Good luck my friend

I purchased https://synthiam.com/Shop/AccessoriesDetails.aspx?prevCat=9&productNumber=14 I assume this is the same thing? I am pretty new to this, so please don't assume I know anything :  )

Did you get it to work?

I did watch the video, I am just confused where to male plug the speed control(s) into the board. Pic below...

Just got back, how are you doing?

I believe the picture that @Bullseye shared is an ESC (electronic speed control).

So it all depends on what motors @Bullseye has. If they are Brushless DC motors then an ESC would be better to use. It would only need an ARC servo skill to use it. One thing to note is that most ESCs can only spin a motor in one direction. An ESC can be modified to make a brushless motor spin both directions or control brushed DC motors but these are advanced features requiring modified firmware. Modifying firmware means that you need to open the ESC and use a programmer to upload new code to it, it's definitely an advanced method.

If they are DC gear motors, an H-bridge would be in order to control the motors. An L298 is a type of H-bridge (the H-bridge on the EZ-Robot website is an L298). An H-bridge can be hooked up to a Robot controller just as EzAng mentioned.

They are brushless motors, so what you are saying is that there is no way to do that? I am sorry for the newbie questions but I purchased two-speed controls & two brushless motors ($500 so far). Should I just get a RC radio and go that way? Or is there another solution?

Thanks in advance Bullseye

Yes you can control the brushless motors with ESC and ARC using the servo skills that ARC provides. The servo skills can provide the signals that the ESC needs.

What ESC do you have? What's the datasheet say, can it do bi-directional motion?

thank Jeremie for help

I have all of that, I just need to know how to connect the speed controls to the boards (I got the EZ Robot ones). "I have two brushless motors and speed controls I would like to add to the EZ robot B v4 and I also purchased two 5 amp controllers as I was told I would need them. I will also have a battery for the EZ-Bv4. 

Is this the kit you bought @Bullseye?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-trackstar-waterproof-1-10-brushless-power-system-4000kv-80a.html?queryID=08aaac30820c5add359e1e929a95cb94&objectID=47140&indexName=hbk_live_magento_en_us_products

It seems that it is meant for tanks. You just need the right settings and to make sure you hook it up properly to the EZ-Bv4. You will have to be careful with wiring, if the ESC has an integrated BEC it could output +5V back to the EZ-Bv4 and cause some issues.

good luck with you project

@EzAng,

This thread started with:

Quote:

I have two brushless motors and speed controls I would like to add to the EZ robot B v4

Quote:

They are brushless motors, so what you are saying is that there is no way to do that? I am sorry for the newbie questions but I purchased two-speed controls & two brushless motors ($500 so far). Should I just get a RC radio and go that way? Or is there another solution?

@Bullseye:

Quote:

I also purchased two 5 amp controllers as I was told I would need them.

as an advice, before you buy, ask questions, and validate the answers.

PtP,

I believe Jeremie and I were helping just fine.

Bullseye said "quote"-   I am pretty new to this, so please don't assume I know anything : )"

It seemed to me that as he said  "quote" I am pretty new to this " -  The advice he got form ( I don't know where to buy this stuff) this might be over your head at this time

Bullseye said "quote" -    Or is there another solution?

I offered a easier solution for a beginner, I used brushless motors - I made a video of my tank base robot, it worked just fire

the L298N Dual H-Bridge and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control) works fine, I did it as I stated.

Specification: Name: Dual H bridge motor driver module Working mode: H bridge driver (dual) Main control chip: L298N Logic voltage: 5 v The driving voltage: 5 v - 35 v Logic current : 0mA-36mA Drive current: 2 a (MAX single bridge) Storage temperature: - 20 C to + 135 C Max power: 25 w Weight: 30 g Size: 43 * 43 * 27 mm

L298N motor controller board module, ideal for Arduino smart car power UNO MEGA R3 Mega2560 (I used the EZB4)

I even used it with the servo city The Prowler kit: it works fine

The Prowler offers a great starting platform for any robotics project. With 313rpm ball-bearing, metal geared, Premium Planetary Gear Motors and high-traction 5.4 off-road tires, this is one powerful platform!

As Jeremie Said, who works for Synthiam with DJ -  "quote" - An H-bridge can be hooked up to a Robot controller just as EzAng mentioned.

PTP "quote" your posts are not helping the user."

I offered a working solution - think this over - You offered no solution, just criticism.

We tried our best.

thank you  EzAng

Hi @EzAng,

We appreciate your help, I can't speak for @ptp but I think that what he's getting at is to try and work with what @Bullseye already has.

Since @Bullseye has 3-wire Brushless (BLDC) motors for the tank an L298 based motor driver is not ideal to use, it can be done but gets really messy. It doesn't seem like they have regular DC gear motors.

You simply cannot use an single L298 to drive a brushless motor. You need 3 H-bridges to in order to control each of the 3 coils.  A L298 has only 2 H-Bridges in it and can only control the 2 of the 3 coils. You would need 3 L298 motor drivers to control all 6 coils which can be done but practically generating those signals yourself would be painful.

In my humble opinion the easiest method to control the BLDC motors would be to, configure the Electronic speed controllers (ESC) to be in forward/reverse mode, send a continuous servo signal from the EZ-Bv4 to the orange servo wire on each ESC, hook up the 3 BLDC wires from the motor to the ESCs, hook up power to the ESCs and EZ-Bv4 and hopefully it should all work. (Always remember a common ground is needed)

Note the red and brown wires on the ESC servo cable come from the BEC (Voltage regulator) on the ESCs and are not needed, they are used to save on wiring and power RC receivers, but are not needed in this case.

Bullseye,  listen to Jeremie,

Bullseye said "quote"- I am pretty new to this, so please don't assume I know anything : )"

Thanks Jeremie,

Here is where I got my information  https://dronebotworkshop.com/dc-motors-l298n-h-bridge/

check it out if you get a chance

I deleted all my help advice

what you said sounds correct - I hope he understands

You think a person that said "quote"- Bullseye said  I am pretty new to this, so please don't assume I know anything : )"

Bullseye  said "quote" Or is there another solution?  understands?

thanks again

EzAng

Well, I will tell you I have built over 50 RC helicopters/ RC cars (Fuel and Electric) I own two 3D printers and have built over a thousand computers. I can solder, make control boards, and am very adept at the Raspberry Pi. I just need some help with connecting Brushless motors to my 564 piece 3D printed tank base I have been working on for over 3 months. The tank is 2 1/2 feet long by 1 1/2 feet wide and has 8 RC shock absorbers (I will post pics when done). I know how to set this up using an RC controller but wanted to go full ARC with this build as I wanted to make a functioning robot with tread design. Even if I end up using an RC radio I will use the EzRobot setup for the top for cameras and other fun robot stuff.  With that said, I am not poor so if there is an option I can purchase to make this work please let me know. I am set on brushless and yes it does have forward and reverse.  If someone has any experience with this please reach out to me, I would love to have a discussion with what you used and how it works.

Thanks, Bullseye

@Bullseye:

I don't own an ESC controller, before the covid I attended a few regular meetups and some members used ESC controllers, and it was easy to get access to the hardware and do some tests, unfortunately I don't see that happening anytime soon, so...

Jeremie's solution:

Quote:

the easiest method to control the BLDC motors would be to, configure the Electronic speed controllers (ESC) to be in forward/reverse mode, send a continuous servo signal from the EZ-Bv4 to the orange servo wire on each ESC, hook up the 3 BLDC wires from the motor to the ESCs, hook up power to the ESCs and EZ-Bv4 and hopefully it should all work. (Always remember a common ground is needed)

Note the red and brown wires on the ESC servo cable come from the BEC (Voltage regulator) on the ESCs and are not needed, they are used to save on wiring and power RC receivers, but are not needed in this case.

High level steps:

1. you will need to program/configure each ESC controller, the easy solution is to use the following device: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-trackstar-turbo-and-waterproof-esc-programming-box.html

you need to setup: Forward / Reverse mode, adjust the PWM frequencies to the EZB  servo PWM range frequencies. I believe the default is 1000 us - 2000 us, EZB pwm operates in a different interval.   and maybe a deadband interval (stop position)

2. Connect the 3 wire cable to a digital port, because the middle wire carries 5V (BEC) you need to disconnect that cable, so you connect 2 wires only (Black) GND, and the signal to an EZB digital port.

3. Connect the battery, and the motors to the ESC controller you need to follow the ESC controller instructions.

4. Connect a power source to the EZB you can use 2 cells (7.4v) or a 3 cells (11.1v) battery.

Then you can control the ESC controller as continuous servo (speed backward/forward).

The most important part is to disconnect the middle wire (5V) otherwise you can damage one or both controllers.

Hey is this still hot gossip? Its kind of easy to control a brushless motor via ARC, all you need is the ESC and an Arduino...let me know!

Wow, that seems loud. It it this loud in real life?

It was actually pretty loud...the idea was just to see if the whole thing works while waiting for the Odrive! Now that I configured the motor and its all hooked up using the Odrive, the noise is a lot better!

It might take a bit of time before I can post my progress on the new robot arm I am building, but hopefully I will be able to show some progress soon!!