I’m a mentor for a MATE Ranger robotics team. Our team is considering using the M100 motors next year, but they are marked as “End of Life”. Are you planning a replacement motor with similar capabilities?
Last year was their first year and they exceeded all their expectations and were able to advance to the International Tournament. They were using converted bilge pumps as motors for their thrusters, but they were much slower than the other ROVs. This year they want to use more efficient brushless motors. They have searched on-line and have found various motors that claim to be waterproof, and chose the M100’s based on your experience with MATE, other teams success using your motor/thrusters and your waterproof testing. They want to make their own propellers, mounts, shrouds and nozzles, so they just want a good reliable motor, but we don’t want to start using something that we cannot get replacement parts for. Are you planning a similar standalone waterproof motor to replace the M100?
Hi @MPSteakley You are correct, the M100 is End of Life. Once we are out of the current components, that will be it. We are not planning on anything with a direct size replacement.
We have the M200 as an alternative. The rotor for the M200 doesn’t have any upcoming changes, but the stator base will have some revisions. Same mounting holes and locations, but will be a bit taller.
Thank you for your quick reply. I’ll share this information with the team. They will have to look at their budget and determine if the M200 motor is an option.
I was just about to order a T100 for testing for our MATE team and noticed it too is end of life. The T100 was pushing the limits of our budget, the T200 is probably out of reach. I’m concerned about going with the T100 if there is a risk of no replacements available.
Will you have any replacement for the T100 (or M100) in the same price range?
@MPSteakley We are constantly doing research and engineering work into alternate thruster designs or upgrades. We have no immediate replacement for the T100 but it may be something we tackle in the future as we know there is a need on the educational side.
I’m in the process of a build (4 thruster - 2 v and 2 H) which is taking awhile as I’m trying it using ardruino’s and using no topside laptop (using it on a kayak). I’ve bought 2 T100’s so it looks like the next 2 will be the t200’s. Any problem in mixing the two and recommended configuration?
Basically just add it to cart and see what it says. Some items won’t let you hit the up arrow after you hit the max amount, but some will let you add any amount and then in the cart it’ll say they’re on backorder. Just reduce the number until they’re not on backorder and that will be the amount remaining in their electronic inventory, but there could be more in their physical inventory.
The “End of Life” product tag is intended to be an early warning for an item that will be discontinued in the mid-term future, but not immediately. As @corndog pointed out, we still have plenty of T100s in stock, and will be making more as well. We do not expect the final stock to reach zero for several more months.
At that time the T100 will ride off into the sunset…
It is our intention to develop a spiritual successor to the T100, we understand the need for such a thruster, its what launched Blue Robotics in the first place. There is no release timeline or estimate at this time.