Storm 4 Xplore retrofit

[foghornleghorn]

Still not attacked the programming but have done some more driving around.

Previous testing for speed and battery distance had been along a tarmac cycle path with a surface that looks smooth but is very jiggly.

Went and found a quiet country lane that was very smooth and got no camber off the side to fight against. 2 miles in both directions at 8mph

Maybe on the cycle path it is fighting against the surface quality at speed, while my slower chair doesn't care about the surface and just bimbles along at constant speed quite happily.

Hills: Downhill is going to take some getting used to as chair COG is very different to my old FWD one and currently feels a sneeze away from death on slopes I wouldn't usually even think about.

Across a slope is similarly scary.

Uphill steeply it seems to wind back the power at anything above 5mph.

[Burgerman]

Go indoors on carpet. And do a few manoevers, esp starting turn in place half a dozen times as if you were working on something or vaccuuming or making a bed. Tell me what it does. Keep doing it...

[Burgerman]

My love of numbers? I hate numbers. Got a math degree teacher ex yugoslave belgrade girlfriend instead! Although she didnt look like a teacher! She did however eventually run off and marry someone. But I digress...

I did do some measurements to get to the bottom of the invacare brushless problems though.

1. EMPTY chair, (programmed to turn when told) turn in place, 192 BATTERY amps, and thats absolutely mental. And thats through an 80A fuse... And thats why sitting in it, and turning left/right for 30 seconds tortures the battery, heats the motors and wheels, and causes the thing to shut down. Because without gearing, that direct drive needs MASSIVE currents to produce adequate torque... Once rolling things improve.

2. Free running, wheels off deck, 8mph, both motors, under 2 amps total! So you will get huge range outdoors at speed. And kill the battery manoevering indoors in around 20 mins. Tested. And measured. And once explained to invacare they sent a truck to collect it and refunded my £££6.5k because I had spotted, and understood the problem. They had no answer and after talking to the designer, he admitted that it was a serious issue. So broken by design.

3. Try reversing to a wall. And then reverse towards the wall which loads up the motors. Do it 2 or 4 times for just 2 seconds. To similate a stall against a curb or similar out in the world. It will cut out and reduce power almost completely and you will not be able to drive till it cools down. And if when it does 5 mins later you attempt to turn in place it will stop again. So completely useless indoors if you are busy. Vaccuming the house caused it to cut out after 3 mins. And the batteries were hot, wheels hot, and batteries showed red on the guage. Couldnt make it to the toilet. Total range? Under 400 feet. Again. Broken by design.

[shirley_hkg]

Would you please advise how this twin actuators power legrest could be controlled to allow seperate motions of the two actuators inside , via THIS MONO PHONE JACK .

[Burgerman]

Not a clue. Never saw that on any chair. There is only 1 way. Serial data. But thats not what dynamic use. Whet/where is that?

[rover220]

Probably not achievieable.

[Burgerman]

Whilst true. You could also take it apart. Throw away its electrics and run a 4 core wire (or 2x 2 cores), so you have a pair of wires going to each motor. Connect to the seating actuator in the usual way.

Would be interested to see a more wider shot of that photo. What is it?

[rover220]

It's a quantum centre mount.

[Burgerman]

Ah.

[Burgerman]

So hardwire each motor will be the only way to get it to work with the seating module on the dynamic system. Not that hard shirley knows how that all works I think.

[shirley_hkg]

Put on pneumatic tyre and ride so much smooth.

[shirley_hkg]

Probably not achievieable.

That's true. See how it works then.



youtu.be/2DCBslpOeoc

[rover220]

Does it definitely use 2 actuators?

[shirley_hkg]

Yes.

They coordinate via limit switches. Note the amp being drawn.

Have to figure out how to elongate alone when needed.

[Burgerman]

Should be simple.
Take apart. Throw away wiring.
Then connect one motor (2 wires) to one actuator channel.
Then connect the other one, to a different actuator channel.
So 4 wires total.

[shirley_hkg]

Are there two extra channels in my chair ?

[rover220]

Are there two extra channels in my chair ?

Should be 2 free ports in the act4 module at the rear of chair.

[ex-Gooserider]

Agreed w/ changing it to be two different wiring harnesses, one for each motor... My only caution note is that you should make sure that the two actuators can actually operate separately without getting mechanical binding or interference problems in any combination of positions... Otherwise things are liable to break...

If there is a problem then the issue becomes much more complex as you will need to figure out some way to track the position of each actuator and have some solution that will keep it from getting into the problem combinations...

ex-Gooserider

[shirley_hkg]

[shirley_hkg]

What causes the two red lights ,beside the green button, ON and stops the chair .

Have to turn power off and on again .

[woodygb]

Is anything recorded in the error log files?

[Burgerman]

Maybe the exact same thing that I tried in vain to warn you about many times and why I returned mine.
Its not a fault but a design problem of brushless while manoevering. Its easy to test. Ask.

I dont remember the lights though. No mention here of them at all either. Maybe an overheat/overcurrent shutdown warning? https://www.dynamiccontrols.com/sites/d ... ssue-3.pdf

[Dan]

What were you doing when it happened? I have done hundreds of hours in my Xplore, this has happened to me about three times. I use a different joystick. Its been a while since it happened but if I remember right it happens when I decelerated hard.
Overall the chair has been great outside on country roads and around cities.

[shirley_hkg]

Thanks Daniel.

Last year , I ran it into a curb at a wrong angle and the caster struck. The light on the LEFT was on.

The other day I reprogrammed it. It's rolling slowly on a flat , and stopped with the RIGHT light on.

Don't know what's the errors that L/R are pointing to.

Can you share your settings by sending me the program file ?

[Burgerman]

It wont work he has a different joystick.

I might have the correct one. Mine. And a totally stock original one.

Mine, works. Not fine tuned. turn acceleration too slow. Other than the chair doesent.
2 stock ones. Cant hit the side of a barn and frankly unusable.

[shirley_hkg]

Good to try .

How is your ulcers, John ? Did you go to pub ?

[Burgerman]

Ulcers healed. Just waiting for my foot to heal... Burned a hole in it. Dont ask. Oxygen is dangerous.

[Dan]

I have a G90A joystick.

These are my factory settings (which are truly horrible) and the settings I now use.

[Burgerman]

You have turn acceleration scaler increased from stock 25 to 35 which is essential. But then have the turn acceleration and decel set lower than max which negates the 35 set. Which is strange. Do you have normal hands?

[shirley_hkg]

User has normal hands.