Two new projects

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Fes2
 
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Two new projects

Post by Fes2 »

Hello All,

As someone with a purely mechanical background, I am completely (or at least almost) new to electronics. I have a 30 ft sailboat that I have converted from a gasoline motor to an electric motor. There are two projects that would seem to be fairly basic, but I don't know what parts would be necessary or how to start, so I was hoping for some help.

Project 1: The "throttle" for the motor controller uses a 5 volt signal through a 5k pot (0-2.25=forward/2.23-3.25=neutral/3.26 to 5=reverse) As an alternative to the hardwired mechanical pot, I have a unused, but still working G1 android phone that I would like use as a wireless controller. It seems fairly basic to create a program with a onscreen slider on the phone, but I don't know where to start with the rest of the project. It would seem that I woudl need:
1. The hardware to interface wirelessly (either bluetooth or wifi)
2. The hardware to control the output voltage.
I often sail alone and it would be a great help to be able to control forward/reverse while away from the cockpit, especially while docking.

Project 2: I have and unbroken LCD monitor from a broken laptop and would like to connect it to a camera. I have looked at the setup tutorial on the TTL camera, but I am still not sure how to connect the Arduino to the monitor. I would like to do something with the LCD and using it as a sort of digital periscope seems like a good idea.

Thank you in advance for any help.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Two new projects

Post by Franklin97355 »

I often sail alone and it would be a great help to be able to control forward/reverse while away from the cockpit, especially while docking.
This is where I would be most against using a cell phone/wireless solution. You need total control and I see too many problems with lost signal or crosstalk.

Fes2
 
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Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:59 am

Re: Two new projects

Post by Fes2 »

Sorry for the long delay, I didn't receive a notice that anyone commented on my post. I understand your concern, but I believe that the potential for disaster is fairly limited. I will be on the boat when used and I am keeping a parallel motor control available (via the potentiometer) by switch.

In the time since I originally posted, I purchased an Arduino kit and some additional parts have have been working on learning how to work with them. As someone new to electronics, it has been a combination of baby steps to arrive where I am.

I purchased a blue smirf bluetooth module and with the help of Amarino, I can now vary the voltage remotely. I connected the unit to the motor controller. Since the Arduino is self powered, I only connected the ground and the wiper. In running, I was able to vary the motor output, but only very roughly (the motor was "reving" constantly.) A friend of mine suggested that without using the reference voltage from the motor controller, I will not be able to improve the control. So, I am going to try to use the 5 volts to power the Arduino. One of the problems with this is that the output voltage will be lower than 5 volts, so I am losing some of the motor's range (but only in reverse which is not as important.)

I tried connecting 5 volts to the barrel plub of the Arduino, but I was only able to get about 3 volts from Pin 9. I am assuming that there is something attached to that plug to adjust down from 9 volts. My next step will be to try to power the arduino through the USB plug.

Does anyone else have any theories?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Two new projects

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I tried connecting 5 volts to the barrel plub of the Arduino, but I was only able to get about 3 volts from Pin 9. I am assuming that there is something attached to that plug to adjust down from 9 volts. My next step will be to try to power the arduino through the USB plug.
The barrel connector feeds the 7805 voltage regulator which needs at least 2v over the output voltage to regulate properly. If you have a clean, regulated 5v supply, you can connect directly to the 5v pin. The USB plug will work too.

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