Norco Shore2 + Mac then 8x8 9C down under

[Spicerack]

Finally made a bit of progression on my build- first ride today. Most impressed so far- the grin on my face kinda gave it away!

Norco Shore 2 full susp downhill bike
Cellman mac rear
12 fet controller
60V recycled laptop batteries made into packs
Andynogo built torque arms (5mm steel)

I got impatient and only hooked up one of the packs (15S8P) but will have three of them on the bike for range and also to avoid stressing the little 18650 batteries too much.

Even taking it easy it takes off really well and does well over 40km/h. Nice! Silence is so golden compared to my 2 stroke bike...

Still have to complete the last few battery packs, mount them then cover the whole lot to hide them.








(No idea why this photo comes out funny- photobucket upload error)

The idea is to mount two more battery packs on either side of the front downtube and keep one on the top tube roughly where it sits right now. Obviously I'll use something a bit more durable than duct tape to hold them on!

[Spicerack]

My son telling me to get away from my electric bike because it was faster than him on his BMX!



Duct tape and loose wires dangling down add to the mad scientist persona. The battery trays are powdercoated spice racks from Bunnings that just so happened to be just the right size for my battery packs!

Next, finish battery mountings and hide everything with a cover.

[sn0wchyld]

a nice bike to be working with... are you planning on mounting the batts allong the side of the frame? cause particually with single crown forks, you've got a huge ammount of space, and putting 'em there would mean the whole bike looks nearly stock - a must for aus i think. bunnings have square PVC tubing which works great as battery cases

[AussieJester]

Nice frame! Have you seen the Aussie Roll Call
Thread, we have a group ride this Sunday
32km ride on the cycle path around the Swan River
Meeting 1pm @ the Garret Road bridge car park, be
Great to see you there if you can make out?
best of luck getting the bike finished anyway...

KiM

[Tench]

Thats a nice bike to use for an ebike build, just got myself a Specialized bighit to do a full sus downhill ebike for myself, keep the pics coming as the project progresses.

Is that an RE5 in the back ground? Showing my age there!!!

[Spicerack]

Thanks for the comments guys. I checked out the pvc at Bunnings but my battery packs are just a bit too big for them...

There was never any chance for me to be ready for that ride Kim- I worked non stop for a couple of weeks for CHOGM at night which was pretty sucky. Didn't even get to see Queeny!

I'm also still sorting my charging system- I'm currently balance charging all the packs which takes about a week but then I'll be bulk charging with meanwells. Still need to sort current limiting on them- they're no good for the r33 mod so am getting a fechter limiter board from Greg nearby when he comes back to Perth.

Tench- good eyes there mate! Yes, I have two of them-one totally stripped down and that one in the photo which is licensed but needs new coolant seals in the motor. I hope to have it back on the road...sometime....in between so many projects!

Battery packs are all assembled now- 15 of them! Just waiting on some jst connectors from ebay (what did we ever do without it?).

[AussieJester]

No worries mate perhaps next time?

Re: fetchers current limiting boards, reckon Greg would have a couple spare I could buy?
jehu needs one and I wouldnt mind one myself for future use.

KiM

[Spicerack]

Well I've done 25k's on the bike now, mostly showing off to my mates and letting them have a go. The grin factor is universally high!

Top speed so far is 57.5kmh but seems to cruise quite happily just above 50 without using too much throttle.

The recycled laptop batteries seem to be holding up pretty well and are staying pretty well balanced.

[Spicerack]

Finally pulled my finger out and modified the meanwell to run at 62v to charge my 15s battery packs.

The charger is now attached to the bike under the rather large ugly fairing... Painted stealth matt black for now. Might try and find some carbon fibre pattern stick on sheet to improve it a bit as it does kinda dominate the bike! I can't avoid the size of the cover as I've put a large bulk of batteries on the bike to give me the range- 40+km trip each day (pref without charging).

Haven't worked out the range yet or the ah of the three battery packs- 15s24p 18650's. Might be around 35 ah useable.

The bike does 55kmh fairly easily on the flat and 60 downhill. 55a is the max generally on takeoff.







And all this on a 200w motor...

[Timma2500]

Nice setup Andy. They are a great frame, i had the DH version a few years ago pre ebike. Is that an overvolted hi torque mac? You should come along on our next group ride after xmas / new year!


Paul

[Spicerack]

Thanks Paul.

It WAS an overvolted MAC- setup for 48V but I just had to go to 60V, didn't I. Plenty of people have done it with good results. Mine lasted 20mins at that voltage this morning on its first proper run and has died. Totally dead. It started cutting out on takeoff (higher amps) but would work again if I rolled the throttle off then back on again gently. Got worse and worse over a few minutes and then died completely. I actually had to pedal the last 5k's to work! I've got a thread up for that http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34806 so will keep that updated and hopefully get some ideas as to the problem. Seems like it's a heat related fault- burnt hall/phase wire/winding/controller issue. So everything really. Nothing external or simple naturally.

To say I'm bitterly disappointed is an understatement- especially when others are having no problems with their MAC's at this voltage.

If I get it running again I'd def like to come on the ride. I don't know when it'll happen tho as I'm a bit busy at work and home so the bike will be pushed into a corner in disgrace for a while until I can resist the temptation to try and fix it with an angle grinder and large hammer.

[Spicerack]

Bit of an update. Ran the repaired MAC for over a year but when the freewheel thread broke off the cover I spat the dummy and decided to try a 9C 8x8 motor on it.

That's now on the bike and I've done the usual mods- larger phase wires, temp sensor and vented covers. Amazingly I hooked up all the wires colour for colour and it ran perfectly!!! Quite surprising given that me and my bro were soldering up and drinking beer at the same time...

The motor was second hand and had some holes drilled in the freewheel cover (which I took out to the outside edge) so I drilled some more in the brake side with a slightly different design.

I also chucked an impellor from an old vacuum cleaner on the brake side- I was thinking it might help direct some air into the intake holes which are drilled underneath it near the axle.

When I did a smoke test with it this evening, it appears to suck a little bit of the smoke in but with no baseline to work with I'm not looking for improvements, just whether it works at all as I'd like to put 3-4kw through it. We shall see! If not then a greentime 3kw hub motor will be ordered for this bike.




The untested vaccum impellor:

[AussieJester]

The vacuum cleaner impeller is genius! surprised more haven't tried this!
So...uhm, wanna drag mate?

KiM

[Spicerack]

Not genius- just some old shit I had lying around the shed. I really don't know if it will work this way- in the vacuum it spins the other way and sucks air from the centre to the outside... so who knows. Worth a try anyway.

As for a drag race, yup, after we've gone for a 50km ride, or maybe 60, by which stage I'm hoping your battery might be a bit low, then I'll drag ya!