Fush's EBike Project #001

[Fush]

Ok update

Clyte Motor and Controller are on their way
and so is my Anderson Connectors

still have to wait till next week to order the batteries but i don't mind to much about that.

Ok so while i am waiting here are some cool things that I am in the process of making for my bike

1. 12v Power Supply, Ok using Fechters switchmode idea I will supply 12v at approx 4-5amp to run a few items.

2. Ipod Holder, I am an Ipod junkie so I have broken my old belkin car power adaptor and extracted its guts, I will feed some of the 12v power to it and since its a car cig adaptor it has a regulator in it and will drop it to the 5v for the ipod, the cool thing is I can mount the ipod on the handle bars and mount the charger elsewhere and also have spare headphone output (the charger unit had a separate audio out jack). (still need to find a mount for the Ipod to bolt into)

3. Phone/GPS, another project similar to the Ipod, Hacking a Nokia N95 charger to charge my phone on the road, again the only thing missing at the moment is a decent mounting holder, If any one has any good ideas please share.

4. Lights, I got myself 2x5watt Luxeon Star LED's for the front of my bike, and some lenses to go with, the only thing I need to work out is how i am going to cut through the aluminium box that I got, so I can mount the lenses, anyone with metal work experience i am guessing safe and Eric might know, how can I cut a hole in a aluminium box with the hole needing a diameter of 32mm or 1.25Inches?
I am planning on getting some 1 or 3 watt (haven't decided yet) Red Star LED's for the back of the bike.

5. Horn, as posted before i created that with 9v and its not extremely loud, so i will up the voltage to 12v and with the removal of the 9v battery I will have more room to place the buzzers in a position that will allow the for the maximum amount of sound to be projected. Hopefully it will be more successful

Andrew

 

[Fush]

ok well after a bit of hacking of my old car mount for my mobile i have managed to get a mount that will hold my phone on the handle bars....

I basically removed suction cup mount off the holder and then removed the swivel joint that allowed the mount to rotate, there was a small cylinder inside the swivel joint that I managed to mount onto an old handle bar mount by drilling hole in the centre of the mount..I glued it all up with arrodite and it works greats...I haven't mounted it on the bike yet, still waiting for the glue to harden

I also have my old nokia car charger in pieces, and its currently been stretched out between desk legs as it was one of these coiled wire ones...and i need the wire straight to mount on the bike.

Unfortunately the holder doesn't work for my ipod. As the ipod is larger and heavier it tends to fall out of the holder at high vibrations. (I did do some testing before destroying my perfectly good car mount.)

So I will have to think about what i am going to do for that device...in the mean time enjoy the photos

 

[Fush]

Lots of updates

Got busy today and spent over $100 at work buying up LED's and boxes and cable glands...you name it I got it.

So I basically sat down this arvo and made myself a duel 5w Luxeon Headlight, the only thing left to do is Silicon Glue everything down, spray paint the box black and have some holes drilled in the lid for the light to shine through..the holes have to be 32mm in diameter and i don't have any tools to make a hole that big. So I will probably go to a fabricator at the end of this week when my kit arrives from ebike.ca, I don't think their motors come with any torque arm so I will get a fabricator to make one up for me

I have also started making my rear light which is a similar setup to the front one except with a lower wattage light (been kind to other motorists), using This as a guide, I will need to go to the shops again tomorrow to get some more components to make the circuit so that the rear light flashes rather then been a solid state.

I also picked up a SMPS from work that I promptly gutted and is due to be mounted in the box along with switches that will control the accessories. I have also desoldered the wires coming from the nokia charger and just have the circuit board ready for mounting in the box, I will re attach the wires once i have drilled the necessary holes for the cable glands and passed the wires through. Just slightly off track the cable that comes with the nokia charger is one of these curly ones...(sort of like a really long pigs tail) does anyone know how to straighten one of these out.

I haven't got around to hacking my IPOD car charger yet but will hopefully do that tomorrow or when I get time, that will hopefully be as simple as the Nokia charger, but i am concerned about having to solder a half a dozen wires, as i know the connector will not thread through the cable gland. I may as well just get a 12v usb car charger and mount the usb socket on the box so I can a charge wide range of items on the go.

P.S. I think I may have come up for a solution for cutting holes in the boxes, i will go to my local hardware store tomorrow and get a circular drill bit, the bits used to cut holes for down lights, all i need now is a drop drill so I can cut accurate holes.

 

[TylerDurden]

You might consider a nibble tool:

http://www.amazon.com/Ziotek-Nibbling-Tool/dp/B000BSN28S

Your local hobby shop should have some. Or RadioShack, if they are downunda.

 

[safe]

Safe tries to turn his charts into a religion.

There are lies, damn lies and charts...

Actually, since "a picture is worth a thousand words" you can communicate much faster with visual tools than with words. Things like the shapes of powerbands are hard to describe without charts. But it's also good to question everything and if an error crops up to make sure that the error is corrected. Over time my spreadsheets and charts have become refined and now seem correct and aren't really challenged that much anymore, but in the beginning I was still searching for the truth.

I'm glad I've done it... it's now a reliable tool for my studies...

 

[TylerDurden]

Actually, since "a picture is worth a thousand words" you can communicate much faster with visual tools than with words.

That is when they are clear, concise and properly labeled.

Safe's on the other hand...

 

[Fush]

Well...the lights are now finished other then a quick paint job and wiring them up to my control box, that will happen on Saturday/Sunday. The Batteries are officially ordered and paid for from falconev, however there is a 4-6week waiting time for them to arrive

I think what I'll do till then is run the lights off 8xAA Batts and then replace that once the lipo's come. At least the 6 weeks will give me time to find a fabricator in Sydney and get the torque arm fitted on the motor which should arrive either tomorrow or Friday. Got my andersons from the USA today which was pretty quick (5days) and that was their cheapest shipping

 

[Fush]

Arrrrrr......it looks like i will be waiting a few more days for my motor....stupid TNT shipping...they said one week and there is no way its gonna get to Australia before Monday.

I am also surprised that it went via England...talk about longest route, It should have gone either Canada-Australia direct or Canada-US-Australia, I can't understand why they want to send it in a complete loop around the world.

27 Sep 2007 15:20 London Heathrow Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
24 Sep 2007 21:38 Vancouver Shipped From Originating Depot
24 Sep 2007 18:37 Vancouver Consignment Received At Transit Point
24 Sep 2007 07:30 Vancouver Import Received
21 Sep 2007 18:49 Vancouver Consignment In Warehouse
21 Sep 2007 16:50 Vancouver Unsendable - Paperwork Missing / Incorrect
21 Sep 2007 16:01 Vancouver Arrived At Sending Depot

My Lights are now mounted and running perfectly...apart from not wiring in a switch but i will do that once i get my batteries as i don't know where abouts i am going to mount the switch box yet...

 

[Fush]

Does anyone understand how TNT express works? They seem to employ the most slowest and stupidest people on the earth.

Date Time Location Status
29 Sep 2007 05:28 Northampton Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
29 Sep 2007 04:00 Northampton Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 14:31 London Heathrow Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 11:31 London Heathrow Hub Released From Customs
28 Sep 2007 07:26 London Heathrow Hub Customs Clearance In Progress
27 Sep 2007 15:20 London Heathrow Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
24 Sep 2007 21:38 Vancouver Shipped From Originating Depot
24 Sep 2007 18:37 Vancouver Consignment Received At Transit Point
24 Sep 2007 07:30 Vancouver Import Received
21 Sep 2007 18:49 Vancouver Consignment In Warehouse
21 Sep 2007 16:50 Vancouver Unsendable - Paperwork Missing / Incorrect
21 Sep 2007 16:01 Vancouver Arrived At Sending Depot


They are sending it around the entire globe...my motor and controller has so far gone (China-Canada(ebike.ca)-England-....) hopefully end up in Australia(for people who don't like geography, Australia is pretty much down and left of USA/Canada). What makes it even stranger is that, ok yes its going the long way around. maybe they couldn't send it direct for some stupid reason..but why did it go through customs at England twice..it went through customs at Heathrow and now its stuck at customs in northampton..that brings up the question why is it in northampton..the only planes that go to Australia leave via Heathrow...i would expect the package to go off one aircraft onto the next, apparently this is not the way TNT works.

Arrr...at this rate I won't have it till the end of next week...if so I am so ringing up and complaining. grrr.....

in other news my accessory box is almost finished...just need to find some new screws as the ones that came with the box lost their thread in a matter of seconds...stupid cheap screws. And I will post a video that i made today in the cheap dc-dc thread regarding SMPS

 

[xyster]

Does anyone understand how TNT express works? They seem to employ the most slowest and stupidest people on the earth.

Date Time Location Status
29 Sep 2007 05:28 Northampton Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
29 Sep 2007 04:00 Northampton Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 14:31 London Heathrow Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 11:31 London Heathrow Hub Released From Customs
28 Sep 2007 07:26 London Heathrow Hub Customs Clearance In Progress
27 Sep 2007 15:20 London Heathrow Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
24 Sep 2007 21:38 Vancouver Shipped From Originating Depot
24 Sep 2007 18:37 Vancouver Consignment Received At Transit Point
24 Sep 2007 07:30 Vancouver Import Received
21 Sep 2007 18:49 Vancouver Consignment In Warehouse
21 Sep 2007 16:50 Vancouver Unsendable - Paperwork Missing / Incorrect
21 Sep 2007 16:01 Vancouver Arrived At Sending Depot

Could it be a scam between the courier and the broker whereby the buyer is made to pay multiple unnecessary import fees, kind of like big city cabbies who purposely take the longest and most circuitous route possible so as to run up the fare?

 

[Fush]

I don't think so...the import fees only apply to the destination country, the obviously forgot to look at a map before sending the package.

anyway I check the tracker again at its appears to have passed customs...hopefully it will be loaded onto a plane today direct to Sydney and then hopefully delivered probably Tuesday..

 

[Fush]

Ok I am extremely bored, tired, hot and annoyed so I through what can I do....and posting here seems like a good thing to do.

Update on my motor and controller, its still on its way it has now progressed from England to the netherlands so my wish of having the motor by tomorrow, which is the day they estimated it should been here by is looking bleak. maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Anyway in the mean time i have finished my accessory box, i haven't managed to test it under proper conditions yet as I don't have enough batteries on hand to get anywhere near the 60v required to make the smps work. hopefully I will be able to test it on Saturday when i can borrow a bunch of sla's from work. At least I know the concept works after last weeks test on the sealed unit.

anyway here is a stack of photos so please enjoy, the position is not final yet, I may have to move the box depending on how I mount the batteries and controller.

 

[Fush]

Well my previous prediction was wrong, I just got off the phone with TNT to find out where my motor is, apparently its is booked on a flight that will arrive in Sydney sometime this arfternoon, however since its friday I will not get it until Monday and thats asuming customs will let it through without any stops, so hopefully tuesday by the latest, at least thats what they said.

I am going to test out the lighting/mobile system tomorrow with the SLA batteries at work, the problem i have is the current draw is greater then what the smps is designed to handle, about 0.1-2 amps over, I will have to see how long it lasts, hopefully it will handle the small amount of extra current.

I also got some new mudguards and a rack for misc iteams on the bike, the rack can take up to 30kg's so plenty of strength there. The only think I need to find now is a fabricator in sydney who can make me up some torque arms cheaply

 

[D-Man]

Wow, this sounds like a shipping nightmare. Hope you get your box. Take a picture of the box when you get it. I'd like to see what's left of it after circling the globe a few times.

 

[ChopperMan]

Hi Fush,

I would love to put your mind as ease with TNT, but, I used to run a mail order company and they nearly put us out of business with their poor service. It sounds like your keeping on top of it and you need to. I used to have to call them every day to chase up parcels and get them moved through customs etc. We ended up using UPS, twice as expensive but once the parcel was out the door I never had a worry and our customer service satisfaction rose from 64% to 98%, just by changing deliver service.

As you can tell, I still have issues with TNT

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Fush]

I am just hugely surprised by the direction they shipped it...
So far its gone Vancouver-London-Northampton-Arnhem-Liege-Sydney which is about 25000km. I expected it to go either direct to Sydney from Vancouver (12500km) or go via the US or China (16900km).

The response I got from TNT was "Its because we have our hubs in Europe and its quicker that way" my ass its quicker, it would have been quicker to send it direct or via US(LA) with only one stop.

It still hasn't updated on the tracking page that it has arrived in Sydney, but I checked the commercial flights coming into Sydney this afternoon and there a few later flights arriving from Asia around 8pm so it maybe on one of them.

 

[Fush]

WOOT!!!!! if finally arrived

08 Oct 2007 07:19 Sydney Delivered
08 Oct 2007 06:07 Sydney Out For Delivery
07 Oct 2007 13:39 Sydney Import Received
02 Oct 2007 11:07 Liege Euro Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
01 Oct 2007 04:43 Arnhem Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
01 Oct 2007 04:41 Arnhem Hub Consignment Passed Through Transit Point
29 Sep 2007 10:31 Northampton Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
29 Sep 2007 05:28 Northampton Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
29 Sep 2007 04:00 Northampton Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 14:31 London Heathrow Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
28 Sep 2007 11:31 London Heathrow Hub Released From Customs
28 Sep 2007 07:26 London Heathrow Hub Customs Clearance In Progress
27 Sep 2007 15:20 London Heathrow Hub Held Customs-awaiting Clearance Instructions From Receiver
24 Sep 2007 21:38 Vancouver Shipped From Originating Depot
24 Sep 2007 18:37 Vancouver Consignment Received At Transit Point
24 Sep 2007 07:30 Vancouver Import Received
21 Sep 2007 18:49 Vancouver Consignment In Warehouse
21 Sep 2007 16:50 Vancouver Unsendable - Paperwork Missing / Incorrect
21 Sep 2007 16:01 Vancouver Arrived At Sending Depot


I have taken some pictures but I will post those later...got to finish my assignment before i start playing with the bike today

 

[vanilla ice]

Woot.

 

[Fush]

Well so much for my pledge to finish my assignments first.

Here are some snapshots of the motor and the finished product...i have been working for the last 6hrs on it, it all appears to be connected correctly, but no batteries to test with yet

Just need to make myself a torque arm and find a tire pump...the outpost has the fatter style valves and I have lost my pump that suites it.

enjoy

edit: it appears they photos are in reverse order

 

[BiGH]

very cool

I can't wait for my batteries either... :S will get a trunk bag too i think - yours looks really good

 

[Fush]

very cool

I can't wait for my batteries either... :S will get a trunk bag too i think - yours looks really good

what's good about my trunk pack was it only cost me $25 on special from $49.95 down at my local bike shop

 

[Fush]

Update

I went to Bunnings today and picked up a Dremel tool, some flat steal and aluminium, I have completed a small torque arm that screws into the holes that hold the rear rack...i was planning on using both holes but i couldn't get it to line up correctly and the rear rack didn't want to fit in so i just chopped off that part of the torque arm.. I also went to the bike shop and picked up a new pump so I could finally inflate my tire.

That allowed me to take the bike for its first ride since the conversion but without any batteries.....it does weight quite a bit more then it used too CA needs to slight adjustments...it off by about 1kph when riding. at least according to the GPS.

 

[Fush]

Picture of my new torque arm 8)

 

[BiGH]

they sell sheets of steel at bunnings?!? i didn't know that. nice torque arm. I'm going to have to go spend some *more* time there.

hope u'll be riding your bike soon enough. i've gone 122k so far! 34k today


hope your batteries can handle the power draw!.

also wanted to ask - what kind of connectors does the phase part of the motor u got have?

 

[Fush]

they don't sell large sheets, but they do sell flat strips, they are about 1.5 meters long and about 5-10cm wide.

Well hopefully if all is correct according to Andy at Falcon EV the LiFePO4 batteries should do 5C drain rate, so 5x11=55amp max

Um yes the phase wires are all Andersons,