Colyn and others: why aren't we using a simple off-the-shelf motor controllers like those used in power chairs, golf carts, forklifts and other safety-minded devices? They handle hundreds of amps, reversible, employ logic to prevent accidental reversal, work with voltages 12-48, programmable, log diagnostics and come already packaged in a heatsink and there are no contactors to worry about. I see them selling for a few hundred dollars. What bugs me about Adam's incident is that he had a switch in the down position and the pump ran in the UP direction. We certainly have cheap access to the technology to prevent that from happening to someone else. The scooter and forklift people can't afford to have someone go backwards when they press forward on the lever and this appears to be a mature area of motor control these days but we don't employ it. Such a device would dump all the relays as I understand it. On the Curtis models I reviewed, external contactors like the one that failed on Adam's plane are still optional but the controller current is reduced to Zero before the Contactor engages or disengages. I'm not seeing any downside and since the Oildyne pump is not a high amperage device (compared to a forklift) I believe a solid state controller can be directly connected to the Parker pump without the relays (solenoids).
What am I missing?