Where does this wire go?

We got one side of the base done. We are doing two pieces and then bolting them together.

Laying out first cut

My brother came over and the 4 of us (me, Bob (my brother), Mark (my son), and Eileen (my wife)) did some more work. We striped a lot of stuff from the chair so it is just the frame, controls, wheels and motors. We also laid out the template for the base. Bob took some pictures and I’m sure they will end up on facebook.

The first is that I bought a voltmeter to use to know how much charge is in the batteries. I think we will wire it in so we can know when the charge is getting low. I don’t want any surprises.

The second item is that the charger that I thought was dead seems to be working. It appears that it was the batteries that made the charger look dead. It is supplying some current to the new batteries and I’ll check the charge in a bit. I expect I’ll be happily surprised.

My brother came over and we went over the motors. It turns out that the right wheels motor isn’t quite right. It works, but it doesn’t sound healthy. I’m debating taking it apart and seeing if it can be repaired, but I expect either a bearing or some other mechanical part (gear or whatever) might be the problem. If thats the case then it won’t be worth trying to fix and we will have to live with it. This chair is so old they don’t even make parts for it. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could find one but it isn’t worth the effort.

And the good news. The wheel chair is mobile.

Some to-dos are to make or buy a 24v charger for the batteries so I don’t have to charge them individually. I also need to get some sort of meter in there so I can know how charged the batteries are.

The wheels came in today. It was a real pain getting them on. The insert was difficult to get in the tire and then getting the tire seated properly to the rim was very difficult for me.

Batteries are due in tomorrow. I’m nervous to see if the controls work on this chair. I’m hoping It will be mobile tomorrow. If not I’m going to be very sad. I have a feeling it isn’t going to work.

Tonight I ordered a set of batteries. The batteries cost $158.00. I hope the new batteries work and the chair becomes mobile.

So far I spent over $400 on this chair. I could have picked up a known good one for about that.

Arrg…

First, I purchased a tube for one of the wheels. I put it in and tried to inflate it. POP. I got another tube. Same thing.

Next, I tried to charge the batteries. I was told (at least this is what I remember) that one of the batteries was okay and the other dead. Well, I plugged in the charger hoping to charge at least the good battery. The charger hummed but didn’t seem to do anything. I then pulled both batteries to find that they only read .4V So basically they are both dead. I am unsure if the charger works at this point. I’m trying to desulfate both batteries to see if I can revive them.

To counter these setbacks I decided to buy new tires and some solid inserts to replace the tubes.

If the batteries don’t get fixed by desulfication then I’ll be on the hook for 2 new batteries at about $120 a piece. Then I should be able to test the control box and motors. If those don’t work then I’ll have to start over and consider all this money lost.

So today I spend about $15.00 on tubes, $80 on 2 new tires and the solid inserts. I also bought 2 4×2 pieces of mdf for about $20.

originally I was thinking black with gold. But this isn’t that bad.

http://www.dmmultimedia.com/Dalek/dalek_076s.jpg

I’m working on getting a motorized wheelchair so we can start working on the base of the dalek. Hopefully in a few days I should have the first piece of the Dalek.