Feasibility of Arduino to control TV lift cabinet

Projects General Guidance
1

I've never used an Arduino before so I wanted to get a some feedback before I start ordering parts.

I'm building a TV lift cabinet. The lifting comes from a scissor lift powered by a drill. I need it to turn on when the TV turns on, drive up, stop, and reverse the current so it can come back down again when the TV turns off.

I'd be very grateful for advice on any part of that, but what I'm mostly interested in to start with is does this sound like a good application for an Arduino? I don't mind a long, torturous learning curve if I'm pretty sure there will be a payoff at the end.

My original plan was to set up a four-way switch between two limit switches, the drill, and a current sensing relay on the TV power cable. That might still be the best option, but frankly my electronics experience is only a little greater than my Arduino experience.

Thanks for any help you can give.

2

Yes, that's a good Arduino project!

A DPDT relay can be wired to reverse the connections (to reverse the motor). A 2nd SPST (or DPDT) relay would be needed to turn it on/off.

There is also a motor driver circuit called an "H-bridge" that's essentially wired the same as the DPDT relay. But, the H-bridge can also turn off (so you don't need a second relay/circuit for on/off) and you can control the speed with PWM (probably not important).

The disadvantage is that a drill motor requires quite a bit of current and that means a high power (more expensive) H-bridge.

If you go with relays, the Arduino can't put-out enough current to drive a relay coil so you need a driver circuit. However, there are relay boards that have both the relay and relay driver, or multiple relays and drivers.

3

That's exactly what I needed. Thanks.

4

fallincow:
I know it's been 1.5 years ago since you posted this, but I'm curious if you even did do this project?

I'm doing the same project, except that the TV is out in the patio and I've designed a lifter to tilt it up into a ceiling I build then to close a security door.

The Arduino is so perfect for this.

In my case, there are 2 motors. One to lift/lower the TV on aluminum arms I built and the 2nd motor, that opens/closes the sliding (rolling) cover to protect it.

The motors are from old 18V drills.

To lift/lower the TV, I'm using a manual winch. I took off the handle and mounted the motor to the winch shaft using 2-piece motor couplers with the rubber "joiner." These work well.

To drive the motors, that can require up to 5 amps on the pull up of the TV, I'm using
10 Amp DC motor driver module, MD10C.

This is controlled by Arduino, had an H-BRIDGE and can run the motor in forward or reverse.
To be sure things are working as they should, I'm using Current Sensors, ACS712 to monitor what each motor's current is during travel.

If one goes high, I can quickly cut all the power if necessary.

To power this whole thing, I'm using variable voltage, DC 0-24V @ 20Amp power supply.

To power the Arduino, Nextion display and modules, I'm using 2 adjustable Buck Converters, 3.3V and 5V. Safety first! LOL

The coding is going well, but I've had to switch from using a Nano to a Mega 256 for more memory, extra serial ports and more pins.

The Nextion Display is a perfect match for this due to the layout, pages and touch screen.

I hope that your project went well.

5

BlondieSL:
fallincow:
...To be sure things are working as they should, I'm using Current Sensors, ACS712 to monitor what each motor's current is during travel.

If one goes high, I can quickly cut all the power if necessary.

Couldn't you use the stall current to instead of switches to know when to stop?

6

Think I would just use a couple of relays and limit switches to build this .
Use a car type remote ( ebay) to operate the lifter and a switch on the base that turns the tv on when it rises and off when it bottoms out . The logic is very simple and an Arduino would get very bored .