Autonomous Floating Sauna

Hey everybody. I was thinking to make the GPS guidance for my floating sauna. (Technically this can only be thought of as a big boat) I could do the control in the same way as in the example I found on the Internet. https://imgur.com/a/1fFaJ5Q In this example, is used a car air conditioning magnet switch to make traction on the shaft and, if desired also off. The windscreen wiper motor is used in the example. I thought I was using a high torque servo motor. Which solution would be better?

For throttle control, I was thinking of using two linear motors. One would handle the gear and the other would handle the throttle. As a autopilot hardware I planned to use Pixhawk 4 mini. Here’s a planned hardware.

I have some mechanics skills as well as electronics but no experience with ardupilot yet. So I would like you to question my plan and point me to right directon ! :slight_smile: Thanks !

Little help needed. Is that servo good choice for my purposes: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigytm-s8166m-high-torque-servo-33kg-0-21sec-154g.html

What else i need except Pixhawk. Some ESC/BEC for powering that servo ? Can someone poin good one :slight_smile: I think I first make steering control, and handle throttle just manual. Is that problem ? :slight_smile: Thanks !

Is this the wrong place for this style of questions ? :slight_smile:

Hi @silmakka,

Sounds like a fun project. The flight controller and servos you’ve linked look OK. Any servo that accepts a PWM input should work fairly easily. The sabretooth motor driver should also work because it looks like it also accepts a PWM input.

I’m not sure I understand what is going to provide thrust for the vehicle…

Hi, rmackay9. I really appreciate your comments.

Thrust is provided by 30hp Yamaha outboard. That torque from that servo should be enough to do steering. Still servo looks a little bit weak design for that purposes… It is difficult to know what is enough… Maybe car windshield wiper motor and https://www.pololu.com/product/3147 this control board is better solution ? Servo definitely would be easier and less more hasslefree… What you think ? :slightly_smiling_face:

Is it problem if just steering is done by ardupilot and throttle is just manual on/off at least in the first step ?

Here is commercial solution: https://www.lowrance.com/en-au/lowrance/type/autopilots/outboard-pilot-cablesteer-pack

I want to do the same thing at a lower cost, and of course better :wink:

OK, I’m actually not too sure about what will be sufficient when it comes to the hardware. As long as the motor driver and servo accept a PWM input then the flight controller should hopefully be able to get it to work.

It’s certainly possible for ArduPilot to only do the steering as a first step… not a bad idea I think.

I haven’t tried a gas motor myself although others in the forum have…

I have made some progress with this. I ended up using a car wiper motor + Pololu jrk driver with potentiometer feedback. (Maybe I need a housing to cover the cord with a mess :wink: