Hi!
I’m upgrading an old system that I have, which attempts to control 2 dc motors and a servo by rc control, my question is if the roboclaw motor controller can control a servo plus the 2 dc motors (which obviously can).
Thanks!
The RoboClaw 2×30A motor controller has two motor channels and can be configured to use hobby RC signals for inputs. It does not have a third channel for controlling a servo like you mentioned. Is there a reason you cannot control the servo directly from your RC signal? If you post more information about your application and what you are doing with the servo, I might be able to offer some suggestions.
Brandon
Hi Brandon!
Thanks for your reply, the thing is that my receiver has got only one signal cable, it goes through ppm and I figured I had to hook the servo signal up to the Roboclaw, maybe. My application is a robot that moves around thanks to 2 dc motors for forward/backwards movement. The servo provides turning by tilting a counterweight that inclines the ball all the mechanism is stuffed into. In my current system I have two separate arduinos, one for the dc motors and another one for the servo. Now I’m moving it around using two different android applications through bluetooth, but for that I need two separate devices, which makes the whole thing a little difficult to juggle with. I wanted to integrate all the controls in one single device, and switching to the roboclaw seemed like a good idea, given how easy is to configure rc control on it. What do you think?
Thanks!
The RoboClaw will not accept PPM signals; the RC mode is intended for use with standard hobby RC signals. Additionally, it sounds like your two motors will always be moving together (e.g. forwards or backwards at the same time). If that is the case, and you do not need independent control of each motor, you can probably parallel them together and use a single motor channel.
We do not have any motor drivers or controllers designed to work with PPM signals, but you might consider using an Arduino to process the PPM signal and send control signals to a separate motor driver. Depending on the specifications of your motors, one of our High-Power Motor Drivers might work for that. You could also use the Arduino Servo library to control your servo.
Brandon
Thanks Brandon,
I decided to go with another receiver (pwm based). My motors are the hd planetary gear motors 23 rpm, each one of them consuming up to 20 A, and I’d like to stick to the 2x30 A Roboclaw, since the others are a little bit more expensive and my budget doesn’t quite stretch to it, considering how much I’ve already invested in my robot ha ha ha. This way, hooking the servo signal up to one of the pwm channels in my new receiver and the other two channels directly to the roboclaw would solve the problem right?
Thanks again!
Iñigo
The RoboClaw can be configured to accept standard hobby RC signals (e.g. pulse widths in the 1-2ms range) to drive brushed DC motors, so if that is what you are using, it should work. If you are controlling the motors independently from each other, you should be able to use separate channels on your receiver like you described.
There are many kinds of servos available, but if you are using a standard servo that expects standard hobby RC signals, you should be able to control it directly from a RC transmitter/receiver pair that uses those signals.
Brandon
Hi Brandon!
Actually I need them to move at the same time, and my servo is a CM-785HB. Could I then parallel the motors together and use only one channel in the 2×30 A roboclaw? Or what other options are there available? Thanks a lot!
If each of your motors can draw upwards of 20A, I would not recommend paralleling them on a single channel of the 2x30A RoboClaw. However, you could probably get a similar effect by splicing the RC signal to the input pins to send them both the same signal, if both channels on the RoboClaw are configured the same.
From a quick Internet search, it looks like that is a standard servo, so it should work with hobby RC signals.
Brandon