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Post by niz76 on Feb 26, 2015 3:01:57 GMT -5
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Post by 90GTVert on Feb 26, 2015 6:34:41 GMT -5
Very cool! If you en up making a vid when it's running well again I'd enjoy checking it out. We don't get to see many e-scoots here, especially not modified ones.
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Post by dan50 on Feb 26, 2015 8:12:27 GMT -5
How far would it go on a charge?
I live in a rural area, and most e-vehicles only do 30 miles. That won't get me to town & back!
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Post by moofus02 on Feb 26, 2015 19:19:32 GMT -5
Get it on the speed list
Sent from my SPH-L720 using proboards
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Post by tiny on Feb 26, 2015 19:27:50 GMT -5
Still love the wrap.
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Post by niz76 on Feb 26, 2015 21:48:55 GMT -5
This probably isn't the best solution for rural areas as the furthest distance I would want to push this scoot is maybe 20 miles. Rider weight and riding style affects the range heavily. This scoot having a shunt mod and being over-volted to 60 volts doesn't help the range any either. It's considerably faster than stock (maybe 30mph vs. 18mph stock) but the batteries are still at the stock capacity at 12 amp hours.
Maybe I will GPS this baby and get it on the list on when I get it running lol.
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Post by niz76 on Feb 27, 2015 13:52:01 GMT -5
Ok, it took me a few minutes to get my brain back into the electrical state of mind for working on this escoot. First things first I plugged in the charger to make sure it's still working and that the batteries will take a charge. They seem ok but I know which one is the weak link... Btw- that digital voltage display is one of those $4 ebay China specials. I've purchased and installed a few of these and I really like them.  When I mentioned before that I built this onboard 60v battery charger myself I really did! It's actually fairly simple really- a $5 bridge rectifier from Radio Shack to convert the AC from the wall to DC and two large capacitors (run capacitors from a household A/C unit) to act as a "reservoir" to fill in the sag or "waves" of voltage- this provides a pretty steady charge at about 3 amps or so. It's stuffed into a tupperware dish and mounted inside the scoot. With the loss of voltage from the typical 120v AC it ends up providing around 75-80 volts or something- I can't remember- so there's no transformer needed. It typically takes about 4 to 6 hours to recharge the battery bank and this charger seems incapable of pushing them past 65 to 70 volts so it works perfectly. It's not a "smart charger" so it won't shut off automatically when a preset voltage is reached but I've tested it to twelve hours plugged in safely and it never overcharged the batteries. I already had the capacitors so it cost me $5 to build this charger. A 60 volt charger cost $100+ and this also has the added convenience of being hard wired into the scoot and "onboard" so you'd never forget to bring your charger and get stuck some where. Just uncoil the cord from under the seat storage area and plug it in!  These e-scoots (e-bike actually) typically come stock at 48 volts- four 12v batteries- and this is modified "overvolted" to 60 volts with an additional fifth battery that we located under the seat in the storage compartment (The rest of the batteries are in the floorboard of the scoot). I remembered that the "extra" fifth battery was a bit weak as if I remember correctly it's the only remaining original battery. At $80 a piece for these 12 amp hour batteries you can see how e-bikes get very expensive very quickly and these are the cheap regular ol' heavy lead acids. You can imagine how much $$ it costs to build a 60v battery bank with the same capacity out of lighter (and more delicate) lithium ions! Checking the batteries gave me a chance to dig out an old tool I haven't used in quite a while- My digital automotive battery analyzer.  Yep- just confirmed what I suspected that this battery is the weak link in the bank. Luckily I just happen to have an extra one that I can replace this one with  The batteries all check out good so now it's time to move on to what I suspect is wrong with this scooter; the controller... |
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Post by niz76 on Feb 27, 2015 15:10:03 GMT -5
If you're a geek like me and you like cool or unusual tools here's one for ya; it's an e-bike electronics tester! Or, as the Chinese labeled it: "Electrocar Brushlessmotor controller tester" lol.  As you may have guessed I was pretty deep into the "ebike hobby" and have built a couple pretty cool e-scoots. Since these scoots are just plain painfully slow stock I pretty much modified everything haha. If you ever find yourself getting into ebikes and installing and modifying "hot" (fast) motors or controllers I would definitely urge you to invest in one of these testers! It's a bit difficult to learn to use at first- and the poorly translated Chinese instructions don't help- but I can tell you this thing has saved my sanity at times and undoubtedly a lot of $$ on fried controllers too. It only cost $15 on ebay. I wish I would've gotten this much sooner in my e-bike hobby time as you can see by this next pic I have fried many a controller!  That's the cost of education on these things I guess. If you've seen my scoot build thread today you know that I'm doing the same thing with pistons and cylinders nowadays lol. ( 49ccscoot.proboards.com/thread/9791/scooter-diary-roketa-air-rhon?page=30 ) These controllers come from China and do not come with any documentation or installation instructions at all. If you get lucky they'll tell which wires go to what in the ebay description. Of course you could purchase a name brand controller that would come from a US seller bit they're like quadruple the cost. It's about like that game 'Operation' from when we were kids- there's about 1000 different wire combo's with brushless controllers with hall effect that will instantly fry a controller when you turn it on and just one combo that won't. You just pray you don't get "buzzed" when you flip the power on. That $15 tester would've saved most of these fried controllers during my 'learning curve'. So I refreshed my memory and re-read the instructions on the tester and went through all the tests. It's telling me the good news is that the motor windings are still fine and the throttle and power are ok too. The controller itself is fried, which is what I figured...  The controller that's in is basically a stock one- 48v 500w.  I ordered a replacement one from Ebay for $35 and it should arrive in 7-10 days. Hopefully sooner. Oh yeah- did I mention that I removed most of the cheap plugs and hard wired (soldered) and heat shrinked almost all these wires? It will be a joy to reinstall the new one.  They do actually sell 60v controllers and you might be wondering why I don't install one of those. There's actually a very good reason I stuck with the 48v controller; These controllers have a 'low voltage shutoff' that's meant to protect the batteries from over-discharging (the worst thing you can do to your lead acid batteries is to let them go low on the voltage - more about that later) and the low voltage cutoff on these is 42 volts. When you're riding these e-bikes you can watch the digital volt meter and just see the voltage sag big-time - especially with my big ass 260 lbs. on it and even more so because I will do a "shunt mod" which lets more amperage through for a powerful take-off (kinda like CVT tuning!). With a 60v controller the low voltage cutoff would be about 52 volts and I can tell you it's really annoying to have the controller cutting out on you 10 miles into your trip when you're trying to get through an intersection with cars behind you. With the 48v controller and 60v batteries it rarely if ever dips into the low voltage shutoff so we can avoid that annoying problem. The 48v and 60v controllers both supply 30 amps peak (probably more like 20a 90% of the time) so the 48v controller is no less powerful than the 60v one. They tend to have a little smaller capacitors but I plan to modify this new controller with bigger caps so it won't be frying itself any time soon We have done a lot of experimenting in the past and I can tell you that a 1000w controller on this scoot is a blast and will make your eyes water with the speed but it simply cuts the range too much. The range when we had the 1000w controller installed was ridiculously short- like maybe 3 miles before it drained these 12v/12ah batteries. |
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Post by dude on Feb 27, 2015 18:26:53 GMT -5
You might check out the youtube video of Worlds Faster Yamaha Vino Scooter. Something to shot for.
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Post by tiny on Feb 27, 2015 18:52:15 GMT -5
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Post by joshua864 on Feb 28, 2015 17:11:50 GMT -5
That thing is super quick I was there this video doesn't do it justice |
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Post by niz76 on Mar 16, 2015 14:35:18 GMT -5
Finally received the controller from China. I was surprised to see this one actually came in a box! They typically just come in a padded envelope with no documentation or instructions whatsoever.  ...Not that the diagram is much help...  Why choose this controller from the vast selection available?? "Because Professional So Better" of course! lol  Although the bouquet of wires may seem overwhelming, after doing a few of these you realize there are really only a few important sets of wires need to be connected- Main Power, Aux Power, Throttle, and Motor. The rest of the wires are "extras" for different options like alarm, regen braking, pedal assist, etc. I was initially planning to do a full blown modded controller with the shunt mod and upgraded capacitors but decided to just keep it stock. The average Joe might not even appreciate the mods plus I run the risk of frying this fragile board and I don't want to be waiting weeks for another controller again. Got it all hard wired and shrink wrapped....  ...And mounted tidily....  I also mounted this 60v Battery Life Saver that I've been saving for my other e-scoot should I ever get around to building it but I decided to just put it in this scoot. It's a nice feeling to know that every discharge and charge cycle the batteries go through they're actually getting healthier!  I have her running good now and already have the CL ad up. Here it is: tampa.craigslist.org/psc/bik/4933844811.htmlI also made a Youtube vid for the CL ad. Here she is in her full glory! The outrageously average Lightning Bike!!   |
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Post by niz76 on Mar 16, 2015 15:03:26 GMT -5
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Post by 90GTVert on Mar 16, 2015 21:27:11 GMT -5
Neat stuff. Looks like someone is gonna get a really nice e-bike.
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Post by niz76 on Mar 21, 2015 23:14:32 GMT -5
SOLD!!
I sold the Lightning Bike yesterday for $600 to a nice lady who was sick of riding her bike. Another happy scooter owner who wobbled off into the sunset! Haha.
I returned home late tonight with my next flip scoot in tow- a Yamaha Jog 'artisctic spec' and also a 2t engine that's sure to raise some eyebrows....
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) a highly detailed vinyl wrap done by my close friend- a retired Master Sergeant military veteran. It also a hand-built (by me) on-board charger that's able to supply the whopping Five (5!) 12 volt, 12 amp hour batteries. That's 60 volts of raw power baby! 
