I am new at this. I am just about finished building a 300 lb yard bot. It has 2 Invacare motors , 1 on each side driving 2 golf cart tires thru sprockets and chains. It will turn like a skid steer.
I am looking at the Sabertooth 2x60 Motor Controller and will be using 2 automotive style deep cycle batteries with a solar panel for charging.
So now I need to find a Transmitter that will control the 2 motors. I need about 150 yard range . 2 channels or more? Does a receiver come with it to hook up to the Sabertooth ?
A lot of the Transmitters I see are for airplanes . I really don’t need all of those functions. It would be nice to add a camera to this at some point. I will post pictures of my build soon. Thanks
Hi,
We are unsure if this motor controller will fit your requirement, as this would require more details on the exact motors you are using (and their detailed specs for that load). Make sure that the chosen motor controller matches the specs of the motors.
As for the transmitter / receiver, what kind of control are you looking for? With most of the Sabertooth controllers you can use them with many interfaces so that gives you many choices, such as:
]RC transmitter / receiver pair/:m]
]XBee-compatible module (Bluetooth, XBee, WiFi, ZigBee, LoRa, etc.)/:m]
]Other serial communication modules/:m]
]Various remote relays with some passive components/:m]
You can find many of those components here and here. Please let us know what kind of control you are looking for, such as will it be controlled by hand, or by a microcontroller (autonomously?) or maybe touch interface?
A simple 6-channel RC receiver such as the RB-Rlk-03 would work well with a Sabertooth set to RC mode (and differential drive). You would only need 2 channels, of course, but it would make getting started / testing very simply.
Let us know more about your setup and use case and we can offer more specific advice.
Sincerely,
Thanks for the reply. I would be using the RC Transmitter / receiver .These motors are off an Invacare wheel chair. They are brush type fwd.- rev. motors. Another member on here [Quietly] used the Sabertooth MC with this motor type.
I looked at the RB-RK-03 and that looks fine. Dose the receiver just wire into the Sabertooth ?
Yes, the Sabertooth 2x60 can be connected directly with a RC receiver. It has an internal regulator that can provide the 5 V DC to power the receiver, too, so no need for an extra power source other than the batteries for the motor controller.
You can find out more about the usage of the RB-Dim-44 in the documentation found on the product page under Useful Links. Here is a direct link to it.
While we recommend that you read the full manual, pages 7, 9, 13 and 14 of the manual (Sabertooth2x60.pdf) has details concerning the use of the R/C receiver.
You may also want to check out the Sabertooth2x60QuickStart.pdf for a quick overview of typical modes you can use and how to set them up on the device.
We hope this helps.
Great. The Sabertooth 2x60 is on backorder. Any idea when it will be available?
If you ordered today, it would be roughly a week before we would receive any new stock. Please keep in my mind that we continuously make orders from our manufacturers and will fill the orders in the order they were made. Therefore, if you wait for the site to mention “Stock available”, you may not be able to get one if they all get order before you place yours.
We recommend that you place your order as soon as possible. You will then receive an email with the details of when the stock is expected automatically.
Sincerely,
Just ordered the MC. Not set on the transmitter yet. I did see the Hubsan RC-HUB-02. Looks like it has a camera
that comes with it. Any tech info I can access on this ?
The Hubsand DIY Remote Set is a nice all integrated product which is used in their SpyHawk R/C plane but sold for DIY project as well.
Here are some manuals that might be useful to understand the product:
DIY Remote Set PDF
Hubsan SpyHawk Manual
We hope that helps 
I just received the Sabertooth 2x60 controller and can finish the mount for it . Still have a question about the transmitter. Since I have no experience
with these my thought process may be off. This transmitter is for controlling a ground drive [skid steer or tank type ] unit. . Will I be ok with a transmitter that
is designed for rudders,trim, etc ? Is there a unit with a better layout for my app. like those pistol grip style transmitters with the wheel control on the side ?
I do need to have a 150 yard range at minimum. Thanks
Hi,
You should not have any issue as the Sabertooth 2x60 motor controller has an RC mode with differential drive (mixed mode) available, which takes care of using such a receiver automatically to drive a tank-like vehicle.
You can read more about this in the datasheet, manual and quick start guide available in the documentation for the product, found on the product page under Useful Links.
Sincerely,
Guess what I am asking is with my particular app. , what transmitter design would be most comfortable to use for this ? One more thing,. How is the receiver attached to the Sabertooth, at the receiver end ?. I see the Sabertooth side has screw terminals. A plug / pigtail harness? Thanks
I did some searching and found the receiver electrical connection is a push in plug pigtail. Dose that come with the T6EHP-E Transmitter? Hate to order this any only have to wait for
a wire harness.
Great, Thanks
I need help on finding what channel the 5 volt input power goes to. The manual has no info on this and I can’t
find anything on the web. Also what is the difference between a R7EH and an R7EH-S ? Very frustrating but I don’t
want to short something out.
Almost all R/C receivers work the same with Positive and Negative connections.
All the Positive pins are connected together as well as all the Negative pins are also connected together. This mean you can power the receiver from any of the channels.
From the Top you have:
Channel Signal
Positive Pin
Negative Pin
OK, I hooked up the receiver to the Sabertooth 5 volt terminals. The signal wire is on the S1 terminal.Turned on the transmitter , then the Sabertooth/ receiver.
I got Steady green light on the receiver, but nothing works. I have the Sabertooth Dip Switches in the RC position. Do I need to bind the receiver to the transmitter?
If I do ,can I use one of the pigtails I have to do that ? What pins do I jump? I did not mention before that the manual says I have a R6EH receiver when I actually
do have a R7EH-S receiver that came w/ the transmitter
I got Steady green light on the receiver, but nothing works. I have the Sabertooth Dip Switches in the RC position. Do I need to bind the receiver to the transmitter?
If I do ,can I use one of the pigtails I have to do that ? What pins do I jump? I did not mention before that the manual says I have a R6EH receiver when I actually
do have a R7EH-S receiver that came w/ the transmitter
If you are aiming at controlling two motor in Skid-Steer mode you will have to connect 2 channels to the Receiver like on P.13 of the manual. (S1 & S2)
To test the Receiver you can either connect you Sabertooth to the PC software or try a RC servo on one channel and test the movement.
Usually receivers are bind to the transmitter when bought together.
Sabertooth2x60.pdf (1.68 MB)
I had previously had a second pigtail hooked up to another channel, but did not hook up the 5 volt + and -. Just did that and still nothing on the RC side. I can run the motors in both directions
with the dip switches. I don’t have any servos to confirm the communication between the transmitter and receiver. Can I talk with someone regarding a similar issue that another forum member had using this basic setup.?