Electric Wheelchair project

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hello al,

I Have a question thats probably been asked before. But to search this forum will take me for ages…

I want to start on a project, rebuilding an electric wheelchair to a mule, garden helper, wheelbarrow, … with remote control.
That because I am wheelchair bound myself (the manual chair) and it wood be a great help for my garden projects, hauling things from and to my workshop,…
I am good when it comes to wood and steel things. But my electronic knowledge is basic at the most.

Im looking for the right controller to put in the chair. I searched the net and the basic thing to drive a wheelchair that i found are things like the SABERTOOTH 2X32.

But the ting is that the wheelchair base that i have can do much more. It can lift, tilt the seat and adjust the backrest. I would like to use all these things by remote control.
So what i think i need at least a 10 channel controller?

  • driving 2 motors (4 channels)
  • lift up and down (2 channels)
  • Tilt (2 channels)
  • backrest motor (2 channels)

But what controller do i need? and what kind of reciever? Or do i need to put in 4 different controllers?

Or is my thought proces wrong?

Please not to complicated response, im a newby. And i dont want to spend hundereds of dollars.

Thanks an Cheers
Bram

2

Hi Bram,

You indeed need a lot of channels to control everything but let’s look at what you have.
Driving motors - This is handled with 2 channels and the mixing is done inside the motor controller.
Lift Up and Down - One channel with both directions
Tilt - Still one channel
Backrest - Another channel there

That mean 5 channels total for your project.

You have to know what kind of current the motors need to choose the right motor controllers.
The Sabertooth lineup have several current rating from 5A to 60A continuous.

:slight_smile: