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Mistery blue component on DOFReality H3 controller box

Discussion in 'Electronic and hardware generally' started by Luis Pinho, Oct 23, 2023.

  1. Luis Pinho

    Luis Pinho Member

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    Hi guys,
    I'm building the electronics box and while looking for inspiration I found the DOFReality H3 model controller to be a very model to follow.

    I found this video from Sim Racing Garage and we can identify the 3 power supplies, the CPU on the top right and the 3 engines controllers, I was trying to find out, what is that blue box\component?



    upload_2023-10-22_23-15-28.png

    upload_2023-10-22_23-18-59.png


    I can see that all hot wires go through it, the ground and neutral seems to hop from one power supply to another, so what is the blue box? Can anyone identify it?

    Thanks,
    LP
    Luis Pinho, Oct 23, 2023
    #1
  2. GWiz

    GWiz Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    That's a 5V relay switch to cut the mains power to the motors when connected to the emergency stop button. It's not a great design for a couple of reasons, it's not correctly wired/designed correctly to act as a true safety switch and the micro-arcing with the contacts of the relay causes this component to fail fairly easily.

    If you're looking for inspiration for your control box, I'd advise using a different design for an emergency stop switch.
    • Informative Informative x 1
    GWiz, Oct 23, 2023
    #2
  3. Luis Pinho

    Luis Pinho Member

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    Hi @GWiz,
    Thanks for replying.
    Any favourite design for an emergency stop switch, you can point me to?

    Thanks again for your help,
    LP
    Luis Pinho, Oct 23, 2023
    #3
  4. GWiz

    GWiz Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    There will be others on this forum with a greater knowledge than me, but there are certain design principles for a good emergency stop such as it should operate reliably each time and not rely on a another component to function. (The DOFReality one needs the arduino to be working in order to turn off the power). To be safe, you want the power to cut off immediately often by breaking a normally closed connection rather than completing a normally open one. It should of course be easily accessible and the machinery should shut down in a timely but controlled manner.

    Here's a good thread on design considerations:
    https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/emergency-stop-and-you.14889/

    Some of the motion simulators designed here are easily powerful enough to cause some serious injury and can move fast enough to make turning them off difficult if they go out of control. Better to have an e-stop and never need it than the other way around!
    • Informative Informative x 1
    GWiz, Oct 24, 2023
    #4