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Chris,
After describing the problem to Steve, he explained
that I probably had the wrong port setting on my computer. He walked me
through the steps to change the computer to recognize "port 1" and the problem
was fixed. I wish I could write out those steps here but I am not skilled
on computers so will need to leave that to someone else. There was some
sticky material on my controller port and I wiped it off as best I could but it
did not impact the connection.
As a follow up to my "wig wag" foot control pedal,
it is working very, very well. Push forward with your toes and the tractor
moves forward. Rock the pedal back to neutral in the middle or keep going
with your heel and the tractor switches into reverse. It is very
intuitive and my 11 year old son mowed our 1 1/2 acres (with about 50 trees to
mow around) this weekend. As a safety feature, I changed the Alltrax
ControllerPro software to go 1/2 speed in reverse. With the tractor in a
fairly high speed forward gear, I found the reverse intimidating when
working around our trees - the foot pedal/Alltrax combination allows one to
infinitely control speed but in a high gear reverse ramps up pretty quickly
with small changes to the pedal. The 1/2 speed feature made reverse much
more easy to control.
The only negative with the current pedal
configuration regards the neutral position. There is a detent but it is
not firm enough so I need to go back to the drawing board and get something
little better.
Rich Rock
April 1971 E12s (Alltrax conversion)
I-5 Many thanks to John Kuehn for
selling/shipping to me an I-5 (not working) last week. Looking foward
to rebuilding this new toy.
B&D CM1000
Of all the enemies to liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded,
because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of
armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are
the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In
war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in
dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of
seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.
-- James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 3:28
PM
Subject: Re: (ET) Alltrax
ControllerPRO
Rich, did you get your Alltrax working with the
ControllerPRO?
I tried mine today for the first time, and I'm
getting the same "Controller not responding", accompanied by the 1 red blink
"throttle position sensor over range" error code.
The serial port connector on my Alltrax is
goobered up with silicone, did yours have that?
Could be I'm getting no electrical contact
because of it.
I called Alltrax, and the recording at
541-476-3565 says to call Cliff Reese at 626 859 3103 for technical questions,
but that 626 number is not in service...
Hope someone can help...
-Chris
952...451...2021 cell.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 6:16
PM
Subject: (ET) Alltrax
ControllerPRO
Has anyone used the Alltrax software
ControllerPRO to change the settings for their DCX300-ET? I need to
change the pot input setting so today downloaded the software from the
Alltrax web site and hooked my WinXP computer to the controller with the
DB-9 serial cable as instructed. All I got was "Controller not
responding". I then took the DCX300 out of the machine and wired
it as shown in the directions with 2 9v batteries in series and hooked
to the apporpriate pins. The controller LED flashed red so was
powered but again all I got on my computer was "Controller not
responding".
I'll be calling Mike on Monday but hoped
someone out there may have some experience with this.
After installing the DCX300-ET I was
disappointed with the pot assembly shipped by Alltrax. I wanted to
have something with the forward/reverse built into the foot pedal so I have
custom built a foot pedal with a 20K potentiometer with the 2 end
leads wired together. This creates a pot with 0K-5K from the
start of rotation to the center and then 5K-0K from the center to the end of
the rotation. I have also placed a forward/reverse switch that
activates at the center (neutral) position. My last task is to
mount a second swith for the "throttle" role that will be triggered in the
neutral (5K) position. The controllers are currently shipped with 5K
as full throttle so I need to change the controller to a setting that
recognizes 0K as full throttle. When complete, this foot pedal should
work very similar to a modern hydrostat type foot control in which the
operator pushes forward with the toe to go forward, neutral is in
the center position, and pushing (rocking) back on the heel causes the
tractor to go in reverse. The pedal has friction locks to hold
position and a detent to indicate neutral.
Rich Rock
Of all the enemies to liberty war is, perhaps,
the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every
other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and
armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many
under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the
Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and
emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added
to those of subduing the force, of the people.
-- James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison
(1865)
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