(2021-08-14, 06:28 PM)seandepagnier Wrote: If pypilot somehow costs more in the end of a "commercial equivalent" I would really like to know about it. I guess technically if you buy parts for pypilot it is also commercial.
As mentioned on the forum earlier, the power steering motors are a step up from windshield wiper motors in terms of power, but they do cost a bit more. Most wiper motors will work fine, the thing to look for is universal vs fixed magnet. Only really old ones are universal as far as I know (1970s and before), and although maybe slightly more powerful, they use at least twice as much power which is bad.
I intend for pypilot to be able to run on its own pi using the tinypilot image and distribution. This gives the best reliability because tinycore linux runs completely from ram. It is unfortunately not supported on pi4 just yet however if you intended to use all of the same type of pi, but I should have this in not-too-distant future.
Super, Thanks for the info. I wasn't meaning PyPilot was going to cost more than the Commercial equiv...but in the past I've been known to DIY some things that in the end would have been cheaper to buy off the shelf...but I had the satisfaction of building it myself and knowing exactly how it was built and how it works. That's worth more to me than anything...
. When you say Power steering Motors you mean an electric motor for an Automobile Power steering pump? I don't remember seeing anything about these in a thread (it could be that I just haven't found it yet). I'm relatively new to the Forum (only found it last week from your YT Videos via an OpenCPN thread on the Cruisers Forum). Are there any particular Wiper/PS motors you can recommend? I assume the larger the Boat the Larger (or Stronger) the motor needs to be.
As to the RPi's, yes I was planning to use the Pi4's with SSD's at this point unless a newer, better model comes out before Feb. (when I plan to start the Refit). Yeah, I really like your system because it functions as a standalone but can be intergrated into OpenCPN. The setup that Ironman and Andreas29 have built as well as your own tests convinced me that this is a viable alternative.
I'm sailing the boat from the US and plan to hang out in and around the South Pacific for a few years so it'll be a good long term trial for the technology/systems. I'm a big believer in being able to source "universally available" components and giving the Stink finger to the guys who try to control a particular portion of the market. I think this is going to be an interesting project.
Rick
Edit: I found some threads on the EPS motors....Nice...