Bypassing Curtis Footpedal Assembly

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(insert name here)

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I am attempting to eliminate a Curtis footpedal assembly (and speed controller) from an electric vehicle circuit so that it runs at full throttle whenever it's on. I have everything disconnected and working as desired, except for two connections on the footpedal assembly that appear to be acting as a necessary power bridge (even when the pedal is not pressed). Below is the footpedal diagram:

The orange wire goes toward the negative battery terminal (passing through a solenoid on the way), and the black wire goes into a piece of conduit with several other identical wires (making it impossible to identify at the other end). My plan was to simply cut out the footpedal assembly, splice the orange and black wires together, and call it done. But then I started thinking that maybe I'd need to throw in a diode or something in place of the footpedal assembly.

To me, the diagram shows that the orange and black wires have no connection at all, but I know they must because without the footpedal assembly in place, the solenoid that engages the motor circuit will not be thrown when the vehicle turns on.

Can anyone tell if I'd need to do anything special in place of the footpedal assembly based on its diagram above?
 

not_a_bot

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Welcome to the forums!

For me, its kinda hard to give electrical advice without having access to the thing in question. As that's not possible, pictures with as much info as possible are the second best thing. I've dealt with electronics and all that jazz, but sadly no recreative vehicles. Also, having a multimeter handy will speed the whole process up.

Sent from my G760-L01 using Tapatalk
 

itsid

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No need..

this is the DUMBEST THING I've seen in a while (sorry pal, you're still welcome...)
But that is one bad decision you made.. and you'll surely see why in very short order.
Either the motor or the controller will burn out... maybe even both after just a tad too long full throtteling around..
None is made to go full throttle all the time, both have to dissipate serious amount of heat (which they can't at full throttle!)

But to do so and to finally destroy the motor and controller in short (but fun) time:
replace the pedal with a simple on off toggle switch (black wire).. and wire a 0-10kOhm variable resistor in between. (switch and the two outlets to green and white)
(that'll be your new speed setter)
below 500 and above 7k Ohms NOTHING will happen (security fallback in case the pedal has an error turns motor OFF)
7kOhms is full speed.
Yes, in theory you could get a fixed 7k Resistor, but that's not much cheaper than a variable resistor, also you cannot ever tweak (and if it's tolerances are high and you only have 6900 ohms you don't have full speed, if it's 7100 you don't have a running motor at all and the poti wins ;))!
Now all you need is another switch for the remaining two wires (blue and orange).

flick both switches and off you go!
do NOT run for more than 15mins every hour.. better just ten, maybe it'll live another day

'sid
 

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Thanks for the welcome, all.

I suppose I probably should have given a bit more detail about my vehicle. It's an '86 Cushman Minute Miser. The "computer box" speed controller and footpedal assembly in the vehicle now are both non-original equipment (which is part of why I wanted to remove them). The original speed controller was one of those coil resistor types, which at full throttle, simply provided a direct current to the motor. The wiring I've set up matches the original wiring at full throttle. There is a circuit breaker in the loop, so it's not a true direct wire. And from driving these things around at work, I have found if the motor gets too hot they will save themselves and shut off until they cool down, which comforts me.

Also, in regards to my own original question: The wire I thought was black was actually blue, which makes the wiring diagram make sense to me. If I had been using a flashlight the other day instead of squinting into the darkness, I probably would have figured that out. However, I did find a random red wire coming out of the footpedal assembly that wasn't connected to anything and is not on the diagram. Not really sure what that was...
 
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