Control speed of Minn Kota Trolling Motor

[mattjm]

I'm looking for a way to contol the speed of a Minn Kota RT80EM, this is an 80lb electric motor that is engine mounted to the cavitation plate of my outboard and has a simple rotary control of speed in forward/reverse. I already have Lowrance Autopilot and HDS so in that sense steering control is aready taken care of. What i would like, is to be able to control the speed of the electric motor to the point I could hold a position i.e spot lock. Is this possible?

[seandepagnier]

basically no.

These motors draw more current than my controller can supply. There is also no algorithm for what you are asking. To do this, the autopilot would need to control speed and direction, so it would need two outputs, and this is not implemented yet.

[mattjm]

basically no.

These motors draw more current than my controller can supply.   There is also no algorithm for what you are asking.   To do this, the autopilot would need to control speed and direction, so it would need two outputs, and this is not implemented yet.

Isn't the output current meaningless if the software can controll the speed via PWM or simply on/off via a suitably rated SSR

[rastam4n]

I think you would need 360deg steering as well wouldn’t you?
I love the idea of being able to take any base electric motor and give the features of the top line models especially on a diy budget.
Great idea!

[mattjm]

I think you would need 360deg steering as well wouldn’t you?
I love the idea of being able to take any base electric motor and give the features of the top line models  especially on a diy budget.  
Great idea!

That would be the ultimate end goal for wider application but as a start for what I need it would just be speed control. My steering would be taken care of Seperately by the lowrance autopilot.

[NWRoamer]

I think you would need 360deg steering as well wouldn’t you?
I love the idea of being able to take any base electric motor and give the features of the top line models  especially on a diy budget.  
Great idea!

That would be the ultimate end goal for wider application but as a start for what I need it would just be speed control. My steering would be taken care of Seperately by the lowrance autopilot.

Sorry about responding to an older thread. It applies to what I'm trying to do with pypilot.

mattjm: you could use any motor speed controller (big enough) to do what you need to do and just use a potentiometer to control the speed of the motor.

Sean: could a feature be added to control a speed controller like an electric throttle? Servo? Could open up options for pypilot.

I live on a lake that is no gas motors. I've been trying to figure out how to use pypilot and gps to steer and control my electric trolling motor so I can fish. It looks like with a tiller mount motor, pypilot will work out of the box without controlling the electric motor's speed. More searching to do, but I will start a thread with my build if I don't find anything.

[rastam4n]

The base code to control a Servo with a potentiometer or even a web app is pretty simple. I’m guessing you would want to set SOG though and for that you would need GPS. There is a project on Git that might interest you. It’s called steady pass.
https://github.com/stunt822/SteadyPass

[NWRoamer]

The base code to control a Servo with a potentiometer or even a web app is pretty simple.  I’m guessing you would want to set SOG though and for that you would need GPS.  There is a project on Git that might interest you. It’s called steady pass.  
https://github.com/stunt822/SteadyPass

Thanks rastam4n! Cloning it now.

[seandepagnier]

also, ardupilot may be of interest to you.


pypilot is intended to replace systems where you really don't care about boat speed for now, but I can see how this may be useful. Eventually pypilot could control sails as well.