echuckj5's blog

Oh, just a couple of pictures from a few months back

A wiring diagram of my battery pack. All wires are within an 1/8" of each other, 2 parallel, 2 series. Buddy paired, wires to and from pack balanced.

And a photogragh of the wiring, disorganized?, nah, just effective.

In the above photo, the batteries are not matched. The pair on the right, are 1 year and 1 month old, have 3196.2 miles on them. They were used on my previous bike, charged with a faulty soneil 2409s 24 volt charger, 200+ deep cycles on that bike, probably an additional 400 50% discharge cycles on this bike. The pack on the left was purchased for this bike to double its ah capacity, battery bottom left, 8 months old, top left, a couple of weeks old. So, pretty well matched up batteries. Nah, still get me around. Did a 9 mile ride, to the lawn mower shop, then to my Dad's house. Mowed his yard, played in the garden. When the batteries said full, I went to the bike shop, a 12.6 mile ride from Dad's to the bike shop and home. Very windy today, average speed 18.4mph, top speed 29mph, "tried" to keep my cruising speed about 25mph. Batteries were getting tired that last mile. My 8" disc brake came, with the necessary adaptor for the hayes mx2, I'll put that disc on tommmorrrow.

My range, with my gear changes, is still as good as it was 8 months and 2000 miles ago. When these batteries go, maybe a motorcycle rear wheel, bigger motor, register it as a moped. Really thinking about that etek ac with a sevcon controller for this bike, 36 or 48 volt, will have to sit down and figure out speed and range, probably 36 volt with 3 odyssey pc1700 68 ah, thats what I'm thinking,

chuck

Well, Folks
I been complaining a lot, so I finally buckled down, had a sheet of stainless steel. Got out the jig saw, cut me out a fender. Mounted my lights to it. Will probably go with one light, just put a better bulb in. That's for the future. A little clean up on the wiring too.

Did a little welding. MIG, no. To much emphasis. I own a little 110 mig. It basically has one purpose in life. Friend of mine builds restaurants. Lots of restaurants. He is a plumber and an electrician. Contracts the whole job. To meet fire code, all the stainless steel above the cooktops and the flues, has to be welded. My little 110 volt lincoln has a bottle of gas, is light enough to transport easily. Does the job, welding the flues on the jobsite, lord is it slow. I'd be concerned, welding this bike with it. Fire code, to check the welds, the inspector puts a light in the flue, then checks the outside, to see if any light shines thru. Not checking for strength. If I weld stainless at the shop, I have a small Hobart handler, 165 amp, 220, comes with a small enough gun and nozzles, real good for light gauge stainless, and, will weld 1/4" plate, single pass. Costs about the same as a 110 volt lincoln.

Now this is a Lincoln, learned to weld with this, ran a lot pounds of rod, over the years. Does it all, simple, quick, nice for small work, will weld 1/2" plate, if you need to.

Making a little bracket, to hang a small necessary bag from, bag rattles too much, hanging off the front fork.

Chose a 6013 rod, 1/8" good all purpose rod, ready, aim,

Here's the weld, now, if I hit that slag, and it comes off in one piece, generally, the weld is good.

Well, not bad looking, slag fell off, pressed it with my finger, would pass an inspection, concave, no undercut, Maybe 5 or 10 second weld time. With my 110 mig, this weld would have taken 45 to 60 seconds, to get the same penetration. Maybe longer, man, those little migs are slow.

Bracket done,

What's that at the top of the photo, hmmm thyme

chuck

Ya,

Oh ya, jdh just had to be first, well his mower is battery powered, more fancy than tis ole tiller. I say, no middleman, get da power from the source.

I ordered a 220 volt motor, $289 smackeroo's, for this tiller. I have three large shop fans, that run on 220, hanging from the ceiling at the welding shop. One fan motor goes bad. I pick up this dayton 1 hp fan motor used for 50 bucks, in the mean time, my new super duper, 2 horse bad boy arrives at the shop. My two employees, take it and put it in the fan. Boy, that fan blows. I'll sneak in there some Sunday, swap out. This motor is probably fine, for as much as I use it, but dab nabbit. I wanted "power" Thats not oil leaking outa that gas motor, I just got done watering Dads' tomaters, Learned to spell from Quale.

My Dad used to garden, "large", canned, pickled, preserved, this old garden tractor still runs, 20 horse kohler, circa late 60's. Hydrostatic drive, pto, used to have a snowblower, Dad left it behind in Iowa, not Newton, when he came to Texas. Now that's a tiller, no, not the little one, the one on its end. Lower left corner, mmm, garlic

All right, were' the pictures, again, I took these, girlfriend up the street took some better ones, hav'nt seen her to get the disc.

That fork is nice, oh yea

chuck

Thought this was part of my blog, found it buried way back in bikes and pedelecs,

http://visforvoltage.org/forum/bicycles-and-pedelecs/1270

The Raliegh, my first e bike, is buried, even further,

http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/1185-raleigh-mountain-bike-scott-motor-atx-controller

Old pics, I, for one, am not a photographer.

chuck

How and why did I build this bike? Design limitations

Why, not philisophical, short drive to work. My car would'nt heat up. Hard on a car to make short trips. I knew an electrical bike could be made. I googled, saw what others where building, where they were getting contollers, performance.

Now the How

I built off the work and effort of others. Eric Peltzer had just about what I considered to be the perfect E-bike. I built it. I did'nt do many calculations, just used his advice.

I am pretty big, figured I should gear it down a little more. Knew the belt he was using was wider than necessary, My motor shaft is to short to build his jackshaft assembly, so the narrower belt was important. A year later I have the jackshaft, friend of mine who made the jackshaft is kinda slow. It was a very good experimental platform. The range was'nt good, it was fast. Short coming, using it for work, hard to haul a rain suit, lunch, briefcase and all the necessaries, shopping, etc. Pretty much just transportation at its minimum.

So I bought John Bidwells book on the "Cheetah". Now, I already had 2 small batteries, 12 volt 18 amp hour. Just bought 2 more, to increase the range.
Problems, V-brakes aren't good enough. Upgraded to a 6" front disc. Adequate, barely. Certainly cannot go heavier or faster, with the brakes. Stanton rear hub, expensive, at 125 dollars, saved a lot of headache on the first bike. Causing a lot of problems on the cheetah. No where to mount a rear disc on the stanton hub. Not sure what a heavy duty down hill mountain bike hub costs, would switch to one to get a disc on the rear, but I am concerned about the load from the motor, and the weight on a bicycle hub. The stanton hub has 4 sealed roller bearings, more than adequate for increased weight and motor load. So to increase range, I can put larger batteries on it, won't be able to stop well. I want to license it, as a moped, need lights, turn, horn. The only solution I see would be to buy a motorcycle rear wheel, with a hub brake.

I built it, no real thought to efficiency. Motor was always hot, and, I was'nt getting the range I thought I should be getting. Every one else is getting farther, why am I not getting the range that they are?

About a month ago, I did some research, found the performance chart KTA services sent with my motor, did a few calculations. Calculated my motor rpm. Found a chart online of the scott motor I am using. Chart said I should lower my rpm, by over 10%. Shared this here on the 1hp scott motor thread. Did the math, some disbelievers, out there. Man, my performance is bad. Why, I was running an extremely poor rpm for energy efficiency. Should have looked at the math a long time ago. Changed the gear ratio from 10.4 to 9.1.

Lord have mercy, I have spent some serious money on this machine. I could have built a damn nice motorcycle, for what I have in the cheetah.

As is, it is extremely comfortable, nice motorcycle seat, great suspension. Have needed to move my foot pegs, just have'nt got a round tuit. Need to lower them an inch or so, be just about perfect. A real cruiser, Really this bike is comfortable. Range, should be a true 15 miles at 25 mph, since the gear change, should get 15 miles at 25 mph. Suffices for the bicycle law in Texas.

Changes,
About to buy an 8" disc for the front, thats cheap, see how that helps the stopping.
That is about as far as I'll go on the cheetah. Upgrade to a larger battery pack when this one quits. If I found a small motorcycle, cheap, will license it as a moped, go about 35 mph, use the lights, wheels etc, off it. Why not convert a motorcycle? I can put gobs of batteries on this bike, my controller will easily handle a 3 horse electric motor. 35 mph would be fast enough, cover 90% of my driving needs. 25 mph, limits my driving choices, limits the roads I can take, 35 mph is really 40 to me, really Officer, this won't go 40, flip my little limiter switch, honest Officer.

Or, if I find the right motorcycle, convert it, keep the cheetah as is, just upgrade the front brake.

Thats all for now, I've had a real long day, time for a drink, enjoy what's left of the weekend. Not that you guys, and now that Pat and Verna have joined us, gals aren't a pleasure.

Have a good weekend!

chuck

Oh Boy!!

OOOOHWEEE!! OH MY GOSH!! Look out Ethel!!!

I promise, better pics, started raining down here again or I would have taken some REAL pics.

These 888 VF BOMBER FORKS. Now I'm suspended. Holy mackeral!!

What a difference. First time I have spent $526 and been happy. Was able to get about a 10 mile ride in before this tropical storm blew in to Dallas.

Perfect ride, and to top it off, the Hayes MX-2 6" rotor brakes don't screech at all on this Bomber fork. No stiction, no flex when braking. I even felt the rear suspension doing something.. Tracks very nicely. Handling, nothing short of superb!!!

I always felt the limit to this bike to be in the low 30 mph range. With this fork 30 mph is nothing. Will need to upgrade the brakes, I'll try a 8" disc, won't cost $25 dollars to do that. I also have to figure out a way to mount a disc brake on the rear,, gotta be able to stop. Thinking of that briggs and stratton 48 volt motor, the ac etek, Mr Bidwell was'nt kidding when he said this was designed for up to 45 mph!!!

I really need to work on fendors. Then legal lights. This is really a nice ride now, a little more speed and it will be safe to register at least in the moped class.

chuck

I have been reluctant to enter, My back room. You may be shocked to see what I keep back here, parts of dismembered bicycles. After a year of hacking up my favorite bikes I have repented my ways. Come with me and see if I can make things right.

Left dangling by its heel, my first mountain bike, a venerable chromemoly frame, the most comfortable bike I had ever rode, stripped of all its dignity. It called, I entered.

The Raleigh, it did'nt like electricity, to modern, it balked, kicked back, tried to throw me, I did not listen, it has hung silently, calling me back. I entered this room today. I listened. I want to pedal again, electricity has its place. Electricity took something from me, I have not rode a bicycle in a year. How could I? Parts of 5 bicycles made my cheetah. Even my mountain Raleigh has parts on it that do not belong, the seat from my Raleigh tourer, the fork and handlebars from my aluminum Mongoose. All forgotten. With my quest, my dream, my vision of what I had to have.

The Raleigh looks down, I look down, then I understand, what I destroyed. Curb hopping, tree ducking, skidding to a stop, taking the shortcut between houses. Sweat, not with electricity. I scarred my Raleigh, deep welds, they cannot be undone. She is tough, the scars will be a remindor, not just cosmetic, I won't repaint. I'll spray them black, as a remembrance.

She will get her parts back, and more. Better tires, carefull lubrication, new freewheel and chain.

My backroom, a junkyard.

No more, each bike will be carefully put together and rode again.

chuck

Forks came,
Five inches taller than either of my stock forks

Forks have a good 2" of sag, so let's call it 3" taller than stock. I had changed Mr. Bidwells' design during the welding up of this frame, I made the bottom of the head tube 1" higher than Mr. Bidwell designed. My rear shock mount, can't see it from here because the brake cable is hiding it, is a hole 1 1/4' farther back from the seat tube to locate the rear shock further back, I put that towel there to hide the reflector, yaa, I'm a genius, see my reflector. Locating the rear shock in that rearward hole 1 1/4" farther back will increase the rear wheel height exactly 2 1/2", putting the whole bike up where Mr. Bidwell specified.

Mr. Bidwell specified in the plans I purchased a clearance for the bottom of battery pack of 10.13" to the ground. I am at 8 1/2" now. Should be real close now.

What does a 20mm front axle look like?

The axle is over 3/4 of an inch thick. This is motorcycle stuff. If this fork works out good, I will register this as a moped or a motorcycle. Will have to work on the lighting system, before that is possible.

chuck

I have most of the wiring figured out for my rear lights. Now, how do I wire the brake lights, when I apply my brakes will my turn signal not flash. For me the easy way would be to just run a third light for my brake light. It looks to me that automotive flasher, has 2 prongs, should be run like this, does it over ride the brake signal and keep just one of the lights flashing, will both lights flash if I hit the brakes?

Anyone know the proper wiring diagram to do this?

Thanks,

chuck