What about a trailer?

Maybe it'll be useful down in Mexico...

The US is too restricted when it comes to imagination.

www.BaseStationZero.com

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there still using gasser powered pusher trailer to keep heavy loaded stuffs on bicycle
and rider can easier to control in uphill like 6 degree grade, inside island of indonesia

Craig Uyeda
Deafscooter

deafscooter

Why not load a forklift battery onto a heavy duty trailer and wire it onto your bike? Enough capacity to go do a cross-country tour, Going downhill would be a freaking blast ...okay, maybe just an excuse to have an early funeral.

Project goal: Make an electric fly. Without wings.

Check inside ===>>>

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/popupimg.php?6765

Craig Uyeda
Deafscooter

deafscooter

putting the power source on the trailor and having the drive come from the rear wheel.. (or even adding an additional hub motor to the front wheel) would be the best way to go I think..

Then you could detach the trailor and use a smaller pack on the back of the bike for shorter rides.

You could even then put a couple of light solar panels on the trailor. and if by chance you get stuck somewhere you could position the trailor in the sun and let it charge while you take the bike and ride off to get assistance or find somewhere to rest etc...

actually i'm going to steal your idea..

Buy myself a kiddy trailor for $150 which can hold upto 45 KG..
mod it so that it can hold SLA AGM batteries.

it should be able to hold 8 x 20AH SLA batteries. ($45 each) or maybe (12 x 12AH SLA batteries)

which means I can boost my ebike with the power of 48V 40AH..

which equals .27c per watt. including the price of the trailor..

thats about the cheapest price per watt i've ever seen.

exellent idea wattson!

I went down to the local recycling centre today and I found that they have a huge array of bicycle parts... theres enough there for anyone who wants to build a trailor or something similar. i'm sure this is likely to be the case in any major city in the western world.

if anyone is looking for any spare parts for an experimental rig I think thats the best way to go.

we don't have walmart here in aus.. the cheapest one I can find here is $129 AUD + delivery charges so it works out to something similar to $150 USD..

the cheapest ones they have on the walmart online store are $77 USD and $84 USD which is still a bargain but I dont think they ship international.. dang..

Update..

I managed to get a trailer from ebay for $135 AUD ($120 USD) delivered.. that was cheapest I could find..

I had 8 x 7.2 AH 12V SLA Batteries laying around but I wanted to up the capacity on my trailor as much as possible..

so I went down to the local recycling centre and lo what did I find?...
3 boxes of rather fresh looking SLA batteries..

I thought I'd take a gamble and pay my $8 for a box and went home to check them out..

all of them except for 1 registered a charge of 12.7+ V so I knew that they could still hold some juice..

i've now loaded up the cart with 12 batteries 30 KG 66lb.

which would give me a nice healthy 21AH at 48Volts.. (if they were fresh)

but hey they were near freebie so I'll take what I can get.

I plan to test the batteries by charging them all up and then running the bike almost flat and then pulling out the batteries with the lowest charge left in them.
(Poor mans battery testing)
I don't have an analyzer and i'm not going to hook up a bulk to each one and sit there till it goes out.

sofar so good the rig seems pretty stable.. the batteries all fit in a nice wheely bag.. (good for reduced lifting)..

and now all I have to do is wire up the battery pack.. and charge it..

the idea is to use the cart as a simple battery extension to the ebike.

all in all sofar not bad for an under $150 experiment.

If I can get a good 20Km out of my rig (12-15 miles) i'll be happy,

because I know that given the wieght of SLA I could get 2-3 times the range using nimh and 4-5 times the range with Lifepo4.

sounds like the proper way to do it..

but i'm an unorthodox kinda fellow. I like to dance outside the square alot.

plus for $8 it hardly seems worth the effort to measure each one accurately.
remember I have 16 batteries to do!

if I trickle charge them all in parallel they should balance out.
if i run bike down till it slows then I can measure the voltage on each cell to determine which ones are good and which ones are no good.

I have a 36/72 volt controller + crystalyte 408 motor so its nearly impossible to run the batteries flat.. the voltage and current drop off on SLA batteries is so significant that your bike begins to crawl before the batteries discharge completely.

unlike nimh which can discharge full burst till they get down to 20% and then suddenly die off.

and what better load to test with than a 408 motor with lugging 200+ pounds around..
after all we are interested in making sure the cells discharge at same rate under real world conditions rather than seeing how much capacity is in each cell.

I had a look at the spec for the trailer too.. apparently the total weight they quote on the advertisement is the cargo weight plus the weight of the trailer itself.

so a 40Kg trailer holds only 26Kg of cargo.

should be an interesting test to see if my cowboy cobbled ebike solution is really viable.

UPDATE.

heres the test vehicle with trailer attached.

Note: the side bars on the trailer have been installed under the frame to re-enforce it so it can hold the SLA load.

Here is the battery pack conveniently placed in a small travel bag with stereoscopic handle and wheels so it can be easily moved around.

The bag neatly holds 12 12V 7 AH SLA batteries.
the batteris are grouped in parallel lots of 3 for fast charging.

A 48 volt charger constructed from 4 cheap 12 volt chargers.
Each 12 volt charger connects to 3 SLA batteries.
the battery bank is connected to the Charger via a single 8 pole plug.

break down of costs.

Tralier: $135
SLA batteries: $6 from recycling centre.
IEC cables pulled form computers found at the recycling centre. $2
Connectors: $25
Chargers: 4 x $25 = $100

total cost: $268 AUD.. approx $250 USD

Note: all components can be purchased from your local cheap auto store.

Motor: Crystalyte 408
Battery weight: 30KG or 66 Pounds.
Top Speed on flat: 35Kph or 21.5 Mph.
Range using second hand batteries in hilly teritory. 12 KM or 7.5 Miles.

Verdict.
The bike is more stable when the batteries are put in the trailer instead of the back of the bike. However you must take care turning sharp corners.. I did this once and the pack flew out and toppled the trailer... oops...

the trailer is adequate for handling the load and speeds put on it.. however I probably wouldn't put much more on it.

bigger wheels might help carry more load but they would also raise the centre of gravity of the battery pack making it much easier to topple over when taking corners.

this is a good way to boost your ebike range for 15-20 KM..
even better if you used NIMH or LifePo4...

OK i've just done a full test run to work and back with a charge in the middle.

This setup only manages to go about as far as my AA Powered NIMH setup which cost me about $500 USD for the batteries... (see the AA powered Ebike thread)

my AA Pack may have cost twice as much but it fits on the back of the bike AND it should last for twice as many charges.

my advice would be that a trailer loaded with SLAs is impractical for adding extra distance to your ebike cheaply as carrying all that extra weight around really does cost a lot of watts....

my estimations are that if you replaced that load with NIMH cells.. you could get as much as 48V 60AH +...from the trailer this would make a trailer really worthwhile..
add to that 20AH from the back of the bike.. and you really have a lot of power..

nearly double that for LITHIUM...

I have been inspired by:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2798&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45

I don't know whether I should call it a "Pusher-Trailer" or a "Powered Cargo Trailer"

I have access to a home-equity loan, so, I could just order something, but since I am an incorrigible tinkerer, I have pondered the question: If someone wanted to go electric with their bicycle, what is the CHEAPEST way to do it? (in much the same way that a heroin dealer gives out free samples).

I went to the local thrift shop (used items for sale, donated to charity for a tax deduction) and found a 20" boys bike for $8. For the frame I selected a used $5 hand truck (available in steel or aluminum) like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck

I noticed I could also cheaply make a frame with an aluminum "walker", folding chair, a damaged aluminum ladder, or a free trashed lawn mower handle.

Only one of Ross's wheels is powered, so I wanted to take the 20' bikes freewheel and add one of these:

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/mountain-bike-front-sprocket.jpg

So I went to Home Depot/Lowes and looked for a thick aluminum disc, and didn't find any. I went back to the thrift store, and found several $1 aluminum skillets, so, cutting out the center should work.

My plan is to use the "best bang for your buck" 750-Watt brushed Unite 1020Z3 motor from TNC for $70. Wish me luck...

Thanks, its very useful for all of your legal references to be here in one place. I very much appreciate your warnings!

It's not very cost-effective for a company to produce several different configurations to meet the various state laws, so its understandable that someone would want to find ONE style that can be sold everywhere. This certainly explains the one-wheel "Pusher-Trailers" on this page (scroll down, one Currie-Drive and one hub-motor)

http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/tsvehicles.htm

That being said, I live in Southern Utah for now, and many vehicle codes are "suggestions". There is no helmet law (short organ donor list) and un-registered ATV's often drive the streets with farm equipment. No smog checks (engine-swap nirvana!) only a safety check. I used to live in the "Peoples Republic of California"

My "Powered Cargo Trailer" will be stealth, just to show what can be done (for those juristictions where this would be allowed). However, here, I can put a 6-HP lawn mower engine on my bicycle and the police will only point and laugh, as long as I stay off the freeway.

Halfway there, here's some pics. I'm using the freewheel from the $8 kids 20" bike rear wheel.

I notice you are using chipboard for the trailer. This can work, but only if that baby is absolutely water tight. This means many layers of paint and all the seams caulked. This stuff, like the perfect martini, will be destroyed at the merest mention of the word "water."

"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"