before the whole system.
You also only have to make one input with optocoupler (the autosteer input) the other two can be added later.

On flat land you do not need an imu (bno085)
You must have ads 1115 that you connect a was to.
Then a cytron and a motor.

Anyone can compile Ace from github in its current form.

The only difference programming wise is agio, with no USB support. Even if you are not using PoE it works. Main idea is everything is UDP so data goes directly from source to and hardware that needs it.

PoE is just handy. Since UDP+Poe allows for easy decentralized modules.

I have the all in one V4_1 boards with ethernet. With everything on the boards do I still need an ethernet switch to connect the Teensy and Imu etc?

No. You only connect udp to screen. Thats all

Thank You

When I ordered the teensys, I ordered the ethernet kits, would there be any reason to use these?

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Could you please point me in the direction of where to find the wiring for each of the decentralized modules? I am compiling all of the hardware but not able to find the wiring diagrams for each module. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thats because they have not been released yet