Senior Project

[markus007]

Hello,
I'm a high school senior, and I am doing my senior project. I want to build an electric go kart, basically from scratch. I dont have much experience with this exact project, but I have a good understanding of mechanics and circuitry.

My plan is to power the whole thing with a 36 or 48v 1000w brushed motor driving the rear axel. I want to build the control circuit myself. My plan is to build a fixed width, variable pulse circuit, using a potentiometer and 555 timer.

I have a couple questions, and I really hope I don't come off too helpless: would a motor like this be enough to scoot a car with a rider around? And can anyone help me with designing the circuit?

Thanks for any help.

 

[SunCoaster]

I have a circuit design for using power darlington transistors in parallel that are controlled by a pulsed width modulated 555 timer circuit. This was built in 1990-91 to control a dc permanent magnet brushed motor running between 65-72V. The power controller is still working. Will dig up the circuit diagram and post here in a day or so.

 

[paultrafalgar]

Welcome to the sphere, Marcus007. Have you tried putting gokart into the search bar? You'll get 55ish hits including a 50Kwatt beast. Enjoy!

 

[Drunkskunk]

Sounds like fun. 750 watts is 1 horsepower, but electric motors are rated on there constant, not peak power, so a 1000 watt motor should preform like a 3 or 4 horsepower gas gocart. More than enough to get you moving.