great thank you. I also noticed that the board has two fuses. they aren’t marked with the amps. can you tell me what the amps are?
oh wow! that’s great of you guys to do that! thank you so much!
can you explain what is meant by the “duty cycle” of the actuator. i know that it is a % of time on/time off, but what defines the amount of “time”. If it’s a % of time within the total amount of time to complete one cycle, would that affect anything in my situation? my use wouldn’t be in cycles (i believe that to mean repeated movements within a cycle with the cycle also being repeated. such as an assembly line.). also what is meant by “time off”? is it when the actuator has no power going to it or is it that the actuator has power but is simply standing still
thanks for the link. unfortunately i really am not sure i’m clear with it. how about this … i’ll give a scenario and hopefully you can tell me if it falls within the duty cycle. the actuator has a duty cycle of 25% on and 75% off. i plan on the actuator being in use for 8 hrs. so the power would be on for the whole 8 hrs… within that 8 hrs. the actuator would extend about 1/2 the full stroke of 4 in… it would hold at that location for at most 5 min. and then retract completely back. it may perfom this about
30-40 times within the 8 hrs… i also want to mention that this actuator has 560lbs. of force, but the force reguired for extension will most likely be less than half the max. of 560. to retract it the only force needed would be to retract at virtually no load. i know i could use a less powerful actuator but i need the speed of this actuator. i can’t find one that can give at least 150lbs of force at that speed. this a worst case scenario just for reference. the times will actually vary. with this i can figure the other cases out. thanks
perfect!!! thanks so much!
i plan on using the RB-Sct-204. ServoCity 560 lbs. of thrust 4 in. stroke. it has five leads coming from the actuator… red(+), black(-), blue(pot wiper-position signal, white(pot reference), yellow(pot reference). what should i do with the white and yellow potentiometer reference wires and will this cause a problem when used with your RB-Spa-783 combined control/microcontroller board? the specs list the white, yellow, and blue as all being feedback.
ok, the built in pot has the five leads, which we just covered. the pot that i operate only has the three leads… +, -, and signal. i’m assuming there wont be a problem with those being connescted to the three pins of A1. aparently i don’t know as much about this stuff as i thought. i am sorry for all the stupid questions. i’m not confident enough with it yet to trust my assumptions
ok that clears that up thanks. does it matter which wire goes to which pin? should i be afraid of reversing the two wires?
no, i didn’t get that pot at robotshop. i needed something similar to a single axis joystick but with a t-handle. i couldn’t find anything like that on your site. but it does specify what each lead is for
no, i didn’t get that from robotshop. i needed something similar to a single axis joystick but with a t-handle. i couldn’t find anything like that on your site. the specs do list what the leads are for though. 5 volts, output, ground.
already another question, sorry. looking at potentiometers… i found one i would like to use but it says it has a “ratiometric output”. will that work for my situation?
ok thanks. another question… the actuator has 2 potentiometor reference wires, what am i supposed to do with them?
you better believe this helps!!! i’m confident that i can now build this system. you guys are increditable at what you do!!! thank you so much! if i run into any further problems you will definately hear from me!
ok i think i may have it! how about the RB-Spa-783 controller with the RB-Ard-34 microcontroller and the RB-Dfr-127 to program the microcontroller. Can you tell me if this set up will work with the RB-Sct-204 actuator and give me control of direction, speed, and position with the use of a manual rotary potentiometer?
i think i understand??? ok, i was looking at the RB-Spa-783 again and i don’t see a voltage listed. i’m thinking that might be important. i know the actuator gives a range of 6v to 12v. i want as much out of this acuator as i can get as far as the speed goes so i plan on keeping the voltage toward the top of of that range. do you know what the voltage is on the controller (i’m guessing a range of probably 6v to 7.5v) and will it cause any issues? if i will lose speed, can you say how much? you also mentioned “analog” can this be a digital system?
that is a huge help!!! thank you so much! just a couple more questions… if i dont need the RB-Dfr-127 programmer, where am i going to get the programming to upload to the RB-Spa-783 motor controller? also, the built in potentiometer is 10k, so should i be using a 10k manual rotary potentiometer and should i be worried about voltage on the manual potentiometer?
ok, i’m currently looking at motor controllers. i noticed u work for robotshop. i just want to say it would be great if you guys offered a service designing these systems to do what we need them to do and telling us which components we need to buy with instructions on setting them up for those of us that need a set up but actually have no idea what we are doing. i would be glad to pay decent money for that!!! anyway, i’m sure i’ll be in contact with you again after i’m done looking at motor controllers. thanx for all your help so far.
ok, i’m confused…the specs on the actuator are 12v at “no load” and “max load” and they list a current drain of 3A operating with no load. there is no current drain at “max load” given but i see they recommend a 20A inline fuse be used so we know its less than that. i also know that feedback consists off two 10K potentiometer references, and a 10K potentiometer wiper. so which of these are the “current” that you mean? if the actuator requires a higher voltage than the LAC can’t i simply power each from different power supplies? the actuator has a built in potentiometer to supply position feedback plus i want to control its position with a manual rotary potentiometer so should i be looking for a servo control board?