Have some questions about an rc controller
 

So I am building a personal robot and I don't really want to use a fancy robot control system for it. I would like to use an rc remote from like a helicopter if possible. The bot I'm building requires cim motors for the drive since it's very heavy. My question, is can talons be controlled by any standard pwm output, or does it needs the roborio or other. I need to be able to get as much power from the wheels as possible and I don't think the little 5v ece rc controller from andymark will cut it. Any help would be appreciated. I'm great with cad and design but not really with control systems.

5v is 5v. There is no significant current being drawn on the control side. The rc kit that andymark sells I would think be fine for your needs. The only down side is I am not sure how many out puts you are going to need vs how many channels the rc kit has.

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

So are talons 5v output then? And they can be controlled by a rc controller?
Thank you

No they are 12volt output

I am not certain you can use the talons with the rc kit. Besides I believe the kit comes with motor controllers

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

We have used talons with an arduino (leonardo clone), no issues. Talons (and Jaguars and Victors and Spikes) use a 5V signal but control 12V power inputs and outputs. Our air cannon has talons on the drive motors (drop center 6-wheel, built on an AndyMark nanotube). We have a really small footprint remote unit, with just an xBee controller and the switches/joysticks, and an xBee shield on the robot side. We use smaller 5V relay modules for our pneumatics and LED controls, though spikes should also work.

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

The R/C equipment will work just fine as the PWM source for the Talon. Please only use a 5 volt supply for the R/C receiver but the Talon may use 12 volts as its' input voltage.

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

The 5V signal from a regular RC receiver will work to command the Tallon.

However, the Tallon is what is called an isolated motor controller. In many RC systems the motor controller has the 12V->5V regulator that powers the RC receiver. The Tallon is internally powered from the 12V line, but it also needs 5V on the PWM +V pin. You will need something called a BEC or UBEC to convert the 12V battery voltage to 5V, and feed it into the receiver for distribution. You can get one of these for a few bucks on Amazon. Here's a pretty good image showing the layout: http://www.sonicelectric.com/Merchan...Diagram-RS.jpg

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

None of the motor controllers in FRC require the 5V signal on the PWM cable. signal and ground is what is measured (the white and black wire). Power 12V/ Power Grnd is necessary to power the MC and also the motor.

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

There might be a motor speed controller called a "Tallon" with a double "l". I couldn't find one with a quick web search. But for a "Talon" with a single "l", and a Victor, and a Jaguar, the center pin on the PWM connector is not used.

Only servos require power from the PWM port (which provides 6 volts, not 5).

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

Ok, that makes sense since the Talon SRX doesn't even have the 5V wire on the PWM cable connection. I guess the PWM signal line can pretty much be guaranteed to be able to source enough current to drive the opto.

Regardless, an off the shelf receiver will most likely require a 5V or 6V source from somewhere.

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

You can use any pwm 5v controller with a talon that accepts 5v signals. The motor controllers are dumb, and do not care what the source of the command is from, wether it be a rio or a crap hobby/rc controller. However, the power to the actual controller itself is 12v, and its output is 12v. If I were you I'd make sure your system can support the power demands so you don't brown out the control system. Do not use anything higher than 5v. The talon should work as long as you connect it correctly, if not, then you did it wrong
To clarify, talons do not accept power sources through their pwm cables if they have connections for a external source

Re: Have some questions about an rc controller
 

Just wanted to thank everyone for this thread. Perfect timing for our team. We have an off-season project to build a simple RC robot. We have an Andymark "Cheap and Dirty" RC control system and I was just trying to figure out how to power it. Glad I read about the 5 volt max here or I might have tried powering everything off 12 volts!

Edit: Oh, I get it. Their "Cheap and Dirty Control System" kit includes two motor controllers that each also provide a separate 6 volt DC output which can be used to power the receiver. Since we only have the base RC kit and we are planning to use Talons or Jaguars or some other old FRC motor controller, we will need to provide our own 5-6 volt supply for the receiver.