Finished Installing Dome Speed Controller on Droid #1

Today I was able to finish getting the Sabertooth 2x12RC speed controller installed on droid #1. I needed some 1/2" nylon stand-offs to ensure good ventilation under the speed controller, so with those in hand, I used some 3/4" #4 wood screws to finish the installation.



Next, I calibrated the speed controller with my transmitter. Setting DIP swithes 5 and 6 on the 2x12RC allows the controller to be trained on the minimum, neutral, and maximum values for the joystick settings, and those setting can be saved.

Only channel 4 is needed for dome rotation. The model name "2x12RC" indicates it is a 2-channel, 12 amp Remote Control speed controller. I've found that if I leave the second channel disconnected from the receiver, the dome tends to drift and the controller supplies a very small amount of voltage to the dome motor (under one volt). So little voltage is supplied, that the motor doesn't actually turn; instead it simulates a stall condition, causing the speed controller, wiring and motor to get pretty hot.

I found that if I attach the second channel from the speed controller to an unused channel on the receiver, AND if I disable the corresponding channel on the transmitter, then this problem goes away completely. In this case, I attached the second channel from the speed controller to channel 3 on the receiver, and then disabled channel 3 on the Futaba 14SG transmitter.

In the case of droid #2, I'm using the Futaba 10CAG transmitter, which doesn't allow channel 3 to be disabled, so I had to use channel 5 on the receiver and disable that channel on the transmitter.