oxygen lepton speed

This was discussed a good bit in the old forum. There was a lot of talk about some kind of microprocessor-controlled speed limiter. But, no one found a way to reprogram or work-around it. Then again, I don't know if anyone simply tried checking if the motor will run faster with more voltage.

Lepton-owner "chasb" was active in this discussion but we rarely see him in this forum - doesn't he live in Hartford?

Your old e-max has been "overamped" and set up to selectably run on either 48 or 60 volts. It is still running well with a top speed of 45 mph, and better range too.

Paul D.

`
Charles H. Blow's review of the Lepton.

Archive Team ;)
archive_team [at] visforvoltage-moderator.net
Voltage Forum Archives
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/230

1000's of lost images from the old Voltage Forum looking for there owners.

paul, im glad your enjoying it ,is the clicking noise gone?

If you mean the occasional click and stumble, yes, it was a bad relay in the "black box", which seems to have been put in the e-max only to provide more things to go wrong. I bypassed the box, and later removed it altogether.

One way to make it go faster is to ditch the stock controller and use a different one. But then you lose the dashboard because all the dashboard stuff is controlled b y that controller.

Maytag21 (Dave) has converted a Lepton to have an etek, and 60 volts of batteries. There's room in it for another battery, somehow, maybe he used slightly smaller batteries? To run at 60 volts meant ditching the stock controller and losing the dashboard, but it resulted in a speed monster of the kind he likes.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

Overvolting a Lepton doesn't do any good - I've tried it. Accelerates slower due the increased weight, and produces overvoltage alarms (error 1) at the slightest regen.

I've heard using Lithium will get you a mile or two faster due to less weight.

There is a way to mod the controller to get about 33 mph on the flat, and 35 mph down the slightest grade, but it is not safe, and is a major pain.

Replacing the controller will also work - but not for too much. That motor spins at 6000 rpm as it is, and it will overheat at more than about 10-15 percent speed increase.

Recognize the Lepton for what it is - the most elegant scooter out there. Yes, it only goes 28, but it does it beautifully - it exactly meets it's design goals. As an example, it will only use 70 amps from a standstill - but it's smart enough to know if you are hill climbing, and will deliver 100 amps under those conditions.

Hi Patrick
There is a fellow in Danbury that has a lepton that has over 900 miles ,worked for Evercel ,he replaced the original batteries with the new MB50-12 Nickel-Zinc Pack ( has to use a external charger and his dash board is useless , he is getting far better range and higher speed than we are , have been unable to test his scooter with instrumentation , rode ounce and it felt like the standart lepton .
The MB50-12 has 8 cells versus 7 in the M50-12 , there are 32 cells at 1.65 each giving him almost 53 volt under load .
I suspect his top speed is only a few miles over our scooter , most of his gain has to come from the lower drain experience with higher voltage , would you think ?.
Have been monitering the current drain in normal mode , the current varied between 20 -35 amp on level ground , in the rabbit mode see the peak current going up to about 80-100 amps , particulary up any hill .( I am about 185) those reading came of a DC current probe not a shunt .How do those figure compare to your findings ?
The past couple weeks put on almost 200 miles some trip are up to 12 miles one way , and 50% of the time, up some fairly decent hill , the regenerative breaking really work well and pump some real current , up to 45 Amps going into the batteries while zooming down a step hill ( about 20miles with the trottle off ).
Be glad to answer any question regarding the Nickel-Zinc cell , believe that with the proper BMS they will hold their own against the lithuim cells , their low impedance make up for their weight .
Patrick would you happen to have any MB50-12 in any condition ? , what batteries are in the new scooter you shown on your web-site ?
Somewhat surprised the motor run up to 6000 rpm , have you had any trouble with the drive system ? you have quite a few miles on your scooter , do you use any other beside the leptons and if so why?
Regards
Andre

Hi Andre

Nope, only M30 and M40 cells are what I've seen. I believe you about the BMS, even though I have used an NG1 set for NiZn. Too many problems with cell balance and overheating.

Your current measurements match mine fairly well. I also use current probes, instead of a shunt. Shunts are cheaper, but suffer from hi-freq noise that need low pass filters on switching inverters.

No problems with drive systems. You have to watch out for the dreaded phase alignment problem (error 7) that is the result of a manufacturing problem. Change the gear oil, grease the ogive (I think that's Italian for cam) in the brakes, that's it. There are some people with over 5000 miles on the Lepton.

Not a chance NiZn beats LiFePO4. Both need BMS. NiZN is better for the money (almost, given your pricing), but that's old tech - give it a year or two and NiZn will be no more. Since you are heavy into battery systems, I can tell you the place to be is in LFP BMS. This is a primary focus of my job right now. I know there are some guysin Korea who are trying to re-vamp the Evercell business - I wish them luck.

Patrick
Thank you for your reply , your comments are highly appreciated , I do not remenber reading in the manual about the ogive or cam in the brake system ,how do you get to it ? and how often must it be done ? . Also what is the result of error 7 phase misalignement probleme , and how it is avoided ?.Do you have contact with anyone at Oxygene about getting spare parts or maybe a technical service manual for the
lepton ?.Do you have any idea how of the Lepton-E what made or sold worlwide ? .
Did I understand correctly you are also very heavy into batteries and/or power source for the scooter ? whose and what size are the LifePO4 you are using ,
I am not familiar with LFP BMS , what it is ? or where ?.
Best regards
Andre

May I dig up this ancient thread?
I'd like to speed up a bit this old pal :-) ; 35-40 mph would be fine. Being able to do it just by reprogramming the controller would be good (I know it is hard but possible, but don't know details), but also changing the controller would be acceptable: I'd like to replace old batteries by new lighter LiFePO4 batteries, so I can put 6 of them and reach 60V.
But then how to manage them?
I think I should ensure current does not rise together with voltage or I'll burn the engine.... but how? How do I know which resistor do I exactly need to properly limit the current?
I could add a two-position switch: "Fast" and "Climb". First one for high voltage / low current, second one for standard voltage/ standard current.

Something I haven't seen tried is removing the snugly-fitting rear fender and installing a taller (not wider, just taller) rear tire. You'd need one 10% taller just to get to 30MPH, but that approach should let you keep everything else stock and functional. Just being able to do 30 in a 30MPH speed zone would be a substantial improvement...

Something I haven't seen tried is removing the snugly-fitting rear fender and installing a taller (not wider, just taller) rear tire. You'd need one 10% taller just to get to 30MPH, but that approach should let you keep everything else stock and functional. There would be less acceleration, but only 10% less. Just being able to do 30 in a 30MPH speed zone would be a substantial improvement...

I'M Gianni from Rome, Italy, anyone have tried to charge controller, for example with a Kelly?

Hi everyone,
I'm a new (old) oxygen owner. I bought a 2001 oxygen and it is in decent shape. It has a fresh set of sla batteries and it has been performing well.

Recently I have been getting a long beep and then 4 short beeps while charging. Then charging stops, then it starts again. This seems to continue over and over.

The manual doesn't talk about beeps.

Occasionally I get an err 10 message.

I'd appreciate any thoughts.