The Jeep Project PWM Nightmare

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Gooooooood morning gentlemans! (And ladies)

I'm currently working on a project to turn a ride on power wheels into a full-fledged RC car.

Question from you guys!

  1. Yes! the car had already come to us with some type of controller system so the adults could steer a child while they were in the vehicle

  2. Why not use it? Because I don't want to....... But seriously we keep burning the boards up.

  3. Why not just beef up a new one? "Done did all dat"

  4. So what do you want from us? I have literally started from scratch I have bought a 3 channel RC controller I have some step-down transformers I have some relays and I have a beefed-up DC relay. in a late-night Amazon ordering spree I didn't put two and two together neglecting the output from the RC controller would be PWM.

!!! So now the big question !!! <<<<<

What am I missing here I've been reading for hours I just want to take the pwm output from the RC controller have the Arduino interpret whether it's high or low and trigger relay on or off

And correct me if I'm wrong I'm going to need four channels for forwards backwards left and right seeing is all the motors that are already on the Jeep are DC motors 2 wire motor.

the jeep has five motors there are four for the wheels and one for the steering. Currently the motors are set up in a 2 per axle set up (as far as wiring goes)

TLDR making RC car need PWM interpretation to drive relay(s).

2

You want to use a PWM signal to drive a relay, correct?

Have you looked at Pulse-width modulation - Wikipedia to determine if your want will work?

3

No I need to interpret the pulse-width modulation signal to trigger relays. I don't need to drive the relays with pulse width modulation. A simple on-off will be fine for what I'm doing. So in a simple flow it'll look like this

RC controller (RF) > RC receiver (PWM) > Arduino (logic) > Relays (the constant DC voltage) > Motors

I need forward and backwards in left and right my RC receiver has three channels

The jeep has 4 motors 2 per axle for forward backwards motion. The motors are currently paired 2 per axle.

There is a 5th motor which is hooked up to the steering column

the board that was in it is doing some sort of thinking similar to what I'm doing but we keep burning them up and I figured why not go overboard and do this.

I know that I can order relays online which will accomplish what I want to do but where is the fun in that!

4

also I'm not looking for speed control that's not a big deal at this moment that can burn that bridge in a later reversion of the project.

5

Have a look at these R/C switches from Pololu.

6

Detown. Yes I have, I know I can purchase the parts. But I know I can make my uno do the same thing. Plus that removes the fun. Plus brownie points for having a uno mounted in with my setup will be sweet AF.

7

Okay so quick update. I folded and visited our local RC shop and the guys were pumped to hear what I was doing. I pick up a R/C electronic switch witch runs from the receiver to my motor controller relay. Works like a charm but I'm still stuck with the steering it problem.

8

@Sean_riddle, please do not cross-post. Other thread removed.

9

So what is the difference between the Pololu switch and the one you got from the R/C shop? Thought you wanted to make your own.

10

If you want to DIY, you can just use your RC equipment and servos to move homemade mechanical switches to control the motors. What is the steering problem?