DC motors weirdo

[barkay]

Dear Fellow builders,

While trying to program my throttle I have come across a very interesting problem. I am using DC motors card from open cockpits with 10K pots connected to DC motors. Even though all my definitions in sioc.ini regarding the device numer and number of cards used seems to be corret I can not get Sioc to see my pot. When I run the DC motors card software eveything starts working but the pot value is not stable and jittering very badly.

First time I connected the card sioc was seeing it and there was no jitter in pot value. Reading was very accurate so the motor was working like a charm within very narrow jitter tolerances.

Does anyone know how to run this without using DCmotors card software in sioc?

Thank you in advance

barkay

[Georg Schneider]

Hi barkay !

The DC motors card from opencockpits is only for connecting your
DC-motor from the trim-wheel.

To connect the pots from your throttle leavers,flaps,speed brake
you need the usb-axes card or any other joystick controller.

To connect the servos from your AT/throttle leavers you need the
usb-servo card from opencockpits.

Kind regards
George

[barkay]

Dear Georg,

Thank you for the answer. Let me make a couple of contributions to your comments. First of all USB axes card can be used as you have said to make things easier in terms of throttle axis. I have managed to use only a single DC motors card by connecting my pots to the same card and get full AT mode working like a charm. It was a minor mistake in my SIOC.ini file.

I am now in the progress of constructing my sioc code so that only one single DCmotors card will be enough for both throttles, speed brake and trim motors.

The reason I am not using servo motors is that they wear quite fast if you play with them so much manually as they have a positioning system inside. Therefore DC motor seemed like a better solution to me as they really do not give up that easily. Of course motor selection is important. I am using only 5 Volts to run the motors and can control the speeds so that I ca simulate the same accuracy as in the real airplane.

So instead of going from a rather easier road by having a USB axes card I have construted everything in sioc therefore only using FSUIPC offsets and not the joystick calibration facilities. This way if anything happens to my system I do not have to rethink of my settings at least as far as the throttle is concerned and it will work with every system running SIOC without no problems.

More coming soon...

Best Regards and thanks again,

barkay

[Georg Schneider]

Hi barkay !

Sounds like a good approach you are in to

I`m currently have Leo Bodnars joystick controller for all the pots.

But as you said calibrating is a heck of a job

Looking forward to your method because i`m currently designing and building

a complete MIP-interface including TQ for the Opencockpits mastercard

all with quick connectors and backlighting connectors on the interface pcb.

The same i`m doing for the overhead 3 pcb`s with quick connectors
and backlighting connectors .
The pcb`s can handle up to 13Amp for backlighting.

For the TQ there should be one connector to connect to the
MIP-interface.

Also i`m designing a relay card where you can switch on automatic
all PSU`s for the backlighting when BAT switch is on.

Keep me informed about your results

Kind regards and happy building
George

[flyboy01]

Hi Barkay,
I would be interested if you could give me some pointers in getting the dc motors card to work. I have built my TQ as well and am using the same approach as you. However i am using 12volt geared motors for my throttle leavers. I would love to see your sioc file for the programming of your TQ as well as your config ini file for the setup of your dc motors card. I ask this because when i plug my card in it recognises as the usb servos card. and also when i run the controlador program it does not show my pots moving. Is there a seperste test to get the values of the upper and lower limits of the pots travel? If you could either pm me or send me an email to trevor.wimmer@goldenit.net.au this would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Trevor Wimmer

[Hessel Oosten]

Hi Guys,

Please can one of you (or all is the best , comment on **the current** for the motors ?

The OpenCockpits DCMotorcard allows 1 Amp per motor
(I presume indeed for 1 Amp per motor and not for the theoretical 6 which can be connected to this card)
and a maximum of 36Volts.

Looking e.g. at datasheets from much (12V) motors the

**Current is frequently above this 1 Amp.**

So, what motor /servo's (brand) do you use ????

Hessel

[flyboy01]

Hi,
The motors i have are from conrad electronics i think. I got the motors supplied as part of my throttle kit. I baught this kit from A guy in the Netherlands I think his screen name is dnoise, and his first name is Jan. i will confirm this in a couple of hours when i go through my email correspondance. I would imagine that because the motor is geared, that apart from slowing the outpout shaft down, that the gearing arrangement provides more torque as well. this would reduce the ammount of current that the motor would need to draw. Someone please correct me if i am wrong. as this is just my understanding of the principles.
Kind regards Trevor Wimmer

[Hessel Oosten]

Hi Trevor and other motor/servo enthousiasts...,

I saw at a friend here in Holland a working TQ that was based on the DCMotor from Conrad nr. 233132.
It works without problems (!), but with a big cooling fan on the OpenC. DCMotor card.

The Conrad site states of the motor: 0,75 Amp, but if you look into the datasheet you can see that I can go up to nearly 9 Amps ! Of course the gearing will reduce that, but it concerns me a little bit. See attached datasheet.

Hope DNoize (Stef) will jump in to clear these difficult (for me) things.

After a discussion on the Yahoo 767 builders forum I found a 24 V motor which is (formally) still a little bit to high but nevertheless has (of course) much lower Amps.
It's a 516:1 reduction epicyclic DCmotor (on 12V an rpm of 19). See both attachments.

Hopefully more technical guy's can give some usefull comments on this.

Hessel

(So see attachments)

[Jan737]

Hi all,

I'm using this one's from Conrad: Bestnr.: 227579 - 89

Max 300 mA.

Best regards

Jan Geurtsen

[Hessel Oosten]

Dank je wel Jan !, Thanks Jan !

This Amperage is fine,

BUT the torque of this Conrad motor (nr. 227579) is 180 Ncm.

The other Conrad motor I mentioned before (nr. 233132) is 5.39 Nm so 539 Ncm, much more powerfull.

So the questions is, is it powerfull enough in your experience ?

Can it overcome the articial friction we "make" to produce a more **realistic feel** ?
Or some more practical, "who" is more powerfull, the motor or your arm ?

Hessel

Datasheet (nr. 227579) attached.

p.s. For some other readers:
1 N is the force required to lift approximately 0.1 kg of mass against earth's gravity.
1 Nm of torque can lift this weight attached to a chain wrapped around a gear whose radius is 1 meter.