Electric shifter

[47 Fasttoys]

Good morning all, a few times now I have received requests for more info on the electric shifter I built for the COE. First off let me say for me it was the the best solution for a mid mounted drive train. After working out the minor bugs it has worked trouble free for over 20K miles. and yes, I would do it again. Cost for the complete set up was under $75 and total time to build the unit in use now was 4 hours (this was the 3rd attempt)
I have included a drawing and some pictures. In my case I use the signal (0 volts) from the ECU to ground out a small light which indicates I am in a certain gear. If you’re trans does not have this function you will need to either set up some small limit switches which are operated by the shift arm or have no lights and just go by feel. I did the go by feel for the first couple of weeks and it works fine, the issue I did run into is my wife drove the truck and broke the mount for the actuator the first time out. This happened because the trans shift arm stopped in low gear and the actuator was not at the end of stroke. Now a note about end of stroke: The actuator I use has internal limit switches for end of stroke in both directions meaning it will auto stop at maximum and minimum stroke. Also the actuator I used has some pretty good force behind it (over 200#) where this comes into play is if I am parked on a boat ramp, after loading the boat it takes a bit of force to pull the shift arm out of park.
I have a few ideas on how to set up some limit switches for position control and automatic operation but have not put anything together at this point.
Something to watch is the mounting of the actuator: mount with the maximum stroke in the park position so you don’t over travel in that direction. You could also extend your trans shift arm to have the minimum stroke in the low or 1st gear as to prevent damage in that position.
The drawing below is for the basic operation using a DPDT (double pole double throw) momentary push button switch which I got at Radio Shack for under $10. The fuse is in my fuse panel.
Questions?
Rob

[Advanced Design]

Good detail Rob. So you hold the switch down until the light for drive illuminates?

I remember you had a schematic in your build thread from when you were still in China. Wasn't that one more involved than this one.

[47 Fasttoys]

Yeah, that one was a little over-engineered using a 2 layer rotary switch, position feedback etc.. this is much more user friendly for both install and cost. Yes, you hold the switch until the correct position light come on.
Rob