peristaltic pump with a trim pot?

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scottp3
 
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peristaltic pump with a trim pot?

Post by scottp3 »

I am trying to use one of the adafruit peristaltic pumps with a trim pot. I have it wired up using a 12v adapter through a breadboard 2.1mm jack. I am using one a 10k trim pot (probably the issue but not sure) as the control. I have it wired up in such a way that the pump only runs when I turn the trim pot all the way one direction, and there is no speed control. More just on and off, and only on one end of the turn. How can I make this a real speed control? Should I use a different trim pot or another control device altogether. I am not using any micro controller at all right now, just analog for the moment. Any help would be appreciated.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: peristaltic pump with a trim pot?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Trim pots do not make good speed controls for motors. They are not designed to handle the current. You could use a rheostat (similar to a potentiometer, but generally designed to handle some current), but it would be inefficient and motor control at low speeds would not be good. (Torque will suffer and the motor will tend to stall)

The best way to control DC motor speed is with PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). This is pretty simple to implement with a microcontroller. http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ardu ... s/overview

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scottp3
 
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Re: peristaltic pump with a trim pot?

Post by scottp3 »

Ok. Thanks. Looks like I have to go about things a bit differently. Back to the drawing board.

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