Quote:
Originally Posted by aeastet
Encoders are easy to use and take no time to install. Look into that before doing something like dead stopping your arm. That could cause many other issues with voltage spikes and brownouts.
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Encoders are not hard, but limit switches are even easier - especially with the new SPARK speed controllers which have limit switch inputs. No software!!! You dont even need to stop driving up or down based on time, just leave the motor drive in the direction you want the arm. The limit switch cuts the power at precisely the right time. I strongly recommend limit switches tied directly to a speed controller (Spark, Jaguar or SRX) for this particular problem.
Also, a previous post talked about loads. Not knowing your system, I am going to make a wild guess that the first direction arm moves is "up" (against gravity) and the second, faster direction is "down" (with gravity). Gravity always wins - common design challenge with rotating arms.