04-16-2011, 11:49 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
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Just built my first MOTOR CONTROLLER!
Hey everyone!
For a long while now I have been hearing about how motor controllers work, but most of it has been over my head.
I'm currently (oh my, the puns...) er right now, I am in a non-credit electronics class. The night before last, I went to the Makerspace and started work on a really simple DC motor controller, to be used as an LED dimmer.
So here it is:
Yep, that's a motor controller!
12V, 200mA., and not much to look at, but it does work!
Read more at my blog entry:
First DIY Motor Controller
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04-16-2011, 12:24 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Ford Escort 2.0
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Congrats on making the controller! What's the next step in making it handle more amps?
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04-16-2011, 02:43 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
Join Date: Jan 2008
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The final intent of this project is to make an LED dimmer that can handle 6 watts.
It just so happens that a motor controller design will work just fine for the project.
The next step would be to have the output drive a transistor instead of an LED.
The transistor will handle the higher power and do the actual switching.
If I were building a full-scale EV motor controller from scratch, I would just go with the Open Revolt design.
This little project is as much to learn about electronics as anything.
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04-17-2011, 09:31 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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Administrator
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Wooo, pretty cool Ben. I've been tinkering with a few things myself. Electronics are a lot of fun for nerdy guys like us! There is so much cool stuff you can do!
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04-17-2011, 06:13 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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PaulH
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Awesome Ben! Is that a 555 timer?
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04-17-2011, 10:31 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
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Yeah, that's a 555 timer.
I had never used one before. When I started talking with the local guys about rigging up some sort of really basic PWM controller, I thought I might need some sort of micro-controller and everyone was like "Nah, just use one of these."
I followed THIS TUTORIAL. except that I replaced the mosphet with a resistor and LED.
I'm still new to all this and most of it is still a foreign language.
It was pretty exciting to hook everything together and make it work though!
This coming Thursday night, I plan on making it control a small motor and a larger array of LEDs. Then I can make a real circuit board and enclosure for it.
This is by no means anything close to an Open ReVolt controller, but I am actually learning things by doing this! |
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04-22-2011, 01:07 AM
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#7 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
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Made it light up an array of LEDs with a MOSFET and also run a small DC motor.
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04-23-2011, 10:00 AM
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#8 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
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I just got the setup to dim a large white LED array (under cabinet light) yesterday.
That light is 1.8 watts. I think the MOSFET is rated for 50 watts.
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04-24-2011, 06:02 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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EV test pilot
Join Date: Jan 2008
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PWM is basically a square wave - put it through a speaker and you get noise!
I did play a little bit with an audio speaker, varying the pitch. There was another guy there when I was working on it who makes weird electronic musical instruments and noisemakers for fun. He uses all sorts of old-fasioned analog circuits for that.
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04-26-2011, 09:34 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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PaulH
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LouMan
...and when the light clicks and just a idea can become reality you'll feel like a new father everytime a new idea come to life.
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And when it blows up you will feel like the father of someone that just blew up. It's really quite sad actually.
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