Endless-sphere.com

by **RWP** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:21 pm

Thanks Matt - great idea to fix the sprocket/pulley to the needle bearing!

CYCLE ANALYST ROCKS - not sure how I got as far as I did without it. I was reticent to ride not knowing the condition of my batteries - now I know and ride with confidence!
I got the high current large screen unit and couldn't be happier.
Thank you Jason and Grin Tech for a great product at a fair price.

by **RWP** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:01 pm

More issues:

My Astro 3220 has goo inside and was measured at 230 degrees Fahrenheit :shock:

Anyone experience this kind of temperature with a 3220?
The HV 160 was measured at 205 degrees Fahrenheit :shock:

My temp measuring device is a cheap small hold in your hand type. But both the motor and controller are far too hot to touch.

Matt said: "when the laminations were epoxied in place, some epoxy chips remained at the bottom of the motor and eventually worked their way between the rotor and stator. Just clean (sand?) the epoxy off the stator and clean it out of the can and put it back together."

I took the 3220 apart once already and sanded as directed. Now it's happened again. The motor stator epoxied to the rotor. Anyone else have this problem and if so what did you do to fix it?

Is this a common issue with 3220's? Considering I am getting it ready for Willow Springs in a few days this is troubling for me.

I had some heat shrink that covered the connection shrunk to wire and loose at connector, kink of like a jacket that protected the joint that was loose and slipped over the joint. This heat shrink got so hot it closed over the joint so I have to cut it off.

Also my HV160 was measured at 205 degrees Fahrenheit and shuts down, at least I think when the HV160 gets too hot it automatically turns itself off - is this correct? What is the shut down temp for the HV160? Anything I should know about here? I was thinking of putting two 60mm 12v computer cooling fans blowin directly at the HV160 - do you think this will help?

I am wondering if the epoxy drag in the motor is causing the motor and thus the controller to run hot?

It's now geared to run at about 40 mph with a 24" rear wheel - so I don't think it's geared too high.
The system is 48v-15Ah Zippy LiPo 25c

Any suggestions or observations are greatly appreciated.

by **RWP** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:19 pm

The motor and controller heat issues continued here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=29120

by **RWP** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:00 pm

I was delighted to meet ES guys Bill, etard, evoforce, liveforphysics and SoSauty at the races

and big contrats to SoSauty for finishing.
Oh, for those that did not know - there was another of the rather informal motorized bicycle races - this time at the Willow Springs Raceway go kart track, here in SoCal.

Mechanically the eCortina performed great. The bike was smooth and is mechanically set up very well. I had been working on fixing mechanical issues for several weeks prior to the race and all that time and effort was well rewarded. For better braking I put an 8" disk on the front. First to fail was the Nexus 3 speed, which lost 1st gear. I had two 24" wheels all laced up with Nexus XT hubs and 2.4" CST (Maxxis) tires and this lowered the bike just a bit. Then there was a lot of fussing with the chain setup to keep both chains from jumping all over the place and staying on their sprockets. But in the end all that was resolved.

Tim, my friend and rider, pretty much controlled the track when he was on the course. Tim ran 600's at the big Willow track for years so he is a terrific & skilled rider. He's also a hell of a good musician and great woodworker. http://www.timwoodwork.com

I had very high hopes for the 3220 Astro because of all the cool Astro projects I have seen on ES. I have painfully learned that casual riding and a few seconds of grandstanding does not mean a motor is ultimately reliable or race worthy. I am really disappointed because I had such high hopes. I am not sure where to go from here.

Racing stresses stuff to the breaking point and I think this is critical for our electric bicycle projects. If our machines cannot stand up to a good deal of abuse...they are not ready for prime time.

I ran the eCortina because I thought it could win. Had the motor held up we would have been beaten by a 12hp close to 200cc 4 stroke and a 11hp Morini. BTW, if I am not mistaken, the max hp limit was 10hp.
Not bad for a home brew electric bicycle.

I really appreciate all the great people here at ES for pushing the envelope. I think the envelope is getting bigger.

by **recumpence** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:56 pm

What racing does is take the worse possible case for road riding and extend it about 5 times longer. For example, my yellow trike is 9kw peak (typically 8kw under acceleration). I beat the crap out of that thing! But, when I say that, what I mean is, I will burn the tire and drift out of a corner and wide open down the block, I brake hard for the next corner and repeat the process. However, that only continues for 6 or 7 corners at which point, I am worried about pissing off neighbors and a confrontation with a well dressed man in a white car. So, I slow down a bit. However, at that point, my 3220 is up at 150 to 160 degrees. As I tool around waiting for another empty neighborhood to come into view, the motor cools down to 100 degrees or so and I do it all over again. In racing, this process continues for a seemingly endless number of cycles and something has to give.

That being said, I tend to think there may be something else going on with your setup.

What were you geared for?

Matt