On Sunday, I finished making the bearing mount on the right side of the motor spindle. This will help take a lot of strain off the bearings on the motor and prevent it twisting out from the torque. Also, I shimmed the front pulley with the thin metal from an aluminium can -- it was just perfect to close the gap between 12.5 mm and 12.0 mm. As a result, the motor is working much quieter now -- I just love the sound it makes when it accelerates -- gotta post a video.
(And yes, it's made of wood, I'm a woodworker not a metalworker and don't have access to a mill. The 12mm flanged bearing itself is hidden underneath the wood, it has quality roller bearings to support the spindle.).
I got a new V-belt at the local autoparts store to try to make the gearing taller by forcing the rear CVT smaller, but the V-belt was too small. I'll have to split the difference and get a new V-belt later this week.
Instead of depending on my unreliable low-voltage system for fan power (not good that it cuts out at full throttle), I instead wired two of the fans in serial. That means each fan is being driven by 19 volts -- a bit fast but not something they can't handle. One fan is on the ESC controller, the other I mounted in front of the motor. Unfortunately I found out that the mount I used blocked some of the natural airflow, so the motor ended up running hotter with the fan than it did "naked." I'll have to make another mount that diverts more natural and blown air to the motor.
I've ordered more batteries for the scoot, so now I just have to wait.
Re: Sunday Boxer
Submitted by nasukaren on Mon, 08/04/2008 - 23:37.
Today was Christmas in August. My Cycle Analyst arrived as well as a box of Anderson connectors. I just finished rewiring for the Andersons and put the Cycle Analyst in the loop too.
Can't wait to give it a test run tomorrow!
K
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Working on a Piaggio Boxer (mo-ped) EV conversion: http://visforvoltage.org/blog/nasukaren
Re: Sunday Boxer
Submitted by nasukaren on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 17:04.
A great test run today using my three Rhino 12 Volt 18 Ah SLA batteries. Here's my data table according to my Cycle Analyst:
Distance: 8.089 km
Ah: 6.730
Watt-Hours: 228.49
Wh/k: 28.3
Amax: 69.55 A
MaxS: 31.6 km/h
AvgS: 24.6 km/h
Time: 19 min 39s
Odometer: 1563 km
According to my Schumacher charger, the batteries were 45% full when I returned. That means I can perhaps expect to get 13 Ah out of the 18 Ah rated batteries for a total range of 18 km. Not bad, not bad.
Everything else looks good. My wiring is ugly and I still need to hide my controller in the scoot, but it looks like the main body of work is finished. I had some problems with the low-voltage system today that I narrowed down to a blown inductor coil, I didn't have the right amperage. Oops. I jerry-rigged that, need to get the right coil.
This weekend, I'm showing the bike at the New England Electric Auto Association. If anyone is in the Ct-Ma-Ri area, please come to our meeting! The web address is http://neeaa.org/
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