Yet another Yellow Ninja 250 Conversion!

[pgt400]

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I picked up my donor 03' Ninja 250 today. 1044 miles, mint condition but not running, sat for 3-4 years. Cleaned carb and 1 hour latter was running like new, took a 1 hour drive around town.....very nimble/fun bike! Tommorrow I will pull the engine and ebay it. On order ETEK-RT, Kelly 72400 with regen, contactor, fuse. Hoping to be able to shoe horn the motor above and behind the mono shock, but it will be close. All batts must fit within the flairing....I want it as stock looking as possible. Will gear for 50 max for now with 5-6 SLA's....35-50 AGM's depending on the room. Should be lots of fun!

[pgt400]

Wow, sure is light without that engine! Can't wait for the motor and controller.....Come on UPS!

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[gogo]

Hmm, I can't help but think that the stiff engine case was an integral part of the frame strength. The older cradle frames probably don't lose strength without the engine, but that picture of your frame without the engine raises an eyebrow on me.

[pgt400]

Bet it was...My lead holder will be pretty stout. Not worried.

[fechter]

I'd suggest looking at the dimensions of lithium batteries and design the "lead holder" to be future compatible.

[pgt400]

I'm using U1 SLA's. There are a few lifepo4 vendors with this size. Also, the packages are smaller so its easy to make a custom size. Maybe Firefly will make a U1 size and Walmart will stock it!

[goodnslo]

Hmm, I can't help but think that the stiff engine case was an integral part of the frame strength. The older cradle frames probably don't lose strength without the engine, but that picture of your frame without the engine raises an eyebrow on me.

I agree that the motor was a part of the frame structure, but when you realize that it is being replaced by a battery box that can be made to be as strong as or stronger than a motor mount, the builder just has to keep in mind the stress points and plan accordingly.

[pgt400]

Also, I intend to keep wheelies and stoppies to a minimum!

[Jay64]

What's the fun in that????

[pgt400]

Motor came yesterday, bigger then I thought. I bought directly from MARS, had within 3 days.

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[pgt400]

welded up the battery racks. batts come tommorrow.

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[dogstar74]

Yet another yellow ninja 250 conversion!

You say that like we get tired of seeing this stuff. Looks absolutely great!

[pgt400]

Well, all (6) batteries fit, maybe I can find room for 1-2 more? Wonder if the MARS-RT would like 96 volts?

More welding tommorrow and the 72 tooth sprocket. Kelly Controller & contactor are comming from China.

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[drewjet]

Looking good!!!

[Jay64]

Looks good. Quick question, are all the batteries just stacked on top of each other at the front of your battery trays?

[frodus]

what bats are those?

[pgt400]

No, theres a center tray that isn't done.....ran out of angle stock.

[pgt400]

what bats are those?

They are from Powerstar. I bought online. On their web page the battery stated "FOR DEEP CYCLE". The batts I got LOOK identical and had the same part number, but don't have DEEP CYCLE printed on them. I called and the guy assurded me they were the same construction, from same supplier. Anyway, they were only $52 each and $11 each to ship. 2 year warranty. U1 size. I was trying to find a vendor with B&B's but the best price I got was $116 for the EVp35's. I'm hoping to go with Lifepo4's soon....when price dives. A 72v 60 AH pack would be real nice. UPS brought controller, contactor and sprocket today.... after dinner I should get more done.

[pgt400]

Great progress today, finished welding, painted and re-assembled batt trays. Mounted controller, fuse & contactor. Did most of the heavy wiring and called it quits. Pool, grilled salmon, asparagas and coronas. Should have a test run tommorrow.

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[pgt400]

First test today with 60 volts. Didn't do the twist throttle yet so I just taped a pot right to the tank! Ran great, real smooth. I put 8 miles on it and put her back on charge. The batts were at 64 volts.

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[Link]

First test today with 60 volts. Didn't do the twist throttle yet so I just taped a pot right to the tank! Ran great, real smooth.

Gee, I can't see anything that could have gone wrong with that.

[pgt400]

Been running at 72 volts, but only ~70% power. My pot setup only goes to about 2.8k ohm (default wants 4k for full power). Normally not a problem as the end points are programmable, but my PC isn't talking to the controller. Kelly has been very helpful, sending out a new cable and interface dongle. Added (3) on board 24v, 3 amp smart chargers. Nice to be able to just plug it in. They are cheap scooter chargers, seem to work real nice. Keeps burping the batts till they all go into float mode. Going to start cleaning it up an clearancing the lower fairing.

[pgt400]

Finised, very happy with the way it came out. A blast to drive. I put over 100 miles on it the last couple days. The regen works very well, glad I got it. I take power from the brake light to close a relay sending 24v to the kelly controller giving 30% regen. I could use the fully regen but I'm using AGM's, not sure they want to see 80 amp charging current. Ordered LED bulbs since I tap 12volts off the main pack.

Posted on Evalbum as .well

http://www.evalbum.com/1955

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[frodus]

dude, that turned out great! another one on the road.

Just insured mine, and need to get the lights working...

Everything on your seemed to fit together really well, great work!

Let us know the performance numbers as you get more seat time on it.

[pgt400]

Thanks, I was thinking of adding another batt but Mars didn't reccomend 84v. Going to add a tooth to the front sprocket. I really enjoy riding around town with it. Lots of looks from people tring to figure out why its so quiet. I do find myself checking out lifepo4's......will try and hold out till next year.