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Topics - Gregski

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Home Brew / 12 to 13 Tooth Front Sprocket - Nothing to Write Home About

« on: September 19, 2011, 04:15:51 AM »

Replaced the 12 tooth front sprocket with a 13 tooth one on my 1989 Suzuki Katana GSX600F yesterday. The rear is the original stock 47 tooth one. I didn't have to add any links to the chain after adding 3 or 4 initially for the conversion as the motor sits further away than the engine/transmission had.

I think I may be getting 2 MPH more on the top speed maybe a little more somewhere around high 30's, ie 38 MPH. The good news is the bike is not any slower off the line. So I question all the people who told me electric bikes need to run a 5:1 gear ratio, that or I misunderstood their advice.

Bike Specs:

Mars ME0709 motor (heavy)
48 Volt Alltrax 300 amp controller (soon to be upgraded to 72 volts)
four 55 Ah sealed lead acid batteries (soon to be six)
48 volt Elcon 20 amp on board charger (awesome)
Magura Twist Grip Throttle (kinda cheap and plasticky)

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General Discussion / How to search for all posts by a specific user?

« on: September 16, 2011, 08:53:23 PM »

One of the features I use a lot is the search by user. You come across a guy who knows what he is talking about and you want to see all the threads he has started, or posts he has made giving advice. Or you simply want to search for all the threads you have started to see if there are any new replies. How do you do that.

The search on this forum does not allow for a wild card search in the Search for: field when you enter a users name in the by user: field.

I am not biatchin n complainin, trust me the insight on this forum is amazing and I appreciate it, I am just asking how to do something that I can do on a lot of if not all of the other forums I am a member of, so I know i am not asking for something strange

General Discussion / Curtis Controller Model Conventions are Bizarre

« on: September 15, 2011, 11:45:52 AM »

check out this insanity

Model 1221B can be any of these

   24-36 V, 600 A
   36-48 V, 550 A
   48-72 V, 500 A

see the rest of the madness here

http://curtisinstruments.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cProducts.dspProductCategory&catID=11

Home Brew / Did I Get The Wrong Controller?

« on: September 12, 2011, 10:28:54 AM »

Originally I planned on buying a 72 volt controller but because of money I settled for the Alltrax AXE 4834. The AXE is the model that is programmable. The 48 means it's a 48 volt and the 3 means it's 300 amps for those of you not familiar with the Alltrax brand. I landed one for around $150 bucks on eBay ( = score ! )

Anyway I would like to commute on my motorcycle conversion (Suzuki Katana GSX600F) however my top speed is barely 40 MPH with an average of 30 MPH just a bit shy of what I would feel comfortable with on busy city streets. My one way distance is just shy of 10 miles. I weigh a tad bit north of 200 lbs suited up.

I am currently running a 12 tooth front sprocket and a 47 rear. I just ordered a 13 tooth sprocket for the front and it should show up any day now. I know that gearing will help, but I am just trying to avoid any self imposed bottle necks.

When I bought this controller my logic went lie this. Why do I need anything more than the 300 amps if my MARS ME0709 motor is rated at 125 amps continuous and 300 amps peak. Right?

Well what I have learned during my two year conversion is that there is a set of heuristics or rules of thumb one must be aware of in the world of electricity. For instance what we call a 12 volt battery like you find in your car, is anything but, it's really a 13.6 battery and at 12 volts it's considered dead. And one would think at 6 volts it's 50% depleted... WRONG!

Also a 48 volt motor can be "over volted" to say 60 volts. OK, but a controller can not be "over volted" because it will cause a puff of black smoke. And word on the street is that a 300 amp controller may only be a 275 amp controller and a 400 amp controller really only a 350 amp controller, see where I am going with this? Some specs go one way, others the other, it's what keeps me up at night, LOL.

So considering the optimistic marketing specs of controllers would I get more umph out of the next model up i.e. the AXE4844 which runs up to 400 amps? Did I buy the wrong controller?

I know that ultimately I would like to go to the AXE7245 (72 volts, 400 amps) but that will be costly as I will need two more batteries, a different charger, a new solenoid, etc...

Home Brew / Ride Data

« on: September 10, 2011, 09:14:23 AM »

So I decided to strap my trusty HP Netbook to my gas tank and tether it to my Alltrax AXE4834 programmable controller via a serial/USB cable and by running their ControllerPro software get some excellent data

what I like best about this setup is that it shows you not only the voltage but the amps without an external shunt as it gets the data directly from the controller, among other things like throttle position, a date/time stamp, and temperature (of something called a diode, lol)

what boggles the mind is that Alltrax has just finally offered the voltage reading on their homegrown Ex-Ray gauge/speedometer, for a while their original device did not even show us that, how lame is that, maybe in a year or two they will display the amps, lol, meanwhile I am thinking of buying an old Windows Mobile phone off of eBay and running ControllerPro on it and using it as my gauge, what do you guys make of that hack/idea?

QUESTIONS:

1. What's the difference between Output Current and Battery Current? And how can I draw 192 amps from the battery pack but "output" 375 at 6:41:08 pm?

2. How can I draw 260 amps from the battery pack when I am using a 200 amp fuse, wouldn't it blow?

3. I forget.... lol

please note I had to trim the attached data file do to this forums file size limitations

General Discussion / Battery Charger Tutorials

« on: September 07, 2011, 06:43:46 AM »

I did not write these nor am I affiliated with this site, but they are excellent, please take a look they may help you, I know they taught me a lot.

12 VOLT CHARGER TUTORIAL
http://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/12-volt-charger.html

24 VOLT CHARGER TUTORIAL
http://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/24-volt-charger.html

36 VOLT CHARGER TUTORIAL
http://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/36-volt-charger.html

48 VOLT CHARGER TUTORIAL
http://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/48-volt-charger.html

Home Brew / Did I Get The Wrong Motor?

« on: September 06, 2011, 10:47:16 AM »

First a little background. In 2009 I set out to build a 72 volt lead acid battery powered motorcycle. At that time the Etek motor was no longer available. So I had three common brands to choose from not counting the D&D which I call the Blue Motors. So the choices were the $2,000 dollar LEMCO, the $1,000 dollar Perm PMG-132, and the $500 dollar MARS ME0708 or ME0709. I ended up buying the ME0709.

Since then I decided to settle for a 48 volt system (for now at least) because of difficulty I was having shoving 6 batteries into my bike, and more importantly cost. For example you can land a used 48 volt golf cart controller for $150 where a new 72 volt one will run you three times that. I say new because golf carts mostly come in 36 or 48 volt configs, that I have seen anyways so most likely you are forced to buy a new controller to build a 72 volt system.

Anyway my question is would I have been better off with the ME0708 as it revs up higher at 48 volts?

General Discussion / 25 AMP Battery Charger in a 15 AMP Outlet?

« on: August 30, 2011, 09:49:35 AM »

I am thinking of buying a 48 volt 25 AMP battery charger that has a standard 110 plug. What is going to happen when I plug it in to a standard 15 AMP household outlet? Will it only draw as many AMPs as it can ie 15 or will it trip my breaker every time?

Home Brew / Volts = Speed, AMPS = Torque, AH = Range, So...

« on: August 23, 2011, 10:55:21 AM »

I have a 48 volt system on my motorcycle conversion. Four 12 volt 55 AH 22NF-AGM Lead Acid UB12550 Batteries in series. An Alltrax AXE4834 300 AMP controller. A MARS ME0709 18 HP / 300 AMP peak motor (8 HP / 125 AMP continuous).

My current (no pun intended) top speed is 45 MPH.

To go faster I plan on adding 2 more batteries which will give me a 72 volt system. Of course I will have to upgrade my controller to either the AXE7234 200 AMP or the AXE7245 450 AMP.

To increase the range I need to up the AH, and that's where I am confused. I know in the parallel configuration the Amp Hours are added up, but where do the extra Amp Hours go when I add the additional two batteries like I am planning to do? I realize I will be carrying the additional weight.

If I limit myself to 45 MPH top speed Is my range going to increase at all?

Home Brew / Is a 6 AMP Battery Charger 6 AMP Total Or Per Bank?

« on: August 13, 2011, 09:54:10 AM »

Just what the title says is a 6 amp battery charger 6 amps total so 1.5 amps per bank or is it 6 amps per bank, 24 amps total?

Be gentle I'm learning.

Home Brew / I did it, I did it, I did it !!!

« on: August 06, 2011, 11:23:13 AM »

I built an electric bike, took me two years but I did it. Took it around the block and everything. Since I finished her at 10 at night and had no lights to see where i was going or how fast I was going, I can only tell you I was upwards of 20 MPH when I looked down at the speedo when coming to a stop sign and relying on the street lamp but that was off the throttle which at the time being is just a potentiometer taped to the left handle bar jimmy rig style with electrical tape, also both tires are flat, the front one super flat, and finally I am only running on three batteries instead of four because the controller is programmed for 36 volts only until I hook it up to a laptop and reprogram it to 48 volts

my goal is just highway speed 65 MPH and a range of 30 miles, but I'll take anything, man it's a trip to pass people and they don't hear anything

The bike is a 1989 Suzuki Katana GSX600F you may know her by Wattana, I will share some pics and maybe a video soon

Wattana - Stock

Home Brew / Does the Controller Have to be Isolated!

« on: July 26, 2011, 01:26:10 PM »

I am in the home stretch of completing my motorcycle conversion. When mounting the aluminum controller to my metal battery tray I got to thinking... does it need to be isolated somehow from the frame of the bike? Using rubber or wood or something so that it does not short out... I am new at this so please be gentle.

Home Brew / How To Wire An Amp Meter?

« on: July 13, 2011, 11:58:48 AM »

I haven't finished my motorcycle conversion yet but I am close so I figure I'll ask ahead of time. How do you wire an amp meter. I will have a 48 volt system with a 200 amp fuse 300 amp controller, 300 amp motor (peak). I know I need a shunt, I plan on getting a 200 amp one, but how do you wire it up.

I am guessing the shunt splits the positive wire coming from the battery probably after the fuse using the two bigger bolts on the shunt. Then do I just connect the amp meter to the two small bolts and Bob's your uncle? Or do I have to wire it to something for power. The meter I am looking at has four wires, Blue, Green, Black, Red.

The Blue and Green say input, I assume those go to the shunt's small bolts. The Black and Red are positive and negative for 5 volts of power, where do I get the power from, I will have the stock 12 volt battery in the vehicle as well, do I wire it up to that?

Please be gentle, I am learning.

Home Brew / Do two 24v Chargers Equal one 48v Charger?

« on: July 11, 2011, 12:29:16 PM »

So I am wondering about a couple of things, what would happen if I hooked up a 24 volt charger to four 12 volt batteries which I have connected in series for a 48 volt system, would it charge them just slower, or not at all?

Also I heard of guys using four trickle charger to charge four batteries, does that mean they disconnect them in order to charge them, or do they just charge them all at the same time?

Which brings me to my Subject question, can I connect two 24 volt chargers to four of my batteries and charge them that way, would that give me a 48 volt charge?

I am torturing myself with all this because 48 volt charger are expensive.

Home Brew / Need A Basic Electric Motorcycle Wiring Diagram

« on: July 06, 2011, 10:56:06 AM »

I am looking for a basic yet detailed diagram of how to wire an electric motorcycle. What I have seen so far are diagrams of what I would call very advanced designs which leave me wondering if the person who is sharing the diagram with us is showing off or actually believes it can help others.

I like to take baby steps, so I am not interested in how to wire the entire bike with the regular components such as the headlight, horn, tailight, turn signals, etc you get the idea or with the latest in LiFePO4 battery configurations with a nuclear flux capacitor - jk

I am looking for how to wire a motorcycle conversion to make it go under the power of the electric motor with no extra bells and whistles. I know you will ask me for the details, but I believe a generic diagram will suffice for newbs like me regardless if we have and Alltrax or a Curtis controller, basically I am looking for a diagram that goes further than saying well hook up the batteries to the motor and the other end to the controller and off you go.

I know there are the "big" components (motor, batteries, controller), but where does the shunt go, where does the fuse go do I need a contactor, on/off switch, throttle, etc.

Here are more details as an example a 4 battery system of 12 volt deep cycle batteries, in series, hooked up to an Alltrax AXE 48 volt programmable controller, hooked up to the MARS ME709 motor, a fuse, a shunt (if needed), a contactor (what ever that is) what gauge wire to use between which components, etc