Snitzl's Main Blog

Have you, or anyone else, made these controllers available commercially?

Hi Regularity, These controller's were developments of Stuart Hines original Pentroller, I've substituted and added extra components. Built 7 or 8  of these and given a few away, but they've never been made commercially, if you think there's a market, then please feel free to use them.

It was more a case of needing one in a hurry, to replace a somewhat bulky ECM compspeed on a wander lead.

Hi Regularity, Really  sorry about that, I misunderstood.

I wasn't clear, so that's not your fault!

I have seen the PICtroller, and wondered if these were the same (and you the same) but alas, they are not, and some reports suggest they aren't as good.

Hi , The PICtroller is the modern version of Pentroller, instead of analog  components, the PICtroller is micro processor controlled with auto detection on the motor types, both designs were initiated by Pendon for controlling both standard motors and more importantly for Pendon , coreless motors. After reading your link 'some reports', I'm not so sure, but I believe that Pendon use the PICtroller.

It looks like you've done some amazing work here @snitzl . There are many people out there who swear by the Pentroller, and would love a way to get hold of a replacement. 

 

If you're happy for others to make use of your design, I wonder if it would be worth giving your design a formal status (like Creative Commons, used by the Arduino circuit design, amongst others) to give an official recognition of the work that's gone into it, while letting others either produce boards themselves, or get some produced commercially.

 

I'm already wondering about converting the design into something that could be uploaded to one of the online PCB prototyping sites that will ship you a fully assembled PCB (or dozen) within a week or two?

Hi justin1985, I would suggest you look at all three blogs on Controller's, the first is an investgation into Stuart Hines original Pentroller, the second and third blogs take the original Pentroller design and use a few more common components to acheive the same end result. The blogs will explain all, Please use whatever you find usefull.