"E-Zilla" w/ Cro Motor mid-drive * UP-DATE Chopping Frame!!*

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hello everyone!

I have been out of the game for a while (health issues) but I do have some progress to show, so I wanted to share it here on a new post.

here is a link to the original post:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33828&p=491447&hilit=Micargi#p491447

and here are some pics of recent progress:

I have an Amped Bikes Tube battery to test on it, and other than a better place to have it for better aesthetics, It's just a matter of working out the chain tension rollers (going to use two tandem bike guides that are fixed, with the drop-outs being used to maintain motor chain tension) and it should be up and running in a week or so!

 

[wineboyrider]

Is that the same motor you used on your recumbent

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Is that the same motor you used on your recumbent

Yes it is.

It will be used with 36V Lipo however, and with a battery like Amped Bike's Tube battery, I think it will perform quite nicely.

In previous tests it was just as efficient at 36V as it was at 48V, so it should bring costs down all around. 8)

 

[wildharemtbkr]

Quite interested to know how well this runs. How did you attach 2 sprockets to the nuvinci? Could you post a close up picture? Thanks.

 

[wineboyrider]

Hey Light Cycle can you give me the link where you purchased it?

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hey Light Cycle can you give me the link where you purchased it?

The motor? Here is a link to Golden Motor's Site:

http://www.goldenmotor.com/ (You want to order the "650W BLT-650 Trike Motor" since they will send you the 800W motor for the price of the 650W, or at least they did last two I ordered two)

 

[evb]

Hey Light Cycle can you give me the link where you purchased it?

I used same motor from http://www.leafmotor.com/bldc-motor.html
It's very heavy - about 9 kg.

A chopper has 46 km/h max speed (48v) on this BLD-800
http://epowerbikes.ru/archives/1730

Cyclone 840w motor is lighter 2 times and gives 60km/h on 48v (but need extra cooling)
http://epowerbikes.ru/archives/1840

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hey Light Cycle can you give me the link where you purchased it?

I used same motor from http://www.leafmotor.com/bldc-motor.html
It's very heavy - about 9 kg.

A chopper has 46 km/h max speed (48v) on this BLD-800
http://epowerbikes.ru/archives/1730

Cyclone 840w motor is lighter 2 times and gives 60km/h on 48v (but need extra cooling)
http://epowerbikes.ru/archives/1840

Good to know, I like the larger motors that tend to have less noise, heat and are DD so there are never gears to replace.

I'm going to test one at higher votage and see how it holds up (around 60 - 74V).

I don't have anything against high RPM motors, I just love the near silent operation of a DD.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Here are some new pics, got the NuVinci installed, had to feed the cable through the pulleys in the rear, really wasn't that hard at all, just have to make sure you take up the slack out of the assembly when locking down the position of the cables.

This one has a close up of the new tensioner that uses gravity to keep tension on the pedal chain much like an old school tandems (excuse the ugly welds, the HF TIG just isn't the same, and I was welding literally in the dark at my neighbors)

If all goes well, controller and battery should be installed this week-end!

Unfortunately my father's E-Bike is still having trouble, replaced the controller and motor, so now we are going to The Green Scene to see if a throttle does the trick, I suspect the newer generation of controllers use a slightly different throttle design, as the wires are not the same pattern or number, and don't seem to be compatible with our older throttle, and rather than make that work, going to get the latest version off the shelf that should just be plug and play.

I HIGHLY recommend Ed Storey at The Green Scene http://www.thegreensceneev.com/ If you're in the Portland Oregon area, he does excellent work for very reasonable rates, he converts cars to electric, but he sells more E-Bikes than anything.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

DOH! gotta wait for brakes to come in the mail (kinda of scary going 30 MPH with no brakes! ) but other than that, and I'm ordering a CA, the bike is nearly ready! 8)

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Got Breaks?

Brand new BB7-Mtn Disc brakes, can't wait!

Also, found some .30 Cal Ammo cans locally, (Craigs List rocks! $12 ea! 8) ) and I was going to put one in the front triangle behind the chain-guard, but then I remembered how sweet the "saddle bag" brake pods looked on ilia-45's amazing cruiser, so I might have to try something similar with the ammo cans!

(Not that I have the ability to make all the amazing CNC magic that he has crafted in that work of art, but I might find some saddle bags to put the ammo cans inside. 8) )

I really wish I had paid more attention when I saw other people using these smaller .30 Cal ammo cans for LiPo, they really do make a very easy nearly ready to go water/fire resistant container!

amazing how well the LiPo bricks fit them so perfectly! Tight enough that they won't move, but easily come out with minimal pressure! I'm using the Turnigy Nano Tech 25C - 50C 6000 mAh, 6 and 4 cell, if you put them side by side they fit very nicely, I could easily have 5 of each per ammo can.

 

[amberwolf]

Also see:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=536242#p536242
and
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=36811

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Also see:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=536242#p536242
and
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=36811

Nice!

Did you or anyone else manage to get around to testing how a ammo can dealt with a venting pack and just the holes with wires coming out to vent from?

I would imagine that you'd want some up high to vent away from you, and low to allow moisture to drain from.

 

[amberwolf]

No test yet. Have bad cells to do the test with but not yet time when I had energy/etc. Same as with most of my projects.

Should be no issue with water getting in here in Phoenix, at least. :lol: But up where you are, you could do as dogman suggested, and just put something like scotch tape over a hole (or holes) drilled into the casing. If any pressure builds up, it should pop the tape open and let it vent.

You'd have to test the theory, of course, but you can probably do that with baking soda and water in a few water bottles rather than a burning pack. Fill the bottles with sufficient water, then the baking soda can be dropped in maybe inside a water-soluble container or something. Or use cola and a mentos stuck in the lid. :lol: YOu don't need the lid screwed on tight, don't need an explosion, just rapid pressure build up as in a pouch fire.

I thought about doing that for a test, but I'd rather do it with actual cells since I have them. (and who can resist a good fire?)


Anyway, the way I have mine setup it should vent fine, though if the gases are hot enough it'd probably light the wirign on fire. But it should also keep enough atmospheric oxygen out of the case (since it's under positive pressure during venting) to prevent the pack from burning from what might otherwise be a simple venting. That's what I really want to test with the bad cell overload test.

 

[ashwright]

Can you post a close up picture of how you got two chain rings on the nuvinvi hub.

I always thought it would be better to have the motor drive the back wheel, though the gears, without first having to gear down to pedal rpms, only to gear back up to the back wheel.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Can you post a close up picture of how you got two chain rings on the nuvinvi hub.

I always thought it would be better to have the motor drive the back wheel, though the gears, without first having to gear down to pedal rpms, only to gear back up to the back wheel.

Sure, let me get a pic for ya *brb*

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

The large cog in the rear is the motor driven, the hub it's self freewheels, so only a separate freewheel is added for the pedals so you can coast while the motor turns the wheel.

Here you see the inboard chain going to the small cog on the motor, and the white primer cog is just a tensioner for the pedal chain.

Closer pic of the motor side of the drive.

Hope this helps!

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Well after massaging a misaligned upper tab of the disc brake mount (it might have been off in the fixture when welded at the factory or just distorted) I still needed more room, then I realized I could just loosen the pinch clamps on the dual crown and rotate the left fork leg, and now it fits perfect!

Had to do some adjusting to the fender stays to get around the disc brake, might spruce it up, but first going to see how this fits up once I drill and tap the fork for separate fender mounts as they were designed to go on the axle, not really compatible with lawyer lips and QR axle, but it should come together soon, I can hardly wait, I have a CA coming tomorrow or Monday (crossing fingers). 8)

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

different size of cans but worth a look if u haven't already.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15690


and possibly plan ahead for this caveat:

The bike frame is a Micargi it isn't built for comfort and I wouldn't recommend it.

As a bicycle it's not that uncomfortable, but when it's rolling along at a higher speeds the pedals are too far out front to stand up and absorb the shock of any big bumps and the seat (not being built for that kind of speed) bottoms out. I'll probably mount some foot pegs below the seat, so I can get some leg support at the appropriate time.

Thanks for the feedback all,
Michael Welch

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14568

anything worthwhile here?

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

different size of cans but worth a look if u haven't already.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15690


and possibly plan ahead for this caveat:

The bike frame is a Micargi it isn't built for comfort and I wouldn't recommend it.

As a bicycle it's not that uncomfortable, but when it's rolling along at a higher speeds the pedals are too far out front to stand up and absorb the shock of any big bumps and the seat (not being built for that kind of speed) bottoms out. I'll probably mount some foot pegs below the seat, so I can get some leg support at the appropriate time.

Thanks for the feedback all,
Michael Welch

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14568

anything worthwhile here?

Nice, thanks for the links!

I'm thinking I will go more for the painted look on the cans, maybe paint them black with a OD Green star on them or something, for now I might just test with the Amped Bikes battery first however.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Whoo Hoo! got the CA from Grin Tech (Thank you Justin!) today!

Going to have everything wired up and rocking soon! (hopefully today or the next)

And going to add one of these for the headlight:

http://www.jbimporters.com/web/checking_product_description.php?part_number=97614

Anyone know the dimensions of the headlight bezel (diameter) it's self?

It takes C cell batteries, so I'm guessing it's pretty good sized!

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Ok, some pics, nothing really special, just got the front brake up and running, cables sorted and CA installed, really like the 3/8 inch spiral wire wrap I get at Radio Shack ($8 for 20 ft.) it dresses up all the wires and makes things much cleaner.

Love the new CA! The newer handlebar mount is much beefier looking. 8)

 

[amberwolf]

It's hard to tell exactly on the size of that light. If all the hardware shown was actually in the same picture as the unit, you could use the stem clamp holes as a reference, as they would probably be 1" diameter (typical threaded stem size, and those look like they're for a threaded stem because of the little tab in the circle). But I don't think they are all in the same pic together, just spliced into one image from separate ones, and thus not the same scale.


If that light's reflector is what it looks like, a halogen MR-16, then I guess that makes the bezel about 2" in diameter. It *should* be large enough to hold 2 or 3 C cells, in that case, behind an MR-16 sized bezel that holds 3 LEDs instead of a halogen bulb.

If they showed the front where you could see the LEDs you could get a much better idea of the scale of the picture.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Yeah it's strange that J&B doesn't show many of their products to scale, would be nice to see it on a bike to get an idea, at least it has mounts to allow me to put it exactly where I want, just above the fender, or hanging down from the top of the stem to get it where it will throw light the best.

Made some progress today, have practice tonight (Mech Warrior Online)so no pics until later, got the battery box mostly done though, so it looks like things will be ready for a test drive tomorrow! (it's one of the few days this month it's not raining too! )

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Here are some pics of recent progress, not as far as I hoped, but getting closer!

The rear brake mount is going to be a bit tricky, going to put it inside the triangle between the seat and chain stay since there isn't anywhere else it won't be in the way.

I plan on having the top mount as a pivot and slotting the bottom one to allow the caliper a little movement to adjust for the axle in the horizontal drop out so it can be changed slightly as this is where the engine chain tension will be made.

The pedal chain has a separate tensioner/guide that should take care of that part.