Which controller?

[Chris230291]

Right. Been looking at the options out there in the way of esc. originally my dads mate was gonna make me a controller, however once he read into what exactly they do he said he could make one for £20 (that being with a majority of parts already to hand) but it would take 12 months for him to write the software! just to confirm he works in electronics and knows his shit so to speak. with that option out of the window i started looking at (from what i understand) the two main competitors, the Scorpion Xll and the Sabertooth. after a read through both, the Sabertooth figures appealed to me more in the way of current ratings. however i like the flip switch scorpion offers, Flip input reverses motor direction when the robot is inverted. May be operated via an R/C channel or via a mechanical (gravity) or optical etc. switch. what i don't understand is what will i need for this to work? ie what switch? i hear people talking about gyros, is that an option? i have access to optics and sensors through my dads workplace. but how would any kind of switch connect? would any additional circuitry be required? i don't really like the idea of operating it via my transmitter as the system im looking at is only 3ch and i want a weapon. and finally does anyone know if this option could be applied in some way while using the sabertooth controller?


Thanks for your time.

[Marien]

Hi, today I looked into this because I want to use the flip-option without using a channel. When I understand Scorpions manual right, either connecting or disconnecting the signal-wire (orange) with the ground wire (brown), will switch the flip-channel.
So I was thinking of using a mechanical make/break switch with a lever to actuate the button. Hang it upside down (lever with extra weight); no connection = no flip. When the robot is upside down, the lever falls, presses the button; connection = flip.
Easy and cheap.

I am interrested in better options.

[joey_picus]

Hi, today I looked into this because I want to use the flip-option without using a channel. When I understand Scorpions manual right, either connecting or disconnecting the signal-wire (orange) with the ground wire (brown), will switch the flip-channel.
So I was thinking of using a mechanical make/break switch with a lever to actuate the button. Hang it upside down (lever with extra weight); no connection = no flip. When the robot is upside down, the lever falls, presses the button; connection = flip.
Easy and cheap.

I am interrested in better options.

Would a mercury switch/tilt switch be simpler? Those may be prone to flipping if the robot's hit hard though (i.e. by 360)

[Marien]

I just found 3 switches at Technobots.

[Chris230291]

Arh well thats nice and simple. cheers for that. But really i want the sabertooth, is there any off the shelf part that will perform the same function for the sabertooth? i suppose i could just use a tilt switch to flip the polarity just before the motors? really im looking for all my options.

Thanks for the help.

[typhoon_driver]

learn to drive with the controls reversed. It's not that hard and far simpler

[Marien]

But really i want the sabertooth

I think it works the same or similair.

[widow_twanky]

The main issue is normally the interface, standard H bridges are quite easy to do.

I started to look at this

http://www.bobblick.com/techref/project ... v2hb2.html

Not finished it yet because we've not even been looking at the robots over the summer and suddenly realised this weekend we had two heavies to get ready for portsmouth.

He can also find some useful projects here

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/osmc/files/

All very useful and quite a bit of programming information if you take a look round it

but yes, you can either learn how to drive upside down or you could also extend the channel direction switch on your tx so it's easily accessible for you to use as a flip switch. How easy that is depends on the tx but it's really not that hard on most of them. It does invalidate the warranty though

Andy

[Chris230291]

The main issue is normally the interface, standard H bridges are quite easy to do.

I started to look at this

http://www.bobblick.com/techref/project ... v2hb2.html

Not finished it yet because we've not even been looking at the robots over the summer and suddenly realised this weekend we had two heavies to get ready for portsmouth.

He can also find some useful projects here

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/osmc/files/

All very useful and quite a bit of programming information if you take a look round it

but yes, you can either learn how to drive upside down or you could also extend the channel direction switch on your tx so it's easily accessible for you to use as a flip switch. How easy that is depends on the tx but it's really not that hard on most of them. It does invalidate the warranty though

Andy

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question but what is that? is it (first link) a ESC? sorry i dont know electronics but looks like all the code is there. if so how much current can it take? or is that down to me to change values of something?

Thanks for you help

[Chris230291]

not sure if this matters but i want to use a wheel control.