[Yaaarc] robotics - H-bridges -wheelchair motors

[Ran Ong]

To ALL,

This is my plan i want to build a remote controlled personal rover using wheelchair motors.

this is for a hobby.

What what i have right now

complete working powered wheelchair : jazzy 1120
- a pair of 24 volt pride mobility motors (HT) 
- pride dynamics motor controller (complete)

others:
2 channel remote controller
 
What kind of solution i'm looking for:

There are available motor controller that can be interface to wheelchair motors and connect an RC module (servo controller). I've see one solutions from www.roboteq.com 
using their ax3500 or ax2500 module to interface both a PC or RC module attached to it.
from this base you can add other robotics sensors and monitors...

Now just wondering if there are people in this list  using a different solution as the roboteq modules are expensive.

thank you 
ran

> From: acti at provide.net
> Subject: Re: [Yaaarc] robotics - H-bridges -wheelchair motors
> To: ongrb at msn.com
> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:34:30 -0500
> CC: yaaarc at hamjudo.com
> 
> Ran Ong <ongrb at msn.com> wrote:
> > Any using Wheelchair motors for any kind of robotics application ?
> 
> Yes.  FIRST Team 1502 (in Chelsea MI) built a drivable powered 
> cart for carrying the compeition robot to and from the field,
> along with a standing cart operator. (It's a "Gondola" application.)
> 
> > What kind of motor controllers you are using.
> > Thanks
> > \ran
> 
> In our case, we built it by cannibalizing a powered wheelchair.
> Therefore, we used the original controller that came with the chair.
> We picked up two identical powered wheelchairs (one for conversion. 
> one for spare parts to maintain it), WITH batteries, at UM Property 
> Disposition for $50 each.  
> 
> (They were a part of a ten lot of "for parts" wheelchairs retired by 
> the University, but all of the motors and controls were intact and 
> fuctional. IOW, the seat hardware had problems, not the mobility parts.)
> 
> There are a lot of commercial H-bridges out there, and net groups 
> discussing homebrew ones.  But, the different h-bridge kits and assmbled
> units each typcially serve a specific (or narrow range) motor specs.
> 
> We really need to know more about what you have now, and what you 
> are intending to do with it.  There are several power/scales of 
> these things, and the specs matter greatly.
> 
> 1) What's your application?  (What is it intended to do?)
> 
> 2) Which is it: hobby/tinkering/cheap, or commercial/compeition/maintainable?
> With hobby/tinkering/cheap you can often be flexible with sources, specs, 
> and hacking old stuff you get your hands on for pennies per pound. 
> They're often one-of machines, and you can "bend" something cheap 
> to the task (vs designing it from scratch for one purpose).
> OTOH, commercial/competition/maintainable requires much more stable 
> spare part sources for replication and maintenance over the working 
> lifespan of the machine.
> 
> 3) What voltage/current/power "scale" are you expecting?
>    12v / 24v /36v / other?    
> 
> 4) Do you have the motors already?  If so, what are their specs?
> (PM? nominal voltage? peak power at .5*freespeed? stall current? etc.)
> The motor specs determine what you need to look for in a controller.
> 
> If you do NOT have your motors yet, I'd *highly* recommend searching 
> for surplus or used motor&controller *SETS*, vs trying to piece together
> subsystems. Also, if a hobby app, don't forget seeking out complete 
> used powered wheelchairs like we did, and do the same conversion.  
> (Try eBay, local papers, etc.)  I've bought motor/controller as sets 
> before.  You can't beat the price!
> 
> - Keith Mc.
> Chief Engineer, FIRST Team 1502 "Technical Difficulties", Chelsea MI
> _______________________________________________
> Yaaarc mailing list
> Yaaarc at stilyagi.org
> http://stilyagi.org/mailman/listinfo/yaaarc

_________________________________________________________________
Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista® + Windows Live™.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC_MediaCtr_bigscreen_102007