Cotrolling 3 brushless motors, 1 servo, 1 led. and Arduino help

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Morning Everyone.

I'm trying to see what is the best way to Cotrol 3 brushless motors, 1 servo, 1 led with Adruino. What Arduino version should i buy? Plus no i need ESC for each motor or a motor shield.

  • 2 motors will control left, right, forward, reverse. Lined up side by side
  • 1 Motor will go propell to make rov go up and down
  • servo will allow 180 roation of camera
  • led light on/off possible dimmer

Thank you!!!

2

Yes you will need ESC's for the brushless motors. An Arduino UNO will be fine for the control side of things, you will need some quality RC Batteries to drive the brushless motors as well.

This is using toy motors but might be of interest to you -

Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

3

Awesome Duane! Thank you.

Also, I came across Motor Shield Kit for the Arduino Duemilanove that controls:
• Power 2 to 4 DC motors 4.5V to 36V at 0.6A each
• Power 2 servo motors with a dedicated timer
• Power up to 2 stepper motors

Do you think that would work for what I'm doing?

here is the shield:
http://www.robotshop.com/adafruit-motor-shield-kit-arduino-8.html

4

I don't think that is going to help a lot. Your biggest cost is going to be the brushless motors and the ESC's for them, I would price these first.

Is your project land, air or water based ?

Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

5

It's water based. underwater ROV while snorkeling.

6

• Power 2 to 4 DC motors 4.5V to 36V at 0.6A each

0.6A is not a lot of power, my RC Cars can briefly draw 100's of amps when accelerating, I understand that boats are even more demanding.

These guys use Arduino in their work and I am pretty sure I saw that they were working on a submersible of some sort, it might be worth having a look around their site for ideas, I have seen them on youtube driving/sitting on a mobile phone controlled boat that I am sure was driven by Arduino.

illutron.dk

Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

7

I purchased the 3 motors already. Just was hoping 1 motor controller shield could control them where i dont have to buy 3 ESC

These guys: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8622

Here is what I'm using as guidance: http://openrov.com/page/openrov-2-0-overview

But mine will have a gopro camera vs tethered video

8

Looks interesting, its late here so I will have a proper look tomorrow.

Duane B

9

orionjd:
I purchased the 3 motors already. Just was hoping 1 motor controller shield could control them where i dont have to buy 3 ESC

These guys: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8622

Absollutely no chance whatsoever of driving an RC brushless motor from a motor shield designed for a DC motor.

Two reasons:

  1. brushless motors have winding resistances far lower than 2-wire motors (more than 10 times lower?) They can pull hundreds of watts per cubic inch, far higher currents are involved.

  2. RC brushless motors require sensor-less commutation circuit and 3-phase low-impedance drive. This is not trivial stuff, a brushless ESC provides the
    only cost-effective method, and yes you absolutely do require one ESC per motor.