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Auto Surf Gate - Arduino


jhartt3

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Thought i'd throw this out there but i wrote some simple logic with a GPS and arduino to control home made surfgates.   

https://www.wakegarage.com/forums/topic/46-arduino-or-other-programmable-control/

you can check out the thread over at wakegarage with some of the info.  i'll get it lake tested in early spring.  Did a drive test in the car with it and it worked great.  Now i just need to wait for the weather to warm back up. 

Basically you can add surfgate to your boat for under 500 bucks now with this logic and doing a self install. 

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I work in the servo automation world and have it all designed in my head to build it to be fully adjustable.  Fine tune, how far to extend, completely adjustable etc.  The problem is it gets very expensive very fast when you start thinking about needing IP68 and position feedback on the actuators.  You need the drives, control and it just gets expensive, fast.

 

I am happy to help so let me know what I can do.

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2 hours ago, twitchee2 said:

I work in the servo automation world and have it all designed in my head to build it to be fully adjustable.  Fine tune, how far to extend, completely adjustable etc.  The problem is it gets very expensive very fast when you start thinking about needing IP68 and position feedback on the actuators.  You need the drives, control and it just gets expensive, fast.

 

I am happy to help so let me know what I can do.

Most systems are time based and not getting feedback of the position of the actuator. Don't know what you are planning to use to adjust  the tab, but a simply use a potentiometer with detent and each detent sends a pulse for certain time length.

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1 hour ago, kerpluxal said:

Most systems are time based and not getting feedback of the position of the actuator. Don't know what you are planning to use to adjust  the tab, but a simply use a potentiometer with detent and each detent sends a pulse for certain time length.

I am a servo electronics engineer. I over complicate everything, ha.

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Yes you're way over complicating this. Servos and drives are overkill you're not going to see a distinct advantage fine tuning with all that extra hardware.  My whole project installed will be sub 500 including the 2 fast lenco actuators. And the controller system itself is sub 100. I doubt you see any recognizable difference that is equivalent to the extra cost and complexity of a servo based system. As indicated above a simple potentiometer to dictate the time for deployment would give you pretty close to the same control at almost no cost extra cost compared to servo drives. 

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On 12/21/2017 at 9:44 AM, jhartt3 said:

Alright the link to build your own surf controller with an arduino for under 100 bucks is up on wake garage.

https://www.wakegarage.com/projects-archive/diy-surf-devices/arduino-controller-for-automatic-gates-r100/

Let me know if you have any questions. 

That is pretty awesome you did this for the community and aren't monitizing it.

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physical gates are very boat dependent - they arent too hard to construct - its 2 stainless hinges and a piece of HDPE connected to an acutator.  how you mount them etc as i said is very boat dependent. you need them to pull up enough they dont effect the surf side, may have to make platform modifcations, size and shape - etc etc.  that part doesnt really have a one size fits all unless you go with something like go surf assist. but i'm planning to use something like malibu's surfgate. 

Edited by jhartt3
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 29/12/2017 at 2:41 AM, jhartt3 said:

physical gates are very boat dependent - they arent too hard to construct - its 2 stainless hinges and a piece of HDPE connected to an acutator.  how you mount them etc as i said is very boat dependent. you need them to pull up enough they dont effect the surf side, may have to make platform modifcations, size and shape - etc etc.  that part doesnt really have a one size fits all unless you go with something like go surf assist. but i'm planning to use something like malibu's surfgate. 

What thickness HDPE did you use?

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either of you guys have pictures of what yours look like i'm putting mine on a 1999 sunsetter and am looking for some pictures of installs on the physical side.  programming was the simple part for me - mounting the gates properly will likely be my issue. 

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34 minutes ago, jhartt3 said:

either of you guys have pictures of what yours look like i'm putting mine on a 1999 sunsetter and am looking for some pictures of installs on the physical side.  programming was the simple part for me - mounting the gates properly will likely be my issue. 

Sure, PM me your email address and I'll send you some pics.  There are some tricks to getting them mounted to the curved surface.

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On 1/12/2018 at 9:37 AM, jhartt3 said:

either of you guys have pictures of what yours look like i'm putting mine on a 1999 sunsetter and am looking for some pictures of installs on the physical side.  programming was the simple part for me - mounting the gates properly will likely be my issue. 

If your sunsetter has a stepped hull then look for some threads specifically for hat. The mounting becomes a bit more complicated. I forget if the ‘99 is a stepped hull or not.

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