Fun With Motors

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:12 am

I am pleased to announce the arrival at the Robotland household of TWO bouncing baby motorized wheelchairs, purchased yesterday at a thrift store in Hudsonville. I still have to determine how much mojo the batteries have and the status of the control systems, but am Way Pumped to get tinkerin'. Anyone got a fun electric project, or some Words Of Wisdom regarding Chair Hacking?
(NO, I do NOT intend to build cupcake cars and sell them at Neiman-Marcus!)

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:29 am

The batteries are probably gells, and I'm guessing that they haven't been kept up and charged every night. You've got to be able to change them out, but I don't know how they differ from car batteries (i.e. can you just change the interface, or do have to have the exact same kind?) One of the stupidest things I've run into is when I had to have the sealed bearings changed out on my, the place where I bought it asked me to have my doctor fax over a prescription. Thank goodness I have a friend who's mechanically savvy enough to find bearings which almost matched. It's unfathomable to me that something that stupid can be practice. Oh well.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:32 am

Holy crap. Most doctors I've known are anything but mechanics and wouldn't know a bearing from a grommet. That's horrible!

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:22 pm

I most def. vote for the robot thingy. A pair of baby T-rexes to go along with daddy rex would be awesome. Especially if you can radio control them. Shouldn't be too hard for a genius like yourself.

BTW, hunted you down w/out success. Not only did you not hit the MnG, you forgot our date before hand,

you know, the one where we were supposed to devour some.......meow

But I still have a pair of them. Maybe we can have our own little MnG sometime over this cold harsh winter.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:14 pm

Just aquired another scoot yesterday at a yard sale.. runs great.. Not much holding charge left in the batteries.. They are deep cell not gell.. THe age of the thing is ??? It has a Motorolla phone jack and plug for a key.. The twenty four volt charger is about 20 pounds..

I have another 24 volt Rasscal.. It's been used in other projects so is in parts now.. For that one I just bought two deep cell 12s for 49 buck each.. It has a charger built in..

Then there is the 12volt store scooter.. Got it for 25$.. What the hell am I going to do with that??

And two stand up Zappys.. Had to replace batteries in one.. They take six 10ah gell.. $130.°°..

Up in the shed is a 24volt two wheeler.. Takes 2 10ah batts.. I stacked two more on for distance..

Also all the controls and runing gear for two 12volt razer scooters.

Soom junk yard huh?

Oh, and a like new Turn a bout.. The elks gave me.. THey could not sell it and it was in there way.. Two deep cell recomended for this machine.. Those batteries cost me $175..

rodiponer · Post by **rodiponer** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:11 pm

All of those batteries sound expensive. You could try reconditioning the old ones. Old wet cells can sometimes be resurrected with more water and a slight over charging, and even gels can be brought back from the dead with a more careful over charging. It depends on what killed them.

With so many motors, it seems like you need a fleet that drives in formation. Or a swarm. Have you ever played with hobbyist embedded microcontrollers, like the Arduino?

If you are nerdy in that way, you could add a safety stop perimeter to them (maybe coat hangers for bumper bars attached to switches), and a basic sensor or two, then unleash them on the playa. Maybe drive one, Mommy Duck or Female Bug, and the others follow. There are some neat bug type algorithms that don't require much intelligence or sensors for a swarm to still work.

I'm thinking of making something weird for my daughter, as a futuristic wheelchair for the playa, and have been thinking of a way to get it to follow me around automatically.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:25 pm

Terminal Village needs a flamthrowing Godzilla or two.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:26 am

You can change batteries as long as you match voltage.
Most people upgrade batteries for the playa.
I wouldn't use gelcells, but agms work fine.
You may have to use a different charger, especially if it has a built in charger.

Some people go to a higher voltage.
There is discussion of this on the many electric forums.
Caution is advised.

I saw a woman on the playa I met years ago.
She is using a victory scooter, I think.
I wouldn't have thought this thing would work at all out there.
This was her fifth year out there with it.
She has had maintenance work done and changed batteries, but no upgrades.
Surprizing what will work sometimes.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:40 am

theCryptofishist wrote:One of the stupidest things I've run into is when I had to have the sealed bearings changed out on my, the place where I bought it asked me to have my doctor fax over a prescription.

Oooooohhh...prescription bearings! Fan-cy! In a world where our cat has his own Walgreens card for his medication, I guess I'm not really surprised....

To my utter astonishment I had only to reconnect the battery packs and was Good To Go! They're deep-cycles, and all four showed twelve-plus volts even though they'd been sitting in a pole barn for some time.
I think I'm at the top end of the load limit for these chairs, and I chewed a little sod on a brief test trip into the lawn, but on pavement (even our steep driveway) they just torque along like gangbusters! Fishy, I remember trying to catch up with you and being left in the dust- How did your chair handle on the playa-at-large?

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:55 am

heheheheee
I voted for the carnival ride with two cars!

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:15 am

oneeyeddick wrote:Terminal Village needs a flamthrowing Godzilla or two.

Everyone needs a flaming Godzilla or two.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:51 am

I was the one that voted for 4-wheel-drive cupcake crusher.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:38 am

robotland wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:One of the stupidest things I've run into is when I had to have the sealed bearings changed out on my, the place where I bought it asked me to have my doctor fax over a prescription.
Oooooohhh...prescription bearings! Fan-cy! In a world where our cat has his own Walgreens card for his medication, I guess I'm not really surprised....

To my utter astonishment I had only to reconnect the battery packs and was Good To Go! They're deep-cycles, and all four showed twelve-plus volts even though they'd been sitting in a pole barn for some time.
I think I'm at the top end of the load limit for these chairs, and I chewed a little sod on a brief test trip into the lawn, but on pavement (even our steep driveway) they just torque along like gangbusters! Fishy, I remember trying to catch up with you and being left in the dust- How did your chair handle on the playa-at-large?

Like crap. I got buried to the axles as or more often than last year. There was lots of the jerking too, as I went over obstacles. I wheel like I'm tearing a new road into national forest land.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:40 am

http://www.pridemobility.com/resourcece ... anuals.asp
If you want them, you can probably find owner's manuals on line.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:48 am

The roads did seem unusually choppy to me.
Is it just me?

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:47 pm

One project I always wanted to do but never got around to was a superman-mobile. Basically a stool thing you balance on horizontally - lean forward, you move forward. Lean back, you stop. Lean left, you turn left etc. Disguise the base or mount downward facing mirrors so from a distance it looks like you're flying 2 feet above the ground.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:28 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:http://www.pridemobility.com/resourcece ... anuals.asp
If you want them, you can probably find owner's manuals on line.

Thanks! Might come in handy once I REALLY start to...uh..."void the warranty"...

I'd like to do an exploratory on the joystick to determine exactly how it can be adapted for remote operation...Then, a "following" system so that the chair could function as a guide-following "car" for a Haunted Attraction. (The guide would probably be a floor-based rail made of 2x4".) AND I'd like to make that Grande Olde Burninge Manne cliche'- The Motorized Easy Chair. (And sit in it, in my Utilikilt, sipping a PBR and eating bacon...)

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:22 am

oneeyeddick wrote:Terminal Village needs a flamthrowing Godzilla or two.

Robotland? You've got the basic structure

It'd be nice to see that at Lakes of Fire (how appropriate)

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:39 am

robotland wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:http://www.pridemobility.com/resourcece ... anuals.asp
If you want them, you can probably find owner's manuals on line.
Thanks! Might come in handy once I REALLY start to...uh..."void the warranty"...

I'd like to do an exploratory on the joystick to determine exactly how it can be adapted for remote operation...Then, a "following" system so that the chair could function as a guide-following "car" for a Haunted Attraction. (The guide would probably be a floor-based rail made of 2x4".) AND I'd like to make that Grande Olde Burninge Manne cliche'- The Motorized Easy Chair. (And sit in it, in my Utilikilt, sipping a PBR and eating bacon...)

Apparently, you can program the joysticks. But I can't. I mean the woman from the firm that I bought it from can--she had a special gizmo. I don't know how you'd get into something like that. When you want to Void the Warrenty, just google the specific make and model. I just pulled Pride because I own one.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:56 am

In 07 some one had a remote dog.. It was built from a 30 gallon oil barrel.. With other sized cans.. like coffee tins and mops for hair.. A big sheep dog.. It would follow people and bark.. When the person turned around the dog would turn away.. Then start to follow again..

phill posted a picture of a remote lawn mower that was guided with wheelchair controls.. That was a long time ago..

Maybe and trip to a scooter store to pick some brains..

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:53 am

This is where the long Michigan Winter comes in! Good opportunity for me to experiment with wiring and control systems, and dig in that box of remote-control cars I got at a garage sale for ten cents (!!!). The motors just go in two directions so I should be able to at least rig a tank-style steering system for remote ops. I'm not used to having the powerful platform that I always wanted and am going to have to make sure to include some kind of curb-feeler avoidance system in the final plan! The cheesy little Power Wheelz motors that I've stockpiled in the past can't smack me into a wall like these can!
On another front, I'm trying to avoid building a Dalek shell for one of the chairs...Ex-ter-mi-nate!!!!!!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:56 am

A big glowing pumpkin would be fun.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:58 am

http://hackaday.com/tag/wheelchair/

Hmmm...

The line-follower might be a way to go for the spookhouse idea, although I sort of prefer using a mechanical switch-controlled system for safety.

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:45 pm

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:52 pm

Ex-ter-mi-nate! TOOT! TOOT! DING-DING!

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:55 pm

They kinda weren't thinking when they designed the rear wheels, were they?

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:47 am

robotland wrote:They kinda weren't thinking when they designed the rear wheels, were they?

what, you mean the pneumatic retention arm?

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:52 am

robotland wrote:They kinda weren't thinking when they designed the rear wheels, were they?

Maybe a set of super swampers?

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:04 am

dragonfly Jafe wrote:
robotland wrote:They kinda weren't thinking when they designed the rear wheels, were they?
what, you mean the pneumatic retention arm?

Hmmm... What's the opposite of "locomotive"?

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:55 am

robotland wrote:
dragonfly Jafe wrote:
robotland wrote:They kinda weren't thinking when they designed the rear wheels, were they?
what, you mean the pneumatic retention arm?

Hmmm... What's the opposite of "locomotive"?

evitomocol?

Fun With Motors

What should I build with my new toys?

Fun With Motors