Hey everybody, I'm new to the forum. I currently have a schwinn s500 which I have added an extra battery to and it now runs at 36v. Recently the band break has failed so that needs fixing as well.
Here's a video of it working right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PodV_G67xBY
The main issue I have with it is that it dies when I'm more then a mile away from my house with no warning. It's safe to assume if the same motor and power system was on a bicycle I'd at least be able to pedal home, so I'm wondering if that's a better route if I want to get longer distances out of this vehicle's system. The two major problems with the ebike will definitely be the different chains used by the bike and the scooter and the mounting of the motor. Any ideas will be welcome.
I'm also considering down the road picking up an XB-502, XB-508 or XB-600 because of their great range... but for now I'd like to build something greater out of this scooter.
I can see various upgrades for this scooter online, such as this: http://www.monsterscooterparts.com/36-volt-1000-watt-motor-controller-throttle-premium.html these upgrades seem like they could be worth it... but I feel like this scooter might be able to handle 48v, anybody know of that working?
I'm starting to lean towards upgrading the scooter. This battery looks nice, http://cgi.ebay.com/Foxx-Power-LiFePo4-36v-10a-Battery-/140350103646?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20ad84a05e then I can do the 1000w upgrade to the schwinn and be on my way, right?
The simple way for me to put it is, I've had two. The 350 watt I bought new and was supposed to be so I could park a few miles from my location for the day, (Downtown LA, sheesh) but I can't say it worked out in those tight spots, it didn't get out of the way well. And my home is in the hills, so if I rode it downtown I'd walk it part of the way back.
I picked up a broken 650 watt with good batteries and charger and got it going again, doing much better at twice the power. It still came up a bit short on those hills. I sold the 650 and modded the 350 with less than impressive results. I'm assuming the 350 is now about 450, barely noticeable change. That's what you're facing without spending a lot of money.
My advice is that expensive new batteries will extend your range but won't make it faster or climb hills better. You only want so much range on such a slow scooter, no point in taking 2 hours to cover 20 miles. It won't cost much to get an all around better scooter, not just more powerful but easier to ride. Stability is safety. The 1,000 watt Schwinn is bound to be more solid than my 650, which was more solid than the 350. I think just buying the whole 1,000 watt scooter is the way to go.
WHo dares, WINS!!!!
For what it's worth, that 36V 1000W Currie motor has not been available for many many months that I know of. The closest you might come is a 36V 750W. I'm running one at 48V and it gets just warm.
I'm inclined to agree with Dauntless about not putting much money into this scooter. You could easily spend $350 or more and still have a scooter with no suspension and probably not legal to ride on public land. I'd put the money into the XB600 procurement fund.
If you're using the stock 24V motor and controller at 36V and it's working, consider yourself lucky. The controller will likely NOT handle an increase to 48V. If your motor is rated for 24V, you are already overvolting at 36V and increasing to 48V MIGHT be acceptable if you don't keep your motor under heavy load. If you run your existing set-up really hard uphill, how hot is your motor getting. If it's already pretty hot, it probably wouldn't like 48V for long.
Hey guys, I just figured I'd keep you all updated on the scooter. I have at least 150 miles logged on my bike computer, and it can really get me around town (max speed 29.4 down a hill). I have actually rode it with me and my girlfriend on it down the sidewalk and I even saw cops and they didn't care... either way it felt unsafe, but it's worth a try if you have to do it, the scooter only lasts like a mile doing that though even though our combined weight is probly less then 230.
All in all the schwinn s500 has improved my life quite a bit. I'm probably going to sell it to my buddy: I am going to get an x-treme xb700li. I've used my scooter every day for like 2 weeks now, now that I want to upgrade, I really want something really easy and long lasting, yet light weight... so lithium is my choice :).
Oops I almost forgot, do any of you guys like to do wheelies on your scooters? I can do a very good one and if I do it too high I can still catch the scooter and not get hurt... although I did drop it on the motor guard once doing that :o. I tend to show off a bit, but a wheelie on a scooter looks ridiculous to someone who has never seen one before.