motorvoltage
I have a sabertooth motor controller and it is rated max 33v input. I need (at max) almost double that on the output. Can I hook up one of these to the output port, between the sabertooth and the motor and get up to 60 volts?
If so, What happens if the input voltage is less than 10 (it says that's the minimum)
All my amps are in range. Motor draws 5 amps max, and sabertooth can handle up to 25A. Power supply can handle up to 30A.
Using it is as easy as it sounds. You will connect it to power, hopefully through a switch. You need something like nickel metal hydride batteries(forgive my spelling). You need high current at a relatively low voltage, and the first time you do it, do it in pulses of increasing length, checking for heat in each component of the system.
Next, the motor controller should have a pair of pins for power(one from battery, other from ground of battery), pair for the motor, pair for control. control is done by a 50Hz square wave(20ms period) that has a duty cycle between 1.1 and 1.9 mS. The minimum being full reverse, maximum is full forward, 1.5mS will be idle. There are also controllers that use on and off, but you probably have one of the nicer ones.
To control it electrically I suggest a power MOSFET or BJT. MOSFET is probably more what you will want.
PLEASE NOTE: when you use any sort of electrical control(a MOSFET you pick or such) you need to have a diode, reverse biased in normal opperation, pointing from ground pin of the motor to the high side. This needs to be a relatively large diode in operating current. The motor will act as a voltage source and can generate very high voltages, as it is pretty much a large inductor. This diode will allow the current a path that does not involve over-voltage'ing your motor.
If you refer to this motor on the listing you have a table with the rated current.
For the motor you specify, assuming it is this motor, it should be 0.16 A so your controller should work.
It's not possible to determine the current only by the RPM, voltage and the size of the motor.
Best Answer
The short answer here is, probably not like you would like. Here are some general points as to why not.
First, the boost converter you linked to is a switching supply(so is the motor controller really, but probably this is not the time to discuss that). Due to this fact, it will have a settling time for a given change in input voltage. Because it is designed for voltage stability and not response time, this will likely be very slow compared to the motor controller. Depending on your application (especially if feedback loops are involved) this could quite possibly be a deal breaker. Also keep in mind that if you are upping the voltage by two, the input current(at say 30 volts) would be twice the output current (at say 60 volts). So a motor drawing 5 amps max at 60 volts would actually be drawing over 10 amps off your 30 volt supply(over due to converter efficiency).
Another problem is when the voltage drops below the minimum on the boost converter. Depending on the design, it will either just pass the input or possibly open circuit the output to deliver 0 volts. If it passes the input, you might be ok here.
There are probably some other things I am not thinking of, but the critiques will come...I just thought this would get the ball rolling for you.
Edit: I forgot what I started out to say. The output of the boost will be independent of the input voltage (within the design range of the boost converter input). You have to set the boost converter up for the output you want. This seems like the best reason this won't work as you would like.