Wotty speed controller

Hi Does anyone have any information about the wotty speed controller. I have one for the new tanglefoot but dont have any info about it. Does anyone have a web-site or any info about it? Thanks Chris

its made by ian watts from team big bro, you can get his email from his site http://www.teambigbro.co.uk/main.html



(Message edited by ady on December 27, 2007)

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Chris

Hi Chris what do u need to know how to wire up etc ?

John
teambeast

Hi John, many thanks for that. Ian watts sent me all the technical details for me. He also modified it to work up to 45Volts. So I can use my 36V motors to capacity. I was previously using 4QD speed controllers but they were not very good. Really looking forward to getting more involved and coming to more events. How is beast doing? Am totally re-building tanglefoot so it will be a totally different robot!!!

sounds good chris. looking forward to seing you at events.

yes well were all trying still hope its going ok for you chris (and the kids) even a moded Watty just try make it run any way up ;)

John

Tks guys, just really looking forward to getting going again. Just pleased I made the mistakes quickly on the last one. Hoping to be ready by easter. Chris

Hi Chris,
Ive recently been having trouble with my 4qd
controllers and have spoken to ian watts at leicester a few weeks ago about his wotty speed controller, im having no luck emailing him
do you have a contact number ??
oh and how is the controller going ??

Terry.

terry,

i think the best person to contact if you cant get in touch with ian is mike hamilton

he will prob look on here but there is an email on his profile at
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/board-profile.cgi?action=view_profile&profile=pressure-usershttp://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/cgi-...ction=view_pro file&profile=pressure-users

Terry, I have emailed you details. I had 4QDs originally in tanglefoot and found the delay really irritating. Could not get good control using 4QD. The wotty is great. Tks Chris

Hi Terry, I am in regular contact with Ian and can give you his e-mail address.
He has been on holiday until today so that maybe why he didnt respond, if you have no luck in the next couple of days contact me, Mike.

Heya guys
I got my wotty a couple of days ago and I have been testing it out today in my feather weight.
It was the one origanally in Mantis
Any hows it seems to be running super slowly. I press forward and I go at I beleve is less then 50%
Both sides go at exactly the same slow speed.
Not the stick travel or battery.
When I first tested it out it was only an issue on one side now its both. It was like that when I first got it.
Does it need a repair or do I neede to set something up?
Cheers

Contact Ian Watts and tell him your probs, as the designer and maker of the Wotty Im sure hell be able to help.

marco, my personal opinion is it isnt the wotty, as i used to own mantis and that wotty is almost new and was working perfectly and only used a couple of times, if you open up the wotty you can adjust the little things inside (cant remember what you call them) but you can turn them up or down. perhaps someone else can help explain better than me lol

but dont tamper with it just from my advice and i am by no means an expert lol, but i do remember having to adjust them for some reason when fitting it originally from advice given by ian watts. (was a while ago now and i no longer have my original emails to him)

Marco we had the same problem at the UK champs last year with ours. It was a problem with the current limiting, we had to get Ian to repair it at Hemel. The adjust things are two pots one for each channel, they set the current limit, both should be the same position. In ours this made no difference to this problem. However it wont hurt to try, clockwise increases the limit and vice versa.

My advice is to contact Ian.

I admit I have fiddled with the little trim like things inside. But I was very careful and didnt ajust them with the wotty on.
It may be an option to try and ajust them with the wotty on but I am in no rush to get the robot running as next event is over a month away.
I will try a few other possible issues such as low battery even though the motors move obveously quicker when conected directly to the battery.
By the way I am running on 24volts and 300watt motors.
Will wait for a response from Ian before trying anything else.

Cheers for the help everyone,
Ian was hiding away on some mountains !
Ive now got my wotty on order, and all my
interference and control problems should now
be history..........
Just got to learn how to drive now !!

just to add I have the current setup on my profile
Couldnt edit origanal post as I posted it over 10 minutes ago.

What batteries have you got in there Marco?

two 12volt tornado packs from overlander giving 24volts
they have 3.7amps each

It works!
Tried it on 40mhz and it works. Guessing there is something wrong with my spektrum set but hey im not complaining.
Pic on profile of how hello dave is looking. Fitted all electronics and added tensioners to the drive chain.
Been driving it around today and its bloody powerful. Pushing around my big sofa.
Any hows this is the heavyweight section so I would just like to add.

If your having trouble with your wotty on spektrum. Have a go with a 40mhz system.

Info for owners of early Wottys!
The spektrum, apparently, leaves gaps between its transmition pulses and because the Wotty works so fast it thinks the signal has stopped!
Ian has a software update for this, just means swapping a chip, contact him, Im sure hell upgrade you.

Have a go with a 40mhz system.

Dont!

Having the majority of roboteers on Spektrums means frequency clashes with my 40MHz set are a thing of the past :)

*waits for some smartypants to point out that frequency clashes are a thing of the past with Spektrums too*

I meant to check your wotty is working :P
Not as a perminent downgrade

Using 40 meg now with all the spektrums about is not advised.
We have experienced massive interference problems when using 40 meg in with a lot of Spektrum controlled bots, Skink has suffered the most where there have been more than 6 bots in the arena.
It has worked perfectly, alone in the arena even at 30 metres +, but as soon as its joined by lots of others on Spektrums its uncontrollable.
Ian watts has said its because all the 2.4 gig frequencies are producing harmonics (using musical terminology) which interfere with the 40 meg reception.

2.4GHz is unlikely to interfere with 40MHz. Even a poor quality receiver is not tuned to listen to the frequency. What you are likely experiencing is electrical noise from a large number of robots being present in the arena. 40MHz is notorious for interference from motor noise and other EM sources. This is something that 2.4GHz is completely immune to.

Radio interference has always been a problem even with two robots in the arena. The more robots present the more interference that is generated and the less chance your robot has of avoiding interference. The only solution is a technology that doesnt suffer these issues.

I think the reason that 40 meg suffers more these days is that there is no need for people to go to the same lengths to cut out interference when using 2.4 gig eg - capacitors on motor brushes

so you have a lot more machines in the arena creating more noise than they used to.

Yep- I think the main thing is the lack of suppression inmost of the robots now - since using the spektrum Ive removed all forms of suppression from my astros as its more to cause trouble when they are not needed for me.

Early/mid last year when there were only a few bots on Spektums no problems at all, regardless of how many bots in arena, with Skink on a single con receiver, won four titles!
Nottingham, whitwick with almost all bots on Spektrums impossible to control until last fight of Whitwick when we borrowed Ians spare Spektrum, back to normal and won the title.
I cant see that there can be any other conclusion to draw from the evidence, mlud!!!

Couldnt having inadequate RF noise suppression count as radio jamming under the rules, or am I being a bit pedantic here?

I think in the USA the rule is Spectrum or similar or no can fight in the heavy weight contests! perhaps this is going to be the way for the future:sad:

Is there a way to test this out? If Mike has such problems it should be easy to reproduce with other robots as well.