Printable View
Hi guys, I'm new to this and have a few questions! Looking for someone to give me some answers? Can offer information/guide to making home Meade night vision for hunting or other uses. Even if you can't answer my questions I'm more than happy to answer yours about home made night vision
First question is what speed controller do o get. I'm planning on using 2 cordless drill motors using a 12v battery. Do I need to get use a voltage step down to the speed controllers or do they automatically step down the voltage.
A good ESC can handle the main batterievoltage. Most go up to 6S. (24V)
Standard ESC's for Featherweights.
Ranglebox/botbitz TZ85. Cheaper option, the 30A
http://ranglebox.com/product-category/electrical/
Robot Power Scorpion XXL
http://robotpower.com/products/scorpion_XXL_info.html
Less know in the UK, but gaining popularity on the mainland. The German IBF 4.5
Looks low in amps, but is doing a great job in several "basic batterydrill driven" feathers for a few years.
http://www.robots.ib-fink.de/
Hi Jake,
In our robots you don't need to step up or step down the voltage; unless you are doing something very specific, as all the controllers and motors will run on a range of voltages.
Some basic rules are -
Never overvolt a speed controller - If its a 24V/6S Speed controller, don't put it on 36V/9S, or if its a 12V/3S Controller don't put it on 18V/5S etc...
You can overvolt a motor (Via the speed controller) - So you can run a 12V motor like your drills on 18V, so long as your speed controller is rated for at least 18V you are using. The rule of thumb is a 50% overvolt; so 12V motors on 18V or 24V motors on 36V. Any more than that and you will start running into issues.
So as an example, if you bought the TZ85A's which are 24V/6S maximum speed controllers to go with your 12V/3S drill motors, you could buy an 18V/5S LiPo Battery to run it all on. You would be overvolting your motors to get more speed and power, but would be under-volting your speed controllers which would mean they would be more reliable.
There are of course exceptions to that, usually relating to specific hardware, such as the Beetlweight Speed controllers that can cope with 14.4V rather than their normal 11.1V for the duration of a battle.
The reason we can get away with overvolting motors is because they are used for such a short period. Normally, cheap drills run for maybe 15 minutes in an hour doing light DIY, but we can slam them around on 50% more power for 3 minutes when your next fight is an hour away. This does reduce the life span of the motor but chances are it will get smashed or broken in combat before it ever reaches that stage.
Side note - If you didn't know, when I type 12V/3S, the 3S refers to the cell count of a LiPo or LiFe battery pack. A 1S lipo pack is actually 3.7V, not the normal 1.5V you get with NiMHs or Alkaline batteries. You may also see LiPo packs referred to as 4.2V per cell as that is what they are when charges and the voltage slowly drops with use... we really aught to create some videos/documentation for this kind of thing.
Anyway, I hope that leaves you a little more enlightened.
Thanks guys that was very helpful especially your post Alex! I am very new to this and only have a basic idea of what I'm doing but I will get there in the end!