YZF600R Thundercat EV

Bernel

100 W
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
174
Location
Peterborough, England
Hi all, new to this forum stuff, I took the plunge to convert my 1999 Thundercat to all electric when I lost second gear. I started the process in March 2012, lost of web research. I thought I was being innovative until I realised ev conversions had been going on for years. Any how here are my specifications.

ME0913
KHB72601
Kelly DC/DC converter
72V10A Charger
LiPo Pack 20S7P 74V 70Ah
 
Sounds like a cool build. Where are you located? We didn't really call them Thundercats too much in the US. For those who are not familiar, this is the ZYF600R. This bike was the upgrade from the FZR and led to the R6. How far along are you on your build? Post some pics, we are looking forward to seeing this build.
 
Hi Jay64, I am in the UK we are a fair bit behind with diy ev's. I will post some pics of my progress soon. My current status is 12V wiring complete, took delivery of my charger yesterday and waiting for my battery box to be fabricated. I did a lot of mock Ups with foam and cardboard. So a few more slabs of aluminium and some welding and I should be good to go.

Will keep you posted, no pun intended.
 
We've had a few brilliant builds come our way from the UK. Looking forward to what you come up with. You should try to meet up with Jeremy Harris and Jozzer to see what they have come up with. Two really great guys.
 
Yeah, Steve (Jozzer) is a real good guy. Both of them are members here on this forum. You can search out some of their stuff by their user name in the author part of the search function.
 
Don't worry, we called them Thundercats in Australia too. A very nice bike to ride actually.
 
Do you already have your batteries? With a pack that size consisting of cells of a chemistry where an issue with 1 cell can cause a thermal runaway of the entire pack in less than a minute, be sure you understand the precautions required. It boils down to making sure no faulty cells make it into the pack, and make sure each cell can neither be discharged to too low a voltage or charged to too high a voltage, and they will serve you well.

Can't wait to see pics.

John
 
Thanks all for the responses, I though I would post some pictures of what I have done so far.yzf26.jpgView attachment 1yzf21.jpg

It's amazing what you can achieve with some cardboard and MDF, CAD takes too long for me. I am waiting for the battery box to be fabricated once that is done I will get it welded to the frame and build on top. I have ordered some auminium sheet and plate to replace the MDF once I am happy with where everything is going go.

I was looking at making my own charging point or EVSE as it is called in the UK, turns out in East Anglia you can get one installed for free, all they want in return is the ability to capture data of usage.

I will keep you posted on further events.
 
I though I would show my build history to date, here go's.

11/03/12
My Thundercat lost 2nd gear so decided to do an EV conversion. Here are some picures of the naked bike.
 

Attachments

  • yzf1.jpg
    yzf1.jpg
    51.4 KB · Views: 14,641
  • yzf2.jpg
    yzf2.jpg
    47.9 KB · Views: 14,641
I was initially going to use GBS batteries and decided to go for 6 x 100Ah, this would give me 72V and plenty of range. I bought some foam cut to the dimensions of the batteries, controller, dc/dc converter and charger that I was going to use.
 

Attachments

  • yzf9_2.jpg
    yzf9_2.jpg
    10.8 KB · Views: 14,629
  • yzf9_1.jpg
    yzf9_1.jpg
    12.4 KB · Views: 14,629
The GBS 100Ah batteries were too big, I wanted to be able to fit the fairing back on to have the bike looking stock.

I ordered some more foam to the dimensions of the 60Ah batteries, these fit perfectly.
 

Attachments

  • yzf9_4.jpg
    yzf9_4.jpg
    13.4 KB · Views: 14,628
Now that I had batteries that would fit I set about making mock up trays. I ordered some kraft board as mock up angle. It was so easy to work with cardboard and you can actually see how it all fits. This was my final design with these batteries.
 

Attachments

  • yzf14.jpg
    yzf14.jpg
    9.2 KB · Views: 14,627
  • yzf13.jpg
    yzf13.jpg
    8.8 KB · Views: 14,627
  • yzf12.jpg
    yzf12.jpg
    9.4 KB · Views: 14,627
  • yzf11.jpg
    yzf11.jpg
    7.3 KB · Views: 14,627
  • yzf10.jpg
    yzf10.jpg
    9.3 KB · Views: 14,627
This was the way the batteries would have been fitted in sequence but after all that effort mocking it up the cost to import them to the UK was way too expensive.
 

Attachments

  • yzf16.jpg
    yzf16.jpg
    9.8 KB · Views: 14,627
With the motor in my possession I set about designing the mounting bracket. I used MDF and dimensions from the drawing to measure it all out. My skill with a protractor and Pythagoras helped a lot here.

Here was the initial design.
 

Attachments

  • yzf18.jpg
    yzf18.jpg
    25.7 KB · Views: 14,589
I was going to use 6mm aluminium for this mount and when I tested the motor by hand with the chain I noticed a lateral twisting force. Then I remembered Elgixer made some C plates for his AC20. I set about designing my own out of MDF again but it will be 12mm aluminium to take the clamping bolts.

My brother got a company to make the motor mounts for me. The front face plates arrived first and it fitted like a glove.
 

Attachments

  • yzf21.jpg
    yzf21.jpg
    17.1 KB · Views: 14,649
  • yzf20.jpg
    yzf20.jpg
    21.2 KB · Views: 14,649
We are now 16th December 2012, I have the motor mounted, I have the controller, contactors, emergency disconnect, throttle pot box and various connectors. I cut out some 6mm MDF to mount the controller, throttle and contactors and placed them inside the frame.
 

Attachments

  • yzf22.jpg
    yzf22.jpg
    22.5 KB · Views: 14,588
Next I began working out how I was going to connect the throttle cable to the pot box. I decided against the Magura twist grip as I did not want to mess around with the right hand handle bar. I put pencil to paper and came up with a simple design.
 

Attachments

  • yzf23.jpg
    yzf23.jpg
    16.6 KB · Views: 14,646
  • yzf25.jpg
    yzf25.jpg
    22.8 KB · Views: 14,646
Looks very similar to one of my builds. Unfortunately I used a sevcon controller and the company I bought it from couldn't program it correctly. Regret not going with a Kelly.
 
Hey Jay64,
And there was me thinking I was doing something original;). It is interesting how things come together I started my design with no external input and when I discovered the EV Universe all the questions and queries I had were already answered.

Any way my aluminium plate arrived today and I have designed my own bus bars. Still waiting on the battery box though.

I would be interested in seeing your similar build, have you got a link to it?
 
Well, I used a different chassis. But here is my build thread.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=38221

It started off with a totally different design idea, and then ended up becoming closer to your build.
 
I have given up on the video of the throttle cable in action, I am sure I will work it out later.

So back to the build, 24th December 2012 I set about mocking up the new battery tray which will house the LiPo batteries.
 

Attachments

  • yzf27.jpg
    yzf27.jpg
    18.9 KB · Views: 14,503
  • yzf31.jpg
    yzf31.jpg
    32.5 KB · Views: 14,503
  • yzf32.jpg
    yzf32.jpg
    18 KB · Views: 14,503
Back
Top