After a minor panic with the motors running like a pork chop on the test bench, the problem turned out to be mis-connected hall-effect position sensors that go between the motor and controller. Once hooked up correctly, the motors spin smoothly and quietly in both directions.
So it's time to put back together.
First the arms, wheels and the controllers.
Now with the 4 x 12v batts in place. All 240Kg worth.
Controller temporarily hooked up with speaker cable - I didn't want to go chopping up heavy-gauge wire until I was sure about how things would be routed and what lengths were needed.
Detail of the connection between the motor and wheel gearbox.
The motor mounts will get more paint and eventually a cowling to keep the weather off.
My test control box. The joysticks are 1-axis units made by Apem.
More temporary wiring...
And the main contactor with a pair of precharge resistors across the terminals to chanrge up the controller's capacitors so as not to incur a high current surge when the contactor is closed.
The contactor is rated at 400A. That looks to be possibly a little over-specced, as the unit looks to use about 10-40 amps when travelling, but I'll need to do more testing to find out what the range really is.
Again, this is a temporary install. Once everything is working properly I'll locate it in a more protected position and wire it up nicely.
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