Mine have been in harsh weather service now for 5 years … perfect!!! -15F 120F never missed a beat.
Hello,
Thank you for your kind words. We love your enthusiasm for our Maestro USB Servo Controllers! That sounds like a heck of a temperature range; can you share with us how you are using your Maestros?
-Derrill
My 30’ sailboat has been upgraded to hydraulic drive. I have hydraulic direction and pressure controls as well as metal gear waterproof R/C servos. the maestro 18 has one PWM out which goes to a power mosfet and to a Brand Hydraulic (Brand Hydraulics Electronically Adjustable Flow Control Valve – 0–30 GPM, 3000 PSI, Model# PEFC12-10-12 ) . the direction control is a Northman Fluid Power Hydraulic Directional Control Valve (– 26.4 GPM, 4500 PSI, 3-Position, Double Solenoid, Open Center Spool, 12 Volt DC Solenoids, Model# SWH-G03-C2-D12-10 ). the servos go to the throttle and choke.
The tiller has 3 10k wirewound pots for throttle choke for direct control of the engine servos while the direction control is a little more complex … mid way is neutral, ‘fwd’ turns on the direction controller for forward pressure to the hydraulic motor. (a pair of Pololu RC Switch with Medium Low-Side MOSFET 2803s ) as well as modulating the brand mosfet amp for pressure control. an added safety feature is that after 30 sec of idling the fwd/rev knob has to be jiggled from fwd to rev neut to exit a safety wait state. and all of the controls including start and over all power are mounted on the tiller out of the way. I added two Toyota seatbelt retractors and can pilot the boat remotely with a tiller line. nice when changing sails.or getting a drink. .
this has been in operation for 6 years now and never failed once and the Chesapeake bay gets really hot 105F cold -15F. I use polyglycol instead of hydraulic oil for fire, safety, enviro, and performance issues. oil gets gummy at low temps and is a nasty mess to clean up. poly is edidable and actually works with vodka.
I have also added the Prevasive displays eink display 10.4" for GPS mapping using the NOAA maps. a sparkfun GPS and fanless PC and a hacked hummingbird fish finder make for a real low power navigation system that you can see in daylight and nighttime… from 10ft away. the pc can auto pilot the boat under sail as well as power using a complex algorithm and a 9 Axis IMU sensor. all for less than $1k !!! ($2K including the engine and hydraulics)
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3 Likes
Wow! Thank you for sharing; that sounds amazing! Do you have any pictures you can share?
-Derrill
I do … and will take some more this weekend. it has really simplified my
boat. I am 'winterizing it so navigation stuff is off ship. but the basic
engine propulsion is always there.
really a fun project …
Skip
Derrill
there is a huge gap in power hydraulics and electronic control. this tiny
controller and a few other goodies actually could run a 100 ton vessel.
I’m sure you make one but a R/c servo input to variable voltage or power
control to a motor would make any application possible.
FYI look at surplus center Omaha Nb hydraulics section. particulary the
valves
Skip
We do carry motor controllers that can accept RC hobby signals. Which one would be appropriate would depend on the ratings of your motor and whether you need feedback.
Looking forward to seeing your boat!
-Derrill