Wesley BC-6200-8SA - Manual (Page 39)

Curtis 1268 Manual, Rev. D
33
5 — TUNING GUIDE
5
TUNING GUIDE
The 1268 controller is a very powerful vehicle control system. Its wide variety
of adjustable parameters allow many aspects of vehicle performance to be opti-
mized. This section provides explanations of what the major tuning parameters
do and instructions on how to use these parameters to optimize the performance
of your vehicle. Once a vehicle/motor/controller combination has been tuned,
the parameter values can be made standard for that system or vehicle model.
Any changes in the motor, the vehicle drive system, or the controller will require
that the system be tuned again to provide optimum performance.
The tuning procedures should be conducted in the sequence given, because
successive steps build upon the ones before. The tuning procedures instruct per-
sonnel how to adjust various programmable parameters to accomplish specific
performance goals. It is important that the effect of these programmable pa-
rameters be understood in order to take full advantage of the 1268 controller’s
powerful features. Please refer to the descriptions of the applicable parameters
in Section 3 if there is any question about what any of them do.
MAJOR TUNING
Five major performance characteristics are usually tuned on a vehicle:
1 Tuning the Active Throttle Range
2 Calibrating the Controller Speed Measurement
3 Tuning the Controller to the Motor (Field Mapping)
4 Equalizing Loaded/Unloaded Vehicle Speed on Flat Ground
5 Confirming Loaded Vehicle Speed on Downhill Grade.
These five characteristics should be tuned in the order listed.
1
Tuning the Active Throttle Range
Before attempting to optimize any specific vehicle performance characteristics,
it is important to ensure that the controller input is operating over its full range.
To do this, the throttle should be tuned using the handheld programmer and a
voltmeter. The procedures that follow will establish zero throttle, full throttle,
and throttle fault parameter values that correspond to the absolute full range
of your particular throttle mechanism. Note: These parameters are expressed
in absolute voltages between 0 and 5 volts.
It is advisable to provide some buffer around the absolute full range of
the throttle mechanism to allow for throttle resistance variations over time and
temperature as well as variations in the tolerance of potentiometer values between
individual throttle mechanisms. This will form areas at the top and bottom of
the throttle movement range that the controller reads as 0% and 100%.