Electric karts and boards

hello, this is matt and i just registered here cause i am just getting into building electric vehicles. right now i am on the verge of using the batteries and motor from an old golf cart to build an electric go kart. my friend really wants to sell it, whereas i think it would be a much better idea to turn it into a go kart. i am unsure how exactly an electric vehicle operates and what certain devices do in the golf cart, so im searching for info.

first of all, heres the specs on the golf cart:
cushman golfster cart we think thats maybe 15-20 years old
36 volt G.E. series motor
six 8v batteries (we were told they were a year old)
old-style speed control (three different speeds controlled with resistor coils)
it has a black box with six wires going to various places, and i looked up the model # which says its a relay. i am unsure what this does.
it has a 36 volt solinoid

questions about the golf cart:

1. is the motor running on 48 volts? or does the solinoid limit the voltage to 36 volts? (what does the solinoid do, and if we got a 48 volt one would it speed up the motor to 48 volts?)
2. when we charge the batteries with the included 48 volt charger, the batteries bubble quite noticeably. the charger usually cuts off only one hour to 3 hours into charging and reads, "abnormal cycle." what could be the possible problems with the batteries and/or charger? is there a way to fix this?

i would like to get the batteries charging well and in the best condition possible before thinking about using them for the go kart.

questions about using everything for a go kart:

1. what would we need to set up a throttle and a speed controller for a low price?
2. how fast could we get our go kart to run without burning the motor?
3. if the motor is not already running at 48 volts, how would we allow 48 volts to go to the motor, and if that would be ok?
4. is it possible to set up regenerative braking without spending a lot of money, and how would we go about that.

im sorry for all the questions, thanks so much to anyone who gives input. i am really excited to make this thing, its just i have a lot things to learn before i do.

Hello,

First what a great forum, thanks for all the information provided. I have been spending a lot of time planning a ground up build of an electric Go Kart similar to the ones found on youtube found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bERjkSTYOdU
My main question are with the battery and motor. I am well aware of the all the technical associated with these components however I target goal in mind and cant seem to pin down what I need to get the result I am looking for.

The desired results is a kart that does the following:
1) Gobs of torque
2) 2-3 hr run time (abuse in a playful manner, spin the tires, fun race etc)
3) Enough power for speeds up to 6o mph

I have considered the following components.

Motor = D&D ES-15-6 48-72 VDC 10hp single-shaft
http://www.cloudelectric.com/category_s/735.htm

OR

ETEK STYLE RT Motor 19HP (Permanent Magnet Motor)
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW*-ETEK-STYLE-RT-Motor-19HP-(Permanent-Magnet-Motor)_W0QQitemZ250502931866QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&itemid=250502931866

Battery = Elite Power Solutions packs
http://elitepowersolutions.com/products/product_info.php?cPath=1_4&products_id=1
Em-60-08
Em-60-16
Eb-40-20

Controller = DCX 400 amp Alltrax controller

In your expert opinions do you feel the above components will achieve the desired results?
In my opinion I wonder what better the D&D series wound motor or the Etek???
Then I wonder if I will have enough AH in the batteries to do what I want????
When I think I got it figured out I then wonder if it’s ridiculous overkill?????

Comments or Opinions ????? Any input would be helpful Thanks.

I need some help deciding on a motor to use on my electric go-kart.I really need this because I'm doing this for my high school senior project. I would like to use a 12 or 24v motor but the specs showing watts confuses me. Will someone help me? What will be the best one to use?

Hi all,

In the last months, we built an electric kart from salvaged 500W (3/4HP) electric scooter parts (http://electrickart.blogspot.com). With 17AH batteries we can easily run full speed for about an hour and a half which is awesome and gives us a good range (currently 27kph top speed, which gives 35-40km on a charge!). Now we'd like to build a second version, one that can win from the gas guzzling kid karts (4HP) at our local karting club. Our current electric kart is not much slower than the kid karts although we have about 5 times less power, so we're confident we could outrun them with just a bit more electric power on our wheels. We're now wondering how much power we should put in the machine.

I see that many people adopt Etek motors and use AllTrax controllers for their electric kart conversions. This results in a powerful kart at 10HP or 7.5kW, and the results look awesome, but maybe it's already too much for our experiment. I'm afraid that running the motor at a rated 200A will kill any battery in a matter of minutes. Indeed, 40AH batteries will run dead after 12 minutes at 200A. I don't see any mentioning of the battery times or ranges of these karts, so I' guess they will not be much good. (And maybe my computation is completely off)

We're not convinced that we need to bring that much horsepower into our kart, and are now looking for alternatives in the 4-5HP range that may possibly also be easier on our wallet (Etek+AllTrax combo costs about $1000, which is not cheap).

Looking at electric scooters, we love the use of 3000W (4HP) engines in models that can run at least 60kph on a range that is beyond 40km. As our experience with bringing in scooter parts onto the kart was very positive, we're looking for motors and controllers in the 3000W range that could be used on a kart, but the parts should not necessarily originate from scooters.

Do you guys have any shopping recommendations for such motors and their controllers? Has anyone built a 4HP electric kart? What type of motor should we adopt? What kind of voltage, 24, 36 or 48? How much AH should be in our batteries? Where do I go to buy motors and controllers in Europe (Belgium)?

Thanks in advance, Anthony

Does anyone know if the drive sprocket can be removed/replaced from MY1020 motors easily? I'd like to know before I buy it and the seller hasn't answered my questions about it. I'm replacing the existing sprocket with one that will fit a bigger chain.

thanks

So there are several brands and styles of boards on the market.

Which are the most highly regarded?

How has your experience been with the wireless controllers?

Got my new board.

It is an Urban Surfer UM70.
http://www.extremetoysforboys.com/index.php3/item/item/Urban%20Mover%20-%20Usurfer%20-%20UM70%20-%20Electric%20Power%20Board.html

Used, but in good shape.

I am really liking the suspension, and carving of the board.
Definitely an upgrade over the G1 I have.

It is a lot heavier and sturdier though.
The wheels make a big difference, as I can go offroad now.

I will probably try to upgrade to lithium and a larger 600W motor.

Right now it is 24V 15AH Lead Acid, and 320 Watt motor.

I have just received a cute 36v Mini-Moto gokart , for which there is no wiring diagram available nor is there a controller available from the original distributor. I can make the motor run by hooking it up directly and it will run at one speed in one direction.

My problem is that I have no clue as to how the controllers work. I am confused about the throttle which seems to work through a magnetic field as there is no rheostat-like device. What kind of signal is sent to the controller?

Is there a sequence of commands? In other words, does the controller pause before taking action?

Features on the controller would be on-off, forward/reverse, variable speed, brake, recharge.

Is one feature dominated by another feature. Does it have to go through a sequence if I turn of the ignition like cruise control on a car?

Dieter Schmied

Hi,
I just bought this board off Ebay, Can't find any info on it at all, It is a Rincon R-600. Haven't got it yet, It will be here next week, Anyone with info, would be a big help... Thank-You

Hey,
Just came across this site, http://www.metro-board.com/ Hope you all enjoy...