Well, it finally happened. I noticed a few days ago that my eGo had lost power. I've been running 36 volts with a top speed of about 30 mph. My top speed was reduced to about 27 mph on the flat with sluggish acceleration and hill climbing power was reduced considerably.
I initially thought a brush had burned out, running at 36 volts, and with heavier springs, this was expected. No big deal, right?
When I removed the first brush retainer, I found that not only had the brush been worn down to a nub, it had been sucked into the motor at an angle corrosponding to rotation, and had shorted one of the windings.
I have a new motor on order from egovehicles, and will install this one in my scooter.
I would also like to try rewinding the original motor. I have read this post: http://visforvoltage.org/forum/motors-and-drives/1694 and understand it pretty well, though I have a couple of questions that I hope can be answered here.
First is about removing the leftover enamel coating from the wire and the coating from the iron armature core. What type of solvent should I use? any techniques or tips.
Second is about the winding itself. the armature has 20 commutator bars and there are two parallel sets of 8 turn coils for each bar. at first it appeared that the motor was wound from the outside in and then back out because the ends of the wire were both on the outside of the tabs on the commutator bars.(huh, how did they do that?!!) but on closer inspection I saw that the starting point was actually left unconnected until the winding was finished.
My question is this: the starting and end points on this motor are not at the same commutator bar, they are opposite each other: instead of both ends being at bar #1 as they would be if the ego motor were the same as the one in the instructions I cited, the wind seems to start at bar #1 and end at bar #11 is this common? did I make a mistake? I took some pictures before I started, but my gf has the camera , so I can't post them or review them now, but I don't believe I'm mistaken about this. What gives?
anybody had one of these apart that knows what I'm talking about? Help please and thank you
Here's a thought,.. What if I replaced the two runs of 8 turn coils with a single run, also 8 turns, but heavier wire? the original was 20 gauge , so maybe 16 gauge would be twice as much wire? maybe it is parallel coils for easier winding? to make more wire fit? it looks like there's room for more wire, is there a way to calculate what guage is the heaviest I could use and still get 8 turns?
finally,... pictures:
I have an EGO scooter and am interested in your success going with 36v. I need more torque than I currently have for 0.5 mile hill in my overall 5 mile commute. I have EGO's hill climbing gear installed (replaces the front sprocket with a smaller one), but the front belt keeps slipping on the smaller front sprocket. I'm thinking there simply aren't enough teeth to handle the increased torque on the hill climbing gear. So I would love to get some feedback on two issues:
1. has anyone identified a replacement rear sprocket for the EGO? Instead of using the small front sprocket that EGO sells as its Hill Climbing Gear, I would like to use the stock one with a larger diameter and more teeth in order to hold the higher torque. Then to increase the torque I would like to use a larger rear sprocket on the back wheel.
2. How can I increase power on my EGO? higher voltage, different motor, any alterations of the controller possible to increase torque, ect?
TT