Encoder Pair for Tamiya Twin Motor Gearbox

Great job by the robotshop team on this one it was exactly what I was looking for in my robot. It uses an analog signal and it takes a little time to figure out what the signal value is between counts.

Product works as expected. I'm using them to add encoders to continuous rotation micro servo motors and they fit perfectly with a little hot melt glue. I had to discard the plastic encoder wheels and printed my own using address label paper to stick to the servo horns. I agree with other users that they should come with right angle headers or straight pins unsoldered. The non-standard pin wiring is also a minor pain to rework. Should have a digital output instead of analog output.

The encoder wheel is very fragile - you can break it just by dropping it on the floor. You may need a Schmitt trigger (or a comparator) and/or some low-pass filter to get the output signal ready for a microcontroller. It's a bit too expensive for a simple circuit like that. Other than that, it works great

This encoder pair is nicely built overall, I got it working with DF Rover right away. How to incorporate encoder data into your code is another story. Depending on your goals you may need some (a lot) of experimenting with the code. So, first of all, I'd suggest to buy and attach a Bluetooth Bee to the rover to monitor encoder data (and other parameters) wirelessly via a serial port. Secondly, after some of that experimenting and/or re-assembling the rover a few times you may realize that one of the encoder PCBs got loose. After one such accident I decided to glue the encoder PCBs (not the wheels) with 5 min epoxy instead of hot glue. Whatever works ;)

These encoders work perfectly- but only if they are installed perfectly. And there are no instructions on how to do that. 1. Hot glue doesn't hold the encoder board to the side of the gearbox. I resorted to super glue after the fourth time one of the encoders detached. No problems since. 2. The disk needs to be (ideally) 1mm away from the circuit board when you glue it. But it slides freely on the axle so you'll need something to insert between them to provide that spacing and keep the disk level and removable after you apply glue. I built a cardboard insert, worked fine. 3. You won't get step 2 right and it'll be a little off, so be prepared to modify the sample code with numbers that match the voltages returned by own encoders.