Roboteq has announced a
new 240 amp, dual channel motor controller for use in mobile robots.
Each channel of the AX2500 can drive DC
motors at up to 40v/120amps. The controller has both a serial interface
for robotics use and an R/C style interface for Battlebot-type R/C
vehicles. It has an onboard CPU and some additional I/O ports that can
be used for sensors or other control functions. The
website has a handy FAQ
that answers loads of questions about what you can do with this thing
and how to do it.
It looks to be a really nice controller. High quality stuff.
Nice work. I like it.
I was going to publish some of my high power h-bridges on the DPRG
website projects section. As there is a lot of interest in "real" high
power motor controllers.
But I am reluctant to do so because of the dangererous voltages and
potential for explosions that could occur if a person doesn't take care
in using and use good safety precautions.
For example a 30 amp 150v DC motor controller is really neat. But if
you accidentally brushed up against something that was hot, it would
cook you good. DC holds you and AC throws you. The transistors are
separated from a heat sink by a small thin mica or teflon insulator,
which has the potential of having one transistor making the heat sink
go hot on you. So I worked on making motor controllers without heat
sinks.
The next problem is accidentally shorting out something. At 150vDC the
batteries would likely explode, if you didn't have adequate circuit
breakers or fuses.
I have a 480 amp 30v motor controller for motors (480 amps per motor
continuous) and if you rig it (bypass things and manually force it) so
the transistors goto a full shorted condition, the batteries can blow
up before the wiring joints even get hot and burn open, but the
transistors don't even get warm. I was going to tape it but I didn't
want to damage by video camera from the battery acid or debris. You see
the same thing if someone shorts out a automobile starting battery
trying to jump another vehicle.
Anyway, it looked like I could be sued, and have to pay up, if some
moron blew up a battery getting injured or electrocuted himself using
one of my motor controllers, so I decided not to publish them. Even
successfully defending a lawsuit would be expensive.