Pioneer 2 User Manual

Page 19

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Pioneer Mobile Robots

13

power circuitry will automatically shut down the onboard PC. Discharging the batteries to below 10 VDC
damages them.

Disengage the motors when recharging the robot.

You may continue to operate Pioneer while charging its batteries, although that will lengthen the recharge
time.

If you have only one battery onboard, plug Pioneer into the charger to “hot-swap” the exhausted battery for
a fresh one. To hot-swap two or three batteries, exchange each exhausted battery one-at-a-time for a fresh
one, leaving at least one battery in place to supply power to the robot.

The Pioneer 2 chargers also may be used with the Pioneer 2 Charge Cube accessory.

Liquid-Crystal Display

When powered on, information about the robot's state and connections appears on a 16-character by two-
line liquid-crystal display (LCD) on the left side of Pioneer 2’s Console.

When under control of the P2OS server, for example, the display shows the state of communication with
the client computer, along with the battery voltage and a blinking "heartbeat" asterisk (*) as the last six
characters in the second line of text.

Contrast

A small, contrast-adjustment potentiometer for the LCD is inset next to the display. Make sure the Main
Power switch is on and the battery is well charged. Then, using a small, flat-blade screwdriver, turn the
adjustment screw to darken or lighten the screen so that the characters are clearly visible under your
lighting conditions.

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