Hand controls for wheelchair users
07-27-2017, 07:40 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Nelson NZ
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17 E220d all-terrrain, 92 SL500, 16 C250D Wagon, 16 A200 (wife)
Hand controls for wheelchair users
Further to the front page post about a W211 E55 and hand controls, here are some comments for those interested in disabled controls. This in fact is relevant to any forum here not just W211.
Background - when legs don't work from spinal injury or other issues, you need a hand throttle / brake. These come in various forms, mostly mechanical levers / cables etc. to push on the pedal levers. But these can be quite tricky to get light to operate, and have the right nice progressive response - solution - an electronic circuit that drives the car ecu / pedal electrics from a sensor on the hand control.
All drivers should remember there are people out there driving with hand controls like this and are due a little consideration as they may not be quite as normal to operate! There are also much more complicated drive-by-wire steering and throttle / braking - see more on our Abiliquip facebook page about the likes of the Paravan system in use in many countries.
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The electronic control we did on an SL55 is very easy to troll around town at 30mph, it is not jumpy or hard to keep at town speeds, but when on a clear road just a squeeze of one finger unleases that lovely motor and it rockets away. Under all driver styles this hand control is very controllable and easy on the driver.
The brake is always there - just pushing the control away (fwd) operates the brake mechanically as all controls do, but the electronic throttle takes no arm movement just a finger squeeze. The flat bar arm pivots on the left side of the control column, the round bar goes direct to the brake pedal.
Attached pics show the installed result and the processor board we made and did software for. We are able to implement added functions like Cruise control (not so useful on a Merc) and pull brake signal and speed off the car canbus.
If you see my comment on the website front page article, it refers to the rather limited views in the Smoking Tire video about what is important in a hand control, and the fact that I think price is a much less worrying parameter than for example safety or ease of operation over a long drive!
Cheers, Greg
Background - when legs don't work from spinal injury or other issues, you need a hand throttle / brake. These come in various forms, mostly mechanical levers / cables etc. to push on the pedal levers. But these can be quite tricky to get light to operate, and have the right nice progressive response - solution - an electronic circuit that drives the car ecu / pedal electrics from a sensor on the hand control.
All drivers should remember there are people out there driving with hand controls like this and are due a little consideration as they may not be quite as normal to operate! There are also much more complicated drive-by-wire steering and throttle / braking - see more on our Abiliquip facebook page about the likes of the Paravan system in use in many countries.
-----
The electronic control we did on an SL55 is very easy to troll around town at 30mph, it is not jumpy or hard to keep at town speeds, but when on a clear road just a squeeze of one finger unleases that lovely motor and it rockets away. Under all driver styles this hand control is very controllable and easy on the driver.
The brake is always there - just pushing the control away (fwd) operates the brake mechanically as all controls do, but the electronic throttle takes no arm movement just a finger squeeze. The flat bar arm pivots on the left side of the control column, the round bar goes direct to the brake pedal.
Attached pics show the installed result and the processor board we made and did software for. We are able to implement added functions like Cruise control (not so useful on a Merc) and pull brake signal and speed off the car canbus.
If you see my comment on the website front page article, it refers to the rather limited views in the Smoking Tire video about what is important in a hand control, and the fact that I think price is a much less worrying parameter than for example safety or ease of operation over a long drive!
Cheers, Greg
