Starting Point

I think you mean electronize 40A and yes they last forever, still got a pair that are around 5 years old that work fine.

Nylon for bulkheads (10 or 12mm) and hdpe for armour, 8mm will stand up to most spinners but 6mm will do you fine

As mentioned, the best bet that can at least guarantee successful running of four drill motors is the Electronize range. Specifically you'd be wanting two of the 30A units that can be modified by having their internal relays replaced with some bigger external relays rated at 40A which helps ensure that your controllers are less likely to be damaged from being over-stressed.

Technobots used to offer this product (the speed controller with a pair of external relays and any modifications necessary) but due to lack of demand they do not stock them anymore. You would have to contact Electronize directly (http://www.electronize.com) and ask if they could supply you with modified controllers. They don't provide the larger 40A relays though, you would have to buy them yourself. You can get them from Maplin or Technobots:

http://www.technobots.co.uk/acatalog/On ... s_360.html

(the 12V ones, and you would need two per controller, so four in total for full robot drive)

I will admit though, depending on how tight your budget is, that this option isn't necessarily cheap. I believe you'd be looking in the region of £100 for both controllers and relays. But Christmas is coming up, so let Santa know what you're after :wink:

If I stretched to say £150 would there be anything good that I could use straight out the box and would last?

i'd go for the controller i suggested early i think the controller will be able to deal with 4 drills

pm sent

im not ging to look at prices for these controlers :P , but for more high end stuff heres my recommendations. 2 Victors ( ask razor dave ) , a sabertooth 25 A ??? (might it handl eit just about ?). or have a look at the vantec. Or one of the 50 quid wotys would do what you want i think (or are they 100 quid ?).

And yeh i ment 40 A electronize :P , 40 A sabertooth , i can dream :lol: .

Hi I think you mean the Wotty100 I have put in an order with Ian and the price is £190 each
Bargin they will handle almost the same amps as a sidewinder (I had one of those in a heavyweight.) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Cheers guys, im tempted by the electronize 40A but i think im going to try the XXL and hope it work unless anyone says otherwise before rick mails me back.

If i did swap and go for the electronize how hard is tht mod to do?

to swap speed controllers is merely a case of disconnecting and reconnecting a few wires (depending on your robot design)

Modifying the electronize to take 40A is a bit more tricky but if you have a decent soldering iron and some experience soldering it will only take a few hours to do.

Or, failing that, I'm sure someone on this forum would be happy to mod them for you, either for free or a small fee.

I would offer, but I should be busy studying right now and I don't have 100% confidence in performing a mod like that on someone else's components. Plus when I received mine, they were already modded so all I had to do was crimp some spade terminals on to the wires and connect them up to the relays.

In regards to the XXL, I've not used that (or the XL) myself but I seem to remember that the XL is 12.5A per channel and the commercial XXL is 25A per channel. Whether Rick's mods make his XXLs 25A I do not know, but personally I still wouldn't be too confident with using one to control four drills.

Apologies if all these opinions are confusing you as to which controller to go for. The Electronize option will work, but that's the only one I can say based on my personal use and experience.