User:Messi~enwikiversity/wheelchair

Write problem/project Goal
I want to make the wheelchair autonomous. I want to use everything I learned working on the RobotCar project on this new project and control the wheelchair with an Arduino.

My First Task
Over the weekend, I plan on reading the team page of the previous team that worked on the wheelchair project to see where I can improve on what they've done already.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
Over the first weekend, I read the pdf documentation on the previous team's page but found out that it was more of an owner's manual than anything else. I did however found a nice detailed drawing- FIGURE 2.1 Percentage of Weight Distribution- on how to remove the motors on the wheelchair on page 33. Also on page 92-95 is -DETAIL “A” - CONNECTING CABLES TO TERMINALS- which details how to work with the batteries. I think that could be useful.

Week1 Narrative
I continued with documenting as much stuff as I can. Below are the part numbers on both motors located at the bottom of the wheelchair.

I also noticed that the cables connecting the motors and the black control box have a small housing unit in between the cables. Below are more documentations I found online and from the previous team's page.
 * Motor and Gearbox Assembly Reference Chart
 * 4-Pole Motor and Gearboxes After 8/31/98
 * Motor/Gearbox Assembly Reference Chart
 * 4-Pole Motors and Gearboxes Storm Arrow, Arrow H.D., ALL Torques and Ranger X

My Second Task
I originally wanted to take home the motor and starting taking it apart and putting it back together, but it wasn't possible so I plan on taking a deeper look at the drawings in the documents I found already, watch YouTube videos of other wheelchair projects that could be similar to this one.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
After getting enough documentation, I went ahead and took apart the wheelchair to get to the motors. The idea was to test the motors independently to the wheelchair to see if I can get them to spin. I learned alot about the different parts of the motors, and noted some missing components.

Week2 Narrative
Taking chair apart was relatively easy. I had to take the tires and a couple of metal bars off before getting to the motors. I did noticed some of the screws that were holding the motors to the chair were missing. This could mean someone had previously attempted or took the motors out of the chair. Once the motors were out, I placed side by side them for closer inspection.

Both motors appeared to be identical since I didn't see any physical differences. One thing that did stand out was a missing cap on of the motors. The missing piece is a brush which indicates that these are brushed motors.

After taking pictures and notes on the motors, I decided to test them to see if they would do anything. I used one of the 12v battery that came with the chair as my power source and hooked it up to one of the motors. I heard a smart knock in the motors but I wasn't sure where the noise came from. Apart from that noise, nothing else happened. I decided to test the battery to see if they were any juice in them. I used a small wire and connected the + and - poles of the battery to see if they are any sparks. Nothing happened. I then decided to use a multimeter to get a more precise reading on the status of the battery. The multimeter test suggested the battery was dead. Test the second battery had the same result.

My Third task
Since the parts of the chair are too much of a hustle to take home, I plan on getting the motors to spin using the batteries(when they are charged) or using one the power supply laying around the lab. I remember during the power supply project that it can output 12v so I should work with the chair.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
I concluded last week that the motors did not work because the batteries I was using were dead. Well, a teammate got their hands on some good batteries this week so I tested the motors to see what would happen. I also found some useful information about the clips that were connected to the wires I used for the batteries last week.

Week3 Narrative
These things are actually called powerpoles - not clips - and they made it very easy to connect the motors to anything. In this case, a battery. once I got the wire-ring and the a new working battery, I decided to test the motors again. Before starting anything, I used a multimeter to check the batteries and got a 12v reading. I wanted to see if the brush not being in the motors would make any difference, I hooked everything up without the brush but nothing happened. The motor didn't move. I changed the direction of the wires from the (+) to (-) on the battery but still didn't work.

I put the brush in the motor and secured it with the plastic screw I found last week. Still didn't work. I was expecting to hear, see, smell something..anything.

I came to two conclusions.
 * 1) The motors don't work at all.
 * 2) The motor shield box attached to the chair might be needed to in order for anything to work.

My Fourth task
I think I made some good progress that the next team can pick up from. My plan for next week is to put the chair back together and run all the tests that I've tried during this whole project to see if I can get the motors to spin. But before that, I want to run two more tests.


 * 1) Push the tires on the motors while they are hooked to a battery to see what happens
 * 2) Attach the second battery to the motor and observe what happens.

Here is the website where the powerpole stuff came from Westmountainradio.com

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
Made some progress this week. I used the crimping tool to add connectors to the end of a wire that will be used to hook up the motors to a source of power(battery).

I also used the Rigrunner 4012 and Astron V6-36M to finally power to motors. It was a joy watching that thing turn. :)

Click here for a video I took.

Week4 Narrative
At first, I didn't know what to do with the crimping tool. I started by placing the red and black powerpole connectors inside the crimping tool and squeezing the tool. I was under the impression that I needed to pressed down on side of the connectors so that the wire can be locked inside securely. After breaking two connectors, it was pretty clear that wasn't the right approach.

I went to youtube and found this video " Crimping Anderson Powerpoles " which was very helpful. For a more pictorial tutorial, Check this one I made.

After all the wirering was done,I turned to the Rigrunner 4012 and Astron V6-36M. I plugged the connector into the Rigrunner and the motors with the Rigrunner powered by the Astron. First, I turned the Astron on, but nothing happened. Then I pulled the break lever on the motor and voila. It started spinning.

I decided to tested the second more and noticed that the break lever on motor#2 was alot more loose then motor#1. I couldn't get the second motor to turn using the same setup I had early.

Complete Team Page
Team Page