[Second Series]

Jason, Thanks for sharing! It looks like you have a solid mechanical setup. I like the drive belt you’re using. I looked up the part number for the encoder you referenced, there were some documents about encoders, so I downloaded them. I’ve got some reading to do!

I’m using a bench power supply for the 12 volts. I had to set the current limit to 10 Amps to keep the 12v from dropping. The motor from the cordless driver is similar to the Mabuchi motor, they draw some current and have plenty of torque, more than enough. It may be better to under utilize a bigger motor(may run cooler, run more stable) than a smaller, but I’ll test the smaller ones that I have also.

My first attempt to run the motor fried a 6144 transistor with a TO-220 case, rated 10A, so I used another 6144 to drive a 7926 in a TO-3(metal can) case, rated 15A. These were just random components that I had on hand. I may choose an off the shelf alternative for a final build.

Today I spent some time modifying my code to use a switch case format. I added flags for reverse and stationary. Now the PWM for the motor is off until the 0 to 60Hz signal (from the 2000ppm) goes above 1Hz. and the PWM turns off when that signal goes below 1Hz. Speedometer won’t run when driving in Reverse. Some bugs at the upper end need to be worked out, the code for maximum speed is broken now. I don’t have much experience with Floating-Point variables, but that’s what I’m using since the math to convert frequency to drive signal uses decimal places. I may be able to get away with less resolution if it’s too much trouble.

After I fix the max speed issue, I’ll look at the optical disk motor that Dayj1 sent. The signal from the optical disk may be able to be used to throttle the motor supply, allowing control over the slow speed, and get it to run slower. I don’t have any experience with that, but after all that is what the optical disc is for.