12v variable speed controller for a motor
Thread Starter
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Fleet Owner
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 21,437
Likes: 76
From: Gilbert, PA
12v variable speed controller for a motor
Guys, I got myself in a bit of a jam.
My neighbor goes to Florida every winter and leaves me to plow/salt his driveway in case of emergency(******* hill)
He bought me a salt spreader made by a welding shop for my Ranger. It is a little thing. Holds about 200lbs of salt.
The guy who makes them uses a 12 Dayton electric motor on them. the problem is it is a 2350rpm motor. I want to slow it dow to keep the salt ON the driveway instead off off in the woods.
I am looking for something to change the speed. I thought I had it figured out, I bout a used controller off ebay for a salt spreader but that ended up being no good. New ones are 300+. I really can't justify spending that kind of $$ to do his and my driveway
Is there anything I can get my hands on to vary the speed? I went to radio shack and they were no help
PLEASE HELP ASAP
Motor specifics
12v PM DC
HP: 1/35
RPM 2350
F.L. 3.70 amps
My neighbor goes to Florida every winter and leaves me to plow/salt his driveway in case of emergency(******* hill)
He bought me a salt spreader made by a welding shop for my Ranger. It is a little thing. Holds about 200lbs of salt.
The guy who makes them uses a 12 Dayton electric motor on them. the problem is it is a 2350rpm motor. I want to slow it dow to keep the salt ON the driveway instead off off in the woods.
I am looking for something to change the speed. I thought I had it figured out, I bout a used controller off ebay for a salt spreader but that ended up being no good. New ones are 300+. I really can't justify spending that kind of $$ to do his and my driveway
Is there anything I can get my hands on to vary the speed? I went to radio shack and they were no help
PLEASE HELP ASAP
Motor specifics
12v PM DC
HP: 1/35
RPM 2350
F.L. 3.70 amps
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
Make sure your deflector flaps are angled correctly. My brigs and stratton powered sander on my c&c truck is one speed (unless I mess with run screw) and I found a good happy medium between conveyor speed (Geared to the spinner speed) and ended up changing the angle of the metal flaps to direct sand/salt down.
How about a scooter motor controller or one of those kids 12v ride on cars.
Being only 4 amps can you get a big ballast resistor and have a couple of them for different speeds.
How about a scooter motor controller or one of those kids 12v ride on cars.
Being only 4 amps can you get a big ballast resistor and have a couple of them for different speeds.
Thread Starter
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Fleet Owner
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 21,437
Likes: 76
From: Gilbert, PA
Make sure your deflector flaps are angled correctly. My brigs and stratton powered sander on my c&c truck is one speed (unless I mess with run screw) and I found a good happy medium between conveyor speed (Geared to the spinner speed) and ended up changing the angle of the metal flaps to direct sand/salt down.
How about a scooter motor controller or one of those kids 12v ride on cars.
Being only 4 amps can you get a big ballast resistor and have a couple of them for different speeds.
How about a scooter motor controller or one of those kids 12v ride on cars.
Being only 4 amps can you get a big ballast resistor and have a couple of them for different speeds.
You are WAY over my head with a ballast
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
Not enough people frequent this section I don't think.
Try posting in the truck section and see if the guys don't chime in.
Someone must be an electronics guy to be able to tell you how big of a resistor to use to make a certain amp draw from 12v down to 10v. THats all you need to do.
I'll search for a calculator online also.
Basically RadioShack or some other electronics component store locally should have something. You just need something that will handle 4-5 amps. (May need up to 6amps due to less voltage using more amps)
Try posting in the truck section and see if the guys don't chime in.
Someone must be an electronics guy to be able to tell you how big of a resistor to use to make a certain amp draw from 12v down to 10v. THats all you need to do.
I'll search for a calculator online also.
Basically RadioShack or some other electronics component store locally should have something. You just need something that will handle 4-5 amps. (May need up to 6amps due to less voltage using more amps)
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
You're on the right track but it doesn't go lower than 12v. Need more specs than what's listed. Is that 12 to 40v input and it varies pw from .01-400 watts or is it 40v input and it varies it down to 12v and .01-400 watts.... I don't know enough about it to say yes or no.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
Ask a parts store about the ballast resistor used on the older Chrysler ignition system. They reduced to like 9v. Hopefully there's an amp rating on it. I mount them to a piece of aluminum to help heat sink it.
Or ask them about a ballast resister for the 6v car conversion. When people used a 12v battery and starter on a car originally 6v.
Or ask them about a ballast resister for the 6v car conversion. When people used a 12v battery and starter on a car originally 6v.
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Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Virginia
I can tell you a resistor will not work very well. It will have to be very large, and as the current goes up on the motor(salt hits it) it will slow down.
If he wants to go half speed, that would be 6v. That means he would be dropping 6v on the resistor to get 6v on the motor. 6v x 3.7a =22watts. A 22 watt resistor is pretty big, and very hard to find and expensive, and it will not work very well. I tried the same thing on a 6v wiper motor on the 53 f100 and that's how I found out about the speeding up and slowing down thing.
Let me look around a little bit.
If he wants to go half speed, that would be 6v. That means he would be dropping 6v on the resistor to get 6v on the motor. 6v x 3.7a =22watts. A 22 watt resistor is pretty big, and very hard to find and expensive, and it will not work very well. I tried the same thing on a 6v wiper motor on the 53 f100 and that's how I found out about the speeding up and slowing down thing.
Let me look around a little bit.
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Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 56,966
Likes: 2,728
From: Virginia
Anyone know if this would work?
12V 40V 10A DC Pulse Width Modulation PWM Motor Speed Control Switch Governor | eBay
12V 40V 10A DC Pulse Width Modulation PWM Motor Speed Control Switch Governor | eBay
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
With pwm you don't lose as much torque output. You will lose some, but like was said it basically turns it on and off really fast to vary the speed.
I was just concerned with the input voltage.
I was just concerned with the input voltage.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,635
Likes: 3
From: Lansdale, PA
I thought about one/two ballast resistors, but using a heater blower resistor pack should work. It may need to be cooled. That's why it's in line with the air path to help cool it I think.
Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,533
Likes: 17
From: SW Florida
Just went and looked at the PWM controller on eBay. From the info I can find on it, it will work fine with your salt spreader motor. Not sure on the quality of the components though... for less than $6 it's gotta be Chinese lol.
Also, the blower resistor idea is fine too as long as that blower motor is rated equal to or more than the FLA of the spreader motor. I'm pretty sure it is but I doubt it's published anywhere. A small 12V electric fan can cool the resistor pack.
Also, the blower resistor idea is fine too as long as that blower motor is rated equal to or more than the FLA of the spreader motor. I'm pretty sure it is but I doubt it's published anywhere. A small 12V electric fan can cool the resistor pack.
Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 56,966
Likes: 2,728
From: Virginia
From the previous example, full load on the motor is 3.7a. If we wanted to run half speed at 6v, we would need to drop 6v across the resistor. 6v divided by 3.7a equals a 1.62 ohm resistor would be needed, when the motor was at full load. Lets put less salt on it, so the motor is now only drawing 1.85amps. We still have the same 1.62 ohm resistor, but now only 1.85 amps is flowing through it. 1.85a times 1.62 ohms equals 2.997 volts. At half the amperage draw, we are now only dropping 3v across the resistor, which means the motor now has 9v on it instead of 6v.
This is not a problem if the load remains fairly constant. But I am thinking a salt spreader is going to be a problem. I am sure this motor will draw more than 3.7a if a chunk of salt got hung up in it. If the current doubled, the motor would have a tendency to stall out, the resistor would be dropping all the voltage to it.