K8055 - Dual Wiper Motor Control with Variable Speed

Frame - Proof of concept testing

Closer than I thought!! - the frame and platform are very nearly finished, and I got the proof of concept testing done on the platform today... just the pots to connect up and test tomorrow, then I can chose a design for the finished simulator and start working towards that!

[EDIT]: I forgot to say that the first half of the video shows the motors turning in the same direction, but at different speeds... the second half shows fast sine waves like the test of motors before, so is more like the data that would come from a game - you can really hear the relays going for it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO-NaX_00I0

The clip shows the initial proof of concept testing of the frame - this is NOT my intended final design! remember also please that:
The frame is not bolted down (this causes the click as the back motor spins), is only tack welded together, and is intentionally way too high in the centre post... (I had no idea what scale the movement would be on, so didn't want it to bottom out!)

Oh yes... and I messed up with the measurements so the platform is not level, and I'm out of welding rods so couldn't fix it :

Whatever the design I chose for the finished simulator, it is my intention to make the top platform of the finished frame entirely from steel square section tube... for now, the wood at least shows the range of movements

It would definitely benefit from a large prop shaft universal joint in the middle, and one from a steering column on each arm... that said, I am quite proud of the mechanism and the way it works with just the inexpertly welded sides of an old bed and some cheap door hinges!

The pots are not connected yet - that will happen tomorrow morning, so I am using my old profile.
(I have made a new profile that uses the analogue inputs, and it is working fine but there is no point using it until the pots are connected - I will post it as soon as I have it tested properly).

Tim 8)

Improvements to the circuit during this test:
Heat sinks on the transistors and permanent fan mounting

Why you need a Relay when using a motor driver?
My hardware is 2 motors with 24V and 10A .
i have this motordrivers

Please can anybody post me a circuit with exact names of the parts i need?
which Diode and which Relais are working?

thx alot

Why do you want a relay based motor driver if you have that MOSFET h-bridge already?

Thats what i mean.
i need a circuit based on k8055 and this both Motordrivers.

Ok
i got an answer in the Vellemann Forum.

Here is how to connect the K8055 with motordrivers.
not tested yet cause i dont have any resistances here.

Hi Menix

Thanks for this connection diagram - very useful for anyone looking at K8055 options! :

To answer your original question, the relay in my setup simply changes the motor direction - like the DIR input on your board.

I did look at these little boards - the reason I chose to go with the double relay based speed controller was simply the cost.
The Pololu boards work out at about 4 times the price, and of course you need 2 of them...

Something that might be useful for you if you decide to try this, is that the profiler configuration I use should work for you as well.
The digital channel in both solutions is used to set the motor direction, and the analogue channel is used for PWM data.

You can download it from the first post in this thread :thbup:

Tim

All this dont work for me.
theres no Tutorial for X-sim with a K8055 Board
My K8055 dont work under x-sim.
i want only to control 2 wiper Motors with a Joystick and the K8055
im so frustrated.
nearly 1/2 year of trying.
is there no other Software like X-sim??
Or can anybody help me?

My System
Win7 Ultimate 64 :
Vellemann K8055
2x H-bridge
Connected like the circuit 2 Posts above.

when trying in x-sim, nothing happens with the vellamnn.
which x-sim version should i use?
How can i test if the K8055 works in x-sim?

hi,
you can see in the interface settings in the profiler if the 8055 are find with x-sim.

Ja er findet das Vellemann aber es passiert nix.
Keine Ahnung was ich wo einstellen muss.
Will doch nur prüfen wie alles funktioniert wenn ich den Joystick bewege. Aber da kommt nix raus vom K8055.
Wenn ich Bigalltimes Profil lade dann kommt auch nur was wenn ich Calibrate now drücke.
Gibts da keine grafische Oberfläche wie bei der Vellemann Demo?
Wo man testen kann was was ist.
Und wie is das mit Spielen??
Diese ganzen Gameprofile sind doch auf Aktuators ausgelegt. Wenn man aber Wipermotoren hat?
Gibts nirgends eine Step by Step Anleitung wie man alles einstellt?

So jetzt habe ich beide Motortreiber geschossen.
Geht nix mehr.
kommt kein Strom mehr durch.

Jetzt muss ne andere Lösung her.

Hi Menix - I would like to help, but I speak very little German... from web translation I am able to understand some but not all of your posts.

I have never used the controller boards you suggest, but you should at least be able to see the K8055 working, as the lights for the digital outputs will flash on and off.

I suggest you forget about the outputs controlled by the Velleman board for now, and get the K8055 working first.

I guess your problems are similar to ones I had in the early stages - the most likely problem is the version of windows you use.
I think the error message you report is the one you get if the interface board referenced in the profile is disconnected/not available - I think that this is your biggest problem... Win7-64 just doesn't appear to like the K8055 for plug and play! You may need to download a new driver or reinstall the one you have... I am using win7-32bit myself and it works ok as plug and play.
The velleman provided test interface definitley does not work with Win7 for me - however you CAN test the board through the interface tab in profiler (explained below).

My profile is built in Force Profiler-2.

One other very important thing you should know, is that the outputs on the K8055 do not provide any power - they are pull down inputs... If the 5V output on your pololu card is not powered, the setup provided on the velleman forum cannot not work.

I had a lot of frustration myself in the early days!!

Let me know if you can see the velleman K8055 in your interface tab in Profiler - if you can, check the box next to it...
If you cant, there is your problem!

To test an output, select the output you wish to test, type in a % value, and click on set output.
In the picture below, clicking Set Output would set Digital output 1 to 100%, and the corresponding LED will light up. Clearing the output will make the LED go out again, so you can see easily enough if the board is working.

Profiler allows you to test all of the outputs and inputs in this way - this is covered in good detail in the X-sim manual.

The test tablet is one of the developer plug ins in force sender.
This is where I got the sine waves output going that I show in most of the videos in this thread.

The starting point is to find the K8055 in your Profiler interface tab.

Let me know when you have that sorted, and I will post a video showing how to do the rest.

The interface tab should look like this:



Tim

Hi Bigalltime
my Vellemann works, but i think i destroeyd my pololu drivers. There is no more output at the 5V Pin.
it works for about few minutes. But 1 of the h-bridge dont work. So i checked out on the working one were is power and were not.
And so i think i made a shortcut and the working one is now also dead.
That means i need two new mosfets.

ouch - that sounds very expensive!

try the relay solution... they're really cheap

You might even try Frakks improved design - I havent been able to get solid state relays locally to me so far!

Tim

Hi Bigtalltim

I was wondering would your solution using relays work for 24v motors??
I have some motors from an electric wheelchair and would like to use them if at all possible.

I do plan on eventually using scn5 actuators ala simxperience stage IV design but due to a house sale falling through my cash flow is definatley not what it should be.

I am based in Bristol and from your accent in your helpful video posts I would guess that you live somewhere 'down south' also.

My understanding of electronics is not great, but computers and electrics is good as I have worked in broadcast for more years that I care to remember these days.

Any help/advice would be gratefully received.

Deaks

Hi Deaks

Yes - this solution should work with 24v relays as long as you upgrade the other components as well (there aren't many thankfully) so that they can also handle the increased voltage.
The resistors are very important... they should be fine (definitely check the data sheets, but they can usually take more voltage than 24V) and as long as the K8055 inputs are protected, you should have no problems.

You may also need to rearrange the PCB layout I posted for a different relay - or you could go with Frakks idea of using perfboard which would probably be the easiest solution (as long as the connecting wires can take the current).

If you are looking for parts online, I would suggest that Lorry parts stockists would be a good place to look for suitable relays (conveniently for you, trucks also work on 24V! )

Like yourself I am running a bit low on cash at the moment through a disastrous house move, so everything I am trying to achieve is on the super cheap! - SCN5s are fiercely expensive... but there are alternatives...

I have an actuator design based on the sarrus linkage that I have nearly finished building in prototype that is powered by a wiper motor, but boosted by bungee cord - very like RolandVanRoys solution, but massively cheaper as it doesnt use any custom components - watch this space... I'm reckoning on about £20 per actuator including the wiper motor 8)

Tim

PS. My accent needs a passport all of it's own! I am originally from Sheffield, grew up in Stafford, and now live in Belfast!

Hi Tim

Thanks for the reply. I was a bit out on your local accent I suppose I was just pleased to find a fellow Brit on this forum.
I must say that selling a house, getting divorced and being made redundant made 2010 a pretty sh*tty year, let's hope that 2011 is better for all of us.

The motors I have are 24v and were for free which was good, but I may get my hands on some 12v motors tomorrow from my electrician cousin who came round today, apparently he has a whole range of 12v motors at home (no idea why). He is back tomorrow, so hopefully he might have something more suitable.

I just did a wiki on the sarum linkage.....hmmm very interesting indeed. I have already built my chassis based around scn5 dimensions so a linear type actuator would be very interesting to me.

I also plan on adding a third actuator to simulate rear traction loss and it would be great to use a 12v motor for that also.
In a couple of days I am going to see one of my friend Bob (we raced motorbikes a few years back) I knew he was in the RAF before moving into telecoms, turns out he was in the fighter jet flight simulation department :clap: I think he could have some interesting input to my little project.

Deaks

Nice one Deaks - all sounding pretty good for your build!!

Sorry to hear that your 2010 was cack - what you need to do is get yourself a sim built, and then you'll spend most of 2011 with a grin on your face that could only be removed by surgery!

I would hold out on the 12v motors for now if I was you... that way, you could go with the components that I have used, which I can guarantee work, and are super cheap!
If your mates 12V motors aren't wiper type motors with gearing built in, the videos below may be especially interesting to you...

For those who have no idea what we are talking about with the Sarrus linkage, follow this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarrus_linkage

Deaks - I think I can say with some confidence that you WILL like this video - RolandVanRoy is a genius!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfI-_RTExBc

And another one showing his 2 stage prototyping from original concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtzIzNf3crQ

And another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS3gkMHAgEQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Hopefully I will have my actuator posted in a video over the next few days - at first glance, my actuator looks like RolandVanRoys, but the mechanism is significantly different as it is based around a wiper motor instead of pulleys and gears.
The only part that is the same is the Sarrus linkage itself which is a very old engineering mechanism - the drive is completely different.

Tim 8)

Another one for you Deaks

As you have already built your chassis around linear actuator dimensions, you may find this even more interesting!

I recall finding instructions on how to build these actuators somewhere - will look them out for you.
This chap made his out of old vacuum cleaner motors!

Pay special attention at about 1:00-1:12 in the video - I think this is a unique solution to position indication... he uses a retractable steel tape measure and a multiturn pot! Absolute Genius!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cpfZHBwvQE

I only hope I'm as cool as this guy when I get to his age... here's one of him riding it!!!! Much respect indeed! :clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnRBX51UcN8&NR=1

Tim 8)

Here is a link to the plans for a DIY linear actuator.

http://buggies.builtforfun.co.uk/Sim/linear-act.html

There is a link to a pdf of the plans and the password you need to access it at the end of the page

Tim

Hi Bigtalltim

Now i have build the controls with Relays.
It works with 24v Powersupply and 12V Relays.
But i have a Problem with the PWM.
It dont work. I have always Full Power on the Motors.
I have 24V Motors.
But i get only 12 V out from the Cable were the pwm and the transistor is build.
Some mistake in my build??