Video of Fechter's Vego SX-600

[fechter]

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TOJ9PhxqIg

My first attempt at a rolling video.

I used a foot-long mini tripod that was zip-tied to the shoulder strap on my backpack. It has ball joint under the camera that allows a wide range of adjustment. It puts the camera at about chest level, which makes it easy enough to see the screen and reach the controls. I was afraid to attach it to the handlebars due to the extreme vibration.

The video really doesn't do justice to the steepness of the hills I was on due to the camera angle. I'll have to work on that.

I also ran out of juice unexpectedly since I had just replaced some 6 year old batteries with some 3 year old batteries (assuming younger is better). Wrong. One of them was good but the other one might need some cycles to get into shape. You get what you pay for....

On the first "little hill", I measured the steepest part of the grade at 18%. It's generally over 15%. That's my imfamous test hill. Anything that can go full throttle up that hill without emitting smoke passes the test. Many setups have failed.

On the test hill, I can maintain around 20 mph. It draws 60 amps on the steep parts.

Weather was a freezing cold 66 deg. and strong gusty winds.

We'll see if it worked.
What's that embedded HTML thing on YouTube? Can we embed those in a post here? test:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9TOJ9PhxqIg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed>


Edit: I had to shorten the video to under 10 min.

[xyster]

The page states "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation." Sounds ominous, like you were caught up in the Viacom copyright dragnet.

Just how long was it?

[fechter]

Violated!

Anyway, the video was something like 18 minutes. 10 minutes is the maximum allowable. I guess I should have tried the video.google thing. Somehow I thought that since google bought out YouTube, they were the same thing.

[knightmb]

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TOJ9PhxqIg

My first attempt at a rolling video.

I used a foot-long mini tripod that was zip-tied to the shoulder strap on my backpack. It has ball joint under the camera that allows a wide range of adjustment. It puts the camera at about chest level, which makes it easy enough to see the screen and reach the controls. I was afraid to attach it to the handlebars due to the extreme vibration.

The video really doesn't do justice to the steepness of the hills I was on due to the camera angle. I'll have to work on that.

I also ran out of juice unexpectedly since I had just replaced some 6 year old batteries with some 3 year old batteries (assuming younger is better). Wrong. One of them was good but the other one might need some cycles to get into shape. You get what you pay for....

On the first "little hill", I measured the steepest part of the grade at 18%. It's generally over 15%. That's my imfamous test hill. Anything that can go full throttle up that hill without emitting smoke passes the test. Many setups have failed.

On the test hill, I can maintain around 20 mph. It draws 60 amps on the steep parts.

Weather was a freezing cold 66 deg. and strong gusty winds.

The video was great, nice work on the scooter! I can't imagine riding around at 30+MPH that must have been a blast. It looks like it was a ton of fun and hills look steep. At least after so many videos on mine, the camera can't due hills "justice" on how steep they are. Loved the "that guy is speeding" near the end

We'll see if it worked.
What's that embedded HTML thing on YouTube? Can we embed those in a post here? test:

Edit: I had to shorten the video to under 10 min.

Yeah, I'm not sure why youtube and google video add these extra tags when all that is needed is the embed tag?

[xyster]

On the test hill, I can maintain around 20 mph.

In the video, clearly you were pedaling up that hill!

Just kidding.

But how do vee know you veren't kick-pooshing it?

[NickF23]

Wow, it certainly shifts! "glad i got those disk brakes"

[Malcolm]

Ha ha! That's tremendous Fechter. From now on I will call you the milkman – your scoot makes exactly the same noise that wakes me up at 6.10am when our milk is delivered. We still have electric milk delivery trucks over here, though they don't go anywhere near that fast.

Your neighbourhood looks great, but I assume that the complaint about it ONLY being 66 degrees was meant to make some of us climatically disadvantaged folks just a little green

[fechter]

I was born and raised in Minnesota, but I don't miss the winters there.
I get spoiled by the climate here. It was 79 two days ago, which is much more comfortable for riding. I still hate the wind, which is frequent here.

The noise is interesting. My son says it sounds like a muscle car with a roots blower. I would prefer silent. The noise is apparently a result of the motor's torque ripple. It's nice and quiet when I'm off the throttle.

I had to edit out the part of the video when I passed by a police car. The cops around here don't bother me. They have more important things to chase after.

[Malcolm]

The noise is apparently a result of the motor's torque ripple.

I'd assumed that brushless motors were near silent, which was one of the reasons I was planning to use one on my next project, if I ever get the first one finished. Do you get a similar noise with most brushless motors?

It's quite a cool sound, but it'd be fun to have a bike that was really stealth, it's also one of the "selling points" for electric, of course. If you were worried about running people over because they don't hear you coming you could always add some speakers and a sound track, preferably synched to your motor rpm – a steam loco would be good

[fechter]

Brushed motors are actually quieter usually.

Most brushless motors make some noise. A BMC or Kollmorgen are similar. The Crystallyte motors have overlapping windings which will minimize the noise. Some of them have skewed stator poles which helps too.

If the controller had a trapezoidal or sine wave output instead of a square wave, the noise would be much less. The loudness is a function of the current, and I'm running a lot of current.

[xyster]

I've noticed unlike the "whine" of brushed motors, my brushless 5304 "growls".

Dogs hate my bike. Many go nuts as I ride by. Even though most of their owners haven't a clue, their dogs sure do.

"That's no bike! [huffa huffa slobber slobber]"
"I tell ya', Master, there's something fishy going on here! [woof! woof!]"
"Bikes don't growl, but dogs do. Watch. [grrrr....]"
"Let me at that impostor. I know there's another dog in there!"

Next, the leash gets tangled around the owner as I bust-a-hubmotor out of there!

[NickF23]

I would have thought most of the noise is the gears no? I did once ride a bike with a brushless motor that actually made no noise i could hear at all, though I was in a busy market place at the time

[Malcolm]

Dogs hate my bike. Many go nuts as I ride by.

Dogs have roughly the same low-frequency hearing limit (65Hz) as us, but their upper frequency limit is about twice as high as ours (45 kHz). Are you sure it's the motor they don't like, Xyster?

[fechter]

I would have thought most of the noise is the gears no? I did once ride a bike with a brushless motor that actually made no noise i could hear at all, though I was in a busy market place at the time

My Vego uses a belt, which is very quiet. When it was running the stock brushed motor, it made a different sound and was much quieter.

Perhaps the dogs smell the hamsters that are powering Xyster's bike.

[xyster]

Are you sure it's the motor they don't like, Xyster?

I only know I feel much better having enough power to outrun the pit bulls.

[knoxie]

Hi Richard

Great to see some video, wow thats quick! it accelerates like a scalded cat! briilliant stuff. What sort of motor temps are you seeing? what kind of range do you typically get?

Would love to see more footage if you get the time, the way that liilte motor pulls up the hills is very impressive!

Thanks

knoxie

[fechter]

Thanks Knoxie.

After my 6mi of jackrabbit starts and serious hill climbing, the motor was barely warm. The cool weather really stops heat buildup. When it's 90F outside, it gets pretty warm.

My batteries are 13Ah, 48v, used surplus chunks of lead (free). If I go all out, full throttle with lots of hills, like in the video, It went 6 miles. I think it would do quite a bit better if I had new batteries.

If I go conservatively and try to keep the current down, I think it could go nearly 20 miles. If I added a "Matt Pack" to get around 60v, it could go a bit further.

[knoxie]

Hi

Yes great to see it and hear it, it sounds similar to my bike on full throttle, my motor sounds nice its got a nice tone to it!

I have a nice 48V 20AH lipo pack that would sit nicely in the tray! ha ha new batts would help extend your range, lipo is n expensive option however.

Looks like the forced cooling is really helping so well done on that and thanks again Richard I love e-bike / vehicle vids!!

Keep em coming!!

Knoxie

[fechter]

Testing cut short by a flat tire, I was force to replace the tube, as it seems to have accumulated at least 5 different punctures since it was sealed with "instant flat repair" sealant last year.

Unfortunately, I could not find a 12-1/2 x 2-1/4" tube locally that had a bent valve stem. Without a bent stem, it's almost impossible to get my pump on the valve stem due to the sprocket covering one side and the brake disc covering the other side. Even with the bent stem it was a pain.

After trashing one tube, I decided to drill an offset hole in the rim to allow the valve stem to come out at a good angle to fit the air pump. The old hole was covered with a thin piece of aluminum held in place with BLACK duct tape.

Seems to work fine. This will make messing with the stupid innertube easier, I hope. I also installed slime liners in the tire and found a new tire that claims to have "Flack Jacket" protection, whatever that could be in such a thin piece of rubber.

[fechter]

If it's not one thing, it's another. Somewhere in testing the current mode throttle gizmo, I apparently managed to fry my throttle. I guess I must have accidently plugged it into the switch connector, which fed it 65 volts, making it an unhappy camper.

To make matters worse, it's a bit of a PITA to rewire a new throttle. I tried to remove the dead hall sensor, but it was glued in with some really good glue and self-destructed before coming out. That would be OK, except the only replacement hall sensors are installed in "good" throttles with the same glue.

Time to rip things apart... Geez there's a lot of wires in the hairball.

[knoxie]

Hi Rich

Hope you got it working ok? such a sweet ride that machine is, I would love a scoot to add to my rides, I have the KMX the BMX the Raleigh and the Trek, I think I need a scoot, what ones would you recommend? ones I can hack easily! ha ha, I have loads of motors as you know so that isnt a problem and loads of old lead acid batteries!!

Knoxie

[fechter]

I got it running in time for some decent weather. I slapped an extra "Matt Pack" on the deck with duct tape for 60V. I pulled off the current mode throttle thing during rewiring and was running without it.

A few extra volts really perks things up. I was hitting 95 amps on take-off and almost wheelied a couple of times (and I lean forward when accelerating)

Too bad those surplus lead bricks I'm running don't stay happy very long at those kinds of discharge rates. I need to get the current feedback throttle thing working again.

My speedometer also becomes useless at anything over 25 mph. I has some kind of switch bounce filtering that makes it start skipping counts above 25. Always something.

[knoxie]

Hi Richard

Right glad you got it all going again and yes I know all about the speedo issue, I had a specialized wireless computer on my bike and it was real bad, it didn't like the motor speed controller inside my original potted USPD motor, as soon as you throttled it would skip all over the place, had to ditch it in the end and get a wired one, never had a problem since.

Yes some big high capacity batts in the scoot would be great, life batteries would be nice!! I am not a big fan of lead for bike use but they make perfect sense for scooters and motorbikes IMHO so that's why I must have a go at hacking something up!!

Cheers

Knoxie

[BrendaEM]

Good Video!

Five punctures, sounds like goatheads. Sorry about your throttle.

Tough little motor. It looks like you gave it a good workout. I'm still amazed that a motor that small and light can put up with that (ab)use.

Should it need batteries, it would be interesting to use 3 of 18-22ah in the compartment, and the last in the rack, or mounted on the front of the seatpost, angled along the rear fender, away from your feet. I drew the last battery large.

You can afford a real fluke DMM? : )

[fechter]

Actually, your drawing looks pretty close to my 60v configuration. 4 in the bottom and one duct taped on the deck near the location you're showing. I also thought about hanging the extra battery on the rear rack, but the wires would need to be too long.

I'm drooling over those lithium iron batteries that Roller has. One would fit right in the tray. 20Ah.

At high discharge rates, I'm getting about 8-9 Ahr out of my 13Ahr Hawkers.