I am staring sadly at dead V1, and was thinking about the various excellent technical debates I have read on this forum.
Now my background is not engineering, so please excuse me if this sounds naive, but could the Vectrix motor be modified to construct a different type of EV? Could you for instance, put two (or 4) V1 motors to drive the rear (all) wheels of small pick-up, beach buggy or farm vehicle? Would it work? The rating on the motor certainly seems adequately powerful, and doesn't seem to hard to modify the electrics etc..
I am hoping to pick the the encyclopedic knowledge of guy's like Mik. (I reckon given a little time, he could build a Mars probe from Vectrix components!)
Am I being really unrealistic or could it be done?
I think it would work, but be under-powered if you used just 2. If you were content with low speeds, that's probably fine.
My electric vehicle: CuMoCo C130 scooter.
What are the ratings on the motor? Am I correct in thinking it's not a hub motor? I'm contemplating an EV motorbike build and haven't decided on a motor yet. If it's a good candidate then you could consider a bike build, unless you're specifically interested in more than two wheels.
I know next to nothing about the VX-1 so I'm not even sure if it's an AC or DC motor and if it could be controlled by an off the shelf controller.
Time will be no problem once I finished work on my "Elixir of Life" project! HAHA!
But seriously, I cannot think of a good use right now, except maybe for an improved dyno design. But that probably already exists. And for encyclopedic knowledge: That's so out....Even the actual encyclopedias are out of date before they are being printed! It's just the old "Standing on the shoulders of Giants" thing, but potentiated by the immediate availability of the majority of humanities knowledge via the internet. I just look stuff up all the time!
One could combine several VX1 motors into a dyno which allows other vehicles to be tested for torque, power and speed under reproducible conditions, in the shed!
The regen capability of several VX-1 motors combined, coupled with a battery bank made from reconditioned VX-1 batteries, could allow accurate simulation of various terrains, rider weight and height and wind, whilst feeding much of the used energy back into the batteries.
That could be turned into a fee-for-service business model, too: Email the GPS data of your commute and other details, and the dyno could be programmed to simulate the near exact conditions for a bunch of different vehicles to be tested.
As I said, this gizmo probably already exists, but costs 10 million dollars.
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There is always a way if there is no other way!
Hmmm.. It appears to me that the main component of the VXI motor, (direct drive, Dave), could be utilised in the building of alternative vehicle, maybe by combining two or even four motors, you could power a car, or utility? Or am I being impractical?
I noticed in the inventory of Vectrix assets, a large number of spare motors and this set me to wondering what else could be built from them?
marcopolo
The VX-1 uses an AC motor with a nominal 125V supply. So, not only do you need the motor but you need the controller too - and here's the rub. AFAIK, the controller is closely integrated with the other electronics of the bike - it's not like you can take the motor and just the controller from a dead VX-1. You need to take pretty much the entire electronics package (that might not actually be a bad thing). Or you need to source an alternative AC controller. AC controllers tend to be significantly more expensive than brushless DC (which in turn are more expensive than brushed DC). With two or four motors you'll need two or four controllers - or at least a single controller that has output for 4 motors and "shares" some of the control logic between them.
It would be a great project and a lot of fun. It wouldn't be an easy project though.
BTW - the VX-1 motor is a high RPM motor that uses a reduction gear in the rear hub of the VX-1 - so if you were to re-purpose the motors you'd need to take into account the need for reduction gears.
If I had two VX-1's and the time I'd make a baja buggy. If I had four VX-1's and even more time I'd make a sub-compact car.
Alas I don't have any of that. Good luck though.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
If I owned an out of service Vectrix, I would definitely turn it into a 5,000 watt wind turbine. Wind turbines are very easy to build, and 5,000 watt brushed motors aren't cheap. You would need to use long blades, though, to turn a 5,000 watt motor. You would still need a reduction gear, like John H points out, unless you only wanted the turbine to output large amounts of current during Cat 5 hurricanes.:) BTW, if this Vectrix is out of service for any other reason except worn out batteries, you should probably reconsider repurposing the motor, and consider just repairing the bike.
Robert
The best solar & alt energy forum on Earth
What kind of controller would be needed for this wind turbine application?
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
You would only need a rectifier (since its an AC motor), batteries, and a charge controller, to keep from frying the batteries by overcharging them.
edit: All of the links you would need are available here, if you're interested. The third link even shows how to build a charge controller.
Robert
The best solar & alt energy forum on Earth
Great! really interesting responses, thank you!
marcopolo
I can see "Vectrix Memorial Windfarms" popping up all over the place....I love it!
That will go so well with my leftover NHW10 NiMH cells! Those cells that cannot produce 100A any more can still drive a DC to 240V AC inverter for many years with the right BMS added to it!
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
"This wind farm is dedicated in memory of my first love, my 2007..." :)
Robert
The best solar & alt energy forum on Earth
double post
Robert
The best solar & alt energy forum on Earth
Just had a dream.
Considering all those 'cheap' Vectrix out there on e-bay, how about making a battery trailer to hang off the back of a V with a gutted V.
Just remove all the superfluous panels, and rear frame, front wheel etc. Mount the front wheel in the rear swing arm, retain the charger but abandon most of the other electronics and rig up a towing hitch with the headstock and voila! An auxiliary battery trailer. Original battery and trailer battery hooked up in paralell for twice the range.
Wow, 200kM range !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (or not)
And then I woke up with sticky fingers.
Paul
When I first got my Vectrix, I had considered the possibility of strapping a little 1,500 Watt generator to the back seat, semi-permanently tapped in to the bike's system to act as a range extender.. That is, until I realized that the bike doesn't ride and charge very well at the same time... Still not such a bad idea, though, if one wanted to go on a longer, local ride with lots of stops along the way ;-) The trouble with more batteries = more weight = less range. It also sounds like the extra amperage required to lug around a "trailer" might be too much for the stock fuse.