As promised I've started a separate thread on this. I had mentioned over at my Alan thread that I was thinking about using hoverboard motors for a rolling base for the full bodies of Alan and Alena. These motors are super cheap at about $25 a piece on ebay. They are 3 phase just like the 3 phase hobby motors for cars and planes. So there should be driver support for them.....well yes and kinda no.
I have been watching a motor controller called the ODrive. Its all open source (hardware and software) and its a dual motor driver. I posted a video of these motors on a grocery cart driving around using hoverboard motors. So I bought an Odrive. I ended up buying a whole hoverboard so I could use the charger, battery and some of the connectors. This one came from Frys and cost $100. Its good upto 265 pounds.
Well now the bad. The ODrive is still a work in progress and not too intuitive. But they have a good write up on how to set them up with the hall effects encoders. All went well until I tried to save out to the board. Over and over again i could not get it to work right. I posted on the forums and got no reply back as to what the issue could be. So after days I began looking for another solution.
I found a great source in china that is making opensource stuff for skate boards. The got 2 single motor drivers. Each one has a standard servo connector and i can use two of them for mixed mode (tank mode). Each board costs $85. So its a bit more than the ODrive ($150 with shipping for the 48 volt ver.)
The name of the board is the FSESC 4.12 50A Based on VESC 4.12 from Flipsky ESC. And can be found here: Flipsky ESC
This controller can be completely programmed with their really great software..automatically figures out all the poles for the phases. Set up the frequency for the pwm and even have shut offs for voltage mins etc. They have a good youtube channel with vids on how to set up everything.
I have the video of the break down of the hoverboard done. As soon as I get these control boards I will be doing tests with the ezb to control them. Then I'll put together a final video and post here.
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Did you try riding that board yourself before you took it apart? I see where people are trying to learn it but keep falling off on youtube.xD
Not a chance with possibility of wrecking these million dollar hands
I hear you, I would not even want to try with my 2 dollar hands LOL!
Lol......................!
Hi Will, Hoverboard came in but NG. Battery was bad. Got returned. Another one on order.
Do you know a Waldo Mason? He has some nice work.
Have you gotten the boards yet? Ron
Ahh thats too bad that the battery was bad. No I have not gotten my boards yet. DHL says they are here Friday, but I won't get to testing with them until Tuesday of next week.
I do know of Waldo, but not met him personally. He does alot of body work...dead bodies etc. Very good artist from UK.
Lol . Yes creepy.
I have begun digging around for the material for the base. I was wondering if suspension should be considered even though it will be indoors. It will be a bit heavy and I don't want it rocking and bouncing over rugs, thresholds, tile etc.. What's your thoughts?
Maybe suspension on the upper torso?
Yes I think some form of suspension is a must. There are a few people on our lost in space robot replica site that have their robots moving. And all that vibration moves all the way through the body and the robot is about 7 foot tall. Seems like a good thing to pre plan out.