Doing something a little different in Devon, it seems

[philippaandco]

Hi,

I feel a bit like a pheasant at a Gamekeepers Convention introducing myself here, not being an engineer. I am however a wheelchair user and I don’t think I’m one of the “normal’s”, so that’s a start I suppose.

My passion is training dogs and in particular competing in dog agility. Classes can be won or lost by hundredths of a second, often how fast you can turn a dog around a jump wing, so how my wheelchair is programmed either puts me at a distinct disadvantage or lets me be competitive against running handlers. I’ve taught my dogs to work at a distance, so straight line speed isn’t as important as turn speed, and to be honest I’m not sure I’d want to be in any wheelchair that could keep up with a speeding Collie!

10 years ago I had a Bounder, the best agility chair I’ve had, from memory responding in real time, had a major problem with the belts clogging on grass however, which is where most agility is held in the UK ... It wasn’t a street chair in the hills where I live either, but then to be fair that wasn’t what I’d bought it for. Then for many years I had a Storm3, reliable, general purpose, drove my van from it, walked the dogs with it, but RWD, LWB it couldn’t manoeuvre inside my bungalow and even with the programming tweaked it was pretty ineffective on an agility course. Since discovering this website AND WHAT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR THAT WAS, THANK YOU, I now understand more why.

I now have Frountier V6, which is amazing off piste and taking me to places I haven’t been in 20 years! I’d like to reprogram the V6, properly this time, to see how effective it can be around on an agility course, but I need help to do this, I know my limitations.

I am considering another Bounder, with belt guards, and suspension, and all terrain tyres, but for now I’d like to make the most of what I’ve got.

[Burgerman]

The storms all turn terribly. Long, nose heavy and lots of control delay as stock. And little rear grip esp. on grass making control worse.

The V6 should be much better than the bounder. IF programmed properly. Its not long or nose heavy, it has a much lighter chassis, same power level at 120 Amps.

However you need someone close by to use an OEM version programming tool to tweak the settings a bit.
Not least the temp roll back for what you do, or sport needs raising a little, and the motor compensation settings maybe need upping a touch (slightly in both cases to brighten up response and keep it that way when hot) and to remove any programming "walls" set up. So that once you also use it to also enable "On Board Programming" (or OBP), you can fully set up the following from your Joystick:

Turn accel.
Turn dec
Min turn acc
Min turn acc
Set all to 100 to remove the delayed action "steer" and "stop steering". This makes the joystick work in real time. See vid below.

And also then set forward acc to max - 100, min forward acc to 100, and the same with reverse acc etc.

Then set turn/reverse speeds to taste, starting at about
45 turn speed
20 minimum turn speed
Or whatever feel best.

Then
100 forward speed (should be already)
25 min forward speed
30 reverse speed
20 min reverse speed.

Then you will get a chair that basically responds like this:

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/gopro/control.mp4

Only better, as a girl you probably weigh less. This one has a 22 stone user, me, only a 100A controller, AND 3 YEAR OLD VERY TIRED BATTERIES...

[philippaandco]

Thank you for the info.

And yes the video demonstrates beautifully exactly what I'm looking for.

So now I'm looking for help from someone with a PG R-net OEM level programmer, please

[greybeard]

Send a direct message to ICEUK. He may be able to help.

[Burgerman]

And yes the video demonstrates beautifully exactly what I'm looking for.

Even if not doing 6mph and wheelies all over the house, leaving tyre marks all over, a chair that actually goes where you tell it, when you tell it, even if going slow is very nice!

[philippaandco]

Thank you greybeard, will do

The V6 should be much better than the bounder. IF programmed properly.

Just checking that Bounder's not a typo Burgerman? It's certainly got me thinking

[Burgerman]

No compared to the antique bounder, the V6 has the same power, less "inertia" overhanging the drive wheels, much less weight, and so should accelerate better and turn much better IF PROGRAMMED correctly!

That is the key.

[philippaandco]

That sounds promising