Hello Everyone,
I have a cheap RC Heli that I want to hack. I have thought of a way I could control it using the Arduino by having it control the potentiometers in the remote controller to control it via IR LEDs. But I have looked everywhere on Google and wasn't sure if what I found would work, so I need some advice PLEASE. First I found a link where they hooked up a PNP transistor to the Pot to control it. I happened to have a PNP transistor laying around so I hooked it up but it did nothing. I know it was connected right, but I wasn't sure if the transistor was even good, since it was found in a spare parts drawer. So first i'm asking can a PNP really control the pot? If so what could of been my problem? Next is a Digital potentiometer now this looks promising, but I never used one before, and couldn't find a link that did what I want to do. So my question with the Digital pot is, Can I hook it up with my Arduino, then hook the digital pot on where the original analog potentiometer was on the remote? and if so does this means I could change the resistance to whatever value i want?
digital pots are very limited with how much current passes though them, and they are not smooth, they typically have a number of steps between min and max
like an 8 bit one would have 255 steps, which may or may not be smooth enough
thanks i found that link a while ago but my problem is that on my rc remote the analog pot has a little over 900 steps the digi is only offering me 255 i did look for 10 bit digipot but did not find a reliable site to buy off of and seems like they stop making them all lol and i know 255 would not get the full range that im looking for
and i know 255 would not get the full range that im looking for
Yes you will get the full range it is a pot after all. What you will not get is the resolution of the step changes, that is each step will be more coarse than your original control.
I do believe it is going to be more practical to do this the other way around. This is what is in fact commonly done using Arduino or similar dev systems.
You say: What does the RC unit actually do? In fact, it generates a signal encoded as a pulse train according to the settings of the pots (and trims) on the panel. This is something an Arduino is already really good at, so the simplest way (believe it or don't) is to get the Arduino to do everything the controller needs to do, and patch it into the transmitter in the present RC controller.
Of course, you need to determine just how the RC controller encodes all its inputs, but again this is something the Arduino is good at and code is available for that discovery too.
Not that (I can tell you where as I have not advanced in this process myself yet, but am presently working on it in hacking my - older - garage door controller for which remotes are not readily and cheaply available or that) the process is trivial - either way there is plenty of work and learning involved.