2WD Offroad wheelchair Hub Motors

[umaine2016]

I am building an off-road wheelchair for my cousin as a capstone project, and have become interested in using a fat tire ebike hub motor. They provide much more torque than a traditional electric wheelchair motor, and do not take up space on the frame. My question is, are these motors reversible, and do you know of any controllers that can be programmed to operate two motors? I am trying to make the wheelchair have "zero-turn" capability, so the motors will have to turn in opposite directions. Would it be better to have two controllers with one joystick? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[dogman dan]

It should be quite possible to make a zero turn, skid steer vehicle. I'm stalled part way through a similar project, for lack of funds.

All you really need, is controllers that have a reverse mode function, and dual throttles. Or so I think, till I get such controllers myself and try it.

My project is a three person couch, Two hub motors and two large casters for wheels. It may not end up a true zero turn, but hopefully will come close to that. Able to spin riders till they are silly.

 

[umaine2016]

Any suggestions on motors and controllers to create the ability for zero turn radius on a wheelchair? I am trying to develop an offroad wheelchair, but zero-turn is a must. Motors must be high torque, but max speed only has to be 5 mph. Weight of chair and rider will be under 500lbs.

 

[Hillhater]

Forget using any Ebike hub motor at those speeds,..its way out of any acceptable operating range .
Suggest you will need some high gearing reduction for 5 mph max.
Why not use conventional wheelchair motor/drives which are designed for those speeds ?

 

[SlowCo]

I am building an off-road wheelchair for my cousin as a capstone project, and have become interested in using a fat tire ebike hub motor. They provide much more torque than a traditional electric wheelchair motor

As far as I understand, the brushed DC (worm) gear reduction motors used on electric wheelchairs have much more stall torque and are a lot easier to control and reverse.

Then again, Golden Motor (http://www.goldenmotor.com/) have a wheelchair kit with brushless motors and joystick controller that you could use. For serious off road use you could order 2 kits and mount quad wheels with knobbly tires and have a 4 wheel drive wheelchair...

 

[dogman dan]

You might look at very small wheels, like a mag wheel. I've seen them for wheelbarrows. Those should be higher torque because of the smaller wheel, and might take a fatter tire than typical for a bike. E-Bikekit used a motor like that for it's new product a mobility trike. It's a 16" mag wheel with a fairly fat tire.

Another EBK product you might consider is our low speed motor, Trike kit in 20" wheel, But it's top speed is much faster than you want, at 15 mph. it does have reversing controller though. I only mention it because its all you need in one kit. But I'm certain sure you can do a similar setup much cheaper!

Any three phase brushless direct drive hub motor will run either direction. Just a matter of the right controller. So just look for hub motors with a very low rpm spec. Then you just need throttles with an on off pushbutton, and controllers with reverse mode.

Run one wheel forward, the other backwards, that's zero turn. For even more grunt, it can also be done with four motors. Two on each side.

 

[dogman dan]

Not saying this particular wheel. Just an illustration of the type of 16" mag wheel. It takes a 16" bike tire.


http://salescy.en.made-in-china.com/product/oSXQRGMKCVcY/China-16-Brushless-Electric-Wheel-Hub-Motor.html

Some other interesting brushless mag wheels.

http://www.uumotor.com/shop/hub-motor/16-inch-500w-electric-scooter-motor

Or mid drive motors, if you are thinking of two of those.

http://www.uumotor.com/shop/electric-tricycle-motor?zenid=8d29iiu07m1bs4oe5lq6a7dre2

 

[SlowCo]

According to their website (http://www.goldenmotor.com/ tab: Hub Motor), the Magic Pie has an internal controller that supports forward and reverse. I don't know if that is "on the fly". But if so two of the 16" cast wheel Magic Pie 4 motors might be ideal. The controllers are programmable and due to the small diameter of the wheel with the large diameter of the hub motor should give serious torque.

 

[dogman dan]

Hard to find that true made for 5 mph rpm up a crazy steep hill in any hubmotor made for a bike. But those pies in the 16" mag wheel did look like one good option for 10 mph. I didn't see the fine print that they do have reverse in the controllers. Cool.


Slowest easy to find motor I know of is the mac 12t. But again with the reverse, geared motors can't reverse unless you lock the clutch. Disable the clutch on a Mac 12t and then lace 16". Hmm, that starts to sound like a viable option.