CLEVER THESE CHINESE programing sor YuanLang

[rickystyx]

After many emails I got a bit of help from Yuanlang themselves as to how to program the joystick controller.
There is no computer connection or programmer because it is all done on the joystick.
I've attached the programming instructions so they can be available to others - this is for the Yuanlang k1 joystick and controller
now to see if I can improve things
Ric

[Burgerman]

Is that it?
I see nothing there to adjust turn accelerations or deceleration etc. Just "sensitivity"...
There must be a more in depth way such as an OEM type progamer too. I think it may help a little but its a long way short of proper programming?
And why isnt that info sent with each chair?

[rickystyx]

It might be lost in translation but I guess more sensitivity in turn might equate to increeased turn speed - I won't know until I try it.
This may not be perfect but at least it does give the user options to change settings which is better than being offered by many manufacturers.
These are cheap and cheerful controllers which, if I can make it work better, I hope will save me doing a transplant of motors and controls from something else but I may end up doing that anyway. If it makes it even vaguely driveable I will be happy as it really is only intended as a shopping chair.
I guess they don't send the information with the chair because the people who build the chairs don't even consider it as necessary - they just buy a controller and slap it on and of course most users wouldn't want it - it is only folks who have a vague understanding who want to change things. Most people wouldn't dare to try changing things because they don't understand them

[rickystyx]

Also interesting that it has a wheel size setting - it may be possible to set a smaller diameter setting on a larger wheel to give more speed if it calculates speed from rotation count?

[Burgerman]

Who knows. It may use that to reconfigure turn rate or something.

[martin007]

Have they sent you the PDF in English or have you translated it yourself?

[rickystyx]

They sent it in English

[martin007]

OK.
It seems to me that it is not very useful.

[rickystyx]

Not quite so useful as I'd hoped.
There are still steering issues but there is a fault on the joystick and I'll need to replace that.
At least the manufacturer is communicating with me and willing to help resolve the problems.
One really bad design fault is that to change between setting parameters you use the same buttons as you do to alter the settings. This caused me a bit of a panic because I managed to change settings instead of changing the parameters a few times and then wondered why the chair wouldn't go at all. Having realised this was possibly the issue I went back and carefully reset everything to their basic settings and thankfully that did resolve most of the issues.
Since the joystick will not power off and the horn button doesn't work it isn't possible to set the centre joystick calibration which requires the horn button to be pressed in order to self calibrate - this could be why the joystick isn't sensing turns until almost full deflection. There is no problem with forwards and backwards control but it needs far too much turn put in to have any effect at all. As I said though the manufacturer is corresponding with me and are happy to help find a solution to my issues, which is something P&G refused to do when I started to ask them questions.
Hopefully they will come back with a replacement joystick that will work as it should.
This is never going to be a high performance go anywhere chair but it should make a reasonable shopping and ferry chair which is all I'm really wanting it for.

[Burgerman]

What you are seeing is probably not turn "sensitivity" but far too low turn acceleration. So you THINK nothing will happen, because it is time based. So you add more. And then it begins to work. Thats why I said that there was no turn acceleration setting...

And it may be worse. It may have a universal acceleration setting. So turns will be as delayed as the forward speed one. So that means that the basic programming is too simple and it cantt be fixed. We went through all of this when doing the roboteq thing. Or it may need more motor load compensation. So that it actually has the torque to turn in place. And it may be both. The problem is maybe similar to trying to get a normal chair to steer while using a dealer programmer, or it may not BE fixable depending on the way the software on the controller was written.

Is that it?
I see nothing there to adjust turn accelerations or deceleration etc. Just "sensitivity"...
There must be a more in depth way such as an OEM type progamer too. I think it may help a little but its a long way short of proper programming?

The on board software can be super basic. As in they just about figured out how to get it to move. Like some hobby controllers or the basic Roboteq, Or it can be complex and very complete which works well, is highly programmable and took millions to develop over decades. Like R-Net and other big brands. After looking at that programming sheet, I see NO actual programable parameters that will control how it steers other than to get it to go straight. You will probably need to swap it for something a bit more developed before you get it to steer. If its brushless then that becomes problematic.

[rickystyx]

it is strange as it seems to steer better on lower speeds but that could be my imagination and the fact that you can correct easier at lower speeds.
For now I'll get the replacement which is a slight upgrade and since it is only £150 with a new control box included I'll probably just go with that for what I want to use it for.
The chair does work and goes up slopes etc nut wouldn't tackle a kerb but for my neeed it will do as I have my other chairs for daily use

[rickystyx]

Well I got better service from China than I have ever got from over here.
New joystick and cable cost me £125 delivered and once I had sorted out swapping the power plug over (temporary measure because it isn't great) The new joystick allowed the programming to work properly. I will fit anderson connectors once I exhange batteries.
I now have a slow chair that actually steers which is a big step up from how it arrived.
Ok it is only 4MPH which feels slow after being used to my other chairs but it really does steer and turns happily on the spot which is exactly what I wanted for trips to the doctors in my wife's car or for being accessible when catching the ferry etc.
They really were helpful to the extreme and I had my new parts within 5 days, quite a contrast to the little footrest reciever blocks I ordered for my ottobock which took 6 weeks to arrive.
So all in all I'm happy with my Chinese toy for what I intended it for.
Next job is to resurect the 30Ah add on pack and see if the cells are still ok and to swap it for the 10Ah firework currently fitted.
I don't know what I will do if the Headway cells have gone down but let's see what might be recoverable - nobody seems to sell them anymore which will be a shame if I need a couple.