Auto calibration method and apparatus for wheel balancer equipment

1. A method of calibrating an electronic wheel balancer having a base unit, a motor shaft extending from the base unit, and a face plate attached to the shaft, the face plate including wheel mounting holes therein, the method comprising:

mounting a calibration wheel on the motor shaft, the calibration wheel comprising mounting pins configured to engage the mounting holes on the face plate;

emitting a visible beam from an indicator light towards the calibration wheel, the beam indicating a home position for an inner plane calibration weight on the calibration wheel;

rotating the calibration wheel to the home position;

attaching an inner weight plane calibration weight to the BW at the home position;

in response to an auto-calibration command, automatically rotating the balancer shaft to obtain sensor data from force transducers on the balancer;

using the sensor data, automatically calculating and storing inner weight plane reference data;

automatically stopping the motor shaft;

moving the inner plane calibration weight to an outer weight plane position on the calibration wheel;

in response to a continue command, automatically rotating the balancer shaft to obtain sensor data from the force transducers;

using the sensor data, automatically calculating and storing outer weight plane reference data.