I have two 24v/12 Simple Motor Controllers being controlled by one potentiometer, and I want to upgrade to radio control, but I don’t know where to look for simple RC systems that would work with my motor controllers. Do you know of a simple RC remote, maybe with just a dial, or a trigger and switch (to go between backwards and forwards)?
I don’t plan on ever being more than 5 or 6 feet from the motor controllers, if that makes it easier to answer.
Thanks!
The Simple Motor Controller can take servo PWM input (called “RC servo pulses,”) and regular RC hobby transmitters/receivers output servo PWM signals. Thus, anything you can find in a hobby shop should work.
You can go with a separate transmitter and receiver pair:
amainhobbies.com/product_inf … face-Radio
amainhobbies.com/product_inf … t-Receiver
Another option is to go with programmable wireless transmitters, and tie a button to the sending transmitter, and use serial output on the receiving end. Something like a pair of Wixels:
pololu.com/catalog/product/1338
Or if you feel adventurous, you can go with cheap Chinese direct sellers:
hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor … de_2_.html
I’ve had decidedly mixed success with those kinds of deals, though.
Well, I have to keep the controller one handed, so I’d have to go with that more expensive spectrum radio (unless there is a cheaper one-handed one?)
As for the receiver, how is that set up? what kind of voltage does it take? do I use power from the motor controllers? and is the grey wire an antenna, or the PWM signal wire?
*edit: is there a controller with just the trigger? I only need forward/back motion.
I know of no RC controller with only a single axis. You can just not turn the wheel, I guess?
The receiver has an antenna, and takes either 5V or 6V input. Typically, you’ll use an “UBEC” or other step-down regulator to provide the needed voltage to the receiver. You can find some of those under the “regulators and power supplies” section on this site, or on the hobby sites.
The output from the receiver is the headers on the front, which has space to plug in two servos. Those headers will have GND, VCC, and PWM in that order. You only need to connect the GND and PWM signal from one of the servos if you only want one control channel into the Simple Motor Controller.
I can think of other ways to go about this remote control, too, but none that’s as “ready to run” as using ready-made RC control hardware. Although you need to hook up some wires, that sure beats writing custom code for a pair of Wixels 
I’ll say it’s easier than coding! But don’t the simple motor controllers have a 5V option? I can’t run the receiver off of the controller?
That might work, too. I don’t know if that receiver demands 6V, or if 5V is fine. If it doesn’t say on the website, perhaps you can send them an email and ask? Or just get one, and hope for the best If it doesn’t work, Pololu has step-up converters, too, that can go from 5V to 6V if needed.
