Accelerator struggle

[DAVECANN25]

Hi there, i am trying to work out how to convert the existing mobility scooter wiring of the leaver type accelerator to a foot peddel type.  I see that other people have used mobility scooters, so what have people used or how have they converted theirs.

Look foward to hearing from someone.

thanks

dave

[brian]

Hello Dave.

Your peoblem has several solutions depending on how elegant you want the solution to be.

Walter, [Multysinc] has mounted the hand lever wig wag control from the scooter to the dashboard position on the car, and then linked one arm of the wig wag to the accelerator pedal. Operating the accelerator moves the wig wag control to the on position.

A very simple solution.

A costlier but slightly more elegant solution would be to purchase the push rod operated pot, available from RS components, 4QD, [Google 4QD for there site.] or Richard at Toylander, and mount this under the accelerator pedal as in the build manual for the car.

The new resistance pot will replace the wig wag pot from the scooter.

Regards,

Brian.

[Tufty]

Hi,

we used the pot out of the 'wig-wag' and attached it to the accelarator pedal via rods + couplers. This only gives it control for 1 direction but then we reverse the motors with high current relays.

[markh15]

Hi Dave,

I used the 'Wig-Wag' as the gear selector (Forward / Reverse) and modified the bracket by adding a couple of small hinges to the bottom edge, so that it moves from side to side as well as front to back.
I then attached a couple of small springs to these to make it stay upright. I cut and filed an 'E' gate, so the lever has to be moved first to the side (out of the central 'Neutral' slot), and either forward or back into the other slots to choose the 'Gear'.

I cut the 'feed' wire (center) on the pot, and ran this via a heavy duty 'Push to Make' foot switch, mounted in a metal box (same as shown in the build manual), and hinged the pedal as it is in the manual.

I would try it out first, as Walter tried this on his scooter, and it wouldn't work. It's something to do with the controllers on later models of scooters, thats why his system uses the pot connected to the pedal, and a switch to revese the wiring, so he can change the direction.

With Harvey's car, you can select the direction with the lever (pot), and then press the pedal to move, or press the pedal, and move the lever like the scooter, and it works either way.

There are some pictures of it under my 'Hi to All' thread, or on my build website. just click on the 'Globe' icon under my username (top left), and it will take you directly to it.

Hope this has helped,
Regards,
Mark.

[DAVECANN25]

Hi, thanks for the replys.

I think i am going to go down the push rod pot route (of which i didnt know existed, so thanks) as this i think would be better.  I will probabily put a switch on the dash to select either fowards or back, un less i can find a lever type switch i can mount on the floor.

dave

[brian]

I made up a gearlever working in a gate with indents, the lever operated micro switches, which in turn operated heavy duty car type relays for forward and reverse.

The gate was designed to balk the gear lever in case the driver tried to do a quick change of direction.

Details under "Grandpa's got a new project".

Brian.

[DAVECANN25]

Was that suitable for a mobility scooter set up?

[brian]

Agh, there now you have me at a disadvantage Dave.  I did not make mine from mobility scooter parts.

Now there is no doubt I could make a scooter assembly work to my design, but as I understand it from Mark and Walters excellent post's, along with several others, the reversing is done in the control box, through relays almost certainly, but all enclosed in the one container.

My set up is constructed from all the seperate parts to achieve the same results.

Regards,


Brian.

[markh15]

Hi Guys,
I might be barking up the wrong tree here (as usual), but the scooter motor / transaxle, only has two thick wires to the motor, which eminate from the control box.
I would guess that, as Brian suggests, there is a relay inside, to change the polarity, thus allowing the motor to run in reverse.
That means that either a switch on the dash (as per the build manual), or relays / micro switches as Brian has used, the end result will be the same.

If it's the lighting set you are refering too, the lights on most scooters are 12v, but only use 5w bulbs, so this might cause overheatin problems with the thinner wiring the scooters have, if higher (21w) car bulbs are used, but large bayonet cap auto bulbs are available, while still being rated at 5w.
Brian won't have this problem, as he has wired his car using auto grade (heavier) wire for his loom.

Hope this covers everything,
Keep Busy,
Regards,
Mark.

[Tufty]

Hi you don't say what kind of input your scooter had (whether foward/reverse is controlled by a switch, wig wag, etc.)

The controller I used (Curtis PMC 1208C) has internal reversing relays but I was unable to use it as the wig wag controller (as all of them I believe) has no speed in the middle of it's travel and full speed backwards and fowards at either end of the travel

ie. if it's a 5k? pot, at 0? it will be full reverse, at 2.5k? it will be stationary and at 5k? it will be full foward.

If you broke the circuit (with a switch) to reverse the way the pot works (to trick the controller to think the pot is being turned the other way) then the controller went into fault. I'm not sure if this is the case with all controllers.

I ended up using external reversing relays (a bit like Brians) and used the 1/2 way to full foward travel of the pot for the speed control.

Tufty

[markh15]

Hi Tufty,
Speaking from my perspective, the scooter I used (Shoprider 'Cadiz') had Forward and Reverse controlled by the 'Wig-Wag' (thumb control), and was limited to a maximum of 4 mph in reverse by the control box, a feature that is common on alot of scooters.

I was lucky, when I cut into the feed wire and added a push to make switch, the controller still works, and doesn't go into 'Tamper' mode like alot of the controllers out there.

The pots used on the Motobility Scooters are a special type, and reach their full potential, i.e. 0 - 10k, in a 30 degree arc on either side of center.
This, I understand, is due to the limited movement available to the thumb levers, and although similarly rated 'Potentiometers' are available from your local electronlcs store, their range is over a greater sweep of the control knob, closer to 135 degrees, so they are not suitable for this application.

Hope this has cleared things up somewhat,

Keep Busy,
Regards,
Mark.

[gjudge]

I cut the 'feed' wire (center) on the pot, and ran this via a heavy duty 'Push to Make' foot switch, mounted in a metal box (same as shown in the build manual), and hinged the pedal as it is in the manual.

I would try it out first, as Walter tried this on his scooter, and it wouldn't work. It's something to do with the controllers on later models of scooters, thats why his system uses the pot connected to the pedal, and a switch to revese the wiring, so he can change the direction.


[/quote
could you post the two diffrent  diragrams so i could have a look how they are done believe i am having same problem