Torqeedo motor steering mechanism

ArduRover ArduBoat
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This is a topic to share information on how to make a steering mechanism for the Torqeedo 1103 and other similar motors.

Relevant links:

Here’s what’s on the boat now

actual-steering-mechanism
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motor-connection
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So in this last picture you can see that we’ve removed the battery and tiller from the top of the motor and then attached a collar to the shaft and then attached a horizontal plate to the collar which the two wires to the servo are connected to.

Here are some pictures of the 3D printed steering mechanism so far. It needs some improvements before it will be useful though. For example the gear on the motor side has no upper or lower lip so the timing belt slips off easily.

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**** RESPECT ***
GREAT JOB
When we ‘ARM’ the arduboat in mission planner ( Using the Pixhawk Navigation System) in order to set the autonomous mission, how do we turn on the Torqeedo ???

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@urenaf122,

I replied on YouTube but in any case, here’s the reply in case other people have the same question.

Re turning on the Torqeedo, it depends whether or not the autopilot is connected to the torqeedo battery or directly to the motor (e.g. you are using an external battery not the torqeedo battery). If the Torqeedo battery is used then the autopilot (via the RS485 interface board) pulls an On/Off pin high to turn on the battery. If an external battery is used then the motor will always be on. The interface board is described on this wiki page and I hope to start selling it from my company soon. I hope other people and/or companies will make their own interface boards as well.

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So the servo motor are connected to RC output(Pixhawk) and set the corresponding Servo Configuration (SERVOx_FUNCTION) to Grounding Steering. Is my understanding right? Can these configuration (Torqeedo and servo steering) run in SITL mode?

I’m trying to build a autopilot boat using Ardupilot and Torqeedo travel series for propulsion. Now I’m facing the steering problem.

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Hi @Yen_Jung_Kuo,

Yes, the vehicle should be setup as an Ackermann steering vehicle (aka “separate steering and throttle”).

You’ll need to connect some kind of servo to one of the autopilot’s PWM outputs (normally MAIN OUT1) and then that servo will need to somehow change the direction that the motor points towards.

I’m afraid that we do not have a simulator for the Torqeedo motor. The default rover that starts in SITL is an Ackermann steering vehicle though.

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