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RC Mini Relay Controller


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Nexus
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Joined: 17 Jun 2004
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RC Mini Relay Controller

Theres been a little interest in this product so heres the link to the web page where its on.

One of these was used in Spearhead and I also have one without the mixing function.
Bought one with mixing disabled so it can be used for independant control of 2 actuators.
Mine is intended for Kings jaws purely because they are so freaking small and I dont have space for much else.

The product costs 25 US dollars with $5 postage so all up it ends up costing less than $50 Aus with servo leads and wires attached.

http://anvilus.com./products.html
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Post Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:05 pm 
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Ajax
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Just a quick note for anyone thinking about this controler.

Not wanting to bag this unit. It looks to be a good little setup.

But the one used in 'Spear Head' sits and twitch's when controller is turned off.
It currently has a problem with Failsafe.

Now this to me is a simple programing issue but if you are thinking of getting one, this problem will need to be resolved.

Moth (Rick) devaloped the same type of setup used in Vincent that was devaloped for RoboWars, and a failsafe setup that works.
Ref: - http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479&start=30

Your choice either will work.
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Post Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:52 pm 
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Knightrous
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This controller doesn't look to bad, with a nice price tag. But it doesn't seem to have any power indicator LED's, or any real circuit protection Confused Having spoken to Rick and seen the code and controller in combat, I would "personally" support the PRC project, even if at a slightly higher cost.

Vincent worked flawlessly and I think if the community supported the PRC, it would be kinda rewarding to Rick, after his endless hours of work making the thing work.

I would be interested to see more information brought to the surface about this controller, it seems like a great little package for the price.
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:43 am 
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Nexus
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Just wanted to say that am not trying to start a local versus overseas product loyalty thingy.

I have been waiting for actually a few years for someone to just offer a product like this and have heard the word picaxe controller so many times over the years that when I hear it now I feel like projectile vomitting.

I didn’t know Rick was coming back into the sport, or if Brett, Jason or Aaron where ever going to make an avaliable product. It started to seem that a picaxe controller product was like the holy grail, shrowded in mystery with a horrible death.

Anyway I was purely motivated by my interest in Tanks and the US paintball tankers are coming up with some interesting products.
The relay controller I bought would suit a turret very well.

Like I said I purchased this product before the event, if there was a local product available then would have purchased that but after a few years of uncertainty you sort of give up on believing that anything will be done localy and just spend a small amount of money OS.
I do hope that a local product does become available.
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:50 am 
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Spockie-Tech
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I didnt know Rick was going to pop back up suddenly with the PRC in working form either Rolling Eyes

I developed the concept and prototype, then offered the details to several people, of which Rick was the only one to actualy build it and test it.

There were the expected teething bugs with radio interference since he was using a non-pcm, non-spektrum radio, but he got it mostly working with some dilligent antenna fiddling and vincent competed with it in RoboWars 3.

It was suffering occasional crash-reboot issues which worried us, since he had tried to isolate it from the power rails, and after a failure towards the end of RoboWars 3, he sat it in the corner of the shed and had his time absorbed by other things in life.

Just prior to RoboWars 4, he found the fault with the original (a ground isolation fault) rebuilt a new version and it seemed to run flawlessy at RoboWars 4.

However, the PRC is still not a commercial product. A circuit board has to be made, documentation/kit details developed and various other bits. If someone wants to solder up their own now, we can probably assist, but you cant "just buy it" in working form right now.

If the Silicon Chip/Kit idea goes ahead, it shouldnt be *too* long before you can buy it (We're talking in months I'd guess though) , but thats all part of a larger picture to do with kit-bots and other ideas circling around at the moment, so it may take some time to pull together before comercial PRC's are on the shelves.

The PRC is just a 3 channel 6-relay RC switch with mixing on 4 of the relays and a failsafe. The tricky part is getting the failsafe to work without killing the range/reception, and is what most existing "RC switches" out there *dont* do.

If the Tank controller George has found does the job, and can be made to comply with the safety regs without too much trouble (The addition of an external failsafe ?), then by all means buy them if you are in a hurry for a solution and dont want to have to scratch-build your own PRC. I wont be offended, and neither i doubt will Rick. Once the hard yakka to turn the current prototype into a production unit has been done and they are available, *then* you can get all patriotic and support the locals when they have something to sell.

I'm going to sneak up behind George with a bucket and a camera and shout "PicAxe Relay Controller !" in his ear just to see what the reaction is now.. Wink
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:57 am 
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DumHed
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I'd be happy to do some more Picaxe relay controller testing.
I can make some PCBs too.

Really I should drag all my stuff out and get that working properly.
It was pretty good until I put it in the arena and the 433Mhz radio went stupid!
If I use the same system with a normal R/C input it would probably work fine Smile
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:10 am 
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Valen
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you sure you want to be hanging on to the bucket at the time?
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:23 am 
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Rotwang
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I must confess that I had given up on the PRC.

That’s why I bought a couple of Scorpion XL’s.

Was very impressed with the way Vincent moved I am grateful for all the effort that people are putting into it, to get it into Jay car or DickSmith has got to be good for our sport long term.
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Post Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:33 am 
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