2 pots as One

Question

Hi everyone,

I have posted that question on many EE forums , but it remains unanswered and thats why im posting it here- i think some people here will be able to come up with something.

Anyway heres the deal- An rc helicopter remote controller has a potentiometer for roll, pitch and yaw movement

Im interested in the Yaw movement - im building a cockpit and i cant figure out how to split that pot into two pots (yaw is controlled by two pedals in a real heli)

I need to come up with a mechanical or electrical solution...so far i have came up with this idea - there will be a micro switch on each pedal + the pot.

When , say left pedal is pressed the switch bypasses the second pedal's pot and its like its not there and vice versa, but im not sure how reliable would that be

YT2095 · Accepted Answer

something like this would do it then: but you`de have to arrange it mechanically so that only One can go to the center at any given time, OR either can go Away from the center (probably safest).

YT2095 · Answer

will there be any sort of mechanical linkage to prevent both pedals being pressed in at once? if you did have a see-saw type action then it`s very simple to do, you could even put both pots in parallel, the problem arrises though, when 2 are allowed to travel at the same time, so Left is giving mostly GND and Right is giving mostly +5V for instance, and the middle is effectively shorted out at this point.

YT2095 · Answer

yup, and they do in a plane as well, I didn`t mention the see-saw for design convenience alone, but for realism the only sort of thing (in a twin engine+, plane anyway) that has anything like individual controls like that is the throttles, and you can use these to effect Yaw as well, although that`s an aside, and not really applicable to helis. IIRC Yaw`s effected by altering the tail rotor speed in those. pity you lived so far away, it would be fun to weld up a mechanical for the pedals as realistic as possible!