Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?  (Read 3087 times)

bigbloke

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 100
  • Location: Nominally ? Newport (South Wales) Practically ? Anywhere !
controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« on: May 11, 2013, 04:43:22 pm »

hi guys

on my rebuild project i am considering fitting two winches so i can have separate control over the jib.

planning to use my (currently spare) plane  (turnigy 9x 2.4ghz) system to control it with (overkill i appreciate but better to recycle than buy new when redundancy looms)

obviously the main sheet winch goes on the throttle joystick channel in a perfect world i would ideally like two "non-return to centre" sticks to do this, but because i will be building new planes in the future,  i dont want to hack the controller hardware .

So  is there any way to use some of the "trimming" capability of the rc system to drive a second winch in an "analogue" fashion ?


still coming to grips with the new system!


regards


BB
Logged

kmmbcwebmaster

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 116
  • Location: Sutton-in-Ashfield
    • Kingsmill MBC
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2013, 05:45:55 pm »

Why not just use one of the three pro-portinal aux will give you the full fine control you need  :-))
Logged
just tugging along

Martin (Admin)

  • Administrator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23,359
  • Location: Peterborough, UK
    • Model Boat Mayhem
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2013, 05:49:48 pm »


Has a spare channel got a three way switch?
 Not proportional but aren't most winches 'bang bang' control anyway?
Logged
"This is my firm opinion, but what do I know?!" -  Visit the Mayhem FaceBook Groups!  &  Giant Models

Netleyned

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9,051
  • Location: Meridian Line, Mouth of the Humber
    • cleethorpes mba
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2013, 06:15:22 pm »

Sail winch Martin.
Needs to be let in or out
a bit at a time. (Proportional)

Ned
Logged
Smooth seas never made skilful sailors
Up Spirits  Stand fast the Holy Ghost.
http://www.cleethorpesmba.co.uk/

triumphjon

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 789
  • Location: portsmouth , hampshire
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2013, 06:29:26 pm »

ive a pair of sail arms working from seperate channels in my 1920 oyster smack , left stick being main sail while the right stick operates the fore sails , i have left the spring in the stick initially , which takes a little getting used to ! the rtr micro magic has a small third servo fitted on the end of the jib line to give micro adjustment of the fore sail ( not allowed in the uk ) alternativley take a look at the german micro magic sites as they havnt a servo limit in their racing , it may give you a few ideas of your own ! jon
Logged

Martin (Admin)

  • Administrator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23,359
  • Location: Peterborough, UK
    • Model Boat Mayhem
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2013, 06:45:52 pm »

Sail winch Martin.
Needs to be let in or out
a bit at a time. (Proportional)


Duh!   :embarrassed:
Logged
"This is my firm opinion, but what do I know?!" -  Visit the Mayhem FaceBook Groups!  &  Giant Models

mrpenguin

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 286
  • Location: Tasmania, Australia
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2013, 11:55:03 pm »

@Bigbloke:
 
Funny that you should ask...I have just worked this out in the last few days!!!
 
The boat is an A Class with two separate Hitec HS785HB drum winches, one for jib and one for main. I have been sailing the boat for some time with a "Y" cable controlling both winches on one channel and it has worked great.
 
However, it occurred to me that it would be great to be able to adjust the slot between the sails while sailing by tweaking the jib in or out a bit relative to the mainsail - I seemed to be forever adjusting this and it has quite a bit of effect on performance upwind.

The end result I have is both sail winches operating together on the left stick up/down (non centring). The slot adjustment is left stick left/right (centring) - it works great, all sail control on one stick. I have rudder on right stick. This setup is my preference, if you have a Mode 1 then it is just the same but the sticks are reversed (right stick is non centring on mode 1)
I am using a Turnigy T9X mode 2 with the later software (unit is recently purchased from HobbyKing).
 
The key to set this up is "ELEVON" mode. Elevon mode apparently only works on channel 1 and 2 so I am told, I have not confirmed this but is seems likely as there is no chance to choose what channels Elevon applies to. Apparently Elevon is commonly used with delta wings where the one control surface is both elevator and aileron.
 
The details:
Connect jib winch to channel 1
Connect mainsail winch to channel 2
Select a new model memory.
Select ACRO mode.
Set up the sticks so your non centring stick is channel 1 and 2 (Mode 3 for me)
You may need to reverse one or both channels depending on your personal winch setup.
Get into Elevon menu and ACTivate it
AIL1   015   015 (use the stick left/right to select the second number)
AIL 2  000   000
ELE1  100
ELE2  100
So now the controls are:
Left stick down hauls sails in - left stick up sail out (elevator)
Left stick left - reduces slot. Left stick right - increases slot  (aileron)
That's all there is to it... you will probably need to adjust the values according to your travel and the amount of slot change you want.
 
I like it..
 
Logged
Amateur at work...

Hellmut1956

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 154
  • Best Hobby in the World!
  • Location: Mammendorf, Germany (near Munich)
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2013, 11:20:41 am »

A typical example for where a small microcontroller could solve the issue with no problems, very low cost, high flexibility to your wishes and very low weight! A controller decodes the signals of any two channels with just 3 lines of code and can generate the adequate PWM signals to have the winches do what ever you want based on the inputs of the decoded channels.
Logged
Best regards Hellmut

Twister

  • Shipmate
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10
  • Model Boat Mayhem is Great!
  • Location: cornwall uk
Re: controlling two winches using a 9 channel rc ?
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2013, 12:37:48 pm »

I've just been working on a similar idea but for overlapping headsails (multiple) controlling them independently on one stick. My Tx is a Spektrum DX7s and I've managed to come up with a series of mixes (I think it's 4 in total - not got the Tx handy at the moment) which give me control of port & starboard winches independently on the same stick using a switch to select.


What you're proposing sounds very simple to set up and if you like I'll have a play around with mine to achieve the result you're after - just let me know.


I initially contacted Lothar (on this forum) who gave me some pointers and then spent a week or so playing around with mixes (I'd never programmed a computer Tx before) until I finally had a "Eureka" moment at 2 o'clock one morning!
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.093 seconds with 21 queries.