flyingbrick

Thanks mate, very kind of you to spell it all out for me! ....now if only I wasn't stuck at work today.... Edit. Have read through that quite a few times to try figure out how it works. When you say read through the library- is the library opened in the Arduino editor like any other code? When you say reset the screen during a button state change during on/off....what exactly do you mean? I have fillscreen black in the setup which kinda erases everything

OK @h4nd i could seriously use your help here. I could not figure out how to get the no-delay style of things to work. I had it running poorly (can show code) I realize that new button presses are not picked up until the end of the currently operating piece of code but this delay is not a problem in this situation (im making excuses) So here is my new problem. When i run the last block of code and the button is held down it flashes the B because it is refreshing things over and over and over. So is there an easy way of making it run once per button press? i'm guessing you know how these screens work- they hold the current picture unless you cover over it with something else so if it sends the red box then the letter B and then NOTHING ELSE until the button is released it'd be OK.

OK fark thats confusing. Tempted to get someone else to do it but that would be defeating the purpose.

Perfect thanks! Will try work this out tonight. At the moment it's kinda cool because if you indicate AND use hazards it will alternate between the two.. however I knew this would cause issues with adding other icons. Thanks man!

I was showing my wife... she shook my hand, held back some lols and said congratulations you have rebuilt the wheel what an egg

OK so got my arduino nano yesterday- I have one with header pins soldered to the bottom for breadboard setup and another with no pins that i will maybe use in the vehicle. Yesterday was a write off as it took me AGES to actually get the unit communicating with the PC, and a few hours of head scratching tonight has got me far further than i thought possible. First of all- the TFT requires 3.3v for the screens LED... great because the NANO doesnt have onboard 3.3v output. Instead i have had to use a breadboard PSU which isn't a bad thing as it means i can use it to output 5v and 3.3v from a 9v when its not plugged into the PC I started by getting some adafruit example code to run. Initially its like WTF IS THIS and i found the easiest way to figure it out was to DELETE code piece by piece to see what changed/failed and then work out why... eventually i had it broken down to a triangle drawing command- figured out how they were manipulating it and changed the numbers to give some nice looking arrows. And then headscratched some more to figure out the switch, delay, loop stuff. Extremely basic but momentous when i got to this point. The arrows can become more fancy later.. im still trying to work out how to make it do more than one thing at a time etc etc.

@chris r I will judge you if you buy that

jesus christ. they have a bit more steel in them than i realised. be so much easier to just put it on a better chassis.

haha. Yeah but 1.2 is so much nicer to weld for the same reasons. and it feels so much more sturdy in floors etc.

I have used one of those remotes on my battery powered air horn setup. Works well

Hi man. I think if you spent $750 on a helmet you'd be disappointed by how little you actually benefit. Value wise you'd be better off buying a virgin sheet of 1.2mm material, some decent portable lighting and just practicing. This is the helmet that I recommend to everyone https://m.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Auto-Darkening-Variable-Shade-Hydrographic-Welding-Helmet/1000003026 Mine is the older version- the new one has a larger window but still 4 sensors and amazing value for money... You could spend far more on a helmet here in NZ and get less... Edit. Also.. my helmet (and I'm guessing this one) don't need visible light to darken as they sense electromagnetic stuff (or something) and magically darken. Mine will only flash ya if the batteries are flat (probably 3 sets in 4 years) But Practice is really the only thing that will give decent results. I use electrogalv 1.2mm sheet and unlike everyone else here- I really like it. I started using it because I knew an experienced bodywork guy who was buying a few sheets at the same time and that's what he suggested.. he TIG welds it with zero issues. I know ur flooded with conflicting advice which is usually worse than nothing so GOOD LUCK

oh wow, this is awesome

For our VS i purchased the cheapest new trademe radiator i could find. I forget the brand but google said they were actually OEM for many japanese producers. Perfect fitment and been in there a few years with zero issues. Looked identical too- cant fault it at all.

that is fucking BS, email tank sealer manufacturer?

wtf!!??

Hahahhahahahaha.

Hi man. What's a PC unit?

Thanks mate. http://www.midwestmotion.com/speedcontrols.htm , http://www.midwestmotion.com/products/speedcontrols/MMP 100A 20-62V Manual.pdf.. no idea on price though, will phone next week but i expect $$$ $650 for a unit that works reliably isn't bad, I'll take that number back to work with me on monday. I'm unsure what mechanism brakes the winch but its purely mechanical and there are no issues with it falling due to any electrical failure- motor reverses to lower it back down. In both horizontal and vertical positions it is kept securely locked with a big pin.

Thanks guys. Kk I'll flick you a message. @Bling your idea is pretty awesome but likely too complex and bulky. But thanks. Can any electrical gurus explain how I could reliably make a DC motor run at half speed? Would need to be approx 12v and 100a capable. @Ned I'll send you a pm

Unfortunately not. I can't discuss specifics however it is used to raise and lower a very long mast.. the mast has a very expensive and heavy flag on the tip. Hard to explain but a winch is the only viable option for many reasons.

they have already turned down my request for a propeller propelled container house rolling on turbos...dont wanna push my luck

I was going to say that custom stuff is outside the budget HOWEVER we may have to consider this idea. It would be a relatively simple job to laser cut an adapter plate and with the right winch (one that has a planetary gearbox on the opposite side to the motor driven by a driveshaft which runs through the center of the drum) it would be easy enough to couple the new shaft. Thanks spencer! food for thought. edit. Perhaps rather than a stepper I use a DC motor/worm drive gearbox adapted to the winch..hmmn. i am hoping at this stage that one of the suppliers comes back with the ability to stack their planetary sets to increase ratio hugely.

this is where i need help- I understood pwm was very good at keeping TQ high because voltage stayed the same but you simply pulsed the motor? I'm happy to be told otherwise but need to know. The other bonus is with a decent controller we can program in acceleration/deceleration ramps. Ideally i can find a suitable winch but after many emails around the place it doesn't seem that easy. line speed needs to be around 1m/minute or slower. preferably slower. max weight loading needs to be around 1T and we will use maybe half that. Neal is correct- I have had to retrofit a pulley system to previous systems to slow things down however it is a messy and difficult setup which we really need to avoid. the main drawback is that the two components we are pulling together end up very close to one another- there is extremely limited room left for cables to change direction between pulleys and with wire cable going around 3 pulleys you end up with a fair amount of resistance needed to stretch things back out again. I have found a great controller in the states from midwest motion products HOWEVER i cannot send them an e-mail as all their addresses bounce. Only other motor controllers suitable seem to be on ali express and banggood.... i wont put the customer through that! bahahaaha

Hi guys. I have a project at the moment which requires the purchase of TEN electric ATV style winches. The kicker is that they need to be SLOW. We have used ATV winches before and although perfect for the job I've ended up installing a triple pull pulley system to get speeds low enough. You'd think that this wouldn't be a problem however winch users usually want things as fast as possible - being SLOW isn't considered a good thing. I think I currently have two real options- a PWM style electric speed controller that could be set and forget (pwm should mean the DC motors maintain their tq i think?) or finding a slower winch (which could be $$$) Does anyone have any ideas or other input? I figured there's enough smart people here of varying backgrounds that ya never know what may pop up. Ps, the amount of total PULL required is around 2m- I will look at reducing drum layers to reduce diameter, this will help some. Anything much appreciated!

Very cool project. Admittedly i know very little about these things and wheelbase etc but from what i have heard about chassis strength and rust you'd probably be better (mentally and financially) using a later model chassis (like a nissan safari, could use a SWB chassis or chop down a LWB chassis to the perfect length) to give you strong diffs/easily turboed motor etc etc. I love that they made these out of aluminium!