Non-FRC Motor Controller?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

Again:
A solid state relay *can* be used to control motor speed under the right circumstances

Agreed. Those circumstances might even be applicable to what rbmj (the original poster) is trying to do. He specifically asked about exactly what you suggested, but he quite properly recognized that such a scheme would not be using a speed controller.

The usual meaning of "motor speed controller" in this context is something which takes a hobby servo control signal and provides a suitable modulated and polarity-switched output. Using a solid-state relay is a lot like using raw transistors; you need to provide your own PWM. And you're not going to be able to control the motor direction with one.

and Innovation FIRST does sell one which apparently someone...somewhere thinks is called a Spike (I've just never tried it with this relay and we don't know what kind of motor):
http://www.ifirobotics.com/ssr.shtml

Brian, I encourage you to slow down a bit and let some of the information you're reading sink in and get sorted out before you repeat it. Innovation FIRST hasn't sold that product for a great many years, and actually doesn't sell any of the products listed on the ifirobotics.com catalog pages anymore. Those pages are no longer accessible from the IFI home page. If you manage to find one by some other means, they all have that prominent red text at the top explaining that the Innovation First products are now sold by VEX Robotics under the VEX PRO brand. That solid-state relay module is not one of the products which made the transition.