Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: crazyfills on September 21, 2010, 09:57:37 AM

Title: speed controler?
Post by: crazyfills on September 21, 2010, 09:57:37 AM

erm I'm not sure weather this is the right place but I'm considering making a antweight robot however Ive run into some difficulty because i don't understand what a speed controller is or what i need to do with it

Title: Re: speed controler?
Post by: futurrobotech on September 21, 2010, 10:02:31 PM

A speed controller controls motors. I'm new to the whole robotics scene but I'm going to elaborate on it the best that i can. It's is my understanding that a speed controller work somewhat like a motor controller... It takes an input which then opens up the connection between the motors and power supply. I'm making an assumption when i say it has some type of variable resistor to reduce the juice coming through which will make the motor go slower, stop, go faster etc. Hope I helped

Title: Re: speed controler?
Post by: rbtying on September 21, 2010, 11:26:57 PM

It's not a variable resistor, usually its a small microcontroller using PWM on an H-Bridge.  You actually probably don't want to use an ESC (electronic speed control), as they're a little large, and usually designed for R/C usage (20+Amperes).  Instead, get yourself an L293D or a SN745510, and dead-bug it for motor driver control.  Almost all microcontrollers these days have PWM, and with two PWM outputs to the enable pins, you can easily mimic the functionality of an ESC.  If you need help with code, just ask, although I only really know AVRs.

Title: Re: speed controler?
Post by: crazyfills on September 22, 2010, 12:56:48 PM

thanks for all your help guys!  ;D