146: Friday 4th June 2010

I looked into the function of the power steering auxiliary contact on the motor controller. There were 2 connectors labelled as auxiliary outputs, one was a supply for a speed control potentiometer and the other was a 120v output for controlling a contactor. Unfortunately the Probatron has a 12v electric power steering system, so this cannot be used directly. I went on eBay and found a relay with 120v coil and had it sent to me. I wired the the contacts of this relay in series with the other control line for the power steering relay and now the steering pump switches off when the motor is not turning. This on it's own is not sufficient as every time you come to a standstill then the steering goes tight, but fortunately the controller has a programmable delay timer built in, so you can set the time delay after the motor comes to rest and before the output switches off. I tried a few different settings and ended up on level 3 (5 seconds). So now when I come to a stop, 5 seconds later the power steering pump switches off. I found that I noticed it was switching off just at the point where I would normally think about switching it off myself using the flip switch, and sometimes earlier. Good thing is I don't have to remember now and when stuck in traffic ques I won't get the power drain of the pump running continuously.