waveshare.pantilthat

WaveShare pan tilt hat python library class and demo for Raspberry Pi

I bought the waveshare pan tilt hat for a Raspberry Pi project I was working on. I found Assembly tricky but with the help of a YouTube video I got it together. I felt the vendor instructions and GitHub Repo were lacking, especially the python class library and sample code. I wrote my own python library that is similar to the Pimoroni pan tilt hat operation that uses -90 to +90 values for pan and tilt positioning. I also have several Pimoroni pan tilt hats and found support was much better and trouble free. Hope this can help you with your own projects.

Instruction assume you are comfortable with SSH and/or Terminal operation and Raspberry Pi OS commands.

Quick Install

NOTE: Do a Raspberry Pi OS sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade before curl install.

Step 1 With mouse left button, highlight curl command below. Right click mouse in highlighted area and Copy.
Step 2 On RPI putty SSH or terminal session right click, select paste then Enter to download and run script.

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pageauc/waveshare.pantilthat/main/install.sh | bash

This will create a /home/pi/waveshare folder and required files for testing the waveshare pantilt hardware

curl command below will just install Waveshare python pantilthat library and driver.

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pageauc/waveshare.pantilthat/main/install-driver.sh | bash 

See script instructions for Details

Instructions

The pantilthat.py file is the python class library for waveshare pan tilt hat hardware. This driver uses BCM2835 and I2C. For Details See http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/

You also need to enable I2C
From a Logged in SSH or Terminal session on the Raspbery Pi. Run the Raspberry PI configuration whiptail menu per command below

sudo raspi-config

Select 5 Interfacing Options menu pick
Select P5 I2C and Enable automatic loading of I2C kernel module

If you have a Pi camera module installed
Select Pi Camera and Enable connection to Pi Camera

NOTE: The test-pantilt.py demo defaults to CAMERA_ON = False To enable use of a Pi Camera edit test-pantilt.py and set variable CAMERA_ON = True

Reboot and run the example test-pantilt.py demo python script per.

cd ~/waveshare
python ./test-pantilt.py

Press ctrl-c to exit script.

Get the pantilthat to dance. Adapted from the Pimoroni pantilthat Github repo example smooth.py
Note Code is compatible with Pimoroni and Waveshare pantilthats under python2 or python3.

python ./sinwave-dance.py   

Review test-pantilt.py code for implementation details. Code is python2 and python3 compatible.
Make a copy and try changing code to learn details of managing pantilt software control.

cd ~/waveshare
cp test-pantilt.py test-myproject.py
nano test-myproject.py

pantilthat.py help()

Below is a copy of the pantilthat.py help() function output.
Example using python interactive session.

cd ~/waveshare
python
from waveshare.pantilthat import PanTilt   # Load from python library dist-packages
mypantilt = PanTilt()
mypantilt.help()

ctrl-d to exit

    pantilthat.py Driver for waveshare pan tilt hat hardware.
    Modified by Claude Pageau based on original driver at https://github.com/waveshare/Pan-Tilt-HAT
    This driver uses BCM2835 For Details See http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/
    Implementation Example
       from waveshare.pantilthat import PanTilt # import library
       pantilthat = PanTilt() # Initialize pantilt servo library
       pantilthat.pan(0)      # valid values -90 to +90 Move pan servo horizontally to center position
       pantilthat.tilt(-10)   # valid values -90 to +90 Move tilt servo vertically to slightly above center
    Other Options
       pantilthat.__version__()   # Display version Number
       pantilthat.setPWMFreq(50)  # Optional pwm frequency setting
       pantilthat.setServoPulse(1, 500)  # Optional pwm servo pulse setting
       pantilthat.debug = True        # Display additional servo information messages
       pantilthat.flip_servo = False  # Optionally flips pan and tilt in case servo plugin is different
       pantilthat.stop()   # Turn Off pwm to both servo channels
       pantilthat.start()  # Turn On pwm to both servo channels after stop
       pantilthat.help()   # Display this help message
    Note: currently there is no timeout similar to Pimoroni
    Bye ...