Speed Controllers

Please post all questions and answers in here. This way people can easily see if someone else has the same problem.

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terminaldamage
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Post by terminaldamage »

You could use the pot, but as with a standard servo mod for 360 rotation, you will need to glue the pot in place once it's in position.
So solder your new motor in place of the old one, set your transmitter sticks and trims to neutral and if the motor spins, rotate the pot until the motor stops, then glue the pot in this position.

Replacing it with resistors as Dave mentioned above will be a lighter alternative to the pot, and gives a fixed value of resistance at all times, whereas the pot can be prone to being moved, even with glue.

I can't offer much more than that I'm afraid, my antweight knowledge is rather limited :)
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Remote-Controlled Dave
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Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

I've used servo boards with the pot still in place before, its perfectly possible to do. But the pot does tend to be a bit of a pain sometimes as if it moves even slightly it can throw the whole robot off, and in combat a moving pot is always likely! The resistor solution solves this problem, and makes the board lighter and flatter, and so easier to build around. But it is still perfectly possible to make a robot with the pots still in place.
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

Although I caught up the backlog of controllers I still won't be able to take new orders for a while as I also caught the flu along with most of the family. Although I am now recovered others in the family are still on the road to recovery so for a while I am chief cook and bottle washer plus child minder and I have even managed to work the washing machine.
I am still able to sort out problems experienced with existing controllers but not new orders.
Gizz
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Post by Gizz »

I see, yeah that's true, had some problems with the pot even tho it was glued with my first AW running modified servos.
I've gotten my eye on the scorpion controllers now instead, light weight and seems really nice. I do have a mixer not in use atm aswell :)

But thanks I might be trying the servo board modification at some point.
shakesc
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Post by shakesc »

Just wondered if anyone has tried the Pololu board

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/767

One up on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pololu-TReX-Jr-Du ... 500wt_1156
I started out with nothing and still have most of it left
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Jonny
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Post by Jonny »

i beleive that that motor controller has to be plugged into your computer and programmed before it'll work. not 100% though
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Flippt
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Post by Flippt »

Andrew has tried one of the orangutang boards for his creation with succes. He had to program it himself though.
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TheAntTrap
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Post by TheAntTrap »

I have one of those Speed Controllers, it works great with motors the problem is that it doesn't work that well with servos.

Here's a movie that i made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBHOQDJxMoA
shakesc
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Post by shakesc »

On the Pololu site they posted :

Note: The TReX Jr does not require use of the serial interface to function; it will work right out of the box as an electronic speed control (ESC). You will not have access to the full suite of features the TReX Jr provides if you do not make use of the serial interface, though.
I started out with nothing and still have most of it left
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

I have been looking at the types of faults people are experiencing with my controllers and they seem to fall into three groups.
1 Wires breaking off where they are soldered to the board this is often made worse by bad soldering when re soldered by customers causing shorts.
2 Connecting to the battery the wrong way round.
3 Motor drive failures sometimes caused by shorting to chassis or other motor but sometime unexplained.
4 Further in units where I have to modify the receiver and hard solder it to the controller it is difficult to determine which part is faulty and anyway the receiver warrenty is already null and void.
To try and combat these while designing a board to fit the new DSM2 compatible receiver from HobbyKing http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/stor ... duct=11972 I have made some changes.
1 First all the flying leads from the controller board are on a 7way crimped JST socket that plugs into a board mounted plug.
2 The two power leads are fitted with the red type JST that plugs into the socket which seems to be standard on Lithium packs these days.
3 This board has 2 motor drive chips increasing the drive from 1.2A to 2.4A per motor.
4 The receiver is unmodified and plugs into the controller board.
There is still quite a bit of testing to do but I have just completed the first prototype unit.
Controller with receiver removed (6.9gms without Rec 9.4gms with)
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG1255.jpg
Controller with receiver fitted and 150mm flying leads plugged in. (13.6 gms)
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG1257.jpg
As above with servo plugged in.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG1259.jpg
The idea is that this will phase out all the Spektrum compatible ones like the B60, B61, B63 options.
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