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• Ice Melter Version

  cele9999 • 09/09/2023 at 00:08 • 0 comments

  In the first few pictures of the project I showed the version of the SnowByte that my friend Scott build. It is composed of 2x 14oz propane tanks, along with 2x propane wands. He installed them and simply build an angled bracket to hold the wands and can be adjusted for lining the wands at an angle. He opted to not use tank threads in his version and he sent me a video of him testing this setup.

• (Optional) Part 3: Making a Lawn Trimmer Attachment

  cele9999 • 09/07/2023 at 20:00 • 0 comments

  Finally installed the 3D printed arms for the trimmer attachment and added the Arduino code to control the trimmer motor. Updated on Build 'Instructions.pdf' in the Github project. The 3D printed parts are holding the trimmer motor with zip ties and are locked into place with hex nuts on both sides of the all threaded rod.

  The linear actuator attaches to the trimmer motor by using a velcro wrap and the height can then be adjusted with the actuator.

  Plus, it makes the trimmer attachment easily interchangeable with the snow plow attachment. As for the wiring I'm using this schematic with a 3rd relay to control the trimmer motor. I also used pin 'A0' on the Arduino for activating the 3rd relay and connected Channel 3 signal cable to D13 on the Arduino. 

  So on the "Trimmer Trigger Switch cables" I used  lever connectors, so the trimmer attachment can be switch by only disconnecting 2 cables. I will post another video showing the trimmer attachment working next.

• (Optional) Part 2: Making a Lawn Trimmer Attachment

  cele9999 • 09/04/2023 at 18:30 • 0 comments

  After taking the trimmer apart, I observed the circuit to come up with a way to control it via the Arduino and the 6 channel RF Receiver. Here is the PCB inside the trimmer.

  I only need to get another 5v relay module to replace the trigger switch of the trimmer and program the Arduino to detect the signal to Channel 3 of the Remote control and activate the relay that will turn on the trimmer motor. The other switch on the bottom left of the picture is for adjusting the motor speed between slow or fast. Which the default is fast so I will leave it as is. Next I'll add the Arduino code changes and mount the trimmer motor attachment to the RC SnowByte.

• (Optional) Making a Lawn Trimmer Attachment

  cele9999 • 09/04/2023 at 01:55 • 0 comments

  As mentioned before in the instructions, the SnowByte can be customized to have other attachments like a lawn trimmer. I want an easy and quick solution to simply be able to switch attachments on my SnowByte. Since a friend gave me an electric lawn trimmer, I decided to extract the motor with its housing and use it to make it into an inter-changeable attachment for the SnowByte. Using a handy table saw I was able to cut the housing apart and I will 3D-Print a lawn trimmer holder arm.

  After this I need to modify the circuit of the trimmer motor to control it with another 5v relay module and the Arduino like the linear actuator motor. Now the real decision is whether or not I should use the battery that came with the trimmer?

  This will give me more uses for my RC SnowByte thru the year when there is no snow. I will attempt to use the power supply to feed the trimmer motor also, but if it turns out to consume too much power I will have to use the battery. Stay tune for the next update, to find out if 15A will be enough to power everything in the SnowByte plus the lawn trimmer.

• SnowByte Test Run

  cele9999 • 08/21/2023 at 22:20 • 0 comments

  
  This was after putting everything together and attaching the linear actuator. The speed was also adjusted in the code, it automatically increases the speed as it moves forward. It was done for the purpose of increasing the power to push snow. This can always be adjusted in the code if necessary. By changing the speed variable in the "var setup" section of the code.
  

• Poorman's H-Bridge (Relays)

  cele9999 • 08/12/2023 at 16:01 • 0 comments

  I made a circuit that provided the H-Bridge functionality to the linear actuator, by using 2 relay modules. I connected the together using the following schematic and connected their signal pins to the Arduino's IO pins. 

  Programmed the Arduino to interpret Channel 4's inputs as the signal for moving the snowplow arm by sending the D11 or D12 digital IO signal to the relay modules. I hope that a circuit like this one is able to help anyone else having the same design problems in the future.
  

• Schematics

  cele9999 • 08/12/2023 at 15:53 • 0 comments

  In order to control the SnowByte I needed to have the 24v DC powersupply feed both the motors and the control circuit that uses the Arduino Nano interpret the signals from the Remote Control.

  Since the original snowplow attachment did not contain any linear actuator I simply left the digital IOs unpopulated in this schematic. I did not have a good idea of how to control the raising/lowering of the linear actuator without having to use an H-bridge board... yet.  

• Panels

  cele9999 • 08/12/2023 at 15:48 • 0 comments

  Each panels that covers the frame of the SnowByte is made from polycarbonate. Using a 2'x3' panel of polycarbonate I made the following cuts:

  After cutting the panels, there was still material left for other future projects that could use it.

• Frame

  cele9999 • 08/12/2023 at 15:44 • 0 comments

  The frame is made with aluminum linear rails cut to the following dimensions. 

  This offers plenty of space for housing all the electronics like the motors, powersupply and the microcontroller+control circuits. I also picked such dimensions because if I need to replace the powersupply for lithium batteries, I could do so too. This size plus 2" on the sides, fits perfectly in a corner of my garage for storing the SnowByte.

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