Hi!
I'm new here so I apologise beforehand if I in any way violate community etiquettes.
I have a Meccano off-road racer driven by a 4.5v motor (D469, Meccanos part number) which I want to steer remotely. This racer has basically got two operating modes; go forward, go backwards. The front wheels can be mechanically turned either left or right by hand.
Objective:
Control my off-road racer using Arduino and a seperate control device (smart phone, etc).
I want to be able to steer the racer backward, forward, left and right, basically.
Available hardware:
*Arduino boards (Uno R3, Nano)
*Meccano off-road racer with 4.5v motor
Note: I'm a newbie in this field so if I'd be better off just buying motor parts dedicated for this sort of projects that's fine.
It sounds like you need a few additional components.
Something to allow the Arduino to control the motor
Something to allow the Arduino ot operate the steering
Something to transmit and receive wireless signals.
If you have a suitable program for your phone then the simplest system is probably to send data using Bluetooth with a suitable Bluetooth module attached to the Arduino. The type of Bluetooth module will depend on your phone. Android phones can use the simple HC05 module but I don't think Apple phones can.
You have not given any description of the steering mechanism but a servo is probably the simplest device for controlling it.
If you are content with your motor being full on or full off then a simple relay (suitable for an Arduino) could be used to control the motor. If you want speed control then you will need a suitable motor driver. The Pololu website has a wide selecttion and similar devices are widely available. You need to choose one that can handle the maximum current required by your motor. Note that many of them cannot work at voltages as low as 4.5v so check the specs carefully.
So, basically what I need to control my little car is some sort of motor driver (or a relay for fixed-speed operation), a servo motor for the steering (or, one per driving wheel?) and a Bluetooth module?
I don’t know much about the motor included in my Meccano set, so alternatively I could start from scratch there but I’m not sure what sort of motor to look for really.
I presume the steering is achieved by moving the silver strip from side to side. You can use a servo to do that.
If you have a multimeter that can read up to 10 amps then you should measure the current taken by the motor when it is under load (apply some friction to the wheels with your fingers).
