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Miscellaneous => Technical Support => Topic started by: yahurd on 8 August 2009, 12:59

Title: Controlling electormagnets with my computer?
Post by: yahurd on 8 August 2009, 12:59

Can anyone tell me how to individually control 10 electromagnets with a PC?

I need to be able to adjust each one individually, control the strength, shut them on, and off etc.

Can anyone tell me how to do this?

Title: Re: Controlling electormagnets with my computer?
Post by: davidnix71 on 12 August 2009, 04:02

The GadgetMaster

http://www.pcgadgets.com/ (http://www.pcgadgets.com/)

10 stepper motors, each connected to the trim pot of each electromagnet's control board.

Title: Re: Controlling electormagnets with my computer?
Post by: yahurd on 14 September 2009, 22:49

They need to oscillate, I think either between rates or on and off, at several thousand cycles per second. can gadgetmaster do that? and if not does anyone know how I could?

Title: Re: Controlling electormagnets with my computer?
Post by: Lead Head on 15 September 2009, 05:32

You will probably need to use some kind of PIC micro-controller with an amplifier board. AFAIK, there is no built in interface on a PC that can handle 10 simultaneous outputs. If it was just 1 or 2 magnets you wanted to control, the parallel port would suffice.

Title: Re: Controlling electormagnets with my computer?
Post by: Aloone_Jonez on 15 September 2009, 12:11

I agree, use a PIC.

How much current do the magnets draw and what voltage do they require?

If you don't need any more than 5V@500mA in total then you could power the whole thing from the USB port, otherwise you'll need a separate power supply (assuming you're not mounting this inside the PC's case). You can buy wall plugs or small switched mode power supplies quite cheaply.

You'll need a driver to power the magnets; this could just be a transistor.

This doesn't sound like a hard project but unless you have at least a basic knowledge of electronics, assembly programming and can solder you're going to struggle.

Here are some PIC tutorial sites.
http://www.gooligum.com.au/tut_baseline.html (http://www.gooligum.com.au/tut_baseline.html)
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk/pic_tutorial.htm (http://www.winpicprog.co.uk/pic_tutorial.htm)
http://www.mstracey.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm (http://www.mstracey.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm)