Cuda-E - 4000 watt Shumaker drive upgrade

[www.recumbents.com]

I fired up the whole system today for the first time on the basement floor. Works fine, but the motor turns the wrong way. Oh well, I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time. I just need to reverse two of the wires. I took a video too:



-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

I strapped on the battery pack and rode up and down the block. Acceleration was brisk but at low speeds the motor seems to stumble. Is that because of the lack of sensors or do I have something set wrong? Also when I got back the CC phoenix 160 ESC was flashing red and beeping 3 times. The Phoenix user guide: http://www.castlecreations.com/support/ ... _Guide.pdf says that ": Current draw exceeded the safe capacity of the controller". Really? I used 160 amps at 50V? 8000 watts? I hope not.

Any ideas?

-Warren.

[recumpence]

That flashing can also mean "Stuck Prop". Odds are you gave it hard throttle at very low RPM and it thought the airplane propeller was stuck.

The programming can be changed for a slow motor ramp up speed. In the throttle tab (using the USB programmer) you can set the motor response to zero. That gives a roughly 1/2 second throttle ramp speed. This will reduce the tendency of the system to spike. It is not normally needed. But, I have had one system that benefited from this. It is also possible the super cold weather can be affecting something.

My systems are all very smooth even at low speed. However, the only downside is, if you are too hard on the throttle at very low RPM, it can confuse the controller a bit. This is normally not a problem in typical riding.

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

Hi Matt,

Thanks, yes I may have blipped the throttle when moving slow, so it could have been "stuck prop". I didn't see that in the Phoenix guide. I think we decided on the slow ramp-up when you set up the ESC at your house. When idling the system at low RPM with no load the motor hiccups every few seconds, Is that a timing issue, or normal like a race car with a hot cam? Right now my phase wires are a couple feet long, but I can shorten them to about a foot. Will that help?

-Warren.

[recumpence]

If it is running very low RPM, yes, you may get a tiny burp every now and then. But, that is only at super low RPM (like under 10% throttle). Beyond that, it should be fine.

Hmm, I think I set it for very little ramp up so you will have sharper throttle response, but I am not 100% sure on that. Sorry. I program so many controllers.

Anyway, yes, shortening the phase wires is not a bad thing. It is not a problem to be long. But, if you can go short, that is good. I have over 2 feet of wire on one of my systems, though, and it runs fine.

I will check one of my bikes at extremely low RPM and see at what point it gets touchy. Normally the RPM has to be painfully low to encounter any hickups.

No biggie, though. It will run great.

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

I received the Cycle Analyst yesterday, and the shunt fits in with everything else, if I shoehorn it all in.

Because I may have to open this box up every week or two to balance the batteries, I decided to mount the ESC on the outside of the box. It's not quite as clean but still one self contained monolithic block and much easier to fit all the wires in the box.



The connectors from left to right are throttle, cycle analyst, bulk charging/accessories, motor phase wires (black) and power disconnect (red).


-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

I had a bit of a scare after wiring everything up with the CA and testing it in the basement. As soon as I turned it on the CA said I was using 8885 watts with no throttle. At full thottle no change. I got out the manual and found how to zero it. The CA then said 0 watts all the time. Hmm. I send Jason at GrinTech a note to see if he had any bright idea, and went to bed. The next day he replied that that's what happens when you splice the wires and don't hook up the blue one or white one. Ah. On my second temporary splice that I did not solder as I needed to figure out how long to make the wire on my recumbent, there was indeed a bad connection. Works fine, case closed. All is right in the world.

Today I made the bracket for the return idler and confirmed that I don't really need to braze in new rear dropouts. I'm using the bolt-on derailleur hanger from an ancient 10 speed instead. Works fine. I have a bit more tweeking to go on the electric and human powered drivetrains, but the end is in sight!




I also found a nice old laptop bag that this battery pack fits in nicely. One of the bags pockets slides right onto the shelf. This means I'll just be able to use the shoulder strap to hold the battery on the bike, making it easy to take with me for charging.

-Warren.

[jmygann]

Super Clean!

[www.recumbents.com]

Tonight I finished the human power drivetrain (at least enough to pedal), and mounted the CA. I wanted to see what the top speed was while the road was dry before the next snowstorm blew through tonight. I pedaled it up to 5 MPH before rolling on the volts. Wow, this thing really pulls hard up to speed. I blasted up to 27MPH in about 2 houses. That was at 25 degree F, with low pressure in the tires, in the dark. I'm pretty confident it will go a couple MPH faster. Fun.

The CA said the battery was at 29.1V, and top current was 80A.

-Warren.

[recumpence]

I am thrilled! It is so good to see another RC system up and running.

Now we have snow.

The acceleration is much better than you thought it would be, I bet!

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

Hi Matt,

Yes, this bike needs to be pedaled up to 5 MPH or so before powering up the drive unit, but after that it pulls like crazy! I can't wait to get it out for a bit longer test run so I can see what the watt/hour rating is at cruising speed (full throttle of course). That will tell me if I will be able to make it to work and back on a single charge.

I just weighed the bike. 52 lbs, Whoa. The battery weights in at 13 lbs, so 65 lbs total. I don't think this bike is any lighter than in it's previous incarnation, but it's got a bit more power.

Be careful out there guys. A guy I knew from bike racing was killed on Monday while out riding his fully faired red and yellow Lightning F-40 out West of Rockford, IL. According to reports a flat bed truck pulled out in front of him. He slid under the truck and it ran over him. It doesn't matter how brightly colored you are or how many lights you have. Never assume that a car sees you.

-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

Here's a spiffy video of testing the RC drive unit on the recumbent bike in the ice cold garage:

[SoSauty]

Exciting to here about that brisk acceleration Warren! One of the early builders said the Astro3210 has a 40mph top speed potential, now your saying its perky up past 27mph, do tell more

Used the same soldering technique, soldering a comparatively huge aluminum wire to an itsy bitsy copper wire gets squirrly; used a bread tie wire stripped clean to tie 'em in place.

I could of wired my build correctly the 1st time if I'd seen your wiring diagram beforehand, it's great! Hope you don't mind me linking to it. What program did you use to draw it with

The compilation of key points of your thread is a great idea. Anyone searching for info. can reduce their reading/research time way down. Way to go

Will aka SoSauty

[www.recumbents.com]

Hi Will,

I'm happy to help. Once I get everything done I will compile all the how-to bits into one web page to allow people to build these RC drives more easily. There was kind of a steep learning curve but now that I have it all sorted out I am more comfortable with the system. Thanks Matt for the help!

I use Paint Shop Pro 7. Corel has a new version called Paint Shop Photo XP Deluxe Turbo Mark9 or something.

-Warren.

[recumpence]

My problem is, I am busy developing and manufacturing things. Quite often installation and service information gets lost in the busy-ness of business.

I am glad you are willing to layout a page for these systems. That is one less thing for me to worry about.

It looks great!

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

I have been thinking about lights. Bright lights. Lights that I don't have to replace batteries in. Matt told me about the CC BECs. They handle up to 12S of LiPo and have an adjustable voltage output. This is perfect. Here's what I have in mind:



I have built LED lights before, and it was fun but it takes a long time to build the housing.
http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/led_light/default.htm

Does anyone have a better solution?

-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

Hey all,

Today I learned something new about RC e-bike systems. If you connect up all the wires except the throttle, including power, you can accelerate/decelerate the motor just by getting close to, then touching the casing on the throttle wires.

-Warren.

[AussieJester]

Does anyone have a better solution?

-Warren.

Edward Lyen sells a dc-dc converter ~25 bucks input upto 70v output 15v IIRC (have one but not used it yet)
I saw a thread yesterday someone running a magic shine light from it...

KiM

[D-Man]

Hey all,

Today I learned something new about RC e-bike systems. If you connect up all the wires except the throttle, including power, you can accelerate/decelerate the motor just by getting close to, then touching the casing on the throttle wires.

-Warren.

Do you have a kill switch? I'd have one nearby. I don't trust those rc speed controllers yet. They seem to have a mind of their own. Nice build by the way.

[recumpence]

Hey all,

Today I learned something new about RC e-bike systems. If you connect up all the wires except the throttle, including power, you can accelerate/decelerate the motor just by getting close to, then touching the casing on the throttle wires.

-Warren.

Do you have a kill switch? I'd have one nearby. I don't trust those rc speed controllers yet. They seem to have a mind of their own. Nice build by the way.

You will trust them once you use them for a while. The only glitches I have ever had with throttle was related to the use of radio control receivers, not the controller itself.

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

I just bought one of Lyen's DC to DC converters. 3A, adjustable with a trim pot and under $20. Can't go wrong!

I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't connect the throttle cable before connecting the power under normal circumstances, but I thought I'd throw that oddity out there as an FYI. I do have a switch of sorts - the PowerPole connector loop on the outside of the battery box. I moved the fuse inside the box so now it's just a loop of wire. Like Matt said, the RC system should be very reliable, but since this is my first one I may add a pull cord to it so I can yank the power in an emergency.

This weekend I will be mounting the battery pack to the bike, probably with a bracket made of bent and riveted aluminum strap.

BTW, I saw something somewhere about using a 555 timer to build an ESC controller circuit. I like 555 timers. Has anyone tried that here on the Sphere?

-Warren.

[recumpence]

Warren,

There is no reason to ever unplug the throttle. The only thing you need to do is connect or disconnect the battery.

Matt

[www.recumbents.com]

I put together an RC tutorial. Hopefully it will help people to build up their own RC systems. Please let me know if I missed anything.

http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/e-bent/ ... torial.htm

I built up the aluminum brackets to hold the battery on the bike and it's solid now, but kind of fugly. I also rearranged the connectors on the battery box for the third time.

-Warren.

[katou]

This is a great build, I'm so glad that I caught it! Super clean, and as Matt says, so nice to see another RC build running! It gives me hope that I will one day have my 8150 reborn in a similar setup!

Katou

[SoSauty]

How'd this post double?