I have not ridden mine in a LONG time. I know the original silicon battery are DEAD. However I am thinking of bringing it up again in the next year using 60volt PING PING lithium battery. However I got some questions since I have been out of it for so long:
1. Anyone use the 60Volt Ping Ping lithium battery and if so how do you like it or should I just stay with 48volts ???
2. If I upgrade to 60Volts, do I need to upgrade the stock controller and if so what needs to be done and how ???
3. What is the average sustain and MAX current that the Emaxx uses so I can get the appropriate lithium battery from PING.
Thanks again for any info. God Bless :)
I just got a Vmoto 120SL and batteries were sort of dead when scooter arrived. One battery was 46 pounds and the others were 47 , 48, 51 pounds. All the same run numbers but different weights. I installed a new set of GreenSavers and all batteries were 51 pounds 5 ounces plus or minus an ounce. I can't imagine how a set of batteries could be off that much in any batch or any scooter. I am on my 4th charge cycle and batteries are self balanced to 12.8 volt after sitting to 13.82 volt charging. All within a few hundreds of a volt. The new batteries are smaller M6 terminals and the old set were way larger so needless to say I made new cables and changed Anderson blue connectors to Yellow like on my E20 GE tractor I converted to 48 volts but 30 to 36 volts on field , two amperes. I am using a Iota 48 volt charger to keep it charged up and if I use garage light, a relay shorts out phone plug in Iota charger making it charge at 2.3 v/c vs 2.2v/c . Just like others on V, I have usually got or gotten three or four years on a set of batteries easy. Then I just used them in my solar bank to suck up excess sun charge. Next year I'll install Lithium in my 120 SL and maybe use the Leaf set of batteries in my Vmoto / VX-2 clone. At least I think they are the same scooters. Sure look alike. Rides so good. Regen doesn't provide any braking but raises voltage maybe a volt or two. I am going to add an Amp meter maybe -20 ~ 0 ~ +60 or 80 amperes so I can see charge rate and discharge as I ride scooter. This way I can measure charge current on regen. The digital volt meter is extremely accurate and I am going to check mileage via GPS Garmen Nuvi.
If you go to Lithium and if you go to 60 volt pack let us know your progress. Maybe DC-DC converter might have to be swapped out? charger would have to be swapped or re-programmed, and other stuff might come up too.
Mine always starts out on Regular then I have to click it a couple of times to get it to Eco mode.
I am close to making a mounting bracket to measure Eco current and regular current and you said Max current you need to know. So give me a couple of weeks to figure it out. I have to find the manufacturer of the controller to find MAX voltage that it can work and control speed. My old 48 volt TANK scoter I converted to 60 volts and it sort of worked. I had to run head lights for 5 or 10 minutes to pull down 60 volt full pack charge to 64.9 volts then I could ride it. Maybe that would happen to 120SL controller? Maybe nothing will badly happen and it will go like normal?
I can't answer question number 1.
~
KB1UKU
I didn't know that you were one of the original E-max owners sold by the long-defunct "Texas E-Rider".
You need to dig way back into this forum for the necessary information. Look in the general large scooters forum as well as the e-max forum. Unfortunately a lot of the knowledge base was lost when the old voltage forum was hacked and destroyed, but a lot is on this forum.
Yes, the controller needs to be modified to run it on 60 volts - specifically five capacitors need to be upgraded with higher-voltage ones. If you have the old-style controller, recesses need to be ground in the case above where the caps go in order for them to fit. While you are at it, you can modify the current measuring shunt resistor to allow more battery pack current and a lot more motor torque too. The stock maximum current is 70 amps (when in "turbo" mode) but with the recommended shunt mod it goes up to about 100-110 amps. Raising the voltage to 60 volts raises the top speed to about 45 mph - a little better with a light rider.
Of course, at 60 volts, you need to find a 60 volt charger. I never got one, and instead charge with the original 48 volt charger plus a 12 volt charger charging their respective portion of the pack separately. My 60 volt upgrade is set up so it is selectable by re purposing the e-max's dual contactors for riding on either 48 volts or 60 volts.
The three lithium upgrades for this scooter that I know of - my two scooters (now just one) and Matt's former e-max in W. Australia were upgraded with 40AH Thundersky/Winston (or similar form-factor) cells. For 60 volts, four cells go in the under-seat compartment. There are posts in this forum describing how this is done too. You need a BMS too. I've go a final-version Fetcher-Goodrum BMS kit for up to 24-cells I can send you if you have some electronics and soldering skills.
These old links might help:
http://visforvoltage.org/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/166-more-e-max-controller-mods-shunt-resistor-trick
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3765-emax-conversion-thundersky-lifepo4-cells
http://visforvoltage.org/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/201-e-max-accelerating-over-40mph
1. you will need at least 40Ah of the PING battery due to the continuous high current draw
2. you should upgrade the caps in the controller to higher voltage ones, but you can get away with not doing it, just means the caps won't last as long.
3. my Emax at 60v used to draw 55A continuous and far more on acceleration. On a stock controller the max is 75A, with shunt mod you can go up to 150A.
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
I build e-bikes for clients and sell e-bike kits. ref: www.ERV1.com And with our controller, you cannot simply "upgrade" to a higher voltage, such as 36 to 48 or 48 to 60. Because the controllers are made for their specific rated voltage. If you hook up 48 volts to a 36 volt controller, it will immediately burn it out. Similarly if you hook up 60 volts to a 48 volt controller, that will immediately fry it. I would not have any idea what YOUR controller is, but If it was 48 volts from the factory, then I would not hook up 60 volts to it if it were mine.....but hey, that's just me. Good luck with YOUR adventure!!
Low Cost Electric Bicycle Conversion Kits
Developer of an Enclosed Semi-Recumbent Electric Tricycle
Don Eyermann
480-516-6487
www.ERV1.com
Don,
We are talking about a specific controller that we have experience with - and it can be used at up to, but no higher than, 60 volts. The maximum S-D voltage of the FET's are 75 volts. This particular controller had no undervoltage (over-discharge) protection, so we can't affect that function.
Matt,
In your 60V upgrade, can you recall if you kept the voltage of the red "logic power" wire at 48 volts, or did you raise that to 60 volts too? At some point, I need to get a 60V charger, add four more BMS channels and simplify it to run on 60V all the time so I can sell it.
(edit: - I have no idea why this post is appearing in bold-italics)
I think I kept the red wire at 48v. If you change the dc-dc you can put the full 60v across it though, which is what I did on a later build
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
Thanks. I forgot about the DC-DC converter. It seems that Don above didn't close his codes.