I’m looking for a 3 channel servo controller and some servos to sit on board a racing kart to control fueling and a pull cord.
All parts must be weather proof and vibration proof and few batteries as possible for weight.
In terms of inputs/outputs:
Channel 1: In: Steering wheel mounted Potentiometer Out: Servo with 90 degree movement
Channel 2: In: Steering wheel mounted Potentiometer Out: Servo with 90 degree movement
Channel 3: In: Steering wheel mounted push button which will drive the servo by a preset amount when pushed (e.g 180degrees), and the servo will return to it’s original position once it has reached that desired point. Out: Servo with 180 degree movement or linear actuator to ‘yank’ a cable - must be reasonably strong.
Realize this is a pretty broad brief, but any advice on what parts are required to do this would be greatly appreciated.
As you don’t need many channels and you are planning on using potentiometers as the input signals to control the servos positions a good option would be a microcontroller, for example an Arduino, and using an external power supply/battery for the servos, but in order to choose one you need to select the servos first.
Most hobby servos operate at 4.8V to 6V, and their current consumption is similar but if your servo motors are not considered “standard” this might not be the case. I suggest checking the Servo Motors section of the store and choose ones according to how much torque they’ll need to perform the tasks you have in mind, the degree of rotation isn’t really important as you can tell servo to go to a particular angle using the Arduino library (although of course, you should not choose one with a lower maximum rotation than the one you need), then choose a power supply/battery according to your servos rated voltage.
You can use an Arduino Uno (which is the most popular model)
You will need a power supply/battery for it, the recommended range is 7-12V.
You will have to select the servo motors according to your needs (speed/torque), this comparison list can help:
Try to choose servos that work in the 4.8-6V range
You can find a battery for the servos in the Power Systems section of the store, choose a 4.8-6V battery with a capacity and discharge rate that suits your project, if you are not familiar with these concepts I suggest checking this:
You can find the potentiometers in the Linear & Rotary Resistors section, choose the ones you prefer, most of the ones in that list are compatible with Arduino but if you are unsure just ask, same goes for the push button.
And yes, you will need to be able to code to work with the Arduino, but don’t need to worry, there are lots of tutorials online with similar projects, for example:
