Electric Downrigger prototype

This is not a how-to, but I want to show my electric DR prototype. It was converted from a Scotty Laketroller. I was inspired by Tote's project a few years back, which you can find the link in my video description.
The main reason why I chose to create my own is because there isn't a commercial electric DR that is small and light enough to be installed on a kayak. I bought the motor about two years ago. I didn't work on it until a couple of months ago because the motor is in an odd shape. It's very difficult to mount it. I finally came up with a simple mount for it using a 3D-printer. After that, everything else was not that difficult.

The motor was purchased on ebay...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Makermotor-3-8-D-Shaft-gear-motor-12v-dc-Wireless-Remote-Control-Momentary/371055509341
, but the remote control feature broke before I was ready to put together this project. Besides, turning the motor on was too torquey,  so I ended up just using the motor with a PWM which I purchased here...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MAX-10-50V-2000W-40A-12V-24V-48V-DC-Motor-Speed-Control-PWM-HHO-RC-Controller/201399689235

All the orange color parts were fabricated with my 3D-printer.

I will reduce the size and weight of this setup when I decide on the final design.

Thanks for looking.

ernest

Ooooooooohhh Fancy I love this kind  of stuff.

Pretty cool! It would be nice to be able to bring your downrigger weight up to the surface merely by flipping a switch, particularly while you are fighting a fish. I love DIY projects like this.

But I have a couple of suggestions about the current mounting system for the downrigger, which uses the post from the Scotty Laketroller you built the electric downrigger around.  The downrigger system is currently high above the gunwale of your kayak, which raises the center of gravity of the kayak, and the system bobs around on your kayak's H-Rail.  You could easily provide a more stable and lower mount for the system by attaching it to one or two universal H-Rail mounting plates.  See https://www.austinkayak.com/Hobie-HRail-Universal-Mounting-Plate/ACK16219P.html.

You could further lower the center of gravity of the system by moving its battery to a battery box inside your kayak.

On any kayak downrigger system, when the weight is up out of the water, it can swing around in an annoying manner as the kayak rocks on waves.  You could make a cradle to hold the weight on the gunwale of your kayak, so you could lower the weight a foot or so and then lift the weight into the cradle when you aren't actively using the downrigger.
 

Impressive!  Do you need a beta tester? 

This is totally awesome! Ive been toying with the idea as well while building my laser cutter the past few months and was thinking using 2 tact switches and a Scotty style stopper bead on the line. It can be easily mounted on the arm of the rigger and get rid of the need for having a larger switch like that one you've used (which is quite clever I should add). could be worth experimentation.   I might throw one together and send you the cad if you want.. could run the whole thing off of an Arduino nano and have all sorts of expansion options for wireless controls and data feedback.

The downrigger system is currently high above the gunwale of your kayak, which raises the center of gravity of the kayak, and the system bobs around on your kayak's H-Rail.  You could easily provide a more stable and lower mount for the system by attaching it to one or two universal H-Rail mounting plates.  See https://www.austinkayak.com/Hobie-HRail-Universal-Mounting-Plate/ACK16219P.html.

Pete, your observation on this is spot on. This has been on my mind for a long time. In fact, I had already ordered the same part you mentioned. Since my Revo and AI have different Scotty mounts, I need a solution that works for both. I'm working on it.

You could further lower the center of gravity of the system by moving its battery to a battery box inside your kayak.

The battery is actually quite small and doesn't weight much. I tested the load. It's only drawing .5a going down, 2a coming up with the 4lb weight on it. It means I can probably use a battery half of the current size. What's more important to me is portability. I really don't like to depend on a thru-hull wire to power this thing.

On any kayak downrigger system, when the weight is up out of the water, it can swing around in an annoying manner as the kayak rocks on waves.  You could make a cradle to hold...

Over the last few salmon seasons, I found the mesh pocket on the Hobie to be a great place to hold the weight while the DR is not deployed. I will revisit this issue if it bothers me enough.

Really appreciate your suggestions!

ernest

was thinking using 2 tact switches and a Scotty style stopper bead on the line. It can be easily mounted on the arm of the rigger and get rid of the need for having a larger switch like that one you've used...

Christian, those small limit switches are nice, but I have not been able to find ones that are waterproof. I thought about using them from the start of the project. The roller on the Laketroller is made of plastic. I didn't think it could take the abuse of a stopper hitting it repeatedly. It might work if I switch to a metal roller. The main reason I went with this big limit switch is simply because I couldn't find any splash-proof limit switch in a smaller form factor.

Something I didn't explain. The motor is a geared motor. When power is cut off, it continues to turn for 3-4 inches, and it's torquey. I feel using the stopper to jam-stop the motor would damage the plastic gears inside. That's why I created that little V-shape wire so that when the stopper hits the wire, it's got enough force to trip the limit switch, and the wire would give it 3-4 inches of room to compress. All the other parts are stress free. Looks ugly, but until I find a better solution it would stay.

could run the whole thing off of an Arduino nano and have all sorts of expansion options for wireless controls and data feedback.

Fancy. If you're going this route, you might be able to keep those tact switches inside the enclosure and make the whole thing smaller. Love to see what you come up with.

Btw, I had a 40w lazer printer which I converted it to run Mach 3. I found it just collecting dust in my garage because the things it can cut are quite limited. So I gave it away. I found myself using my 3D-printers much much more.

Freaking sweet as man.

would be a godsend durring jelly season.


I can't wait to see this progress, and maybe even evolve.

get em Lucky !

Bro!
WAY cleaner design than mine.
You definitely have design skills Ernest.
There is a LOT that goes into making one of these.
How much ya got into it so far?

was thinking using 2 tact switches and a Scotty style stopper bead on the line. It can be easily mounted on the arm of the rigger and get rid of the need for having a larger switch like that one you've used...

Christian, those small limit switches are nice, but I have not been able to find ones that are waterproof. I thought about using them from the start of the project. The roller on the Laketroller is made of plastic. I didn't think it could take the abuse of a stopper hitting it repeatedly. It might work if I switch to a metal roller. The main reason I went with this big limit switch is simply because I couldn't find any splash-proof limit switch in a smaller form factor.

Something I didn't explain. The motor is a geared motor. When power is cut off, it continues to turn for 3-4 inches, and it's torquey. I feel using the stopper to jam-stop the motor would damage the plastic gears inside. That's why I created that little V-shape wire so that when the stopper hits the wire, it's got enough force to trip the limit switch, and the wire would give it 3-4 inches of room to compress. All the other parts are stress free. Looks ugly, but until I find a better solution it would stay.

could run the whole thing off of an Arduino nano and have all sorts of expansion options for wireless controls and data feedback.

Fancy. If you're going this route, you might be able to keep those tact switches inside the enclosure and make the whole thing smaller. Love to see what you come up with.

Btw, I had a 40w lazer printer which I converted it to run Mach 3. I found it just collecting dust in my garage because the things it can cut are quite limited. So I gave it away. I found myself using my 3D-printers much much more.

We used to use those motors in our high school robotics league! I believe they are windshield wiper motors. The worm gear is great because it prevents most backlash and all possibility of free-spooling (but a drag should be used in case of emergency snags.

For the stoppers, I would put the tact switches into a housing with a silicone membrane on the outside. Set them far enough from each other that the line/cable/ the downrigger uses can pass through them and cannot be in contact with both at the same time, but when the plastic auto-stop bead passes, it must hit both switches.  This would simply spool the autostop bead onto the downrigger and there is no mechanical stop- just the motor stopping.  the bead can be moved 3-4" up the line to account for the spindown time of the motor.

Bro!
WAY cleaner design than mine.
You definitely have design skills Ernest.
There is a LOT that goes into making one of these.
How much ya got into it so far?

This is way cool!! I love the spool being on a different plane, seems much more compact this way.

don't have the design skill as Ernest but here is my solution for an electric DR.

Been using it lately in preparation for the upcoming salmon season...let's just say 150-200 feet and bringing it up and down will be a breeze. No more sore shoulders lol

Jon, is that a Scotty 1099? I never thought about mounting on the motor mounting bar. I'm gonna have to evaluate this option. How much does it weight? Amazon shows shipping weight to be 19.7lb.

Jon, is that a Scotty 1099? I never thought about mounting on the motor mounting bar. I'm gonna have to evaluate this option. How much does it weight? Amazon shows shipping weight to be 19.7lb.

If I wanted to mount a 19.7 pound electric downrigger on a kayak, I'd mount it as low as possible on the floor of the rear cargo area, centered above the keel, to keep the center of gravity of the kayak low.  I'd position it with the boom extending forward as far as possible at an angle so I could grab the downrigger weight and/or release with as little contortion as possible, and I'd try to position the cable only an inch or so from the side of the kayak to minimize the effect of the drag of the weight and cable on the tracking of the kayak.

Jon, is that a Scotty 1099? I never thought about mounting on the motor mounting bar. I'm gonna have to evaluate this option. How much does it weight? Amazon shows shipping weight to be 19.7lb.

that is correct, scotty 1099. Its virtually the same size as my manual scotty dr. It does weigh a little heavier but not much. The short boom is the same size which is great. The mount is different however. To fix that I got a piece of aluminum and mount the electric mount to it. That piece slide it into the scotty manual mount and is bolted down. If I need to use the manual scotty DR, i just unbolt that piece and attach the manual dr normally