RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Controller/Display

["Ken Martindale" <wmartindale@cfl.rr.com>]

Jon,

Take a look on the website. I once put the schematic of my motor controller
there. I designed it to handle at least 50 amperes with an input voltage up
to 40+ volts (3 each 12volt lead acid batteries). I used the design in my
motor controller since I didn't want to pay the high prices for a commercial
one. Also mine has never failed.

Let me warn you though layout is critical but I'll be glad to help.

Good luck,

Ken Martindale

-----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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