Hi guys I’m new with this stuff and I was attempting to control the 4" stroke 12v actuator and I found the settings and little tut on the website after not being able to figure it out on my own. I moved the scroll bar to set position like it said and I moved it twice so far so good then moved it up some more and it fried and I’m not sure why. Not a big deal it didn’t cost much anyway but I’d like to learn from my mistake I just don’t know what that is yet.
Thanks
Hello, Tallon.
I am sorry your jrk seems to be damaged. What happened that makes you think it is damaged? Are you referring to the tutorial at the bottom of the linear actuator pages? Could you post a picture of your setup and connections? Can you provide a link to the linear actuator you were using? What kind of power supply were you using? How long were your power supply leads?
- Ryan
Hi Ryan
I ordered a new one to try again, I am thinking it was because I powered it by a 12v bat charger with 10A but I didn’t think that 10A was too much for it. Don’t some 12v batteries supply more than that? I have help with my setup so I don’t think I am wiring it wrong and I’ve also dealt with circuits before. But let me know if it is the charger causing the problem. I just ran a few feet long 18 gauge wires to and from it. Maybe that could be why? It’s leads aren’t that long either.
I think it’s damaged because one of the components melted and smoked the garage out lol maybe it could be replaced I’m not sure but it’s fluid went out onto the board. It’s a black square component, I’m not too knowledgeable with these things.
Thanks
What kind of battery charger are you using? Many of battery chargers cannot be used in place of a battery because they regulate and change voltages and currents in order to charge a battery. It seems like you might be confusing current draw and current rating. If a battery can supply 10A, that doesn’t mean it always is supplying 10A (which might have been what your charger was trying to do), it will only supply as much as the load draws from it.
It sounds like your leads are fairly long as well. I recommend making them shorter or twisting them together and adding additional capacitance between the power supply leads close to the motor driver to try to mitigate problems with LC spikes and line losses.
- Ryan
I’m not sure but it’s a small charger not one you wheel around but you’re probably right. I will just use a 12v battery from now on so I won’t make the same mistake. The gauge and length does not matter for the wiring from the controller to the battery then? This is for a car electronic so wires may be fairly long. I didn’t know how the power supply leads would defer from the actual wiring to the power supply.
Thanks very much
The gauge and length of wire between the battery and controller matters a lot; the length of wire between the controller and the motor matters less. The thinner the wire, the more resistance; the longer the wire, the more inductance and more resistance.
Please note that our products are not recommended for applications where failure can cause personal injury.
- Ryan
Actuator I’m using is pololu.com/catalog/product/2305
I’m using an arduino mega 2560 r3 to run the controller and actuator to control 3 positions.
I suppose wires from the controller to 12v battery will be 5-8ft long, what do you recommend for wire gauge? Or does it depend on how the arduino is set up to it? I have another person that wrote the code and wiring so I don’t know much about it.
I shouldn’t have to worry about personal injury with this if it fails, thanks for your help 
I recommend sizing the wires so they can easily and safely carry the maximum current you are expecting including a good margin of safety. Please note what I said earlier about adding capacitance to mitigate the effects of long power supply leads. The exact wire sizing is up to you to figure out; there are many resources dedicated to the subject of chassis wiring that I am sure would be of help.
If you have a specific question about the jrk or any of our other products, I would be glad to answer it.
- Ryan