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[Reply #15 on:]

For a motor (with h-bridge/motor shield of course!). You read the pot with ADC and then values above (say ) 700 are forward, values below 300 are backward and values in between are stop. But you still need one pot per motor.

Mark

That looks to be correct. Do you have a link to a recommended h-bridge/motor shield? Remember, I'm simply using a analog, 2-axis joystick (with 2 pots total) to control a pair open-loop motors for use in a pan tilt system. For example, if the joystick is half-way tilted to the right, the pan/tilt system will go half-speed in that direction. I've done this plenty of times with servos but now the components need to be basic, dc motors.

[Reply #16 on:]

I've done this plenty of times with servos but now the components need to be basic, dc motors.

Then my solution is the one you want to use.

It gets data from the 2 pots and tells the motors how to move.If you dont like my second way, then just repeat my first way for both motors.

This controls the forward and backwards movement of ONE motor, repeat for second motor.

Code:

// say the lowest is 350 and the highest is 650, the difference is 300
// so divide 300 by 2, you get 150.
// then 350 + 150= 500 (center)
//offset, you decide how much dead zone you want, for the center.
// +-10 should be enough.
If( POT1< 490) { // offset(10) - center(500)
...go forward...
}
Else if (POT1 > 510) {
... Go backwards...
}
Else {
... Full stop...
}

[Reply #17 on:]

Which motor shield depends on how much current the motors would require. Take a look and the Arduino one in the hardware section of the main site as a starter. This runs two motors each with speed and direction (4 digital pins in all).

As for the pots one end to earth one to the 5v and the center wiper to the analog pin.

Mark

[Reply #18 on:]

This runs two motors each with speed and direction (4 digital pins in all).

You may also want to add another couple of pins for the brakes.

[Reply #19 on:]

And two for current sensing?

Mark

[Reply #20 on:]

The quick fix would be to get two of the below (one for each joystick pot) motor controllers, and connect the joystick pots in place of the pots on the controllers.

http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/motor/k166.htm

[Reply #21 on:]

The quick fix would be to get two of the below (one for each joystick pot) motor controllers, and connect the joystick pots in place of the pots on the controllers.

http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/motor/k166.htm

That looks to be perfect. So to summarize, you would use one of these:

and wire each one to one of these in place of the pots that they come with:

is that correct?

If so, where else can I get these? They are expensive http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/motor/k166.htm
Also, don't I also have to make sure the pots on the joystick are the same resistance as the pots that were originally on the speed controller?

[Reply #22 on:]

Also, don't I also have to make sure the pots on the joystick are the same resistance as the pots that were originally on the speed controller?

It's a 100k pot. Looking at the schematics it's not simply connected to V+ and ground. There is a 100k resistor on the high side and a 10k connecting it to ground. So yeah it won't act the same unless the joystick pots are 100k. Or you change the resistors to compensate.

[Reply #23 on:]

Good point. Now, knowing that, what would I have to change those two resistors to to be able to use the 5k pots that are on the joystick instead?

[Reply #24 on:]

Or maybe replace the pots in the joystick.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-100K-Ohm-B100K-Knurled-Shaft-Linear-Rotary-Taper-Potentiometer-/260985205438?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc3ee32be

[Reply #25 on:]

Replacing the pots might be a better idea. But if you want to change the resistors you just need to reduce them by the same factor. ie, your 5k pots are 1/20 of the original pot's value. So the top 100k resistor will become 5k, and the bottom 10k will become 500R. That's going to increase the current through that leg but it's still only 1.1mA or so.

[Reply #26 on:]

Yep. The pots that came with the motor driver will either fit in the joystick or they won't. If they don't, then I'll have to wither find 100k pots that fit correctly in the joystick or replace the resistors and use the 5k pots. I'll report back after the parts get here.

[Reply #27 on:]

Do you have a link to a recommended h-bridge/motor shield?

Yup - the L298N motor driver is a good controller that can supply up to 2A per motor (2 motors max). A motor controller board for these are dirt cheap off ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-H-Bridge-DC-Stepper-Motor-Drive-Controller-Board-Module-L298N-for-arduino-/251080674810?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a75930dfa

They're also really easy to control:

[Reply #28 on:]

If you do decide to make this with Arduino and H-Bridge shields, I wrote this code the other day as a learning experience (I'm new to Arduino) until I realized you wanted a non-MCU solution. Don't have an H-Bridge to test but seems to give proportional bi-directional control. This is just for the "horizontal" motor.

Code:

int deadZone = 50; // joystick deadzone rangec
int maxPWMValue =  255; // maximum PWM value. 255 for built-in PWM
int horizPotPin = A0; // Analog pin for horizontal pot sense

int horizPWMPin = 9; // Horiz motor speed control connected to this pinr
int horizDirPin = 2; // directional control connected here. HIGH = forward, LOW = reverse

void setup()
{
pinMode(horizPWMPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(horizDirPin, OUTPUT);

// for debugging
Serial.begin(38400);
}


void loop()
{
int horizPWM = 0; // holds the pwm output for 'horizontal' motor
boolean  forwardDir = true; // direction for 'horizontal' motor. true = forward, false = reverse

// read horizontal pot value
int horizPot = analogRead(horizPotPin);

// map the analog value of 0..1023 to -255..+255
// If the direction and speed go in the wrong direction compared to joystick movement,
// just switch the sign of the last two parameters
int h = map(horizPot, 0, 1023, -maxPWMValue, maxPWMValue);

// check if joy in reverse position
if (h < 0)
{
forwardDir = false;
h *= -1;
}

// only set final PWM output if joy is outside of deadzone range
if (h > deadZone)
horizPWM = h;


// set pwm and direction
digitalWrite(horizDirPin, forwardDir);
analogWrite(horizPWMPin, horizPWM);


//debug crap
Serial.print(horizPWM );
Serial.print(", ");
Serial.println(forwardDir);
delay(50);

}