Hacking an Invacare Pronto Electric Wheelchair - Part 1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2014
- Back in 2010 I was thinking about building some kind of automated machine or robot for cleaning up the hundreds of windfall apples from my lawn each week. Rather than buying new motors I decided to pick up an old electric wheelchair from ebay and take the motors from that, but once I got hold of the wheelchair it turned to have some interestingly hackable internals.
- วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![ไหล่อ่อน (Soft Shoulder) - Atom ชนกันต์ [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HUWl53msBQY/mqdefault.jpg)
Strange. I checked the model # 3 times, I have fibromyalgia and will forget in seconds, but I don't have a LCD. So it didn't get me anywhere. Thanks again Jim. You have been so kind to help me.
This is really interesting jim. My father is actually in a wheelchair now for ober 30 years. We all mess around with different types of motorsports in my family. I have always wondered about the possibilities his chairs have. I also have a device that connects to the chair and i am able to adjust all types of settings like speed and brake etc. One of my main questions is can we make his chair faster? We have many parts and chairs to play with i just never got around to it. Any info would be appreciated.
Pronto 51m was running great ,but suddenly it started blinking, and service indicator comes on. Do you have a video how to fix that?
hi I have this chair and after charging it, it runs fine for like 30 minutes then joystick reads full power still but it wont go any ideas? I put new batteries and new power cord
Jim, nice project. I have the same model pronto and trying to hack the joystick. I'm hoping you can share your code.
Hi I’ve got same model and Hardley moves not sure what’s wrong with it
Hey Jim, can I get this code from you also? Do you need to have to factory joystick control hooked up to use the code that your using?
Hay Jim. Sorry man . My girl had a stroke . 2 years ago . With work and her it's 24/7 . She has a merit 320 blue . Shark control . They got a delayed time on it that's . Stupid .if you can point me in the right direction . I would be so thankful . The info you share is awesome 👍 . Thanks and peace 🙏 to everybody
Kisiera saber de cuantos amperios son los fusibles de mi silla electrica pronto m 41 aki en Honduras no saben de eso grasias
I have one of those wheelchairs but doesnt raise the seat button mine has lost the power to go on the fast setting its pretty slow just wondering is there anything i can do to it to make it go faster the fastest setting goes like a smail and it never used to be like that i need to get it upto speed again would you think it may be the battery
Hi Jamie - Full speed is only available when the seat is in it's lowest position. If the seat is raised then the chair will go into slow mode (presumably because the high centre of gravity might make it fall over if you cornered at full speed with the seat all the way up). Hope that helps. Cheers!!
Good morning, on my joystick the LEDs indicating the speed do not light up. if I press the buttons to increase or decrease it there is a difference but in any case the wheelchair is too slow. it does not report any error codes. can you help me please?
On my chair the speed is only adjustable when the chair is in it's lowest height setting. If the height is extended then it's restricted to the slowest speed as a safety measure. Hope that helps. Cheers!!
Price plz this chair
I have a similar wheelchair that I think is locked but I don't have the lock button. I tried holding the power button down but it just turns off. There is a small flashing X ,yellow, at the bottom of the joystick. Please help me, if you can. Thanks David
+David Olenick - On the pronto M51, it's 'press the horn twice within 10 seconds' to unlock. Hope that helps. Cheers!!
Oh, I have an m94
+David Olenick I found the user manual for the m94 online at www.invacare.com/doc_files/1122145I.pdf ... Pages 36 and 37 seem to indicate that the X indicates that it is in 'no drive' mode, and that pushing the mode switch will let you select a different one... I imagine you've already tried that, but I thought I'd share the PDF with you in case you can find a solution in there. Cheers!!
+Jim Conner Jim, do you know what they mean by this ?
M94 @ fixya. Of course they said ,"take it to the shop. Like duh...
Motors must be fully locked in gear to drive. Also many chairs require the joystick to be turned off before putting them in gear or turn chair off and back on after engaging the motors.
On my M51, there are two levers on the underside of the chair which can be used to disengage the wheels from the motors... You use them when you need to move the chair around without any battery power remaining. If your chair can be rolled backwards & forwards just by pushing it, then it would indicate that these levers are set in the wrong position. Hope that helps. Cheers!!
Thank you Jim. I tried it several time and it still won't move. I need it so bad to go to doctors but Thank you very much. David
I dont have a setting to put a seat up or down
Me neither
Hey mathom - I seem to be unable to reply to your comment - I think it has something to do with Google+ settings... Anyway.. if you spot this message, then ping me a message with an email address and I'll send you my sourcecode back in reply. Cheers!!
Jim I love your project. What would one need to use the control stick on the wheelchair to operate a game from either an apple app store or google play store via Bluetooth? When you move the joystick on the chair you essentially operate the movements of the game that one would download from the app store from app store. If the app from the app store would be the problem, is it better use C to build a game that runs off a local computer and paired with a Bluetooth signal to enable user to control the movement in a game. I was referring to to blue tooth because I wanted to pair the app game with a low budget VR 3d headset and pay someone to hack/convert the wheelchair to a mechanical chair that moves with the actions fo the joystick. I'll await your response or you can email me interactivechallenge@gmail.com
Hi Jim,
I am a university student in Birmingham UK, trying to control the same model wheelchair with eyetracking and EEG signals. I found your code on github, I am just wondering what the Sharkbus protocol is and how I can use your code to control the wheelchair from the laptop? Is the sort of thing I need www.amazon.co.uk/RS485-RS422-converter-FTDI-FT232-chipset/dp/B004BM7JLG?
Is there anyway I can contact you via email?
Thanks
they make a little ball that looks like a cage made out of wire it's got a handle on it it looks like one of those popper things little babies push around the house that are very annoying but it's a cage instead on a ball on a long handle you push it around the yard and it picks up your apples look it up on eBay they're only a few dollars
It's for picking up golf balls but it works perfect with apples to
It's been many years since I started on this project and it's still not finished... A friend of mine pointed out that a nail through the end of a long stick is brilliant for picking up apples without having to bend down, and I've been using that ever since. Tap the apple with the pointy bit and it's picked up, tap the stick on the side of a wheelbarrow and the apple falls off. Simple and effective. Thanks for your suggestion Clayborn, and for taking the time to comment. Cheers!!
Doesn't feel 4 years ago ...then I recognised the old N900 :)
Good old days !!
Time to get the apples sorted BTW
Can I use car batteries
Yes you can. Car batteries will be perfectly fine.
@@ThingsWhichArentWork thank u
@@ThingsWhichArentWork will the original charger work with car batteries or will I need a different charger I'm trying to help my friend out so I can spend a fortune his disability won't cover the chair
@@Kevin-id5hx The charger is designed for AGM type batteries which usually have a slightly lower charge voltage (14.3-14.5v) than a regular flooded lead acid car battery (14.7v). Using the charger won't damage car batteries in any way, but it isn't ideal for keeping car batteries at their best. Over time you might get a build up of lead sulphur on the plates which could reduce the life of the batteries by a year or two. Flooded lead acid (car) batteris usea slightly higher charge voltage that will cause the electrolyte to bubble/boil, which in turn displaces the sulphur buildup. For AGM batteries the charge voltage is lower specifcally because you don't want bubbling/boiling to occur. In practical terms, you probably won't notice any difference in lifespan, particularly if you periodically (every 6 months or so) top the batteries off using a car charger. Hope that helps.
@@ThingsWhichArentWork yes it does thanks
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I really dont see any hack that your video suggest. But there are people that could really use that chair instead of you running around your yard
The 'hack' was reverse engineering the Sharkbus protocol to control the wheelchair via software instead of the joystick. There are many people who have used this to their advantage. My favourite re-use of the hack was from a wheelchair user who also liked sailing. He re-purposed one of his old chairs into a boat-towing machine so that he could get his boat in and our of the water whilst still in his own wheelchair. There are many thousands of old wheelchairs going to scrap each year, so potentially giving them a second life seemed like a good idea. The 'hack' has also been used in university projects to enhancer existing chairs with extra additions such as robot arms to reach objects from high shelves in supermarkets, allowing wheelchair users more freedom. I don't feel that I deprived anyone of a wheelchair by doing this project... more that I opened up a better alternative for old chairs than just sending them to scrap. Cheers!!
Got any info . No . So
@@lonniesmith83 All of the code etc is on my github. github.com/jimconner/sharkbus - Is there more info you were looking for? (The link is in the description of the part3 video I think)