[Andy.Baloo]

hello

Woodsmith directed me over here after l met him over on the tractor forum where l was posting about my mower build,
anyway my name is Andy l live in Birmingham in the uk, l have been around most things with an engine for a long time now, l can cut weld and fabricate to a reason degree, so that gets that out of the way and the reason l am here ?

well l need to replace /upgrade my buggy its currently fitted with a 1000cc nissan micra engine and box producing around 50 hp, not a vast amount of power but in such a light vehicle its reasonably brisk, not sure of the weight but maybe under 700kg problem is all my buddies have around 100hp
so l was thinking of upgrading the engine to nearer 2lt but have spent some time reading this and other forums and quiet like the idea of electric power instead, particularly the noise aspect as l have neighbours where l use the buggy,
although the buggy is road regestered l dont use it on the road but take it to 2 or 3 tracks where we have a "day out" racing amongst ourselves no organised racing in a series etc, frequency of use is probally 1 or 2 sundays each month so it spends a lot of time parked in the garage, l carry it to the track on the back of my transit which has a winch on it so if it was to pack up l could drag it back on and fix another day, l probally cover no more than 15 miles using the buggy in the course of a day but the use is quite hard full acceleration out of every corner no ambling along here
l would like to disuss whether this might be a candidate for an electric conversion, or not when all things are considered nice light weight would l guess be good, short distance/duration again good ? not required to meet any regs for the road as l dont use it on road, against is the abuse of the accelerator and perhaps the less than dry conditions we sometimes use it in,
also would you keep the nissan gearbox or direct drive it or maybe a lada niva transfer box used as a rear diff/axle which is lockable and has 2 speeds at 1 to 1 and 2 to 1
l might also not convert this one as its all working but just copy it and make another with a few mods, the motor could tuck up behind the seats
and the batteries (lithium) in front of the seats under my knees ??
l would see 60 mph as plenty for the top speed but getting there as quick as possible

heres a few pics so you can see what l have

Andy

[Duncan]

Sounds like a fun project

My tuppence worth
Assuming that you want to minimize your spend
My suggestion is -
OpenRevolt controller - $600 --- 5 Kg
9 inch forklift motor - $300 ----- 50Kg
44 series 2 parallel 16AH Headway cells --- 50Kg

Direct drive to a diff

This gives 150v
The controller is 150v x 500 amps = 76Kw = 100hp

Batteries are rated at 10c continuous or 15c burst = 320amps or 480 amps
pretty good match to the controller

This should give about 20 miles range, less on mud

Similar setup to mine except that I found an 11 inch motor for $100 - so that's what I have

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...ghlight=duncan

[Andy.Baloo]

hello Duncan
thank you for the reply

so the total weight of the components you suggest is only around 105kg or so ? that sounds lighter than the engine and box that is in there at the moment but l would be adding a new diff in as well but then the cooling system can come out too ?

by direct drive you mean just connect the motor straight into the input of a new diff ?
l have this subaru justy diff and drive shafts from a car l stripped, its nice and small and light (ish), the ratio is around 3.9 to one



my tyres have a circumfrence of 83" so at 3000 rpm l would see 60 mph is that right??
dosent sound to much of an ask dose it ??
only thing l dont like about the subaru diff is that its a bit long which by the time a motor is fitted to it would push the seats to far forward, so maybe have the batteries ate the rear each side of the diff and the motor at the front with a prop shaft connecting it to the diff,

can these controllers be mounted in the roof with a cable up to it from the accelerator pedal to keep it away from the mud/water

thanks Andy

[Duncan]

Hi Andy
My Subaru Legacy diff is like your just one but longer - it'd 4.1:1

I am using a prop-shaft with a UJ at each end about 14 inches long
I don't think you will be able to bolt the motor straight onto the diff - without a prop-shaft

In your shoes I would be thinking about mounting the motor on top of the diff and driving using a chain

Remember a diff like the justy will see wheel torque - 3.9 times engine torque so it will try very hard to rip itself out of your mountings

Controllers
The OpenRevolt controller is a kit-set - the case is quite basic If I was using it in the wet mud I would be looking at building a better case and sealing it

The important thing about the controller is keeping it cool
The heat will come out of the base plate - some people fit a water cooling sandwich - then you need pipes a pump and a radiator

I am using four pieces of 1mm copper sheet sandwiched onto the base plate and then folded out like flower
The "flower" is in the airstream behind the front left wheel

No real problem in mounting the controller high up - but keep it close to the motor and batteries

Remember it has full voltage - you don't want to put anywhere where in an accident you could get yourself zapped

The throttle is -fly by wire- so the throttle potentiometer can be on the pedal or linked by a short cable which is then connected to the controller by two wires

[Andy.Baloo]

Hi Duncan

l did think about mounting the motor on top of the diff and chain driving down to it as it would offer some oppertunity to tinker with the final drive ratio, however l wasent to keen on lifting the centre of gravity up which is why l thought the motor up front with a propshaft down between the seats might be a better option, however if l were to go the route of motor over the diff then it throws up other avenues such as l dont need a transmission tunnel so the drivers seat can go in the middle and the passenger seat can go in the bin making it a single seater would get the weight down some more, perhaps to under 500 kg

do you have a physical size of the batteries you suggested ??

thanks Andy

[Duncan]

Hi Andy
I got my batteries from Lorraine on
jon1981 <jon1981@163.com>

They are 16 Ampere Hour, 3.2v and 160mm long

I have heard that they have been superseded so contact Lorraine to get the up to date info

I got one out of my order that was low voltage and didn't work
that one was replaced free of charge - lovely people!

This is the faulty one - which is why the low voltage

[Woodsmith]

Good to see you here, Andy!

Originally Posted by Andy.Baloo

Hi Duncan

l did think about mounting the motor on top of the diff and chain driving down to it as it would offer some oppertunity to tinker with the final drive ratio, however l wasent to keen on lifting the centre of gravity up which is why l thought the motor up front with a propshaft down between the seats might be a better option, however if l were to go the route of motor over the diff then it throws up other avenues such as l dont need a transmission tunnel so the drivers seat can go in the middle and the passenger seat can go in the bin making it a single seater would get the weight down some more, perhaps to under 500 kg
thanks Andy

Have you got the space to put the motor directly ahead of the diff, but off to one side, and driven by a chain? That would keep the weight low and still provide somewhere to adjust the ratios. Maybe the motor (and other parts) could go where the passenger seat was and off set the 'driver only' weight on the other side.


Another option, that I had been playing with, could be to use the Lada Tbox as a lockable diff in the transverse direction between the drive shafts. It can then be driven by a transverse motor and chain drive. That would give you a chain reduction, a two speed drive, and a locking diff.

This is how I fitted a 42t sprocket to my Tbox for setting up. I will make a better spacer if I go with it.

[Andy.Baloo]

hey Woodsmith

yes a lada niva transfer box used as a back axle/ 2 speed diff would probally be my best option, l think there is room to get the motor in and some of the cells,
if l was going to go single seat to get the weight down/performance up then l would use this buggy l have already



l bought it with no engine in it, it should have a 500cc 2 stroke engine so loud you wouldent want to be in the same county when its running lol,

plan was to install a big bike engine along with a suzuki sj transfer box to get reverse, but electric sounds better and quieter too

heres some pics of the engine room to help with size










so do you know your way round the uk suppliers of motors batteries and controllers then woodsmith ?

Andy