Arduino Prototyping Outputs #82: Slip Rings

[@heyjakeay]

I've been looking everywhere for a way to solve this problem... thanks for introducing me to slip rings!

[@MarcdeVinck]

So glad it helped! There are 100 more helpful videos in the playlist!

[@Factsfun-kg4xc]

I have made my own direct drive steering wheel. And wheel base for sim racing. I used a slipring for power and data going from the buttons on the steering wheel to the Arduino pro micro, controller the buttons. Without it I should have a USB connection on the outside

[@BrownMInc]

This channel is gold thank you!! My biggest challenge as an engineering student and hobby is finding out what exists in the first place

[@MarcdeVinck]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you like them!

[@lusher00]

We definitely can’t see that there is no loss with your LED experiment. 99% of LED’s in the wild have a duty cycle of less than 100% yet nobody notices they are blinking. I made my own slip rings with copper washers and 4mm ball bearings but I have yet to test it on high speed data. I’m hoping I can push data in the 10’s or kHz for a propeller clock.

[@FrequenciaJogos]

I understand the slip sing, but still missing: how do I rotate that? It seems like a dumb question, but it's not an motor, so how can I combine that slip ring with an motor? The only way seems to put the motor on the exactly oposite side. But, them, the exemple given at 0:15 is not very accurate, since the Slip Rings isn't an drop-in replace for the servo.

[@MarcdeVinck]

This is a part of a larger system. Like a tire on a car. The tire doesn’t make it go, but without tires, it doesn’t go! So, yes, it doesn’t move anything. Think of it as a way to transmit power and signal through an area of rotation that is part of a larger mechanical system. Imagine an LCD sign that may rotate 360 degrees. This would be the coupler used to send data to the LCD display. Hope this helps explain it a bit.

[@FrequenciaJogos]

​ @Marc de Vinck But it's still weird because there's no small motors/servo with some "slip ring" built-in. It's not that easy to add an ordinary motor and combine with the slip ring. It seems much more complicated than I initially thought.

[@MarcdeVinck]

@@FrequenciaJogos Think about having this as part of a tubular axel. Then have a chain or belt drive to a larger gear on the axel. Does that make sense. Oh, and yeah, it’s a complicated setup. But when you need a slipring they are great!

[@iceboundflame]

I am also looking for an example of how to mount a slip ring in an application

[@ctotheh3327]

There’s something called a through hole slip ring that allows you to put an axel I think for a motor maybe, look it up and see if that’s what you want

[@akhilbalu9289]

Hi. Thank you for this great information. I would like to know whether these slip rings can be used to power the Arduino. Will the power supply be continuous? so that Arduino will not restart in between.

[@MarcdeVinck]

You could easily mitigate any power issues by adding the proper capacitor to smooth out the power supply. But keep in mind it can easily handle data, and that's more sensitive to variations and timing, so it's most likely ok.

[@akhilbalu9289]

@@MarcdeVinck thank you so much for the response 👍

[@alexalex-hb4dq]

So can I connect the slip ring to an Arduino board? I am working on this project that has rotation involved and I am wondering if I can connect the stationary wires to the Arduino to send signals to the sensors. The sensors going to be connected to the rotating part.

[@MarcdeVinck]

Yes, slip-rings allows for (low) power and data wires to continuously rotate.

[@Bapuji42]

I can't seem to find any information anywhere on how to get a motor connected to one of these. I figure you'd attach the flange to a pulley and drive it with a belt, but what do you do if you want the motor and slipring below the pulley, and a platform of some kind on top of it? Where would the axel for the pulley go? And where would you get parts for that kind of thing? I've searched and Amazon's selection of that kind of thing is slim. If anyone could give me any hints, it would be greatly appreciated.

[@MarcdeVinck]

I'm sorry, I really can't follow what you are trying to do. The slip ring just allows wires to be rotated infinitely. If you are looking to spin it with a motor, you will need one specific for that task.

[@Bapuji42]

@@MarcdeVinck Yes. I'm asking HOW TO ATTACH A MOTOR. You can't attach it axially because the wires are in the way. Does nobody else in the universe want to spin one of these with a motor? What do *you* use them for?

[@anthonytesta3716]

So a slip ring needs a motor to spin the output side. Correct?

[@MarcdeVinck]

You don't need a motor. The slip ring just allows the wires to spin 360º.

[@anthonytesta3716]

@@MarcdeVinck thanks ,I wasn't sure whether these were motorized or not.

[@anthonytesta3716]

@@MarcdeVinck so with these min slip rings how do I attach a motor?

[@MarcdeVinck]

@@anthonytesta3716 They are not.

[@davidt.1316]

I want to build a steering wheel with buttons. A slip ring seems perect for the job but why are they more expensive than the fake arduino 🤔 or am i just looking for the wrong ones

[@MarcdeVinck]

Slip rings are going to be more expensive that a knockoff microcontroller. Just the nature of scale and manufacturing costs.

[@davidt.1316]

@@MarcdeVinck jeah but i wonder that the scale is so much smaller and manufacturing of a microcontroler seams harder than a slip ring.

[@kentthomas1045]

Can this be used to connect a camera?

[@MarcdeVinck]

Sure. But it is dependent on how many wires you need. The best option, if you need long times, is to just use 2 wires for power, and use a camera capable of a WiFi connection.

[@kentthomas1045]

@@MarcdeVinck is it possible to set up a raspberry pi camera to the gpio ports and run that through the slip ring?

[@MarcdeVinck]

@@kentthomas1045The Pi camera uses a lot of pins. Check the data sheet. I think it's about 15. And I don't think you could use it while in motion, the bandwidth would be too much and most likely cause artifacts or not work....would have to test. But once stopped, if you have enough conductors, it should work.

[@ToniLixSim]

8 wire option use anything u can with 8 wire

[@daswinele97]

also you should consider of the amp for each wire and diameter for it