Re: (ET) Speed controller acting wonky

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

On 25 Apr 2016 at 16:03, Hank Ralston wrote:

> Replaced all of the micro switches ... changing out any other boards
> and the 2 smaller relays ...  any bad clips to the boards. 

If you're going to do that much work, it seems to me you might as well 
junk 
the primitive GE control stuff and replace it with modern silicon.

The standard controller for ETs is the Alltrax DCX-ET.  It's a good 
product 
and mine is still going strong 12 years on; I'm really pleased with it 
still.  Unfortunately it's gotten awfully expensive in recent years and 
now 
costs almost double (!) what I paid in 2004.  That's WAY ahead of 
inflation.

The $100 price for the Curtis potobx is IMO also hard to justify.  Granted 
that it may be a limited production itme, but it's just not that special.

If I were converting an ET today, I'd probably use a 4QD 300 -

 http://www.4qd.co.uk/prod/4qd.html 

It's actually designed for PM motors, but you can use its parking brake 
output to pull in a field relay.  You'll lose the higher FW speeds, but 
you 
can compensate for that by using a higher gear.  If that's not enough,  
retain the GE FW parts.  

It's set up from the factory to use joystick / wig-wag control.  

4QD also has several more reasonably priced potbox options.  

http://www.4qd.co.uk/accs/pots.html

Alternatively, you could probably roll your own potbox using an automotive 
throttle position sensor.  The 4QD controlllers use a 10k ohm 
potentiometer.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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