Project need advice.

[Clos2727]

Good day all, I am looking for advice on a current project I am inventing. I can't go into much info as to what it will be used for. But I can give you an idea as to what I want it to do.

I have some knowledge of circuitry, not an expert by no means. But I pride I myself in being a quick learner. And as long as I am lead in the right direction. I know I can build just about anything.

OK so hears my questions.
I want to know if a petetiometer can be connected to a vibrating motor, can I calibrate motor to vibrate at different voltage? And can it be adjustable? if so how do I go about this.

I want a switch to to be conected to the potetiometer. Basically I want the vibratoring motor to run, if potentiometer is not push to its adjusted voltage.

if vibrating motor is activated due to insufficient voltage, I would like the motor to stop when potentiometer has no voltage (released or set back at rest)

I also want the switch to deactivate vibratoring motor.
If potentiometer is at correct voltage or higher it should disable the vibrating motor.

Any insight as to where I should begin would be greatly appreciated. What software will I need , if at all possible thanks.

 

[audioguru]

A potentiometer is small and gets too hot if it has the current of a DC motor.
A resistor in series with a DC motor limits the current which reduces the torque of the motor then it will not start running unless the resistance is reduced, then it starts running too fast.

A Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) circuit is used to vary the speed of a DC motor to avoid these problems. A potentiometer controls the PWM circuit with a very low current. Google has many PWM circuits, maybe you can use a 555 IC to do it.

Maybe you do not need to control the speed of the motor, you might need to control only the voltage on a potentiometer that turns on the motor and turns it off. Then you need a "window comparator circuit", look in Google for it.

 

[Clos2727]

A potentiometer is small and gets too hot if it has the current of a DC motor.
A resistor in series with a DC motor limits the current which reduces the torque of the motor then it will not start running unless the resistance is reduced, then it starts running too fast.

A Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) circuit is used to vary the speed of a DC motor to avoid these problems. A potentiometer controls the PWM circuit with a very low current. Google has many PWM circuits, maybe you can use a 555 IC to do it.

Maybe you do not need to control the speed of the motor, you might need to control only the voltage on a potentiometer that turns on the motor and turns it off. Then you need a "window comparator circuit", look in Google for it.

Thank you very much, I may have used the wrong term in motor. I meant like a little vibrating motor. One you would find in a console controller or rc car. Would tha make a difference.?

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Can you post a picture of the motor?
Is this a vibrating mechanism or do you want the motor to oscillate, if so at what rate?
Max.

 

[jpanhalt]

...can I calibrate motor to vibrate at different voltage? And can it be adjustable? if so how do I go about this.

I want a switch to to be conected to the potetiometer. Basically I want the vibratoring motor to run, if potentiometer is not push to its adjusted voltage.

if vibrating motor is activated due to insufficient voltage, I would like the motor to stop when potentiometer has no voltage (released or set back at rest)

I am a bit unclear as to what you want to do. So let me rephrase and see if my understanding is right:
1) You want to set a voltage with a potentiometer
2) You want a vibrator to run when the voltage set by the potentiometer is different (higher or lower) than some reference voltage
3) You want the vibrator to stop if the voltage is zero

I believe this project can be done with comparators and suitable solid state switches. I would not suggest trying to run the motor with a pot, as there will not be a clear cut on/off function.

John

 

[audioguru]

Some small RC cars, helicopters and airplanes use the little DC motor used to vibrate a pager and to open and close a CD tray. Some motors are huge and use high current. Their speed in the RC products are controlled with PWM. The PWM allows them to begin running slowly with plenty of torque but you can have any speed at any time.
Do you want speed control or just on-off control? What is the diameter of the motor, the smallest RC ones are 4mm and the vibrator motor or CD tray motor is 6mm to 8.5mm. They have brushes inside that wear out soon.

 

[Clos2727]

OK, ill try to clarify as best I can as to what I want to achieve.

Some of us are familiar with driving stick. I want to replicate the sound and grind of a miss shift. Now I don't know if theirs anything out there outside of a vibrating motor that can give me that feeling. If their is, I would Gladly go that route.

So, the clutch has a potentiometer I want to tap into.

Here is the order of how things should work.

1 Everything is dependent on the switches for each gear in the shifter.

2 the switch determines if the vibrating mechanism turns on or stays off.

3 (Switch will always be toggled when put into any gear. no mater what.)

4 The vibrating mechanism relies on the potentiometer voltage. ( if clutched is pressed sufficiently the vibrating mechanism doesn't go off.

keep in mind switch is toggled at this point) but doesn't activate vibrating mechanism because clutched (potentiometer) was pressed sufficiently.

If the clutch (potentiometer) is not pressed sufficiently. (Not enough voltage) When the switched is activated it will initiate the vibrating mechanism. ( a miss shift)

The problem I for see is. Am I able to use the switch to do both functions? Or can the potentiometer cancel out the switch input if it has enough voltage.

Note; I want to be able to adjust the potentiometer voltage on the fly. In other words i would like to be able to pick and adjust how far my clutch pedal travels before activating the vibrating mechanism.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

OK, my re-interpretaion:

a) A some depression (a window), a misshift could occur.
In rel life, this is generally true)
b) but =, you don't create the mis-shift everytime you go though the point
c) The "miss-shift" would occur ONLY IF you stayed in the window area "too long".

In "real life" , the grind would occur if the clutch was not depressed enough after the gear was selected. e.g. The noise would occur after:

Clutch not down all the way
Gear shift moved, but not into position yet

So, it's not necessarily the clutch position, but the "Neutral to gear play" you need to be looking for as well as clutch position (from some depression to rest).

e.g. Not in neutral and not in any gear and clutch between say 30 to 100% depressed.

 

[Clos2727]

OK, my re-interpretaion:

a) A some depression (a window), a misshift could occur.
In rel life, this is generally true)
b) but =, you don't create the mis-shift everytime you go though the point
c) The "miss-shift" would occur ONLY IF you stayed in the window area "too long".

In "real life" , the grind would occur if the clutch was not depressed enough after the gear was selected. e.g. The noise would occur after:

Clutch not down all the way
Gear shift moved, but not into position yet

So, it's not necessarily the clutch position, but the "Neutral to gear play" you need to be looking for as well as clutch position (from some depression to rest).

e.g. Not in neutral and not in any gear and clutch between say 30 to 100% depressed.

You got it. I think you just gave me an idea. Instead of using a switch on each gear I could use a switch when the gear is on neutral. So if the clutch is no depressed enough when the shifter is moved it would set it off.

Maybe with a delayed timer. So it would not come on immediately after moving the shifter.

 

[audioguru]

Like most cars in civilized countries today, my car doesn't have a manual transmission. It also does not have a continuously variable belt drive system. Instead it has an automatic transmission with 6 forward speeds (I think) that is electronically sync'd with the engine speed. It shifts gears so smoothly that they are difficult to count. I got my first car 49 years ago and it was so cheap that it had a manual transmission. I never grinded (ground?) its gears.

 

[zahwi]

You got it. I think you just gave me an idea. Instead of using a switch on each gear I could use a switch when the gear is on neutral. So if the clutch is no depressed enough when the shifter is moved it would set it off.

Maybe with a delayed timer. So it would not come on immediately after moving the shifter.

You have to have a switch for each gear and a pot for the clutch.
The logic you want is when the pot is in a certain position and at the same time any of the gear switches is pressed it triggers the sound of grinding.
The logic is fairly simple circuit that can be done in several ways. It can be a relay, couple of transistors and a trimmer.
You will have to invent the motor or vibrating electromagnet that imitates grinding sound.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I said a switch for every gear and neutral. The grind would only be allowed when no gears or neutral is selected. (i.e.) rising edge of neutral switch until a gear is selected.

It could also be inhibited when traveling from a gear. e.g. falling edge of all gears but neutral.

Assuming positive logic.

 

[kubeek]

Like most cars in civilized countries today, my car doesn't have a manual transmission...

Actually most of the civilized world uses manual transmissions. Only the lazy northern americans use automatic transmision in virtually all of their cars.

 

[Clos2727]

I said a switch for every gear and neutral. The grind would only be allowed when no gears or neutral is selected. (i.e.) rising edge of neutral switch until a gear is selected.

It could also be inhibited when traveling from a gear. e.g. falling edge of all gears but neutral.

Assuming positive logic.

Right now, I don't have a working model. I am trying to get much info as to what would be best.

Now keep in mind this is not for a real car. This is intended for simulators.

I found this video, and this motor is very appealing. I get the vibrating function and a grinding sound. Or is the sound omitted because the motor is not secured.?

now my question is where do I begin? What do I need to get?

I plan on building the project and posting my progress here with videos. In hopes that we can make it work.

Now, I would like to start small scale if possible. Instead of using a bunch of switches, I would like to get one to work first.

 

[audioguru]

Actually most of the civilized world uses manual transmissions. Only the lazy northern americans use automatic transmision in virtually all of their cars.

Don't your old cars with manual transmissions also burn smoky stinking diesel fuel?

 

[kubeek]

Why do you think stick shift cars are old? Automatic trnasmission is only a few decades younger. But yes some do burn diesel but I think majority worldwide burns gasoline.

 

[dr pepper]

The majority of cars here in the UK are stick shift, auto's are not as good on juice and are very expensive to repair.

Some vehicles have a device that detects if you cross over a white line then vibrates one side of the drivers seat, the side the line crossed was on, maybe you could salvage a vibrator motor from a scrapper and attach that to the simulator stick, you could use an arduino as an interface, a fet on the o/p of one of the 'duino's analogue outs to drive the motor, and maybe control the intensity based on a voltage to rpm o/p from the sim.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

The vibration in the US is done by perpendicular scores in the road. No device at all.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

One of the simplest non-electronic vibrators is the old solenoid coil bell ringer with the interrupter contact operated by the armature.
Max.

 

[audioguru]

Some highways have "rumble strips" at the side that vibrates the car, makes noise, jerks the steering wheel out of the driver's hands and swerves the car off the highway into the ditch.