Re: Door Latch Actuators

[Frank Pittelli <frank-at-rctankcombat.com>]

Joe Sommer wrote:
> 
> How much current do the door latch actuators
> pull?  I can easily replace the puny opto-isolator on
> my RC Trigger board with a 36 VDC, 500 mA
> driver if you are interested.

They are relatively small 12v motors (standard 380 cases), so they don't 
draw a lot of current even when stalled, but I'm not sure of 500 mA will 
suffice.  It's probably an amp or two when stalled.  I'll take some 
measurements when the new ones arrive or John's Pak40 returns to the shop.

It would probably be best to use your RC Trigger circuit to drive a 
small 5 amp relay that drives the actuator.  In fact, the best solution 
would be to modify the software for your RC Trigger so that it only 
fires for a set time period when activated (say 500 ms).  That will 
ensure that the actuator is not stalled for too long a period of time.

        Frank P.