From: "T. Beck" 
To: 
Reply-To: "T. Beck" 



>
>> Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 17:06:58 -0400
> From: Stanislav Kogan 
> Subject: ATM DC motor control questions
>
> Hello.
>
> I own an older Intes Maksutov telescope with an equatorial mount and I
> want to design a new motor control for it's drive. The drive uses a DC
> motor with what appears to be an encoder wheel on it's shaft. Right now
> it's driven by a simple LM317 based circuit. I want to design something
> microcontroller based.
>
> What would be the better way to control the motor? PWM? or maybe I
> should stick to LM317, and adjust it with microcontroller?
>
> What kind of a microcontroller would be best for me, if I want it to be
> able to maintain the motor at certain RPM. Also I would like it to
> display the RPM on some simple LED display, and accept several
> commands. I thought of using a Basic Stamp, but it's quite expensive.
> I'm not afraid of programming in assembler(I'm a professional
> programmer).
>
> Best regards.
>
>
> - --
>
> Stanislav Kogan
> 
> eMail: kogan_s{at}mail15.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
Stanislav,
I have been utilizing the PIC16F84 and its newer version the PIC16F873 for
similiar projects. The assembler is free from Micro-Chip. The programmer
can be assembled make-shift using the LPT1 port and a few external
components for the programming voltage. There is alot of information on the
Web for constructing the programmer and writing code. The PIC processor is
optimized for bit-wise operations with a RISC architecture. The PIC16F873
has an on-chip USART and A/D converter. If you are handy with the soldering
gun this can be a cheap way to go.
Regards,
Tom Beck

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