I am working on a project to get my tracked robot RC controlled, but i have some questions before i will order the products (arduino uno already ordered)
Here a short example of what i want to do:
*made an typo, motors are 15A(14,5A) each.
*rc controller modulation: PCM
Can this actually been done for what i want? And do you may have some code examples or other suggestions?
For any questions about the project, i will answer as fast as possible!
You note that the motors are 14.5 amps each - is that stall current, or running current? If it is running current (though it seems a little high for that?), you may want to find out what the stall current is before investing in the Sabertooth driver...
I also wanted to mention that I note that your diagram shows nothing of a fail-safe mechanism; considering that it seems like this machine will be a fairly large scale tracked vehicle with a dozer blade or something, you might want to think about this part of the design (before you regret not thinking about it).
This is only a sketch of what I am planning to do, so some things can be missing in the drawing but i do have thinked about them: relay transistor, RC receiver and the batteries which are 2x 12v/110 Ah in series for the 24 volts.
And yes, the sabertooth 2x25A seems to be the best choice for me, people at a robot forum i'm on advised it to me.
Here some pictures of my robot, so you can imagine the scale of it (at the moment the linear actuator is used for the chair mechanism)
BTW - what are you building it for, and what/where did you get the tracks/sprockets (they look to be a little more "professional" than what I have seen for things like tank combat machines people have built, which usually use custom track systems)?
jediah:
I will be used to clean up the ventilation shafts from sand under a potato barn
The tracks and sprockets are used by a minidumper, they usually not meant for combat tanks etc.
But i need to make things clear, i would like to make progress with this project.
Hmm - well I learn new things every day!:
Never knew there was such a thing as a "potato barn"...
Didn't know it had ventilation shafts
Still don't know what a "minidumper" is, but I suspect some kind of powered walk-behind and controllable power-wheelbarrow?
Given the use - what's the plan if the machine gets stuck; is it possible to pull it out manually (how big are these shafts, and are they normally cleaned by hand)?
I'd almost say go for a wired-tether system for reliability; I'm not sure how well wireless would work in such a situation (might be ok, for all I know)...
Certainly an interesting project, though! Good luck with it!
To reiterate Zoomkat's question, why do you need an Arduino at all? - It looks like the standard RC gear for running electric vehicles will do the job.
I must be missing the point. By the look of your initial diagram, all you need there is a servo controlled by the right hand joystick that hits switches to control the up and down relays.
It's certainly possible with the Arduino, it just doesn't seem to be necessary. I certainly don't want to dissuade you from using one, but I can't see that it conveys any benefit in this application.
I don't think you've explained what the actuator is used for. Is someone going to be sitting in this and using it to raise/lower the chair? If such is the case then you just need a DPDT switch to move it up and down.
