controlling old motors with IR

[SNIPE]

hi, is there i way that i can control 6 micro motors from some kind of IR remote or controller?

space is limited so i cannot hook the motors up to a LEGO NXT or something similar, maybe i could use the NXT as part of the wireless remote case/shell somehow

[Zerobricks]

You can use PF and PF extension cable?

[SNIPE]

You can use PF and PF extension cable?

huh?

[teflon]

As Zblj mention it, you can use PF IR Receiver (8884) with PF Extension Wire (8886) to which you can connect the micro motors. One IR receiver can run 2 independent motors (2 channels). The motors can be than commanded by PF IR Remote control (8885). The down side of this is, that you cannot program the IR remote/receiver.

If you wan to complicate things, you can use old RCX as the RC remote. Bob Kojima wrote a program that does that. It works but you need a good programing skills to tailor it to your needs.

Alternative is to use RCX or NXT (the latter with appropriate cables) and you have programmable solution.

[SNIPE]

but i need 6 channels

what are these NXT keyfob transponders used for?

[mind storm]

Try to use 3 IR receivers.

[SNIPE]

ill try but , i can attach two remotes together like a ps2 control pad and i can use the spare two channels for the motors that move the car. (8 channels, 6 for the gearbox, one for the engine motor and one which has not been decided what to get used on yet.

[Sokratesz]

Additionally, you can easily power 6 micromotors off of one battery box because they draw so little current.

[SNIPE]

Additionally, you can easily power 6 micromotors off of one battery box because they draw so little current.

sounds good, what battery box can i use (AKA what battery types and how many.)

obviously id only want the right amount of batterys to get the rough amount of voltage and current to power all 6 motors, i don't need anything too much , this also saves space.

Edited June 14, 2011 by SNIPE

[Sokratesz]

sounds good, what battery box can i use (AKA what battery types and how many.)

obviously id only want the right amount of batterys to get the rough amount of voltage and current to power all 6 motors, i don't need anything too much , this also saves space.

Is the standard PF battery box that fits 6xAA batteries. If you connect 3x PF receiver and set them to different channels you can control them with a single remote. You will need a separate PF -> 9V cable for every motor though, and they are expensive.

- Sok.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Sokratesz

[le60head]

If you wan to complicate things, you can use old RCX as the RC remote. Bob Kojima wrote a program that does that. It works but you need a good programing skills to tailor it to your needs.

Alternative is to use RCX or NXT (the latter with appropriate cables) and you have programmable solution.

Thank you for this piece of informaton! I'll try this out for sure!

It would be great to be able to control 3 motors onboard + 2 motors for every PF receiver using a RCX brick!

I recently found out that an RCX can control a Spybot or a Scout using infrared signals.

[SNIPE]

i was wanting to use two remotes (not the speed ones, the other ones) for 8 channels, can i do this?

youd have the 6 motors and two other ones which are not being used yet, these motors are attached to the three transmitter/receivers and those are then attached to the battery. there is two remotes in one enclosure controlling them

for the spare two motors id need another transmitter/receiver.

[Bartholomew]

i was wanting to use two remotes (not the speed ones, the other ones) for 8 channels, can i do this?

Yes, but you have to switch channels and can't use all 8 channels at the same time, just 4 simultaneously.

[SNIPE]

the lego IR TX/RX has 4 channels so i need two of them not three

i need to use the channels at the same time.

is there no NXT stuff or old lego stuff i can use?

cant i use the LEGO transponders as pas through receivers? or something?

if i send them using a single channel TX/RX attached to the NXT sensor port ans use this as the remote and control the packets by programming the NXT brick how will they go to each motor without having to use a channel switch on the TX/RX that is inside the vehicle?

maybe i can use 6 or 8 of the RCX light or whatever there called sensors as they are small and single channel.

i think ill need a controller on both ends for that, i know that some of these sensors have on board flash ram, maybe i could store a packet address validation script on that, but i don't know what will execute it.

Edited June 15, 2011 by SNIPE

[Toastie]

i think ill need a controller on both ends for that, i know that some of these sensors have on board flash ram, maybe i could store a packet address validation script on that, but i don't know what will execute it.

Hi Snipe,

if you want to go with an NXT solution, you could control a number of PF receivers quasi-simultaneously (4 in standard code = 8 individual channels). You'd need a HiTechnic IR "sensor" generating the appropriate PF signals form NXT programs.

And then NXT code that is capable of responding to you input of course.

The HT sensor is not that powerful with respect to range. If you want to extend the range, you could use a cheap "IR range extender" (non LEGO solution) available for remotes and what not.

Done that, works well.

Regards,

Thorsten

[SNIPE]

is there a RCX reviver , i recall that these are 4x2 bricks and don't have any channel switches, id just cram 8 of these in

[Toastie]

is there a RCX reviver , i recall that these are 4x2 bricks and don't have any channel switches, id just cram 8 of these in

Never ever heard of those, any more info? The RCX is a quite large "brick"

Regards,

Thorsten

[SNIPE]

can somebody tell me of any LEGO IR receivers.

I've looked at a NXT one and you can't just run that one from a battery, and the PF receiver is too big and it has a channel switch, i need to use one channel for each motor which connects to each receiver

[Sokratesz]

LEGO IR receivers are found in PF, some of the RC sets, and the mindstorms and scout sets. As far as I know there was no separate receiver brick for the old RCX other than the internal receiver and the external blue light sensor, and I don't think the latter could detect IR reliably.

[DLuders]

There is no Lego Mindstorms RCX IR receiver other than the IR Tower (shown below) that is used to transmit programming signals from your computer to the RCX brick. The 2x4 pieces are sensors wired into the RCX brick:

However, there is an 9738 RCX Remote Control that can operate your RCX brick remotely. All of the buttons you see on the RCX Brick have been duplicated on the Remote Control. They are available from this Bricklink webpage, and are no longer available from the Lego Education Store. My son and I used the RCX Remote Control years ago for Lego "Battlebots" -- it works well (as long as the "receiver" part of the RCX brick is facing the Remote Controller).

Edited June 17, 2011 by DLuders

[Sokratesz]

You can use these pieces from the fiber optic system to create a somewhat omnidirectional IR receiver :)