by HA2KJ Kornel
- Use your phone/PC to control the rotator via your home Wifi (no control box, or control cables to your tower)
- Web application runs in web browser, no installation needed (ESP32 hosts the intranet website)
- OTA remote software upadate (to avoid climbing up to update)
- No step loss solution (due to close loop stepper, driver detecs & compensat any step losses)
- NEMA34 closed loop stepper motor with encoder 8.5Nm (actual heading/position always known, price 124 EUR incl. 15 days shipping)
- High torque to handle light HF yagies (to have same performance characteristics like Yaesu-G450)
- Motor to run at highest-torque RPM (~90-100 RPM)
- No break but worm gear (NMRV-050 80:1 gear ration to be slow enough and utilize highest torque RPM range of the motor, price: 107 EUR incl. 15 days shipping)
- About 1min full turn time (can turn much faster if needed)
- Cheap and widely available ESP32 microcontroller board (~6 EUR)
- Cheaper than commercial grade rotators (less than 300 EUR)
- Open-source software
- Options to integrate with CAT, logger, QRZ.com etc
TBD
Purchase it here: NMRV-050 Gearbox Worm Gear Reducer with 80:1 ratio Nema34 25mm shaft
Purchase it here: HSS86 Driver with 8.5Nm Nema34 stepper motor
- WROOM32D has built in Wifi antenna (supports 802.11n up to 150Mbps)
Purchase it here: ESP32 WROOM32D
- ESP has 3.3V line levels but HSS86 Driver demands 5V inputs and outputs so a bidirectional shifter needed
Purchase it here: 4channel 5V <-> 3.3V level shifter
- 24-110V DC or 18-80V AC!
- Pick any 100W model, prefer toroid over switching to mitigate RF noise issues (My setup consumes only 20-30 Watts)
- the higher voltage the better due to lesser current and heat
Purchase it here: Switching power supply 48V 100W