Servo - October 2008

PARTS IS PARTS:

Electronize Speed

C ntrollers

● by James Baker

When first venturing into combat robot building, I, like most, began with RC car speed controllers. It quickly became apparent that even the most highly rated controllers were not robust enough to handle the power demands of the 30 lb class. Several 240 amp race controllers billowed smoke before I finally gave up on RC car technology, and tried out RC boat controllers. Available then in several versions, I took the kit forms and the ready-built forms of several products and began experimenting. Before long, I had a winner. The Electronize brand of speed controllers was by far the most reliable and capable of those tested, and thus began my seven-year relationship with the company.

Based in Tamworth, Great Britain, Electronize produces a range of speed controllers for radio controlled use, as well as electronic switchers.

I have used several versions of the Electronize speed controller; from the 10 amp self builds, to the 40 amp CPU controlled type. My most common purchase was the FR15 unit. I have bought almost 50 of these in the last five years, and had only two fail under unusually heavy load which was way over the rated specification.

Most electronic speed controllers work in basically the same way, with a pulse wave modulation output controlling motors via MOSFET chips. The Electronize is the same,

but does have some features I have not found on other controllers.

Firstly, it has a variable frequency selector that allows pulsing of output from 100 Hz to 2,000 Hz, giving the user a choice of running more torque at low speed or greater efficiency a high speed. I make a lot of use of this feature on my corporate robots to aid battery longevity.

Secondly, the Electronize controller has a variable output speed selector, which is a fantastically useful tool. For my corporate robots, I often carry 24-volt batteries on board, but set the controller output to seven volts. Using 9. 6 volt drill motors for drive, they are still quite impressive in terms of speed and power, but the run time of my robots can be as much as four hours. Should I wish to speed up my robots, a precision screwdriver is all that is needed, and 10 seconds later I can have my bots zooming around at close to 30 mph, easily coping with 40 amp peak currents. No other controller I have found allows me to do this so easily.

Seven years after buying my

Electronize controller.

first Electronize speed controller (in 2001), I still use them extensively. Despite most of my combat bots now running the latest in speed controller technology from other manufacturers, my corporate robots will always run the Electronize FR15, as they offer everything I need in terms of voltage and efficiency management, reliabili-ty, and value for money. I have run these controllers reliably at up to 90 amps with minimal modification, and have over 800 hours runtime on one corporate robot in particular, having changed out the motors twice, batteries twice, and receiver once, the speed controllers are still the original ones from 2002. SV