I am trying to turn a mobility scooter into a base for a robot. I would like to use the scooter's motor controller and simply replace the scooter's two analog POTs with a digital POT that I could control from a PC or Arduino.
There are two analog POTs in the circuit.
- The max speed POT sets the maximum speed of the scooter. This is a 20 Ω POT on a simple dial.
- The throttle POT is a 4.5 Ω POT with a spring dial. The default value is 2.2 Ω and pressure on the throttle makes the scooter move forward and backwards.
Here is a photo of the circuit components
As best I can determine, here is the circuit diagram
Unfortunately my grasp of analog circuits is limited by the 30 years since I last worked with them... So, two questions:
First, could someone help me understand how these two POTs work together to control the scooter's speed and direction?
Second, how would I replace these two analog POTs with a digital POT which I could control from a PC/Arduino?