I bought a tracked remote control mower on Alibaba from a mob called Shandong Hanyue heavy industry group. They were awesome for about a year. Super responsive when I had issues. I burned out the motor driver board not long ago and they were going to send a replacement for me but it seems like old Trumps Tariffs might have put them out of business. No response, emails bounce back and they don’t answer the phone… here’s some photos of the board.
I’ve been using GROK to help me figure out what I need to replace it. It’s a 24v system that drives two tracks with two 500w motors per track. Grok says “two per track, 41.67A per track, 83.33A total continuous, 125A peak.” It’s controlled via a Microzone MC8RE 8-channel HV receiver and another control interface board with PWM signals (1–2 ms, 50 Hz). I’m not 100% sure what all that means but it’s seems like it might be accurate… ish.
Grok has recommended I order:
RoboClaw ST 2x45A (V6B) + two 230µF, 50V capacitors (~$3.00, Core Electronics) installed across the 24V input.
That looks like a servo type signal.
I think you have to first establish exactly what type of motors you have. That is brushed, continuous servo etc. It looks like brushed as there is a bunch of what looks like switching Mosfets on one side. The ones for the other track motors must be on the other side of the board.
Also exactly what that control interface does as anything you replace the driver with has to accept these signals.
What are the symptoms when this “blew up”. Did one or both sets of motors run at full speed. If so this would indicate shorted Mosfet (s). If this is all that is faulty you might get away with replacing all of the Mosfets. Don’t forget to replace all of the flywheel diodes too as this is the likely cause of any Mosfet failure.
Cheers Bob
So when the board failed “blew up” it was operating and it just started going in a circle. So essentially 1 track going forward and the other not moving. I was able to limp the machine back to my shed by driving it in reverse and manipulating the steering to get it there. I can’t recall exactly the way the motors functioned while I did that but one motor on the side that failed definitely stopped working and the other one wasn’t functioning properly.
From looking at other sites and the other mowers available from other manufacturers they seem to be brushed motors but there’s nothing on the actual motors that tells me much unfortunately.
Hi Gavin
Underside of the board.
They look like the switching Mosfets. Four sets (each set 3 Mosfets in parallel) for each motor which suggests an “H bridge” arrangement for reversing.
At a guess I would say the group of 3 at the top centre of the pic are the devices at fault.
BUT something caused that so it would be no good just replacing them. At least ALL the flywheel diodes would need replacing. A failure here is what usually causes a catastrophic failure like this.
If you are going with replacing this with an off the shelf locally available product I would take note of Dan’s comments and stay well away from the hobby and /or el cheapo dubious Chinese offerings. And his recommendation of the larger one is valid if the specs don’t quite meet the stall current requirements of your unit. Remember the motors are at a standstill and until they actually move this stall current will be the same as the inrush current at start up. So you would have to go for the larger unit. I have not noticed Roboclaw origin but if Chinese they are definitely not in the el cheapo class.
Cheers Bob
My dealings with this sort of thing have been many with golf buggies (the walk behind type as compared with CARTS which you ride in) and the Mosfets nearly all fail short circuit. That is the buggies take off at full speed.
EDIT:
I note the Pololu-3687 is cheaper than Dan’s link to Pololu-3688.
I don’t know what the difference is except maybe some feature you will not use. The current specs are the same.
“blew up” it was operating and it just started going in a circle. So essentially 1 track going forward and the other not moving. I was able to limp the machine back to my shed by driving it in reverse and manipulating the steering to get it there. I can’t recall exactly the way the motors functioned while I did that but one motor on the side that failed definitely stopped working and the other one wasn’t functioning properly.
