Electrathons (with video)

[drewjet]

That's freakin cool man, thanks for sharing! You are soo much faster than the field, it doesn't even look fun. Some of those other cars look like they could take a serious collision and keep going, why is that? And how come the kids don't get to race? Let me guess, liability. They can go out on the football field and sustain massive head trauma and blown knees, but if one of those Electrathon machines runs into the other, Billy might bump his elbow, right?

Would you say ES has given you any sort of advantage?

The other cars are way overbuilt, I don't know why. The rules clearly state what is required, and we are in compliance with all of them, yet don't have anything extra. Our frame is somewhere around 50 lbs without motor and battery.

Yes the Kids do race. There are even some girls driving. In fact, from talking to the adults, which are mostly teachers that run the programs, most of them try to remain hands off, only giving advice, which forces the kids to do everything. I think it is a great learning tool for them. I wish they would of had something like this when I went to high school.

I had a pretty good idea of electric vehicles before I came to the sphere. I built my motorcycle before I found this place. That said, I have learned so much here. I didn't know about the cycle analist untill I got here. That is a super tool in a race so you have some idea of how much battery you are using and how much you have left. Yet we are the only ones running one. I have tried my best to point them to it, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

[jmygann]

We are running the experimental class with 8 of the Turnigy 6S 5000 mah batts aranged as 12S4P for 48 volts and 20 AH. However, all last year we ran 2 yellow tops, except for the last race of the season. We won every single heat, and usually by a good amount. A few have complained a small amount (not really whining) that we had an unfair advantage with the lipo. Really the only difference I noticed with the lipo is a better acceleration, due mostly to the 58 lb less battery weight but also better voltage holding under load. Also it handles a good bit better with the weight out of there. So for the next race we are going to put the Lead back in. Maybe if I get the time and get the Turnigy motor sorted I can give them something else to "Explain" why we are so fast!

and the motor /controller is what ??

We are running and original Etek brushed motor and a 200 amp 48volt Kelly compact high effeincy brushed controller. When I did have the Turnigy outrunner on there it seemed to make about the same speed for about the same amps. It also ran a lot hotter. I wasn't 100% convinced of it's reliability so I put the Etek back on.

So any other motor options in that range ? Lighter than an etek ?

what speed range do these do ? 0-?

are transmissions used ?

[drewjet]

So any other motor options in that range ? Lighter than an etek ?

what speed range do these do ? 0-?

are transmissions used ?

There is a few other motors used. basically the same ones used on e-motorcycles. The Mars brushed motors the pemco's and lynch's. Also the Scot motor. The Etek seam to be the most popular followed by the Mars motors. I would really like to get a RC brushless motor to the point of being 100% reliable, as I would think it should be a bit more efficient than the Etek.

My electrathon will do anywhere from 30 to 36 MPH depending on how I gear it. I am sure it could do even more speed but I doubt I could still get one hour of endurance out of the batteries then. In this race I was geared for a top speed of 32 MPH, I was hitting 31 on the longest straight (which wasn't very long) It accelerates quite quickly. From a standing stop it only takes about 3 to 4 seconds to get up to speed. Generally transmissions are not used. I run a small sprocket on the motor and large sprocet on a ENO frewheel in the rear, #35 chain. Keep it simple and strong. I have seen one car that used a rear derailer and was able to change gears. He claimed that generally he didn't shift during a race except at the end as the battery was getting low he would downshift to ease the load on the motor/batteries.

[Evoforce]

I really enjoy this type of event.

[Rassy]

I saw these things racing at the ePower Challenge held at PIR in Portland, Oregon last spring. They had high school teams, college teams, and adult teams. Big performance differences, but everyone seemed to be having a good time.

As a bonus I talked to some high schoolers for a while about their rides, then found out they were from a small rural school, Monroe, Oregon, where I had taught Math in the mid 60's. Their current superintendent of schools was one of my students back then.

[jmygann]

could a tadpole trike with hub motor perform better ?

why aren't the hub motors used more often ?

what is the average Whr/mile in the races ?

[drewjet]

If anyone in the Central Florida area can make it. There is another race this weekend, on saturday. It is at Aprico-Levy Tech school 10119 East Ellicott Street, Tampa, FL. First race is at 11:00 AM

[Thud]

Dj. Good Luck & Hope you have a challenger just for the fun factor & please share a video. Love to live vicaroulsy with this stuff.
T

[drewjet]

Thanks Todd,

We actually have switched back to lead batteries. I know this is going backwards, but we are so much faster than anyone else that it actually lost some of the fun. There were a few complaints from some of the other teams, and so we came to this decision. We won our first 4 races using lead and I hope we will be able to continue to do so.

[jmygann]

We are running the experimental class with 8 of the Turnigy 6S 5000 mah batts aranged as 12S4P for 48 volts and 20 AH.

how are you charging the Lipo pack ?

[drewjet]

I charge the lipo the same way I charge my motorcycle and all lithium batteries. I use an FMA BalancePro 6S. Each one can handle 6 series, and if using an isolated power supply you can leave the batts hooked up in Series and charge them at the same time. My motorcycle is 18S and soon going to 20S. I charge all the batts at the same time with 3 of them, when I go to 20S I will use 4 of them.

[drewjet]

Video from the race. Man what a blast! We took first place again. We went back to yellow tops (Lead) to make it fair, as we just blew them away on Lipo. They are starting to catch up though. We had 132 laps each race and the second place car had 124.

Enjoy!

[liveforphysics]

Great job Drew!

[bigmoose]

Great job Drew! Good, steady performance, increasing your lead, lap by lap!

[Thud]

Awsome performance again from Team drewjet.Congrats

[John in CR]

Drewjet,

Congrats on the continued dominance, and I'm sure you guys are glad to see improving competition to push your team harder.

A question about running lithium instead of the lead standard for electrathons, how is an equal capacity determined for the packs when you're running a different chemistry?

John

[drewjet]

Thanks guys. If there is any Electrathon activity going on in your area you really should check it out. Compared to a lot of the builds on this forum, an electrathon is simple.

John, the battery rules are such that 2 lead acids will give you about 1KwH. The Lithiums have a lower max weight (depends on which Lithium Chemestry) and a maximum of 1KwH rating required. I attached a PDF of that page of the rules. If anyone is interested I can post the entire rulebook.

Drew

[drewjet]

Next Electrathon race is December 4th at Middleton High in Tampa, FL

[beast775]

i like this type of race,very fun video,thanks for posting .

[drewjet]

This racing is a lot of fun. It is not as fast as the bicycle racing like the spooky tooth, but it is fun.

Here is a video from this weekends race, and yes we did win again, though by only 2 laps this time. They are catching up.

[John in CR]

Congrats on another win Drewjet!

Where can I find the rules for electrathons? I'm interested in drumming up interest with the universities here.

[drewjet]

Congrats on another win Drewjet!

Where can I find the rules for electrathons? I'm interested in drumming up interest with the universities here.

Thanks John.

They are here http://www.electrathonamerica.org/Rule_ ... Forms.html

[drewjet]

We had another race yesterday. This was at Brandon high in Tamps. For the first time we did not win the first heat (though I am not positive as the lap counting is a bit unscientific). However, we did win the overall race as out consistancy and reliabilty won us the second heat. This was at an oval running track, so speeds stayed quite high. There was no need to slow for the corners. Attached is the video. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2NTK77cpjM

[etard]

Are you still driving Drew? That looks like a lot of fun, kinda like electric NASCAR! I'm glad the other teams are wising up, but are they still mostly using SLA?

[drewjet]

Yeah I still drive. Me and a buddy built the car. The races are always set up as 2 heats, I drive one and he drives the other. Everybody uses lead. In fast we went back to lead as we felt having the lithium was too much of an advantage, as did some of the other competitors.

So far we haven't lost any races yet. A big race is comming up in Pensicola on an oval banked track in April and we are planning on going to that one. the competition may be tougher there.