I am testing the Wii nunchuck, but i must say that the wiimote is really cool! wireless with a good skin. I used it at school, it is not very hard to obtain great results! I am improving my robot (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/23509) and I am still having problems with the hardware. I tried to get some infos about yours but it seems that there is the dead link: could you just tell me what kind of motors are you using and were did you get them?
I got them when I participated in a event organizated by the University of Minho called RoboParty, two years ago, where I built this robot. The motors are from MODELCRAFT and their specifications are:
Operating voltage: 12V/DC
Speed under load: 174rpm
Max. gear load: 6kg/cm
Steady gear load: 2kg/cm
Sorry, but I could only find this page in portuguese…
Yes, I know, I think I’ll never buy things from that shop.
That’s what I’m planning to do, too. I’m waiting for this board to arrive to control the two drills motors from my tank. The drills where 30€, the board 6€ and the components about 18€ (shipping not included).
two H-bridges with protection, with a 5V regulator ( maybe it will power my arduino and my servos if I need to), for about 27$ (20€?) shipping include. Sure I would rather design it myself, but I prefer that it works well, to have time to improve other parts. And I will do the soldering… I think I will buy it, and the drills will follow
8A ?! whoa, hum, I thought the batteries were not able to supply so much current… and I was wrong! so back to the start ^^ I will take a closer look to your PCB… But I think that mechanics is the really most expensive part of the robotics!
Yes, it would be probably the best way, but I just wanted to ensure that drill motors can be used, for cheap driving components. But I guess I just have to “jump” ^^ . Just a question, why do you use so much pin IC socket? I thought that 3 or 4 per motor will be enough?
ok, I made a mistake, no problem. Today I will go to my favorite electronic components seller see how much I have to pay for all of this, and I think I understand the way it works ^^
If we are talking about drill motors, i.e. 12-18V cordless drill motors, they pull a lot more than 8 amps. I am not speaking from data sheets here, I am talking from my actual set-up. My motors draw around 8 amps with the wheels in the air, spinning freely. At start-up, they can draw 15 to 20. If you were to actually stall a motor (this is not easy to do) you can actually reach 80 or 100 amps. Seriously. If using drills, I would not use anything smaller than a 20amp x 2 controller. Bigger the better. Also, a fuse is manditory. I run a 40 amp “slow-blo” fuse and it has saved me many times.
When used in a drill, they usually use a clutch so they never really stall. If there is no clutch or set to “drill mode”, the user normally lets off the trigger when the thing stops spinning. If one were to continue to stall the motor, it does pull upwards of 50 or 60 amps --all the way up to 100 or more (depending on the drill) and either a thermal shut-down happens or an internal, self-resetable fuse kicks in.
Look, all I am saying is that I have melted traces on the PCB and “welded” my relays shut. Easy solution is A) don’t let them stall and B) use a fuse, period.
I am sure it won’t handle 110 A as said, but maybe it could handle the current of the drill motors? I just realize that it would be nescessary to buy 2 of them, 1 for each motor, and it means it will be more expensive than designing oneself…
I have some old drill motors (but useless because without gearbox) and I have tried to measure the current, but it seems my multimeter don’t work in amp mode (maybe the fuse) but I powered it with an old PC alimentation:
It works on the 5V channel, wich is limited to 16A, but in doesn’t works (my alimentation power down for saving itself) on the 12V channel, wich is limited to 7A. So I guess it use between 7 and 16 Amps, wich is quite big for no efforts current! with the gearbox it will be more, and with 2kgs of robot to move it will be much more ^^
And by the way, I have a good news! I succesfull installed jmyron, controlp5 etc… and I am testing TheBox’s sketches and trying to adapt them to my robot (we don’t have the same way to send orders) and I will give you a feedback soon.
Yes I understand now, I am searching for a termical or electromecanical security shutdown, and I think I won’t remove the cluch (is this what I think it is, some mecanical part who limit the torque?), and use weaker drills than you: I just need to move a small robot.
I think I will buy it, and the drills will follow 