RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Controller/Display

["Greg" <greg@precisionplastics.com>]

Hi Jon,

You can find a number of controllers that will work with the type of
joystick in your picture by perusing the "battle-bot" websites. A lot of
these guys are using two channel PWM controls designed for tractor drives-
but they will work just fine for a pair of thrusters. Most of these units
are designed to be used with joysticks that have 5k pots and drive voltages
up to about 50v.
You should be able to set up the whole thing for less than $500.

Greg





-----Original Message-----
From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Jon Wallace
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 2:47 AM
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Controller/Display


I found a photo that pretty that much looks like what I want to create 
in terms of a remote motor controller and sensor display.  The photo 
labeled controller-1 was designed for a robot and so had four 
thumb-joysticks and many more switches than would be necessary for a 
submarine.

I will be looking to use two joysticks, one on the left for up/down, one 
on the right for forward/reverse/left/right.  They will both be two axis 
joysticks even though only one axis is necessary for the up/down 
thrusters.  The photo marked joystick-1 is what I have selected to start 
off with.  The thumb-joysticks shown in the robot controller are cheap, 
and work, but they don't appear to have the resolution that I think I 
want for the thrusters based upon what I've seen in various youtube 
videos of other projects.  It's not clear to me that the joysticks I 
have selected have adequate resolution either, but they appear to be 
better than the thumb-joysticks and at only $25 (us) each I'm willing to 
take a chance on them.  Industrial joysticks look like they cost 
anywhere between $600-$1000.

For the display, I'll be using a 20x4 Red LCD (4 lines of 20 characters 
each) and will cycle through various menus since not all the sensor 
information will fit on four lines.  Currently planning on depth, 
vertical-rate, water pressure, cabin pressure, water temp, cabin temp, 
and also thinking about having a data logger to save all the sensor 
information during the dive.

I was going to also include a luminosity sensor (thanks Jens for the 
ebay pointer) but the cheap LDR's are apparently not very consistent so 
I'm going to wait on it and add one later.

Still looking for a 50amp motor controller that can handle 36vdc before 
I seek out Alec's friend to design one.  I'm not quite sure what the 
barrier is but I notice most reasonably priced motor controllers that 
handle large current seem to have a limit of 30vdc.

Jon





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