[frodus]

Another little update:

[frodus]

So, she's actually running now. Click the pic below for the blog entry and some pictures. I posted a video, but its dark. I'll get more tonight and throw it up on youtube. I'll do a walkaround as well. Looks like frankenbike, but it'l be cleaned up. We just wanted to get it together so we can begin testing.

[MrCrabs]

For a minute I thaught you were using duct tape to hold that baby together. In your thumbnail it looks like the frame is made up of gray duct tape!

Good job on getting the bike running!

[DVR]

Good onya Frodus!!

Be proud!!

[frodus]

well, after working with those smaller bats (they were free), I'm starting to see that they just aren't supplying the capacity we need. The battery side (pegging throttle with brakes fully on) sucks 75A out of the bats, and give ~350A or so on the motor side. I might chose to go with some ~30Ah 12V batteries, 10 of them for 120V. Sucking 75 out of them is really not going to be good for them.

My main reasoning is because I just can't fit in the 50+Ah batteries inside the frame (10.5" wide). Putting them in sideways would be a waste of space. 10 ~30Ah would give me 3600Wh. The little 18Ah jobbies just won't cut the cheese. Plus, they're used, and if I'm going to spend another 400-500 bucks on batteries, I'm going to get some higher capacity batteries. My pack is 2592Wh right now, going to 30Ah 120V would give me a gain in 100lbs and a gain in 1000Wh, and give me much more range, and higher current capacity. Another thing, is the controller is set to kind of throttle back when the battery voltage sags. This is good for bats, but not performance. We've got a lot of testing to do yet, but again, I'm limited on the batteries I can fit, and I'd like to keep the fairings.

Another big issue, is the gearing. Right now the gearing is 4:1. I changed the sprocket last night, but the batteries were starting to get a little low, so I didn't push it. I'll try to recharge them a bit tonight and go for a freshly charged run. I'll report back tonight if I can. I forgot the camera last night, so I didn't take any more video.

Roughly speaking, when we were talking about the weight of the bike (150 for the rolling chassis, 60 for motor, 160 for batteries, another 20 for controller/contactor/battery trays) is about 390. Stock is ~500 wet. take a 200lbs rider (not me, just a good top estimate), and thats roughly 600lbs.

From the motor torque curve, 350A is right around 50ftlbs. Ratio is 4:1, so thats roughly 200ftlbs at the rear tire. I'd like to get closer to 300ftlbs, with a 5.5:1.(11/60). That would overcome half the weight during acceleration. The stock motor in the cycle, had a 1st gear final ratio of 15:1, with a 40ftlbs at something like 3500 or so rpm (not at 0), which is 600ftlbs. My torque is at 0, so its not apples to apples comparison. I just want to get it to be a little bit less sluggish.

The best thing that I've got going for me, is that I'm not really limited by the voltage of the battery pack at 72V. I can go right up to 156V if I wanted to (we're developing the Synkromotive controller on this bike, and 2 other car conversion). This is nice because I can use smaller batteries and fit more in and get the same Kwh.

[frodus]

Posted 6 new videos:
http://www.youtube.com/frodus17

[DVR]

Cool you got the "NOD" from a Prius owner"

Gotta love that.

[ngrimm]

It's nice to be able to ride it isn't it! I think you will really have fun once you get bigger batteries. You may find the torque to be about right with the current gearing and the additional amps.

[frodus]

At a stop, full brakes, we pull 350A...motor side.... and it does heat up pretty good.

Its tapering off, but it still heats up.... So i'd like to change a little... not a ton. Maybe a 5:1.

I'm having fun with it for now, we basically need to get more testing done.

[frodus]

So last night, I dropped by Synkromotive to help Ives with some testing. We tried logging with the DataQ again, and it it kept failing, no matter what setting we used. Nothing seemed to help. We unhooked it, and I’m going to contact Customer Service. We need something to compare our measured values to.
We spent the rest of the evening getting the Old Tachometer (originally fed off the engine spark), to display the current on the motor side. Its pretty cool, as you give it gas, it displays current at a 50A per 1000rpm resolution. So 200A is 4krpm. I’ll likely print something to display actual A, but its great for testing. Its just a PWM signal to the original Tach line. I’m totally cool with keeping the stock look, infact, I’m HOPING to keep as much of a stock look as possible. Now I need to order a PB-6 to keep my original throttle, order a EV200 contactor and get the lights working.

David Boyd got the bike up to 60mph… wow! It was fresh off the pack, and pulled 300A or so up to 30mph, and then it started to drop… at 55mph, it was roughly half of that. Better gearing should help this, as less torque is needed. We’ll keep gearing what it is for now because we’re testing something new every day. I thought it felt kind of like a 250cc, but David said it actually feels more like a 500cc. I think the batteries are waking up a little too, so switching to new ones in the future, with higher current draw is definately going to help. This controller rocks!
I got a jacket the other day, and am going to pick up a Helmet this weekend. Insurance won’t be that hard (My agent has been really cool about helping me). Registering it should be ok, but I’ll have to have someone make sure they see it doesn’t have an exhaust/was converted to electric so I can be excluded from DEQ. I’m also going to get a Motorcycle instruction permit… and keep my riding limited to daytime, with a friend. Just need to take the Knowledge test.