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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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The main difference between an IBC (or any ESC) and Servo Switches is that the IBC costs a big lump of money outlay in very little time..
Whereas most of the other techniques cost nearly as much money, but in smaller bits over time ($5 here for a switch, $3 there for a bit of polycarb, $10 for a relay (x however many relays), $40 for a failsafe (x however many channels), $30 for a servo motor (which you might already have or might not) and so on, plus a LOT of time fiddling around making parts, tweaking and tuning it to respond right, and fixing it. You also then have to make another one for weapon control. By the time you add up the cost, you might be surprised what your "cheap" servo switches actually cost.
Usually people are less worried about blowing up/damaging a $10 microswitch than a $300 ESC as well..
Also, If you assign any sort of $ value to your time, and also take into account the number of matches you will likely loose (and take expensive damage) because your home-made servo switch let you down or didnt give you enough control, then ESC's are way out in front in terms of cost-effectiveness..
You just have to get over that initial "Oh my god, this bit costs $x00 !" feeling and do some serious saving. It will be worth it.
As far as the RS-80 vs IBC subject goes, I'm first to admit that if you are going to seriously stress the IBC with some big motors, or want to add another layer of protection against screw-ups (yours or the bot getting damaged), then the RS-80 is the way to go.
It is however, a lot more expensive ($500+ ?) than an IBC (by the time you land one if Australia, pay shipping GST, $ conversion etc), and hence is in a totally different market segment.
For the cheapest, all-in-one locally made controller, the IBC does the job just fine, powering many of the winning robots to victory and only the occasional person having trouble with theirs. RS-80's are not un-blow-upable either (ask Mike Philips), they';re just harder to blow up than an IBC in some areas.
Bottom line is, you gets what you pays for. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Sun Apr 10, 2005 2:07 pm |
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