Suzuki RG250F Gamma conversion

[jonescg]

I decided to bite the bullet and completely re-wire the entire 12 V system on my bike. It was getting to a point where one bad connection and I'd have a fire on my hands.

In anticipation of the fuse block coming from Eastern Beaver, I moved the 12/24 V converter to the back of the bike, just under the motor controller. I also bought a 30 A SPST auto relay which I will wire up to the ignition switch (via the fuse box of course).



Once activated, it will light up all of the other items on the bike, like the DC-DC converter and controller, the horn, the main contactor and maybe a few turn signals and lights in good time. I will hook the cycle analyst relay and BMS up on the 'hot' circuit, so they can be turned on without the key in the bike (ideal for charging in public places )

Since I have booked my flights I had better get the bike built! Time to put the crate together too...

[jonescg]

A few pictures of the 12 V wiring process.

I started off by moving the 12/24 V converter to the back of the bike, as it frees up a bit of room in the front and makes it less of a spaghetti junction. I really need to get a rear hugger made up... Saw one for the RGV250 but was for a slightly bigger tyre and wouldn't fit on the RG.



You can also see the auto relay on the left under the controller. About the only remaining spot for it

I brought all of the wiring up to the front and installed the lanyard and kill switch on the right hand side. I needed a thumb-operated kill switch so I got one from the wreckers. Off is on and on is off Brand new after market part too... The LHS switch block was off an old Yamaha 175 but works good enough for me. I'm mainly interested in the horn



The Horn was a $15 job from the wreckers and I found a spot for it on the front fairing support. Good enough. All the wiring is up here now, so my fuse block can sit directly underneath the cycle analyst.

The new TTX-GP rules are out and they require all non-power LV circuits to be fused, so it's just as well I decided to do this. Plus if I ever want to road register it, it's all ready to go. They also require a big red stop button and a flashing light visible from 30 m away Ok, so the kill button is no problem - I'll just tap into the main contactor circuit and put it in series with that. But the flashing light?? Visible from 30 m means it needs to be like a camera flash. Do they know how annoying that is going to be??



Anyway, I also rode the pushbike up to Di Lena's steel and bought a bunch of angle iron for the crate. Getting it home was fun - duct-taped it all together and carried it home on the old lady cart I found last junk week. Got a few funny looks as I rode up Scarborough Beach Road I have done this before with a load of mesh I found:


The screwing and unscrewing was getting tiresome, so this was a better option and a bit stiffer too. I will arrange it so I simply bolt the side panels onto the protruding bolt stems. This way, if Hyena needs to bust the crate up and have a ride all he needs is a 10 mm socket



Broccoli and beets in the background

[jonescg]

OK so the replacement joining shaft is here! I was going to start putting it all together but I ran out of daylight (winter solstice and all). But I tapped it in and it fits nicely. If there is any mis-alignment it will be a poofteenth of a bee's dick so I'm not too concerned. It's no problem to shim the spacers either.



So this weekend it all comes together! I hope to get my fuse box tomorrow, but I got a feeling it will be the last thing I wire up.

Big thanks to everyone who has donated to my race fund I'm at $187 so far, so that's already got my crated bike one third of the way across the country!

Nearly there!

[jonescg]

Good news - The joining shaft is in!

Bad news - The alignment isn't so hot. It's out by enough to rob the motors of a few horsepower, and no doubt heat things up a bit.

Better news - I can back off all of the bolts and it spins more freely. So if I shim the outer row of spacers on either side I can get it nice and tight while maintaining good alignment.

Shit news - Perth is shut until Monday


At least my 12 V fuse box arrived. I might just spend the evening trying to get that sorted out.

And it's already dark and raining

[SplinterOz]

Great to see it coming back together... Cant wait to see the bike in action.

[jonescg]

Took the day off to finish re-re-reassembling Voltron. Started with the 12 V fuse box. Since my axillary battery uses the same lithium chemistry it can pump out a hundred amps no trouble, a few fuses are a good idea.



Got the motors shimmed and the shaft turns freely So I set them in the bike, and started the long process of mounting al lthe batteries and terminating them. Only got shocked once this time! The switches and horn work nicely too.



I tried to install Oggie Knobs but they don't stick out far enough Oh well, I tried.

Crate is built and painted black. I need to get VOLTRON splayed across the side

[jonescg]

OK everybody, Voltron is finally ready in it's latest and hopefully most complete state. Yesterday I got home early so I could put the chain on and go for a quick 'diagnostic fang'.

And the motor bolts foul the chain

So in what must be the eleventh time, I fully disassembled the bike, pulled the motors out, split them, removed the offending buttonhead bolts and put them all together again. I had to re-shim the spacers as I lost track of which one was which. The bike was fully reassembled from parts in 4.5 hours. Quite proud of myself actually

Here's me looking a bit weary last night:


So today was a matter of testing the bike (of course) putting the fairings on and getting a few proud photos, before crating her up.







It rides quite nicely and the new stiffer suspension worked a treat! The new 14 mm master cylinder delivers much better stopping power - not bad considering the pissy little 27 mm callipers are at their limit. I only cracked 92 km\h on my breif spin around the block, but it's fair to say I did get there rather quickly. Vmin x Imax = 70 kW

What's that I hear you say? The tank must be uncomfortable? Yes, it is. But I can't fibreglass to save my life and no bastard would take my money to do it. So maybe I can find a willing soul over east who can do it.

Once crated, I rode the 'Bird up to Bunnings and borrowed a ute. I called on 5 other mates from UWA to turn up and help me hoist it up onto the ute. Not bad work for a case of Coopers. Watson's Transport are taking her to Sydney and delivering to the racetrack probably Thursday evening, and for a good price too :up:.

Phew, I am stuffed. Think I need a beer

[Jozzer]

Lol, translation pls:D "Once crated, I rode the 'Bird up to Bunnings and borrowed a ute. I called on 5 other mates from UWA to turn up and help me hoist it up onto the ute. Not bad work for a case of Coopers." My Australian is a little rusty..

[SplinterOz]

Lol, translation pls:D "Once crated, I rode the 'Bird up to Bunnings and borrowed a ute. I called on 5 other mates from UWA to turn up and help me hoist it up onto the ute. Not bad work for a case of Coopers." My Australian is a little rusty..

"Once I had the Voltron in the packing crate, I rode my Honda Blackbird motorcycle to the local hardware store and rented a pickup truck. I telephoned 5 of my friends from work to help lift the crated bike onto the pickup truck. Not bad work for 24 bottles of beer"
How's that for a translation ???

Chris... you look shattered!

[Jozzer]

lol, thanks!
Indeed, Chris looks like he's been "Flat out like a lizard drinkin'", bet he looks worse AFTER the race though!

The bike looks well 'ard, best modified RG I've ever seen (usually have 350LC or RD 500 engines crammed in there)!
How have you got such a small sprocket on the rear? We end up running 60 teeth + usually. Take care, if you gear it too high you'll have a lot of extra stress on the motors (higher currents at high speed, best to let the motor rev out at an achievable speed).


Jozz

[jonescg]

14 teeth on the front, 47 rear. It's tall, for sure. But I found the 12:47 too low. The no load speed at 6000 rpm is 212 km/h, which is quite reasonable given it will spend a lot of time 25% slower than that. No point going for a crazy top speed on a race bike, but I don't want it screaming silly either.

60 teeth!! How big was your drive sprocket??

[Malcolm]

You look well and truly shagged Jonesy but well done mate. Good luck for the race!

[Jozzer]

14 teeth on the front, 47 rear. It's tall, for sure. But I found the 12:47 too low. The no load speed at 6000 rpm is 212 km/h, which is quite reasonable given it will spend a lot of time 25% slower than that. No point going for a crazy top speed on a race bike, but I don't want it screaming silly either.

60 teeth!! How big was your drive sprocket??

15 front, geared to around 180kph. Any higher lost us too much torque and makes the peak power duration much longer risking overheating/brush damage. Of course the ambient temperature in the UK (15C) is much higher than Oz, so maybe you'll be OK;)
Is your racetrack all straights?

[vanilla ice]

Nice work.. take that 12t to the track with you in case.

[jonescg]

Well to be fair I did design it with Wanneroo Raceway in mind, which has three long straights and a handful of turns in between.

I also have a 54 tooth rear, which gives me about the same final speed as yours, so I can try both at the circuit on Friday. Yep, I was feeling pretty shagged by the end of it. Last nights stubbies went down like a well paid harlot

Now, if some other Sydneysider wants to show me how to make a good fibreglass tank cover, go right ahead

[glowwormbicycles]

Chris is at the Eastern Creek track now getting ready to ride his Voltron.

I'll be trying to tweet a few photos if anyone wants to follow along:

https://mobile.twitter.com/glowwormbicycle

Cheers, Abraham

[jonescg]

Hi all, so voltron does 177 km/h down the straight and handles pretty well- except I have cooked one of my motors when I pushed it to 180 . Seemed perfectly fine pulling 750 amps battery side but 800 cooked it. The other motor is perfectly fine! so does anyone in Sydney have a spare Agni?? Did really well otherwise

[Jozzer]

BAD Chris, 800A battery side in a race situation is too much (as you've discovered), it means you have fed over 400A per motor at maximum speed (more like 600A at lower speed tailing off to 400A at top speed, and even then I'm assuming that the motors were balanced very accuratly).

I've asked a friend of mine in AU if he can help, he has a few motors and is based in Sidney.. I've directed him here..


Hope you get it sorted in time for the action!

Steve

[Biff]

Hi all, so voltron does 177 km/h down the straight and handles pretty well- except I have cooked one of my motors when I pushed it to 180 . Seemed perfectly fine pulling 750 amps battery side but 800 cooked it. The other motor is perfectly fine! so does anyone in Sydney have a spare Agni?? Did really well otherwise

I am not surprised that one is burned, the other is totally fine. I haven't read this entire thread, but brush timing is really critical, a fraction of a millimeter rotation of the brushes can be the difference between 400 amps per motor, and 600 amps in one motor and 200 amps in the other.

You need to spend time with current meters on a motor lead to each motor and measure them at the same time, adjusting the brush carrier of one motor until they both pull about the same amps at high current draw. 400Amps into an agni should not be a problem for short periods.

-ryan

[glowwormbicycles]

Voltron's new motor held together today with some of the Kelly controller's settings turned down a bit.

Chris came second today and the bike lives to fight another round tomorrow.

I've attached a photo I took from the track. Most were blurry unfortunately.

[Jozzer]

Excellent news...

[SplinterOz]

Here's a shot of the Voltron in action

Eastern Creek Racing10 by Splinter, on Flickr

Click on the links to get to more photos.

[jonescg]

Jozz - I wrote reply to your PM but managed to lose it all somehow

We did get the replacement motor from Peter - got it in with the help of Ripperton's workshop and Aberaham's help. We dialled the controller back to 70% and I could still get 170 km/h on the straights and maximum battery side draw was ~650 A, so it's behaving itself. The brushed aren't wearing evenly which is a concern for tomorrow's race but I'd rather take it eeasy and come last than destroy another motor.

Currently doing well

[SplinterOz]

I hope it holds together Chris... we will have to figure out a way to balance the timing on these motors.

[Jozzer]

Dailed it back to 70? Didn't I reccomend starting with 65%?:D
To balance is as simple as applying power and measuring current, though it helps accuracy to do it with as much load as possible.. (ie, Dyno better than paddock stand!)

Steve