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(ET) Electronic control modification update - It worked!
- Subject: (ET) Electronic control modification update - It worked!
- From: Kirkvg aol com
- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 22:11:23 EDT
- Sender: owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
To all, I spent about 4 hours going over every wire from the positive end
of
the pack to the negative end. I put tape on each end of each wire as I
went
and checked the crude wiring diagram that I had been creating. That was
definetly tedious. The scary thing was that I didn't find any wires hooked
up
wrong or extra. That made me a little nervous since I have been working on
this for the last 3 years (more off than on). Anyway, I decided that I
should
light it up on 24 volts instead of 36. So I used two old car batteries
that
were laying around.
As I connected the power disconnect I got a good sized spark. This would
have
freaked me out if I didn't know that the large capacitors inside the
controller needed to charge up. As I connected it the second time it
didn't
spark (I admit I did check the fuses just in case).
I decided to start out easy so I checked the lights first. They worked
great.
One down two to go. Next, I tried the front lift (12 volts only). It
didn't
work. :( But then I remembered that I took out the fuse so that I only
had
to worry about one circuit at a time. I pluged the fuse in and tried it
again. It worked both up and down. :)
Two down and one to go. Never mind that it was the complicated drive
circuit.
I turned the key on and waited to see if there would be any smoke. So far
so
good. I made sure the forward/reverse switch was in forward, hesitating to
push on the throttle unsure of what would happen. Not able to
procrastinate
any longer I pushed the throttle. Nothing happened. :( I took a quick
look and saw that I had the seat up and that meant that the safety switch
was
not engaged. Maybe I will be OK yet. I held the seat switch down and the
RTN1
relay clicked on. I waited a few seconds to check for smoke. None :)
I
pushed the throttle down a little bit and the motor started spinning.
YES!!! I pushed it down further and it sped up! COOL!! I pushed it
all
the way down and it sped up more. I put it in gear and did that a couple
more times and the tires turned forward. REALLY COOL!! Next I turned
the
forward/reverse switch to reverse and tried it again. It worked just like
it
was supposed to. I am exstatic.
I then tried all of the safety's. The drive motor turned off when either
the
seat switch or the brake switch was pushed. The drive motor did not
restart
when either safety switch was reset, even though I was holding the
throttle
down, just like it was supposed to. I lifted the throttle and reapplied it
and the motor started turning again right on cue.
I can hardly believe that it all worked right the first time. I was
expecting
to have to adjust the micro switch or the potentiometer for the controller
or
wires that were crossed. After a couple of minutes of running I did get a
smell. I checked to see if anything was hot but didn't fell anything. I am
hoping that it was only because the motor hadn't run in about four years.
I
ran it several more times and it seemed to work fine still.
I plan on going out and buying a set of batteries tomorrow and continuing
my
testing. I still haven't put it under a driving load or used the PTO under
load. Or both turning on and off at the same time. So I can't say that it
is
going to work under everyday operation yet. But I am greatly encouraged at
this time. Hopefully I can get the new batteries installed and wired
tomorrow and hook up my mower and give it a proper workout. I will update
as
soon as I can. Kirk