Electric Mower Motor for bike

Hello, has anyone done this kind of conversion for an electric bike. Around here these things are a dime a dozen. 2 kinds the corded mower and the battery powered mower, they are either free or ultra cheap. The corded ones I believe have a bridged rectifier. I couldnt find much on them, but I found something here about corded mowers stating "The peak output from the rectifier is about 170 Volts DC from a 120 Volt AC input."

I believe the battery mowers run in the range of like 24V to 36V with 12A's. They are of the permanent magnet variety. Dunno how much amps they draw.

I wonder how much these puppies weigh.

Other ideas I stumbled across was office equipment (old photocopiers), 24 Volt starter motors which wont do much good but worth the research, and a couple other ideas I wrote down on a piece of paper that I dont have handy right now.

you are correct. the mowers which run on 120AC have a diode to make DC current for the motor. the winding wires are tiny and could not handle the currents needed to drive the mower blade if the voltage was 24V DC.

I built my bike using a brushed motor off a 24 volt ryobi cordless mower, running on 36 volts. Its good for about 600 watts continuous and fairly peppy from a stop.

However this type of build is not easy to do, since you need at least a 12 to 1 reduction on 26 inch wheel. The motor is 9 lbs.

The biggest problem I have with this built is finding replacement brushes.

Where did you mount yours?
I read the newer emowers are rocking out at over 1kW.

I was thinking rear rack mount, sprocketed.

What kind of off-the-shelf, cheap DIY motors are good?
Treadmill Motors are out.
I had my hopes on the electric mower idea, still is viable though.

Was thinking I could put a couple motors in series on one chain. Found a surplus store, that sells AC and DC motors, some with torque ratings that have a decent cheap price. The specs are kind of hit and miss but all I look for is the weight, and torque rating. Found some wheelchair motors, with reduction already installed, havent really looked into it too much, been busy with my school.

Hub motor kits are cheap and get you on the road fast.

The motor is under the rear of the seat and tire. Between the motor and wheel is a 2 stage reduction, on the left side. This is the best I can describe in words. I have pictures , I have tried to post, with no success. Sorry

markz said:

Hello, has anyone done this kind of conversion for an electric bike. Around here these things are a dime a dozen. 2 kinds the corded mower and the battery powered mower, they are either free or ultra cheap. The corded ones I believe have a bridged rectifier. I couldnt find much on them, but I found something here about corded mowers stating "The peak output from the rectifier is about 170 Volts DC from a 120 Volt AC input."

I believe the battery mowers run in the range of like 24V to 36V with 12A's. They are of the permanent magnet variety. Dunno how much amps they draw.

I wonder how much these puppies weigh.

Other ideas I stumbled across was office equipment (old photocopiers), 24 Volt starter motors which wont do much good but worth the research, and a couple other ideas I wrote down on a piece of paper that I dont have handy right now.

Click to expand...

Last weekend I put a volt meter across the brushes of my B&D MM875 corded 12A mower and saw about 140VDC while spinning. 'been wanting to power it with old RC Lipo so I wanted to see what the motor sees.

Kinda the reverse of what you're thread is about but figure and hope this tidbit of voltage data might be of use?

Just watched the start of the vid. By the bloke who has built a super ebike using washing machine motor. I've got a few defunct electric tools with working motors so I'm wondering if it's hard to convert my FLYMOW 400 TURBO
. 1500w to work within legal approved range of 250w /24v battery. I've got three batteries that work, one lightweight lithium, and 2 lead gel heavyweightss.. They all operate with the fitted kit of a wayscral 315 ebike, (motor water damaged) (might fix up).. I suppose the best kind of motor not ebike specific, must be one from some kind of cordless machine. But mine are all of the corded kind..I don't want to buy expensive bits, but if all else fails.. I have got a tiny petrol engine for a bike, that might work if I install it OK. Meanwhile.. any diy ebikes, using corded, power tool motors, information.please?????
I just watched the washing machine/ebike guy. On YouTube. Very good stuff..

The biggest problem is supplying 150v or so to the motor. A battery of that voltage would be difficult to build and maintain. You could possibly use a more typical battery voltage and a dc-dc converter to boost the voltage. The converter has losses and power limitations, but I've seen people use them successfully. Treadmill motors are something to look at too.

To me, it's just all around better to find a motor that runs on a lower voltage so you don't need a converter or insanely large battery.

Why building simple and durable, when you can make it complicated and high maintenance?

I see only one good reason: you like tempering with a bike, more than riding it.