How to program a waterproof servo

Help & Support Robot Parts
, , , , ,
1

Hi,

I’m looking for some information and help to build something. Basically what I need is a waterproof servo motor that is programmed to spin very slowly and precisely.

I am trying to control the throttle on the tiller handle of an outboard motor. Typically, it turns in one direction to open the throttle (accelerate) and the other direction to close the throttle. I want to connect the motor to the turning rod and be able to turn it remotely.

The throttle rod rotates about 110-120 degrees. So I’d like to have a motor that is programmed to max out at whatever degree the throttle rod stops at, but also to turn slowly enough to incrementally increase or decrease throttle.

For the control of the servo motor, I think a momentary joystick type of control would be the easiest. Push forward to open the throttle, pull back to close the throttle.

If there is some sort of option where I could have a display that reads out the percentage of throttle I’m at, that is calculated based on the overall position of rotation the servo motor is at, that would be very cool. But this sounds expensive and is optional. However, if there is an economical way to do this I’d likely explore that as well.

Please let me know what I’d need for the above setup, and if you do that kind of programming as well.

Thanks in advance for the help

1 Like
2

Also, since this is being used on a small watercraft, I need everything to be as waterproof as possible.

Of course, some things aren’t waterproof like the circuit control board, so I would put that in a waterproof case and run the wires into and out of it. The main thing is that the actual servo is waterproof. I saw that there is an option from HiTech that looks decent.

1 Like
3

Hi @UltimateKayak and welcome to our forum.

There are several waterproof servos that are sold by RobotShop:

For example, this one can be interesting for you:

It has a range of up to 180 degrees, but you need to check if the torque is enough for your application.

You could use Radio System to control it directly, or you could control it from microcontroller (like Arduino) where you will program your logic (start, stop, steps, etc.)

But start with investigation which components you need, and after ordering initial components, do some preliminary tests and you will see how it goes.