Thomas Lum wrote:
> I was wondering how the scooter speed controllers worked out on the
> T012? Any field test results?
They worked without a problem during the last Gettysburg battles, which
is our only battlefield experience to date. However, I plan on
deploying some more vehicles with scooter motor controllers in 2010
which is an indication of how well I think they work.
At $20-$25 for each 350W-500W controller they fit well into my "beefy,
cheap and repairable" approach to system design. For much less the
price of the high-amp commercial products (less than $100), I'll be
using two scooter controllers, 4 auto relays and a circuit board to
provide fully proportional speed control. With the money I save, I'll
have a nice stockpile of spare parts in my box. More importantly, since
the system is modular, if something does fail (on any vehicle) I can
replace any individual component "in the field" in just a couple minutes
with only a screwdriver.
The only significant drawback of the approach is that the solution
requires more space in the vehicle than a fully integrated commercial
speed controller because the scooter controllers have their own heat
sink cases. On the other hand, they have much more surface area for
cooling. If space is a major concern, the scooter controllers can be
replaced by a pair of SSRs and heat sinks, resulting in a clone of the
Anvilus controller design ... which has been successfully used in dozens
of battles by various vehicles for over 5 years. (In fact, the scooter
motor controller approach is the evolution of the Anvilus design using
modular components. Joe led the way with the development of some
circuits to control the controllers, I've simply been running with the
ball he passed to me, making things more modular.)
The modular approach also requires more control wires between the
circuit board and the relays/controllers, but the control wires are all
small gauge.
A complete set of scooter controller components will be on display at
the upcoming Tank Expo 2010 which is tentatively slated for Saturday,
Jan 16 in Annapolis.
Frank P.
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