Hello All,
I'm looking into the feasibility of programming an arduino to manipulate my treadmill for an art installation. I want to increase and decrease speed/incline over the course of 10 minutes, coming up with a random code to make it appear as if someone were walking, then running, then walking ect. The treadmill has a 90 volt/9 amp dc motor. I want to be able to plug in the treadmill and have it automatically start moving and changing speed, looping after the 10 minutes. Any help would be really appreciated, I have attached some photos of the treadmill if that will help.
Thanks.
look around and follow the motor wires a bit. is there another device or circuit board ?
thanks for the reply, yes i have attached photos of it. I can identify the red and black wires leading to the circuit board, and was curious if i could disconnect the red and black wires from the dc motor into the arduino/bread board. Or if i have to identify what area of the circuit board controls speed and incline.
90V is a pretty high voltage for most Arduino projects. You don't want that voltage on your breadboard because it may explode with fire and smoke. If possible, it would be good to use the existing motor controller module. However that may not be possible if it's all tightly integrated. Then you need to find a motor controller with higher maximum voltage and current.
What would be the process to manipulate the current motor controller thats built in? If it were possible to isolate the incline and speed functions.
The treadmill is functional? Then it may be easiest to tap into the buttons and have the Arduino act like a person pressing the buttons.
If it's not functioning then it makes it very difficult to intercept signals and determine what each wire does. Plus the fault may be in the motor controller, which is actually the more difficult component to replace with your own.
