Who`s good with eleccytricks?

[chrism]

Hi guys

For my truck i want to have my winch controls on the gearstick so here is what i have found....a jcb loadall joystick which will go on top of my gearstick. On it it has 3 buttons and a rocker switch on the top and a trigger button.

I have 3 winches so the plan is to have the 3 switches to turn the winches on so to speak, and then the rocker switch to power in and out. Ideally the 3 switches would be push on and push off latching switches really but there not, so is there any relays out there which would be able to do that job for me?

The big question is would somebody that is good with electrics be able to knock up a wiring diagram for me for a bit of cash? I know its fairly complicated but im not too worried and due to the shape of the joystick i wont really catch the buttons but will still have an on off isolater switch for the joystick so they wont work unless its on. I will also have switches on the dash should the joystick fail. Any ideas anyone?

Chris

[chrism]

Just found another jcb joystick that has 6 buttons on the front and a trigger button of a later type farm special loadall, this may be a lot easier as it saves having the 3 buttons to select each winch, although that is a tidier way to do it!

[Guest diesel_jim]

With the 3 button stick, you could have each one for each winch like you want, but it would probably be easier to just have the red buttons as momentary, ie you "hold" it down (for whichever winch) then rock the in/out switch.

[LandyManLuke]

It's not difficult to make the push buttons 'click to select' and use the rocker for each switch.

you could make them push-engage, push-disengage and control multiple winches at the same time with the one rocker, that might get a bit confusing though.

Either way, I'd add an LED display somewhere which told you which winch was connected to the rocker switch, to save second guessing.

You could probably get it working using quite a few relays, but it'd be more elegant to get a bit of solid state logic in there.

[Guest noggy]

luke will say for certain, as he is closer to completion of his systems and control course... and i dropped out last year

but im sure you could use a simple latching circuit to each switch... but that would be quite alot of confusing wires..

yet a simple picaxe would be VERY simple to program and would work much better and look mega cool.

oh and LED's make things look bling!(specially UV/blue ones)

[chrism]

diesel jim.....its too much to do with one hand really, as i want to be able to just do it with one hand and steer with the other. A combination of fast winches will require steering whilst winching and maybe changing gear perhaps.

Luke.....I was definitly going to have a row of lights to show me which winch was in operation to kep things simple, but im nto sure if using all the relays isnt going to get too complicated and less reliable with a simple set up of one button for in and out for each winch. The buttons on my second joystick are colour coded in pairs but still may get more confusing?

In a dilemma really as each system has there pros and cons! Perhaps will just be trial and error, but one issue is going to be making sure it is fixed to the gearstick well. The landy gearstick has either an m12 or m14 thread so fairly big but the 6 button joystich is merely m10! so im not sure whether it will stick the pace! It basically just screws straight on the top. The other one however im not too sure about as its still on the valve block but looks promiosing for a lot stronget mount

[LandyManLuke]

noggy, yes, the options range from latching relays, to latching flipflops, to just wacking a uC in there.

Chris, the options are many and varied. If you decide on wanting to go down the route of some electronics, there's a few of us on here who can help you out.

[steve_a]

I've done PIC work similar to this, I still have my development kit hanging around which I could knock something up with.

I think something like that would be the way to go, as you probably want the switches to be insensitive to taps, so a hold down for x seconds to change type logic.

[chrism]

I have decided to go for the joystick with 3 buttins and the rocker switch as in the picture. The way i want it set up is so that if i press one of the 3 buttons, say the top one, then there is power to the rocker switch for the front winch in and out. Then if i press the button again then it will 'deactivate' the winch so to speak. Im guessing this can be done fairly simply with latching relays, i dont have much knowledge in these or setting up a circuit like this though. Would this set up still require a picaxe on a circuit board then? Im thinking not? I will also have 3 lights on the dash for each winch, and some back up rocker switches for each winch on the dash just in case.

I will set up all the circuit and relays in a little plastic maplin box that i can put anywhere and seal it pretty easily.

Im not too worried about knocking the buttons as i dont think they will be too prone to knocking

Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction to get this circuit drawn up

Thanks

Chris

[FridgeFreezer]

Latching relays make life easier but there are issues around the fact that the buton push period will need to be fairly specific, if you hold it down too long the thing will chatter between on and off. Wiring a priority system will also require some head scratching, if you push button A to enable winch A, then push button B to enable winch B before disabling winch A you need to send a pulse to relay A to disable it otherwise you'll have two winches responding to the in/out button.

I'm not sure doing it entirely with relay logic is the way, and I'm not sure you need go as far as microprocessors, but I'm too busy to think of the right answer in between... diodes from the enable buttons to the disable coil of the other two relays seems the way to go but as for a circuit, I don't have time to get the crayons out.

[LandyManLuke]

You could do what you want with a few logic gates.

I'm strapped for time too though, dissertation due monday. I'll have a think next week if i remember.

[FridgeFreezer]

I reckon it's doable with relays and diodes, but my brain hurts right now.

[Night Train]

You can have a momentry switch latch a relay with a push and then the next momentry switch will unlatch the first and latch a second and so on. However, can you say if the switches are:

a ) single pole, double pole, two way, etc so the best use of the switch can be made

b ) possible to be changed for latching switches as this would make things easier

I have a momentry switch on my gear stick for reversing flood lights. Only when reverse is selected will the momentry switch work and latch a relay to light the floods if pressed. When I come out of reverse the floods switch off and the relay unlatches. Re selecting reverse will not switch on the floods until the momentary switch is pressed again.

It uses two relays to make this one operation work.

Yours could be done with two relays per winch switch and, I think they will need to be double pole to allow for the rocker control.

[chrism]

Slight change of plan happned when i realised that the rocker switch was actually a pot not a switch which would have made things very coplicated! I then pulled it apart and made a new piece to go in the top put 2 of the push to make switches back in as the in and out controls as i couldnt find a decent rocker switch anywhere. Then got a 4 position turney clicky switch (technical term!). This gives me an off position and a position for each winch. Each winch also has its own LED on the joystick. This will also make it alot simpler to wire up compared to the previous set up! Needs a lick of paint but here it is............

Chris

[LandyManLuke]

bet that's almost impossible to turn without taking your hand off the gearstick!

easier to wire up though, as you said.

[chrism]

bet that's almost impossible to turn without taking your hand off the gearstick!

easier to wire up though, as you said.

It can be done! i will try a different top on it though i think, may make it easier. Its now really simple to wire which is better, all done with little relays.

Most of the time it will be set on the front winch i should imagine anyway

[LandyManLuke]

Maybe a top with more of a bar or pointer on it will allow you to flick it with your thumb

you using six relays? or have you found DPDT relays? or are you switching the earth? ( i wouldn't)

[chrism]

Thats what i was thinking, probably be able to flick it easier with my thumb

I was planning on using 6 relays, with +ve going to selector switch, then power going each relay ie 2 +ve`s from each position to give in and out, then wires going to the corresponing switch, ie 3 to in switch and 3 out, so yes i would be switching the earth would look a bit like this.............

Why dont you recommend switching the earth?

Chris

[LandyManLuke]

That's the obvious way to do it - you're not switching the earth there.

You could do it by always sending IN or OUT to all solenoid packs, and use the selector switch to ground the solenoid pack you want to work, BUT,

- That's a hell of a lot of extra wire for the sake of three relays

- You open up the possibility of a huge malfunction if a solenoid gets earthed some other way, such as water, a stray bit of wire etc.

[chrism]

Thats not too much work to do it like my diagram and cheap, it will all be sealed and well connected as well so shouldnt be too much of a problem.

One of the main problems with the old switch set up was that if the rocker switch creeps slightly then soon as i select a winch, it would start up when i didnt want it to and that could be pretty dangerous if it happened in the wrong place!

[Night Train]

If your rotary switch was double pole then you could have the feed to the in/out switches and then from there to the rotary selector switch. The current can then be fed from each pole of the rotary switch to each pair of relays.

[LandyManLuke]

Yuh, i had assumed the switch was single pole.

[white90]

what happens when you want to use both at the same time?

I have a fair bit recently

[A Twig]

I'm halfway through my end of year 3 electronics exams, will have a closer look in a couple of weeks, unless you're in a rush then that's no good to you!