Back in the Saddle: Going to California: 2011

[jonathanm]

Getting close now, and looking good! Did you figure out real time updates yet?

[dbaker]

I am pulling for you, KF Best of luck with the rest of your preparations

[Kingfish]

Getting close now, and looking good! Did you figure out real time updates yet?

D'oh! Nope, I have been nose-to-the-grindstone trying to get the basics resolved. However, I could use a wee bit of help laddy if yer willin' to chip in and give me a boot in the right direction

Thanks dbaker; we needs all the good well wishes that can be conjured up over a burbling pot of brew!

Da List of wots left TO DO

Code: Select all

ebike:
-------
fix brake light
reprogram the Primary
do R12 and cap mods
Add one more pigtail to controller-side power cable
Add trailer pigtail to signals cable
integrate speedict
build wrapping or faring for cable from triangle to controllers
built front faring
add aerobar pads
check derailleurs
lube chain
check front shock pressure
check tire pressure
add blue locktite to front lugs
install left mirror
install 12V-USB adapter
Install front fender

trailer:
---------
cut wood
mount brackets
add battery boxes
finish battery cabling
build little slings to transfer batteries quickly into and out of batt boxes
Get one more Blinkie from REI
build whatever structure to mount lights
build faring
complete signal cabling
test for wobble and figure out how to assuage it
install steering dampener
Install rubber fork dampeners
Install Blinkies
Install rear fender
Mate electricals
Program Secondary

to go:
--------
Last minute Motel reservations?
Charge batteries
setup Droid with Google account
d/l music
go to Best Buy and get ear stereo phones (if they exist)
pack clothes
pack equipment
clean hovel
pack food
stop mail
unplug everything possible
notify all when leaving

REI:
-------
Blinkie 1X
small bags
White Ortleibs

pray  :o*

Note: Discovered why the Programming app isn't saving my configurations. Setting any of the Speeds (1,2,3) above 100 then saving and exiting prevents the app from reloading and correctly parsing that file. I suspect it does a passive assert then quits which is better than a blue screen of death. Therefore I resolved to save the speed settings to whatever, but when I want greater than 100, that value is set to 100 cos I knows it's wrong. Strange logic... but then I'm strange.

Another problem arose late last night in creating the List: Motels are booked up and priced to the Moon on the 4th of Julie. Considering the mountain of stuff to do, I think that Tuesday (yes ~ a whole week late) is likely the best course of action. (Breathing deeply). However I may be able to pick up a couple of days along the way if I can stop and charge for two hours at an RV park; needs checking into.

More coffee, KF

[jonathanm]

D'oh! Nope, I have been nose-to-the-grindstone trying to get the basics resolved. However, I could use a wee bit of help laddy if yer willin' to chip in and give me a boot in the right direction

Hahaha, ok Kingfish, seeing as you still have such a long to do list, then I tested a few GPS apps today on the way to work and back....

All of them worked fine with other GPS apps running, in fact I ran all 4 at the same time without problems, so I think they will run with Speedict fine.

Google Latitude
no good for this application. mainly for seeing where your existing google contacts are.

Spysat.eu
app runs quietly in background, most accurate tracking "out of the box". online map is small and doesn't have much info on it. Website crashed on me.

Instamapper
app runs quietly in background, best looking maps online. However shared online map only seems to display last 50 points on your path....so if updating every minute, that means only the last 50 minutes would be displayed. Also, the map you get to see when you login displays speed, altitude etc all along the route.... But the public map only show the *current* data.....

Green Alp
Messiest looking interface. sloppiest accuracy (out of the box - didn't try tweaking). But....uses full screen map. Map displays speed, altitude, bearing etc for any point on the route. There seems to be some kind of messaging thing - you type a message on your phone and it appears at your location on the map. The app on the phone has a map as well and you can see your location on it. Don't know how many points it will display though....

So basically Green Alp is the only one that does what you want really, although lacking elegance.

The app is on the android marketplace called "Real Time GPS Tracker" by Greenalp

The website to register is here:

http://www.greenalp.com/RealTimeTracker ... gister.php

I found a few others, I will try and test them on the way to work tomorrow. Will let you know if any beat Green Alp or not.

[Kingfish]

<snip>

I found a few others, I will try and test them on the way to work tomorrow. Will let you know if any beat Green Alp or not.

Excelente el Capitán, mucho gracias!

Sunday July 3rd
Accomplished this day…

• fix brake light: I ended up buying another microswitch and stacking it on top of the ebrake microswitch. Make up a new taller a… stop, yeah I guess we can call it a “stop”, anyways from ABS that I had scavenged.
• reprogram the Primary: 60%, 90%, 120%. The 60% is about equal to 22.5 mph, so I might back that off to 55%.
• Add one more pigtail to controller-side power cable: Done.
• Add trailer pigtail to signals cable: Done.
• integrate speedict: About 30% complete.
• build wrapping or faring for cable from triangle to controllers: Made one, didn’t like it. Now I’m on a tear to make it right. In progress.
• build front faring: Actually I modified the existing one.
• add aerobar pads: Base for pads added, though I won’t add the actual pads until I leave.
• check front shock pressure: Done. Set to 125 psi. (Rear is set to 175 psi)
• REI: Snagged Blinkie 1X, small bags (10, 15, and 20L). White Ortleibs; all they had were yellow and black, so I snagged the black; good enough.

The ebike is in a pretty good state; now I am just tweaking and fine-tuning. Shifting is funky but I can fix that later.

In the past my ebike occasional attracted attention. Now it’s a frickin’ magpie! People point at it when I’m on the road. I stopped at REI and was trapped outside for 30 minutes giving a talk on how the machine works. One guy came up and told me he had never seen tires that big before. Wait till I mount the plasma cannon; that’ll git some attention!

Anyways, winding down for the evening. I am getting to the point where I want to go back and work on the trailer and test the system integrations. I checked with REI, Radio Shack, and the local hobby & craft supply and they will be open for business tomorrow. I’ll probably need to run to Home Despot for hardware.

The only real worry I have about the ebike now is mounting the front fender; the big fatty tires preclude the way I did it before. May need to fab a mounting block out of basswood to stabilize the area.

That reminds me... forgot one very important item; actually it’s a bit of bling… I couldn’t resist



I found it lurking on Amazon some months ago and thought “I have to have it for my bike”. Somehow I couldn’t quite figure out where to put it though… until this morning. I actually got a smile when a driver didn’t know what to think or how to react, until she espied my bling.

Life should be fun, yes?

Take chances every chance you get, KF

[gcholman]

Best of luck on your journey. FYI,plumas-eureka state park is beautiful, yet closed as a superfund site this summer. Also on the park closure list for 2012.

[Kingfish]

Best of luck on your journey. FYI,plumas-eureka state park is beautiful, yet closed as a superfund site this summer. Also on the park closure list for 2012.

Yep, that's what my folks had told me just last week. At least they got LOTS of snow this winter so water is running well (so far).

Monday July 4, 2011

Well, I can hear the fireworks but I’ve been too busy to go see, or even enjoy a beer. I’ve been at this since 7 AM. Let’s see if I can summarize from memory…

• Worked over the bunched up cabling near the controller; it was hitting my foot. I figured out a way to tie it down against the side of the frame; it’s a work-in-progress and evolving. Probably finish it in another hour or two. I got it to a point where I felt good enough that I could begin working on the next task.
• Added the R12 mod and upgraded caps on both controllers. It must have taken me two hours to do the first controller, but the second went really quick, probably ¼ the time.
• Also prepped the second controller for slaving which means removing unnecessary wiring and building… connectors. I hate building connectors. The only good connector is one that’s already built. Although the crimp-type aren’t so bad.
• The only electrical left to do is the trailer lighting harness from the connector (yuck) to the signal and brake lights, and the phase/HE wires to the hub motor (the other end is finished). I suspect this will take an hour.
• My ToDo list didn’t hardly shrink today, though some of those items will go very quickly. I don’t think I’m leaving tomorrow, though maybe Wednesday. I better get this finished soon or there won’t be any time left. Tomorrow I expect to do a freewheel test on the rear wheel, and finish ALL cabling. I’d like to get it to the Machinist and have him make that cross-brace.

That’s about it for me today; I’m pooped. OT: Cooking me up a skillet-dinner. Let me describe it:

I found this local butcher; he just recently opened – they are part of a chain called “Bill the Butcher”. Anyway, I was intrigued by fine dining and convinced me to get a cast-iron skillet; I’ve never owned one before, so I did. The idea is you throw your meat into the hot skillet, sear on one side, then flip and cover it with veggies, put a lid on it, then throw it in the oven at like 350-425 depending what it is, and wait 25-40 minutes. Pull it out and go for it! It’s like a little Dutch Oven, and there’s an unmistakable smokiness like I’ve never had before!

Anyway, I’m starving and it’s ready so…
Bon Appetite, KF

[jonathanm]

Hi Kingfish....

So I got to take a look at a lot of different tracking apps last night, and narrowed it down to a few candidates. I set them up before I went to work, then had to rush in to deal with some problems, and spent the whole day firefighting....didn't get home from work until 10pm....to find a very disappointed wife, lol. So that was my July 4th....good job I'm a Brit, and July 4th is not really a day for us Brits to celebrate, haha.

So to cut to the chase, there is ONE other app (well a combo actually) that might be better than Green Alp......

It seems way more sophisticated and featured out, but it also requires a little bit more effort to set up.

Ok, this second one is based on an online sevice called GPS Trace Orange. http://gps-trace.com/

sign up there....it works with many different clients, the best one I found for android is called Wiatrack. search for it on the android marketplace.

You put the unique ID into the system and then it will track you on a very detailed map, there are also embeddable links for posting on websites or forums.

My advice to you is to install both this app and Green Alp on your phone and go for a short round the block style ride, if you get the time.....you can then see them yourself and decide if either of them will work for you......

I wish I'd had the foresight to figure this out for you sooner, sorry about that.....but if you want to give it a go with either of these apps, I am happy to help you out...I can even put a map on a web page for you if you like...just PM me if there is anything I can do to help.

Cheers, J

[Kingfish]

Thank you jonathanm; I think this looks like a good solution so long as I can turn the tracking on and off with ease. I’ll take a closer look tonight.

Brief Status

• Stayed up late to reflect upon how to finish up the last part of the cabling between the triangle battery bag and the controllers.
• Remounted the primary controller and paid attention to the details where the parts rub together and added HDPE as padding being that the material is self-lubricating.
• Assembled the secondary controller and made it ready for mounting.
• This AM, began by reprogramming the primary and secondary controllers for CA shunt calibration; related thread.
• Drew up a second layout for the cross-brace and evaluated it against the first design; decided that the first would work well-enough and save time.
• Contracted with the Machinist to fabricate the brace and make ready to mount it this afternoon.
• Also discussed with him the issues with the front hub disc rotor being out of true, though decided there wasn’t enough time to correct the problem; it would cost yet another day of delay.
• Since I'm, making a run into town I crafted a list of items to get.

Daylight is burning and I’ve yet to cut wood.
More coffee <slurp> KF

[Kingfish]

Tuesday July 5, 2011
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I shoulda, coulda been gone by now… though it is Fate or Fatwa that has chosen a different path for me. Feeling the pangs of urgency I was in a mad dash to git to the Machinist with trailer in tow, and yet all the planning of mice and men came down to a simple failure which brought this calliope to a complete crash.

I had a flat.

Bugger of buggers. When one is in a rush, there are no tools or patches – only resolve. Too late for vanity I walked the beast back down into Redmond, satisfied in part at having gleaned some scientific data; it was not a complete waste of effort.

The Good:

• Two controllers – Connected by Ground and no other.
• Synchronous Throttle by sharing SP-only from Primary Controller.
• 3-WAY works by sharing X1 and X2.

The Bad:
Ebrake does not work. Test required two people, lift each tire and throttle on, then ebrake. No effect on rear tire. Weird cos –EBS is protected by diode on similar circuitry and we’re only pulling unified signal to GND. Primary works fine. I shall double-check wiring. Potential workaround: There is a spare signal wire (Blue) running through the harness from the controllers to the handlebar and it is possible to add a third microswitch to the brake lever – and yet it makes no sense; we are pulling the signal to GND; it should work when others do as well!

The Ugly:
Flats are going to kill me. REI gent at bike shop suggested something better in his experience than Slime: coffélatex

I resolved to drink a couple of pints and contemplate my navel on the trek home at my local. Beers do me well to relax the tension. Therefore this afternoon was not all a complete bust:

• We proved that it is partly possible to slave a controller!
• And that 3-WAY works across substrates.

This is good news, and advancing the progress forward. The Machinist was contacted and we are delayed a day due to the flat. And yet – I could use a breather; it’s been at break-neck pace and fatiguing. I’m good with leaving on the 7th. Old Scout motto: Be Prepared!

Feedback on two tires:
Oh man! I had three settings; 55%, 90%, and 120%. The first I used through the center of town; nice easy 22.5 mph; no problems – except no load issues on trailer-bike but we expected that.

Leaving center of town I used 90% to climb the Bel-Red Road (which is very steep) and quickly achieved 31.5 mph! It was at the next traffic light at 148th that I noticed the flat. Rotating through the 3-WAY selection was awesome; I could easily dial the power required to run on flats in town or to climb a hill. The trailer bobbed on divots in the road and I quickly learned a behavior to not throttle-on in those circumstances, or when rounding a sharp corner. Otherwise the trailer definitely boosted acceleration out of the gate and appended power across the entire spectrum when not skipping due to no-load. This is exactly and precisely the affects that we desire from a trailer, and at no time did instability encroach.

Front Motor is set to 24A, and Rear is set to 18A. I’d rather keep the front as is in case I separate the two vehicles.

Overall, pleased as punch. KF
ADDENDUM: Flat was on the MIDDLE tire; the once that wasn't armored or on a driven wheel; go figure

[Kingfish]

Wednesday July 6th

Got started about 8 AM and I’m now just wrapping up for the night.

• Took an assay of my battery supply, counting every unit and checking voltages. Organized into groups of similar voltages, I went ahead and topped them off – most anyways. There’s a handful that are on the fringe and require some TLC. The grand total is 83 bricks. I am shy one that went belly-up on me. However I have two batteries with one good cell each, and one battery with two dead cells, so it is possible I could reconstitute a single good battery from donors. Anyway – the battery department is looking good with most of the cells in balance.
• Repaired pesky middle tire. Gutted the wheel, applied a second wrap of rim tape – this time using wide Velox over the top of the Specialized rim tape. Installed a Kenda DH 26x2.5 tube, slathered with talc, inspected the Kevlar liner, and then spooned it all together, inflating twice to ensure all was seated well.
• Applied 125ml of coffélatex to all three tires. It was very easy.
• Dove into the rear wheel regen problem. The investigation was time-consuming and is covered on two other threads (see Trailer status).

The Plan for Tomorrow

• Finish the trailer decking so I can put a load on it and get it to the Machinist for the last frame mod. We also have an opportunity to investigate how to correct the front disc rotor from scraping the caliper when under load. It was suggested that we tighten the spokes to reduce the issue; I contacted WheelBuilder and requested the tensile strength and tension data for the Sapim Strong Single Butted Spoke.
• If there is no cure to my Regen problem then I will likely provision an older 12FET controller into a slave.
• There’s still some battery cabling to do; it’s tedious work.

At this point I am just working through the blocking issues day-by-day.
Fighting the fires, KF

[Kingfish]

Gosh, as delayed as I yam, it might have done me good to register for the STP. Alas, the event is sold out.

So much to do, so little time... KF

[Kingfish]

Friday, July 8th

We are making a plan for Launch; all issues are coming to closure or are closed. There are still items that require completion, though the belief is that these can be accomplished by this afternoon, leaving the evening for final preparations. We (using the Royal “We” as this is a human and machine system) plan to leave tomorrow, Saturday, July 9th.

The Route has changed: We are going to target the STP route south to Portland. This path was previously considered early on as a speed-route; a way to safely pick up one day of the schedule. Coincidentally, the departure is on the same day as the STP, and we plan to use this event to maximize opportunity to utilize public services and facilities. The departure will be from Redmond, heading south and linking up with the STP path in Renton at about Mile 20. It is a pretty dang easy path for an ebike; about 204 miles in length with 3621 feet total elevation climb, and assuming to take 8-10 hours depending on traffic and weather.

The original plan was to head south of Redmond to Hood River over one to two days depending on how the system performed at the midpoint neat Cayuse Pass at Mt. Rainier NP. However there is risk in taking a remote route without sufficient road-testing – and we are running late. Therefore the STP becomes an inviting opportunity as well as a safe bet. After Portland (or Hood River as originally planned) the next destination is Bend, Oregon; the distance and elevation climb is nearly identical at 161 miles with 9200 feet of elevation climb, following US-26 East to Madras and south on US-97 to Bend. The route to California then follows US-97 south, eventully linking up to Hwy 89 at Harris Spring Rd, bearing south to South Lake Tahoe, picking up Hwy 88 West over the Sierras to Jackson, then following Hwy 49 south to Oakhurst, then South on Hwy 41 to Fresno - the farthest southerly point of the entire trek - arriving about Saturday, July 23rd - some 1200 miles from Redmond, Washington.

OT: Just briefly, this whole business of going to California actually began as a personal challenge to complete the STP on an electric bike on P1, the present bike frame. Leading up to last year I acquired the Felt Compulsion frame in December 2009 for the STP event with the plan to craft a 2WD. This is when I began collecting and evaluating different controllers and bike components. Sometime around Spring plans for a family reunion solidified around the 4th of July. The STP took a backseat as the challenge instead morphed into a road trip to California. The compressed schedule did not allow for enough time to complete the 2WD bike as planned and instead I opted to use the P0 bike, doing the “Hail Mary” move using Amtrak to save time. It appears that this year I’ll get to do both even though I’ve missed the 4th.

Trailer:
Yesterday I made a successful test run to the Machinist purposely over steep hilly terrain to stress the system with a deadweight of 30 pounds on the trailer. The RShunt values are off and I cannot relate the actual current used, however I can tell from the battery voltage how much capacity was used. With hope, the Speedict unit should resolve the mystery anyway. The results of powered ebike and trailer were richly rewarding, however I am prepared to trim back the power for the sake of distance, though not before I do one final speed test today

It’s 9:30 AM and there is much yet to do, so with that – I am going to bust a move. Most kind ES Folks that have offered assistance, I shall PM you my intended dates and contact info.

T-Minus 24:00:00
Portland or Bust, KF

[grindz145]

Good Luck! Fantastic Journey and coverage. Can't wait to hear about the experience!

Edit: 7.5 kwh?!? holy hell. Jealous. , by my calculation it's 6840w-h, still crazy for a bicycle

[dbaker]

Way to go, KF! Anxious to hear how your speed test went. Were the previous results with the trailer done with a much smaller pack than you expect to take on the trip?

[Kingfish]

Way to go, KF! Anxious to hear how your speed test went. Were the previous results with the trailer done with a much smaller pack than you expect to take on the trip?

Battery pack: Yes - it was my commuter pack. My RShunt value is off however I could tell from the voltage of the pack that I was using excessive power. However before I backed it down I disconnected the trailer and took P1 out for a speed run after the disc brake issues were resolved (partly anyway)... and the results are in:

Member of the 40-mph Club



The top CA is for the trailer which is disconnected. The bottom CA is for the front wheel. I know they're reversed, but the bottom was mounted first - and I can read it easier. Stats: Batt Current = 24A, Phase = 60A. Speed = 120%. Took me less than a block to come up to 30 mph but I had to wait for traffic ahead of me to speed up - which took another 3 blocks.

Fun huh?

Anyways, I have since derated both controllers.

• Primary was 24/60A, is now: 20/50A (this is still slightly more powerful than my previous 6FET settings)
• Secondary was 18/45A, is now 16/40A
• 3-Way is still set to 52%, 85% and 120%.
• Freewheels did not change.
• Regen is still set to max; no variable regen with these controllers.

Been at it since 7:30 AM.
Ready for a nap. KF

[Lyen]

Here's the video that may helps when you come to California. It basically tells you your rights to take the full lane and etc. It should be applicable to electric bicycles as well.

[dbaker]

Anybody heard from KF? Hoping all is well and his trip is rolling along

[Kingfish]

I haven’t left yet.
I swear to you – I have been up every morning at 6:30AM and working on getting the bike ready up till 10 PM when the neighbors give me the evil eye if I am using power tools. I kid you not.

The problems began Saturday when I was mounting the battery boxes and I realized that the fasteners were too short. Being metric, no one in a 25 mile radius open on a Saturday had the specific type of hardware that I required – I know cos that’s how far I went in search of. I ended up settling on #8 SAE fasteners, and by the time I returned to the task at hand – it was 9:30PM, and I wasn’t ready.

I thought that I could leave on Sunday. Rescheduled the motel. Just a little bit more wiring to do. ACK! It took far longer than I had figured. Well – let’s cancel the plan, forgo the STP, and try again tomorrow (Monday).

Go up again early… actually I got up twice in the night to eat cos my body is thinkin’ “We’re gonna go TODAY and I’m hungry so feed me fool!” And I fed the hungry body and went back to bed… twice. Got up at 6:30AM ready to tear arse. Look down the ToDo list, oh yeah – I gotta have that USB-Charger for my cellphone – DING: 1 hour. Um, oh heck I need to cover up that wiring – DING: 90 minutes later. Oh, um – I guess I should pack… hey them new Ortleibs don’t look like my pair from last year… wtf? DING: 90 minutes of swapping hardware.

My life is but a slew of details strung together by the two brain cells randomly firing in the ginormous void between these two ears. Actually he void is filled with sand but I’m not telling… The only show-stopper left is the 24 hour-day; if we had 30 hours – I would be gone.

But at least I will be packed up and ready to go for the morning. Um, except – there was a problem configuring the Speedict device as the driver won’t load, but I’m not going to let that stop me. Um, but the turn signals that I bought turned out to be shite; I have 6 but only 4 are worth a damn… no – I take that back, they are NOT worth a damn. But I’m not going to let that stop me! But then I don’t have a long-enough bolt for the steering dampener – so that can’t get mounted – but I’m not going to let that stop me, no!! And I don’t have the Blinkies installed on the rear trailer – but since I’m not leaving right now, it’ll give me something to do tonight after I go fetch me a long enough bolt, two turn signals, and source the right driver for the Speedict – dammit.

I guess it’s safe to say that because I am now TWO WEEKS late that I have added another week back to my vacation.

So this is my Life: I hope I shall be v e r y late for my own funeral.
Pictures of the finished assembly shortly. KF

[liveforphysics]

If you still need metric bolts when you get to Santa Cruz, my shop has a few hundred pounds of them.

Excited to get updates on the journey once it starts.

[dbaker]

No worries, KF. I was just concerned with your safety. I fully understand scope creep You are supposed to have fun on your vacation. The trip is more important than the destination Your hardware complexity is more than twice what it was last year. Even with your troubles most of us are very envious of your trip and your gadgets

[spinningmagnets]

Keep everyone posted about any concerns along the way. Since your planned route is posted, any parts that would be helpful can be overnighted to one of your next stops. Best of luck!

[wineboyrider]

GODSPEED!

[SamTexas]

You could have already been on the road if you spent a little less time talking and a little more time doing. Yes, no, maybe??? Just kidding. Best of luck.

[Kingfish]

You could have already been on the road if you spent a little less time talking and a little more time doing. Yes, no, maybe??? Just kidding. Best of luck.

And now you know why I haven't posted copiously!

I'm so hungry I'm about to fall over. Taking a break and going to fetch that bolt, er um dinner since I have no food in the saucer, er hidden urban cave...
~KF