jonescg's NEW electric racebike BUILD thread!

Well I have two 6 A chargers, so I could probably get away with 18 AWG wire. It's just that the SBS-75 Anderson plugs are so comically huge compared to the wire...
 
Yeh the currents so low could use some wet string :wink:

Youd probably worry with a small gauge to the connector, might be the ends coming adrift from the connector.
Wouldnt get that happening dropping gauge in-line and splice and heatshrink them twice with good stuff for final layer, like raychem will hold the overlap solid.
 
Any chance of using an automotive style connector? Good for rough duty, and most housings are rated for 600v. I'm thinking something like the weatherpak connectors. Ill be trading my whole bike over to them sometime soon


http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/weather-pack-kits-small-connector-kits-c-74_73.html?osCsid=80d49ffd59d528b66ccfe2329689942f
 
Have you got a link to the 600V spec?
 
I'm using these guys because they are both fingerproof and they come with pilot pins for other circuits like the one I'm using to power the charge enable relay.



I need two pairs as I'm splitting my charging up into two isolated half-packs. Not sure if it's ideal, but 350 V is within spec and 700 V is not.
 
Be pushed for a housing like that to flash over at 10kV if there's barriers in between inside.
Wouldnt want them wet though :shock:
Had a call out years ago, an old dear thought she'd clean the cobwebs off the incoming 240V ac, overhead house connection point with a hose, she lived the connection point didnt.
 
Whats the precharge scheme like for charging?
 
The Elcon charger uses a soft start so that's taken care of.

Precharge on starting the bike is done by passing the inrush current through the 500 ohm resistor (4 x 2000 ohm) via the HV relay. It switches closed for 2 seconds and then the main contactor closes. This is controlled though the 555 timer delay. When you turn the bike off, the relay turns to discharge, dropping the Vcap from 700 V down to 0.
 
Have to have a look at that charger.
No messing with charging precharge thats sweet.
I thought with the chat on Heaths thread, you were going to go badboy, slap 2 phases of rectified mains on :wink:
 
Randy send me some updates of the motor mounts! The mock-motor has holes in the same allignment as the real thing, so fingers crossed it all lines up.




The motor can be dropped out relatively easily, but it's not a trivial task.
 
It's slowly starting to come together! The battery pack is sitting lower than it needs to, so we're looking at how we can lift it up a bit. There is a potential ground clearance issue, but since the pack sits above the line of the two axles, we're probably OK. I'm more concerned about the main control box sitting between the rider and the pack. It's probably going to have to some up a bit anyway.



The subframe is from an old Kawasaki 636 which was lying around. Seems wide enough to fit a Rinehart controller at least. Randy has been working out the seat position relative to the bars and footpegs. It's nice when it starts to look like a bike eh?



In other news, Rod from EV-Power has been designing a BMS for me. It's capable of managing 192 cells, but I will only populate 168 of them. It will fit on the top shelf of the battery pack. I have also decided to scale down the charge leads so they can fit comfortably out of the pack. I still need to splice them into the Anderson SBS75s.

On the chargers, I've not yet come up with it, but I plan on taking advantage of the voltage divider feature for limiting the charge current. This way I can still get a charge in at shitty tracks like Wakefield Park without tripping the breaker, albeit at 1 kW...

Also I have got Full-Throttle to come up with a PCB for the high voltage stuff in the main control box. There is too much potential for shit to go wrong in there, so a nice neat PCB will be the best way to go.
 
Thats starting to look good Chris....heavy, but good

Wakefield now has good power in the new sheds, they are well wired. We had no trip out problems during the weekend.

My pack comes down 80mm below the axle line, its about as wide as yours too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMF9yprFue0&feature=youtu.be
 
Thanks Dan. Great to hear Wakefield has better services now. I hope Wanneroo does the same in the next 6 months...

The bike looks heavy, but the rolling chassis will come in at about 65 kg. Battery is 80 kg, motor is 40 kg, inverter is 10 kg. Add another 10 kg for bits and pieces and coolant etc and you have a bike which is pretty close to a stock 1000cc bike. Once I have a working bike I will try to lighten it where possible.

Being able to use an off-the-shelf swingarm and subframe saves me some money and makes addressing 'racing incidents' more affordable.
 
jonescg said:
The bike looks heavy, but the rolling chassis will come in at about 65 kg. Battery is 80 kg, motor is 40 kg, inverter is 10 kg. Add another 10 kg for bits and pieces and coolant etc and you have a bike which is pretty close to a stock 1000cc bike. Once I have a working bike I will try to lighten it where possible

Sounds like a great spec.

The Yasa motor is 22kg and the Sevcon controller about the same as yours.

I'm aiming for 120 kg battery pack on mine plus the weight of the casing/cooling system, etc.
 
I'll drop my Evo AFM140 into the CRX when I can afford the 25 kg Yasa for the bike. Which will be a long time from now...
 
I will let the pictures speak for themselves :D













Betsie the pitbull modelling the Voltron-Evo frame :)

Randy has decided to re-build the lower subframe from aluminium. He's hoping to make it simpler and a bit lighter. He's lifted the battery pack up a bit which should help raise the CoG and give me more corner clearance. It's not really in the way of the rider all that much either. The tail subframe can be made from aluminium too, and will be quite simple so as to keep things light.
 
jonescg said:
DSC00002_zps1d2cdda4.jpg

Looks like it's progressing well.

The swing arm looks very short given the overall length of the bike. Was that a conscious design decision and, if so, was it intended to keep a short wheel base given the frame length is dictated by the size of the battery pack?
 
The swing arm is from a Ducati SS1000. I chose it because it's one less thing for Randy to fabricate, and also because it is already set up for a cantilever shock arrangement. I needed to use a cantilever shock to clear the motor, which takes up a lot of real estate. The motor plus battery pack puts the wheel base at the longer end of the spectrum, so a short swinger is probably a good thing. The overall bike length is no different to that of a 636. The main frame of a 636 is shorter but it had a longer swing arm.

Randy is also putting a linkage between the swing arm and the shock (which mounts well up onto the frame). This linkage was partly necessary to keep it from fouling the seat, and also because it increases the travel of the rear by a good 10 mm or so. Suspension tuning is a dark art. I'll leave the design to those who know :)
 
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