daytonampco
100 mW
Howdy all, I recently went out to pick up a Mars model Go Bowen brand ATV for the family to play with. The craigslist post said that it worked great and had an adjustable top speed-a big advantage for teaching the kids to ride responsibly. I thought $200 was steep but if it was perfect, it would be worth it. Well, it took a left turn quickly...
It started out with the guy texting me as I arrived. The message said that it was not working. He thought battery was dead because he did not use it all winter. Okay, so maybe it needs a battery... He quickly followed up by saying that the quad would move if he plugged it into the charger. I pulled into the driveway to see him fiddling with it. Turns out it wouldn't do anything. Looking like more trouble...
A quick once over found the leads to the keyed ignition switch wires poorly duct taped on to the solder lugs. I pulled them off and twisted them together and the LED meter lit up while plugged it into the charger. For a second I had hope, but it still didn't move! Dead controller and a dead battery? I was thinking I had better go home. But the 9 year old had different ideas. She was in a bargaining mood so she shouted out "Fifty dollars!" before I could say anything. He went in to talk to the wife while I contemplated the cost of a 36V 500w controller and a 36V set of SLA's.
The guy came back out with a counter offer of $75 and we agreed upon $65. (Again, this was courtesy of the 9 year old who really wanted the thing.) We loaded it up and took it home for the tear down. The first thing I found was a popped 30 amp fuse in the battery case. It was readying 37.6 volts. Score! The controller's auxiliary functions worked just fine but it wouldn't turn the motor. Stuck a meter on it and no output! It's a simple DC motor setup so diagnosis was pretty quick. I spent a lot of time looking and could not find another controller with the adjustable top speed. Giving in, I bought a new 36V/~27A controller for $16.99 shipped. Not too bad!
Fast forward a few weeks to today and I found the free time to do an installation. Everything mated up except the battery connector and the motor connection. A quick solder and shrink wrap job took care of those issues and I fired it up... It's alive! Another twenty minutes of reassembly and we had a functioning toy quad. It's not the peppiest thing out there but can manage about 12 mph with me on it. That's an 180 lb load on an 80 lb quad. It needs a bit of a push start to really get moving.
The 9 year old started practicing on it a little later on. Hand eye coordination is not her strong suit so she didn't get past a crawl. After 20 minutes the motor and controller were very hot to the touch due to the continuous stop and go. I shut it down next to a box fan for another 20 minutes to cool things off a bit. That did the trick. The fiancee got home and took it out for a ride right after that. She was flying down the sidewalk and the controller took it a lot more gracefully. The motor was still pretty hot after about ten minutes of the top speed treatment with 140 lbs of fiancee on it.
The whole system could be a bit better at shedding heat but the atv is seldom run anywhere near its maximum efficiency. As long as we are careful not to overheat it, it should serve us well as a toy for unleashing the inner child in us. Plus it only cost $83 in total besides a few hours of diagnosis, tear down, and TLC. All together the brakes need adjusted, motor aligned, controller replaced, and wiring tidied up.
Pro's:
-It puts a smile on everyone's face putting around on the thing.
-Solid metal frame. You could put a bigger motor and controller on here and get silly. The frame would hold up but it would require upgrading the suspension and tires as well.
-Adjustable disc brakes. It stops well even when well over its rated load.
-True 2WD (no posi obviously)
Con's:
-Cheap-ass tires. They handle like they are made of plastic. But they work.
-Heat management. It does not handle stop and go well and is prone to overheating no matter how light the rider.
-The springs. An amazon review said they are rated at 1200 lbs. Replacing these with some standard mountain bike gear would save your butt a lot of pain and make it handle a lot better on rough surfaces.
-The cost. It is not worth close to $500, even in new condition. These quads are prone to electrical issues and customer support reviews are pretty poor. If you don't know electronic vehicles, don't mess with it!
-Layout. It is a pain in the butt to work on.
Pics to come...
It started out with the guy texting me as I arrived. The message said that it was not working. He thought battery was dead because he did not use it all winter. Okay, so maybe it needs a battery... He quickly followed up by saying that the quad would move if he plugged it into the charger. I pulled into the driveway to see him fiddling with it. Turns out it wouldn't do anything. Looking like more trouble...
A quick once over found the leads to the keyed ignition switch wires poorly duct taped on to the solder lugs. I pulled them off and twisted them together and the LED meter lit up while plugged it into the charger. For a second I had hope, but it still didn't move! Dead controller and a dead battery? I was thinking I had better go home. But the 9 year old had different ideas. She was in a bargaining mood so she shouted out "Fifty dollars!" before I could say anything. He went in to talk to the wife while I contemplated the cost of a 36V 500w controller and a 36V set of SLA's.
The guy came back out with a counter offer of $75 and we agreed upon $65. (Again, this was courtesy of the 9 year old who really wanted the thing.) We loaded it up and took it home for the tear down. The first thing I found was a popped 30 amp fuse in the battery case. It was readying 37.6 volts. Score! The controller's auxiliary functions worked just fine but it wouldn't turn the motor. Stuck a meter on it and no output! It's a simple DC motor setup so diagnosis was pretty quick. I spent a lot of time looking and could not find another controller with the adjustable top speed. Giving in, I bought a new 36V/~27A controller for $16.99 shipped. Not too bad!
Fast forward a few weeks to today and I found the free time to do an installation. Everything mated up except the battery connector and the motor connection. A quick solder and shrink wrap job took care of those issues and I fired it up... It's alive! Another twenty minutes of reassembly and we had a functioning toy quad. It's not the peppiest thing out there but can manage about 12 mph with me on it. That's an 180 lb load on an 80 lb quad. It needs a bit of a push start to really get moving.
The 9 year old started practicing on it a little later on. Hand eye coordination is not her strong suit so she didn't get past a crawl. After 20 minutes the motor and controller were very hot to the touch due to the continuous stop and go. I shut it down next to a box fan for another 20 minutes to cool things off a bit. That did the trick. The fiancee got home and took it out for a ride right after that. She was flying down the sidewalk and the controller took it a lot more gracefully. The motor was still pretty hot after about ten minutes of the top speed treatment with 140 lbs of fiancee on it.
The whole system could be a bit better at shedding heat but the atv is seldom run anywhere near its maximum efficiency. As long as we are careful not to overheat it, it should serve us well as a toy for unleashing the inner child in us. Plus it only cost $83 in total besides a few hours of diagnosis, tear down, and TLC. All together the brakes need adjusted, motor aligned, controller replaced, and wiring tidied up.
Pro's:
-It puts a smile on everyone's face putting around on the thing.
-Solid metal frame. You could put a bigger motor and controller on here and get silly. The frame would hold up but it would require upgrading the suspension and tires as well.
-Adjustable disc brakes. It stops well even when well over its rated load.
-True 2WD (no posi obviously)
Con's:
-Cheap-ass tires. They handle like they are made of plastic. But they work.
-Heat management. It does not handle stop and go well and is prone to overheating no matter how light the rider.
-The springs. An amazon review said they are rated at 1200 lbs. Replacing these with some standard mountain bike gear would save your butt a lot of pain and make it handle a lot better on rough surfaces.
-The cost. It is not worth close to $500, even in new condition. These quads are prone to electrical issues and customer support reviews are pretty poor. If you don't know electronic vehicles, don't mess with it!
-Layout. It is a pain in the butt to work on.
Pics to come...
