2WD Semi-Recumbent Recycled-Parts Cargo eBike: "CrazyBike2"

[amberwolf]

Last night I picked up more square tubing, this time about 1/2" across, with button-release joints on some of it with the fitting parts being just small enough to fit within the 1/2" tubes. Used to be the signs over the aisles, now replaced iwth different types.

Might make for a good quick-release kind of rack or something. Dunno yet. May just use for the tubing itself, ignoring the fittings.




Rant: Since I am off today I brougth all my work clothes home to wash last night, then hung them out ot dry (whcih usualy happens overnight just fine) but got up to let the dogs out for morning, feeling all hurty which I had not for the last few nice-weather days, only to find it had rained and was now cloudy, and all my clthes on the gorund in the mud. Rewashed and hung inside to dry, hopefully wil dry out before I have to be back at work tomorrow at noon.

It has now raind several times today and is presently thunder and lightning too , causing poor Loki (hates noize) tohide on top of me here on the bed, and Nana (hates rain) on my legs, with Fred and Hachi playing around mostly outside in the mud and rain (though Hachi is presently dried herself off and on the foot of the bed sprawled upside down--correction: she just moved to plop down right next to me after I typed thate).

Wuz gonna post a pic of the tubing but the camera is in the other room, and I'm under almost 300lbs of dog. Will edit it in later when I can get up.

At least I'm comfy with the dogs here...but I'm not getting anything useful done with the hurties and the rain.

 

[amberwolf]

Rain cleared up and was a pretty nice day, if a little cold, the next day, some clouds here and there, still left me hurty. Day after was lots better, and after taht, too. But today was VERY windy--enough this morning that I had to go put bricks on the edges of the trike's rain-cover, as i was worried it was going to rain (it didn't even get very cloudy), and pick up the plastic lawn chairs from all over the yard and put them up by the house again, with bricks on them. One gust of wind actually knocked Fred (the little 30-ish pound dog) over while she was running around, and Nana (the 100lb St Bernard) didn't much like it out there. I had to stay out there walking with Loki on a leash just to get him to stay out and go potty, poor guy is so fraidy-dog.

It had died down a lot by midday when I left for work, but in the half-mile or so up to Dunlap, the empty trailer (which I have been hauling every day since the remodel began at work, so I didn't miss any bargains or piles of reusable junk that couldn't be hauled on the bike itself, becuase I've had a full trailer *and* bike almost every trip home) flipped over from the wind several times.

I had just about decided I might want to go back home and drop it off, when I was trapped into making my usual right turn at Dunlap by traffic beside and behind me (couldn't make a U turn), and when I did, the wind died for a moment, I made it just around the corner, and hten it gusted up really strong, picked up the trailer and flipped it, whcih yanked me and the bike sidewways onto the curb quite sudeenly, dragging me and it to a astop in a hurry. I wasn't hurt, since as usual I just held onto the handle bars and stayed in teh seat even when the bike ende dup sideways. But I was shaken, as I had not had any trouble just stopping when the trailer flpped any of the several times in the previous half-mile. (it usually just dragged and bounced on it's right side).

But on the way up the wind had been from almost straight ahead, and at the turn I ended up cross-ways to the wind, so it didn't just flip it on it's side, it rolled it all teh way over and probably even further, and dragged me a little toward the curb, my cargo box caught the curb too, and then I think (not sure) that I steered into up and over the curb. The trailer's coupling *can't* flip the bike over, unlike a normal bike, because it is not mounted to a chainstay but a fully round pipe--so if the trailer flips it's hitch clamp just rotates around the pipe. If the pod hadn't caught on the curb and I hadn't steered wrong, I would'n't've crashed.


Interestingly, though, there are no scratches, dents, or other damage, other than a little on the bottom edge of the pod, and scraping on varios parts of the trailer. I expected it to have mangled the pod up like the only other time I hit a curb with one, when car forced me over too fast to avoid the curb.



Anyway, I waited till traffic passed, pushed the bike and trailer back onto the road, and went down to the next right turn and back home to drop the trailer off--I didn't want to risk something like that in the heavier traffic I'd be in thru Metrocenter (being a Sunday, theres a fair bit of it, and in certain places many drivers tailgate others, including me, running the risk of crushing me if I had to suddenly stop because of the trailer flipping again).


So I didn't have the trailer with me today to pick up some other scrapped stuff I had hoped to get, missing out on a "cage" formerly used for locking up some stuff, but which would've fit perfectly under the trike's rear cargo section. Oh, well, I can always make one with the other scrapped stuff I have. Just would've been nice to recycle that one for the purpose instead.


Last night I got a 2/3 size pallet on the trailer, tied down, along with some bags of "live rock" that were clearanced out for a dollar, to be used on teh aquaponics project. The pallet is made of *good* pine, not the usual raggedy junk most pallets are, so i can recycle the boards to build tings from (like the other ones I saved a couple weeks ago). There were a bunch of these kinds of pallets during the rmodel that I couldn't save, unfortuantely, just those two. I wasnt' there at the right time when they were unloaded, and then trashed (physically smashed broken up and put into a big dump trailer, like any other fixtures and whatnot that I or someone else didn't save first).



Anyhow, things did turn out ok, at least. And I will ahve more chances for recycling scrapped fixtures--another store is being remodelled, and I will be assisting at it, mid-March, couple weeks from now, so I can ask for stuff there, and hopefully get some of that, too. Not that I need more "junk", but I have a number of projects I simply need the materials (and time) for, and I can use a lot of these materials to do it.

 

[xadmx]

this bike is just awesome

 

[amberwolf]

Thanks! I get that a fair bit from locals as I ride by, in some places.

I've gotten two more trailer loads of dog food from the clearance stuff, so now I've spent around $80 I guess it is, on unplanned purchases--but like I said before, I can't afford *not* to spend the little money to save LOTS of money later on--up to $800 saved by doing this! (though realistically I would never buy dog food that cost that much, so let's be generous and say I saved $400 at best ).


Next week I go work at the remodel of another store, so I might end up spending even more money on clearanced stuff I will need. But I will also be working overtime next week, and possibly the next, so that may well make up for all of what I've spent so far, at least.

If not, I may end up a little short on my own food budget this month, but I have plenty of stuff to eat for a long while (I just prefer to keep buying new food whenever good sales come up to keep at least 2-3 months worth stocked up for the least money I can). But I also got a small donation from a newer ES member, so that will help (it actually paid for the most recent dogfood batch, so thank you!).



I spent a little time stargazing last night after getting home, to relax a bit as it has been *really* stressful at work the past few weeks, and especially the last few days. It will get worse as the week goes on, as my schedule is all jumbled around and we're getting busier and busier and it's harder and harder to help customers and still get essential things (like animal care) done.

I verified the scope does do the "ring test" ok, defocusing each way until a ring is formed, though it is not a perfect circle, it's kind of wavy-looking, distorted randomly. Probably not a very smooth mirror somewhere, maybe dust? Might have to figure out a good way to clean the mirrors. (I've been keeping the dust cover on it whenever not viewing with it, but it could have been dusty before, or just got it on there while viewing...at least it isn't full of dog hair like most thigns I own. :lol: ).

I looked at Jupiter and it's moons again--it's just awesome to see it even as a small disc, because I can see the largest two or three bands on it, and the four Gallilean moons, easily. I also swung the scope to look at another fuzzy patch, which is a dense area of stars when looking thru the scope. It was almost the same height above the western horizon as Jupiter, just more north. I dont' know which constellation it is or is in.

Hachi was bored and kept dragging me away to play, but then she'd run off after a bit, so I went back to the scope and kept finding new shiny things to wonder at.

Heck, some places there are so many stars in just the tiny patch of sky I can see thru the lens that there's more than I can see in the entire sky unaided!

Then i swung it south to look at Orion, and managed to get the Orion Nebula centered purely by accident--it's just a brighter patch of space, reallly, but there are lots and lots and lots of stars there, teensy weensy pinpricks--much smaller and dimmer than those in the previous bright patch, but no less spectacular. I kept having to readjust the scope downward to account for earth's rotation while looking....

Then I got too cold, and almost dozed off standing there, and had to come in, and I have been dozing/waking ever since, getting up for little cuz the weather has started changing again and my joints are all wonky from it. Now it's all cloudy outside, where last night it was absolutely crystal clear, very dark sky except for the stars (lots more than most nights). Hoping my work clothes will dry before any rain starts, if indeed it is going to (it's kinda warm out there, so probably won't unless it gets a lot more humid than it is now). Mostly been reading and posting on ES, and pondering the long lists of things I really really need to get done (a number of them that I promised other people I'd do, but haven't been able to yet).


So now at the end of more yakking and babbling, and I might be taking another nap soon, whether I want to or not.

 

[amberwolf]

You'll never guess what happened today!

Nope, not more dog food.

Nope, no twinkly stars.

Not even a fuzzy dog picture.


Today on my way to work around 830AM, I felt something odd about the way the rear wheel was doing it's usual wobbly thing (cuz it's still out of round due to missing spokes and uneven tensions working around them), so i pulled over into a parking lot, and saw this:
View attachment 3


The bead has torn loose from the sidewall, only strings holding it together and keeping the tube from herniating thru and getting sliced by the rim. It's probably a 10" long tear now, in the pics, but it was only about 6" when I first saw it. I'd say I'm lucky to have gotten home without incident.
View attachment 2




Of course, actually changing the tire would be fairly easy, only taking an hour or two, as tired as I am (with the flip-flop of my work schedule from closing to opening for today and tomorrow, I didn't really get much actual restful sleep).

But I couldn't be satisfied with that, no. I figured, what the heck, while I have the wheel off, I can finally fix the missing spokes with the ones from MrElectric! However (there is ALWAYS a however ), the spoke is so short and so stiff that I cannot get it into the rim hole--if I could bend it *just a little*, I could get them installed and retension the wheel, and true it. But even loosening all the spokes a fair bit, I still can't.



Since my knees, legs, back, ankles, etc all hurt too much, I can't sit there anymore at the bike and work on it, but I can't stop working on it either, cuz I have to ride it to work in the morning. I can't disconnect the controller, as the halls are soldered, and i'm not pulling the controller off. So I pulled the stator out instead, and have the wheel here with me while I lay here and eat dinner and read ES, and rest a little, so I can see if I can work the replacement spokes in, maybe taking some of the others out first but I hope not.

Iv'e already dozed off a couple times while eating and then while typing this. I sure hope I get the wheel done before i have to leave for work (and that i get to actually sleep before then).

If I really have to, I can put the stator back in the 26" wheel, but then I have to dig out a tube and tire for it, off of another bike (not off the trike, cuz if all else fails I can ride tthat in, but I'd rather not). I already have identical tire (and tube if I need it) for the 20", off the same jogger's stroller the first one came from.


I don't expect the tire to last all that long, because it's not a high-pressure tire (only 50PSI max, which is where I run it), and I am putting a lot more load on it than it was probably intended for.

 

[amberwolf]

So a few hours (and naps) later, I got the spokes in, more or less tensioned, absolutely not trued, very wobbly, but built, and then tube and tire on, inflateion test ok, then installed.

I broke one more spoke in tensioning, it just snapped at the j bend while tightening other spokes for truing it the first time around. So then I had to completely loosen the whole wheel again so I coudl get the replacement into the rim hole. By the time I got done I only had the time and energy to just barely get the wheel mostly tensioned, and no truing.

During install of the wheel, I got it all fastened in, then realized I had not put the chain up and over the freewheel. So off it had to come to put the chain on.

Thankfully it still appears to work. Havent' test ridden it but it works off ground ok. Am too tired and wobbly to try getting it out the door, much less riding.

We'll see if it gets me to work tomorrow, and back home. Now hopefully i can get sleepy again now that I can allow myself to sleep. Gotta get up in 4.5 hours. :|

 

[amberwolf]

Naturally, it did not actually work once I got it on the ground. I tried to head out to work, and classic missing hall signal problem started. Works great off ground, but not under any load. I am sure it's just a broken hall wire, but I didn't ahve time to troubleshoot beyond verifying none of the soldered joints between motor and controller came loose, or were shorting, etc. Then I had to get the Delta Tripper 1.0
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22720&p=711247#p711247
ready for my work commute, as it's the only other working one ATM, as much as I don't like riding it, it does work.

We had so much stuff to get done at work for the re-grand-opening, and were so busy with customers that it didn't all get done as fast as it should've, so I stayed an extra few hours--so by the time I got off work I was ready to keel over. I decided I was so tired that I wouldn't be able to cook myself dinner, and decided to splurge with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon at Jack in the Box, a mile west of my house, so I headed home by a different route than usual, and ran into a friend I havent' seen in more than a year, right next to Cortez Park over at 35th & Dunlap.

I was taking sidewalks with the trike wherever I couldn't take back streets, so at the time I was on the east sidewalk of 35th ave, going around the canals (I had been on the canal path from Metrocenter). A cyclist was on the sidewalk ahead of me a ways, so I pulled over at the bus stop where it gets wider so he coudl pass, and just before he got there, I recognized him and he me, so we stopped there to talk and catch up.

It was so noisy with traffic passing us that we went into the park instead, and when it was almost completely dark we finally said goodbye and went our separate ways. I was REALLy tired at that point, and didn't even care about eating, so I just went home instead, let the dogs out for potty, fed them, and sat down with a grapefruit to nibble on, and some oatmeal/chocolate/etc. cookies I had made, and started reading ES, intending to post this, but I fell asleep, dozing and waking for a while, then finally really really sleeping, until just after dawn when the sun woke me as I had been airing the house out with the nice cool night air.

It llooked like ti was going to rain, so I covered the trike (as it has to stay outside), then I went back to bed, and didn't wake again until a couple of hours ago. I still feel super-tired, but am eating some real food now, hopefully make me better so I can get up and fix that hall problem.

Dogs are pretty bored, too; they're all just laying here with me napping now (though Hachi is all grumbly because she wants me up to play).

 

[amberwolf]

After a few hours of poking around, playing with wires, taking things apart and putting them back together, it's still broken.


According to all my tests, there's nothing wrong, but it doens't work under laod--it acts just like a hall signal is not getting to the motor.


I verified with a meter (then a set of three) first at the solder joints on the cable and then at the controller PCB that if I run the motor with or without a load, or hand-turn it, the voltage at the halls toggles, on each one in sequence as it should, 0V to 5.01V (pullups in teh controller I guess, as the actual hall voltage supply is only ~4.5V, IIRC).

I also verified continuity and anti-continuity both to wires and to axle while wiggling wires around.

I verified the phase connectors are well-connected to the controller, too.

I know it cannot be an order problem, because the halls are soldered, and the phases were never unplugged. Even if they were, they are connected as a set of three Andersons in a row, so cannot be plugged in wrong and still ahve all three plugged in.


I'll have to dig the oscilloscope out and look at the actual hall signals I guess, becuase that's still easier than taking the motor wheel off the bike and open it up to check it out. But in the end, with my luck, the problem is in the motor itself.

Good news is that if I have to, I can stick the stator and covers off the MXUS wheel from Ohzee, or the GM1000W stator on there and figure out the phase combo. But I'd rather just use this as it is, sicne it should be a really simple problem.

 

[amberwolf]

Ok, it is still good AFAICT using the oscilloscope, both phase and halls look normal under load and off ground.


I dug out the MXUS wheel, and verified it's stator will fit in the rotor for the older 9C type I have (using the original 9C rotor in 26" wheel that my stator came from), before I take the 20" wheel off the bike to try doing this.

Of course, since I have to take the wheel off, and open it up, I might as well check it's wiring and such (I dunno why anything would bre wrong there since all the signals are good, but...ya know, stuff happens wierd like that, don't it?).


But man, I am tired, and my bones hurt. I think I am gonna have to call it a night unless I get inspired or actually get a little real sleep, nto my little nappies. I guess I'm riding the trike again tomorrow.

 

[NeilP]

So off it had to come to put the chain on.

Have you not got a link splitter/setter ?
http://www.play.com/Sports-Outdoors/Sports/4-/34765830/666355217/Bicycle-Chain-Splitter/ListingDetails.html?_%24ja=tsid:13315%7Ccat:34765830%7Cprd:34765830&kw={keyword}
or get your self a split link in there

As for the sidewalls...had many like that in the first 300 miles or so. just could not find a tyre that was strong enough. Eventually fitted Schwalbe Crazy Bob's, and they have done over 4000 miles ..and still have tread on. The compound is a little hard..not great traction on wet tarmac

 

[amberwolf]

Have you not got a link splitter/setter ?

Yes, but I don't know where it is right now. My good one was lost when I accidentally left my toolbag on the side of the road a couple years ago, I think it was; I cant' remember if I ever bought another one like it or if I only have the lesser one I'd previously bought with a bunch of other assorted parts from another ES member.

http://www.play.com/Sports-Outdoors/Sports/4-/34765830/666355217/Bicycle-Chain-Splitter/ListingDetails.html?_%24ja=tsid:13315%7Ccat:34765830%7Cprd:34765830&kw={keyword}
or get your self a split link in there

I have a few of those, though they have two pins on one plate and the other plate separate....but I have a problem handling small parts (not always, but often) and keep dropping the side plate, which bounces and gets lost. I tried using the ones as pictured, with one pin per plate, but I can hardly ever get them lined up to go into each other, even with a paperclip or other wire holding the chain together around it.

As for the sidewalls...had many like that in the first 300 miles or so. just could not find a tyre that was strong enough. Eventually fitted Schwalbe Crazy Bob's, and they have done over 4000 miles ..and still have tread on. The compound is a little hard..not great traction on wet tarmac

Yeah, I'd rather have soft compound that wears quickly, so I get good grip for hard cornering and braking when needed. But I never had a sidewall tear like this one. Worst I have had before that is DayGlo Avenger I used some Kenda Krossroads tires and they had such incredibly thin sidewalls that under the loads I put on the rear one, with hardtail, and somewhat lower pressure to reduce the impact of bumps, the rubber flaked away from the threads on the outside. But it didnt' affect the tire's performance that I coudl tell--certainly nothing like this.

But these are only rated for 50PSI, and I am pushing them at that, plus much heavier loads than they were probably meant for. So I am nto surprised it failed, just miffed by it's timing.

 

[emiyata]

Ok, it is still good AFAICT using the oscilloscope, both phase and halls look normal under load and off ground.
(

The only thing you really removed is the battery. Do you have a bad power connection, like a pushed in Anderson pin ? Is the battery known good?

 

[amberwolf]

If you mean what I removed from the system that could be faulty, the entire motor was removed from the bike but not unplugged (as the halls are soldered), and the stator removed from the motor--that's why I suspected a hall problem in the first place, because I assume I damaged some wiring or something in the process of moving things around (I wasnt' really gentle, because I was having lots of problems just holding things, much less manipulating them, from my hurty joints).


The battery itself was specifically *not* removed from the bike. Well, it was unplugged and replugged because I do that every time I charge, but it's connection is via an SB50 Anderson, which isn't going to back out of the plug. :lol: Nevertheless, I did indeed check the power connections, and they are fine at each point--battery to system, system to shunt, shunt to controller. Power switch/breaker is also fine.

Voltage per the CA doesn't sag any more than it normally would, and battery current spikes up around 20-80A depending on exactly what happens, when I ttry to start the motor with teh wheel on-ground. Battery itself is definitely ok.

Just to be absolutely sure, going around all the system wiring with a separate adapter (which I used today and previously on the Delta Tripper) from SB50 to PP45, straight from battery to shunt, makes no difference. It also makes no difference with the battery from the trike instead, which is 14s 10Ah. (vs 16s 20Ah) This battery works on the trike just fine (though that is a MUCH lower power demand, maybe 1/3 of the peak power at startup that CrazyBike2 can take).


The problem does not act like a power supply issue, but rather like when a hall wire is broken (or wrong order), or a hall has failed.

The system will run just fine until a fair load is placed on it--I can grip the tire with leather work gloves and put enough load on it to slow it down some before they heat up and I have to let go, and no problems. I can take an old shoe and jam it in the frame so the sole rubs on the tire and slows it down even more, making lots of stinky rubber smoke from teh shoe and tire. But if I jam the shoe in hard so it *really* slows the wheel, it starts to judder and act like it's lost position sensing and is firing in the wrong order.

I suspect that if I were capable of pedalling the bike up to a few MPH, the motor might actually work to accelerate me further and keep me at speed. I cant' test that theory due to my knees and stuff, but I would bet a packet of ramen that it would work.

I'm not gonna be able to work on it tonight; I'm totally worn out from work and the weather changes/rain making me hurty.


I did get some new lighting for the front forks of whatever bike I happen to be riding at the moment, that I can hook up to the 12V lighting pack, if I add a regulator to provide a max of 10V at around 100mA-300mA, and they only cost me 9 cents each, including tax. They're very bright. Only potential issue is that 8 of the 12 LEDs are white, but 4 are red. Technically not supposed to ahve red lights shining forward, but the white ones are so bright that its' hard to see the red ones between them. I guess I could cut the traces to them, or tape over them with black electrical tape, if I have to. Either way, they should make nice light strips on teh forks. Alternately, I might put them under the seat to shine on the ground to either side of the bike, and light up the side of the bike itself (or the trike).



View attachment 4





View attachment 2












.

 

[emiyata]

I'm not gonna be able to work on it tonight; I'm totally worn out from work and the weather changes/rain making me hurty.


Best of luck. It sounds lie you have enough stuff to make it work


Only potential issue is that 8 of the 12 LEDs are white, but 4 are red. Technically not supposed to ahve red lights shining forward, but the white ones are so bright that its' hard to see the red ones between them.

You could solder leaded white ones in , if they are not SMT.

 

[amberwolf]

Best of luck. It sounds lie you have enough stuff to make it work

Oh, definitely, once I figure out exactly where the problem is.

You could solder leaded white ones in , if they are not SMT.

True, but then I would have to somehow get the PCBs out of the sealed glass tubes--it does not look to be easy, since these things are sealed up very thoroughly for aquarium use. I think presently I will go for the easy way out. :lol:

They are also all SMT in there, though there is probably room for 5mm LEDs if I sand the dome down a bit on them, and drill holes for the leads, then run wires up and around the PCB back to the topside to the traces. The existing ones are 3-chip LEDs, 6-leads, probably SOT-6 form factor.

 

[emiyata]

They are also all SMT in there, though there is probably room for 5mm LEDs if I sand the dome down a bit on them, and drill holes for the leads, then run wires up and around the PCB back to the topside to the traces. The existing ones are 3-chip LEDs, 6-leads, probably SOT-6 form factor.

Well I like the blinking light because I ride home at 1am and this is a small town and I see more deer than cars. I see a fox here and there and only a bear one time. The blinking light spooks them and they run into the woods.

 

[The fingers]

Maybe the lycras will see the red ones in their helmet mirror and pull to the side so you can pass. :lol:

 

[amberwolf]

There aren't really any lycra riders around my normal area to ride in. Sometimes on the canal paths, or when I'm up around North Mountain on Cave Creek Road or Greenway, but hardly ever around Metrocenter. Lots of other cyclists, but most of them are plainclothes and most of those don't even know how to ride a bike, really--certainly not in traffic, and usually ride as if they think they are the only thing on the road and don't have to obey any traffic controls or common sense (just like the car drivers...because they probably *are* car drivers that lost their license, or had their car repossessed, or it broke down and they cant' afford to fix it, etc.).



I have considered having some flashing (strobing, really) lights, at least in daytime. Typically it is not necessary, as on CrazyBike2, almost all drivers go well around me even when they're going twice as fast (or faster) as I am.


Probably I will just have these as steady-on lights, shining down on the road itself, to increase the apparent size of the bike from a distance at night.



Regarding the wheel problem, I'm still troubleshooting that. Gotta get the wheel/motor off and check it out inside, and check teh wires to see if maybe one of them has broken conductors from me pullng on it to take the wheel off the first time.


Am still reallly tired though, and tomorrow at 430am I gotta get ready to head out to be up near Arrowhead mall by a bit after 6am to help with another store remodel.

 

[amberwolf]

Pretty much a wasted day.

I took the wheel off, and found an unrelated thing that would probably give me greif later--the inside axle washer has been squeezed against the thin rise of the axle shoulder so hard for so long that it has almost cut thru the washer! I took another washer and filed it out to fit, but it's not any harder than this one so I will probably have to replce it, too, in a few months. I didn't have any better ones, so...there we are.






Then I started looking at the wheel and wiring, and right away I found this problem:




I guess I probably messed it up wiggling the cable aroudn against the axle end trying to get the wheel in and out. Figuring that maybe enough voltage across them or current thru them or whatever was causing leakage from one to another (not a direct short cuz that'd've probably blown FETs and stopped it from working at all), I replaced teh whole wiring harness including thru the axle, and spliced it into the wheel's wiring inside the motor. Added double heatshrink around the cable sheath at the axle exit.


While I had it open I carefully examined teh whole stator out in the sunlight, so I could see any little nicks or whatever in the windings, and found no other problems. Doesnt' mean they're not there, but I can't see them.


I wanted to put andersons on the halls too, but I couldnt' find my bag of contacts and shells, which should have been with all the wire and stuff that I used above. Guess I put it with whatever project I last used it on, but I spent an hour looking and can't find them. Probably right in front of me somewhere.

So I just soldered them just like before, only this time I used heatshrink instead of electrical tape (as the last one was kind of a quickie fix for a bad connector).

Then I realized I hadn't put the axle nut/washer/etc hardware on there yet.

Waste of a few inches of heatshrink and solder, and nearly an hour of time trying to hold everything to get them all twisted/crimped and soldered right, cuz I had to cut them to put the hardware on. Did that, then redid the whole solder/heatshrink/etc again.

FINALLY got it all hooked up, mounted on the bike, and it spun up normal off-ground....but as soon as it's on ground it just stutters and chokes just like before. Guess it isnt' the wiring.


So...maybe the windings were damaged in a way I can't see, or maybe the controller FETs were slightly damaged but not blown by the damaged phase wires (both blue and green phases' insulation was pretty badly ripped up at the axle end). But I was starving, having put off eating until I at least got to test the wiring fix, and having been delayed at that by more than 3 hours by various screwups and searches for things I thought I knew where they were.

It was already almost 8pm, and I really needed to just get something ready to ride, and the trike already is--it just doesnt' ahve enough range with the 10Ah 14s pack.

Continued over on the Delta Tripper thread, here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=712772#p712772

 

[amberwolf]

Am poking at the bike today some, but nothing so far. Since I found th oeld 12fet I used to use on here, and i have a couple of stators I can use in this wheel, I am going to swap out the whole motor and contorllre, tonigth if possible, but i'm pooped out right now.

I finally got the other big fish tank (plant tank, actually) I talked aobut badk inc feburary, more info over here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41207&p=717121#p717121

Unrelated except by timing, just before we hauled that home, we also hauled home an electric stove off of Freecycle, which I could have possibly put on the trailer but was way more work than I thought I could manage today and still unload each item (especially the tank) at home. Theoretically it works, but is missing a couple knobs, and I managed to break the front door handle off while unloading it cuz it slipped off the dolly and fell right on the face of the unit. At least it didn't break the glass front. Even if it doesn't work the connectors for the elements are in much better shape than on my present stove, and are exactly the same kind--so I can now have four burners again, isntead of only two.

 

[amberwolf]

I was going to work on the motor stuff, but didnt' get to it yet. I wanted to do some quick mods and fixes to the Delta Tripper trike first, but that requires my angle grinder. I have it, and all the discs/etc., in a box together...but somehow the pin wrench and stuff needed to change out the discs is not in there, and I wore teh disc down and needed to put a new one on, and could not find it for teh life of me, anywhere i ahve recently worked on anythign (with or without the grinder).

So I started a major cleanup prject for the house, to get all the tools in one place mostly, and also to move the old feeder tank and stand and refrig system into the house, as well as taht stove above (the plant tank Nana is in will stay outside about where it is now, only on the stand itself which will be off the ground by bricks). This has taken two full days, and I iz compleeeeeeeeeeeetley worn out, sunburned,and hurty all over in places I forgot I had.

So...still aint fixed the motor on CrazyBike2...was gonna do it after I sat down to eat and type up this new trailer project idea
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48718
but I already dozed of a bunch of times just doing that, so i think i'll have to do it tomorrowo (monday, last day off before I go back to work doing another remodel from 6am-3pm, though at least it's a shorter trip, maybe 3x as far as my normal commute instead of 5x, and it's nearly a straight shot west to get there, and east to get back).

The good news is that i found quite a few tools i hadn't seen in a while, including the funky chain tool that doesnt' work very well but at least does work, so I think I'll use it to take some links out of the CB2 chain and get rid of that derailer that is always severely complicating the removal and reinstall of the rear wheel. it's a singlespeed freewheel anyway, so no need for the derailer if i shorten the cahin. might need a tensioner but that can go somewhere else.

The bad news is I stillc ant' find the freakin' pin wreench set to change wheels on the angle grinder.

 

[emiyata]

I was going to work on the motor stuff, but didnt' get to it yet. I wanted to do some quick mods and fixes to the Delta Tripper trike first, but that requires my angle grinder. I have it, and all the discs/etc., in a box together...but somehow the pin wrench and stuff needed to change out the discs is not in there, and I wore teh disc down and needed to put a new one on, and could not find it for teh life of me, anywhere i ahve recently worked on anythign (with or without the grinder).

So I started a major cleanup prject for the house, to get all the tools in one place mostly, and also to move the old feeder tank and stand and refrig system into the house, as well as taht stove above (the plant tank Nana is in will stay outside about where it is now, only on the stand itself which will be off the ground by bricks). This has taken two full days, and I iz compleeeeeeeeeeeetley worn out, sunburned,and hurty all over in places I forgot I had.

So...still aint fixed the motor on CrazyBike2...was gonna do it after I sat down to eat and type up this new trailer project idea
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48718
but I already dozed of a bunch of times just doing that, so i think i'll have to do it tomorrowo (monday, last day off before I go back to work doing another remodel from 6am-3pm, though at least it's a shorter trip, maybe 3x as far as my normal commute instead of 5x, and it's nearly a straight shot west to get there, and east to get back).

The good news is that i found quite a few tools i hadn't seen in a while, including the funky chain tool that doesnt' work very well but at least does work, so I think I'll use it to take some links out of the CB2 chain and get rid of that derailer that is always severely complicating the removal and reinstall of the rear wheel. it's a singlespeed freewheel anyway, so no need for the derailer if i shorten the cahin. might need a tensioner but that can go somewhere else.

The bad news is I stillc ant' find the freakin' pin wreench set to change wheels on the angle grinder.

I have fixed that problem of the grinder missing key. My grinder died and bought a new one and everything goes in one grinder case. All my bike tools go in one case. The extra case always offsets me buying new tools. Everything has a place in the box.
I do have to admit my living room (Can't work in the garage 30 degrees ) is a mess due to this big dummy build. The bike goes out tomorrow for a test run then I start a clean up. Every thing is done but the 3 speed switch connector.
Keep up the good job cleaning!

 

[amberwolf]

I found the grinder pin wrench...but after I'd already given up on teh trike stuff and had started on CrazyBike2's repair so I could get it going for work tomorrow morning. Somehow it ended up in a box of assorted bike parts, and I found it only because I needed a freewheel to put on the MXUS stator/covers I ended up putting in the 20" wheel/rotor.

Long story short, I switched to that motor in hopes I could get one or both of the 18FETs to work, but it didnt' help. I ended up using the 12FET from Bikefanatic, and am carrying a 6FET also from BF just in case the 12FET croaks on the trip there or back. It won't accerlate quickly, but it'll run the bike--I tested both around the block, as I didnt' avhe time for the long test ride I intended, since it took me about 12 hours to actually get the bike working and reassembled enough to take out on the road.


The 18FETs are both damaged in some way I'll have to troubleshoot at some point, that causes it to sound like there's a hall/phase combo problem. The one I had been using fine before the flat works fine offground, but under load it judders like the halls have a problem. The other one is grindy sounding even offground, regardless of hall/phase combo (which should be dentical to the first one, as they are wired the same inside and are the same board/etc.).

I did end up putting JST connectors on the motors (both the stator from the 9C and the MXUS) so Ic ould more quickly plug things back and forth during testing, and so I could swap controllers on the road quickly if something goes wrong. WOulsd rather have used something else but I had some of those either on other stuff I could cut off and splice on there, and some new pins and bodies from bikefanatic.


I did some work noting down the physical connection points inside the mtoros and the controllers for the wire placement vs hall and phase, and found that both MXUs Ansd 9C are wired in the same color pattern, and both use BYG for the phases and then the same color for the halls on the other side...but the halls are in reverse order from the phases, so that's why one must typically swap B and G on the phases or the halls, when the other set is kept the same color.

I started to make a chart for all my stuff so I could have "color tables" vs "phase letters", but I kept having problems with stuff I was doing to test for combos and such, and constantly interrupted by idiot kids out there teasing the dogs into barking (banging on the fence, yelling at them, riding along with sticks against the chainlinks), and having to bring the dogs in, then let them out again when the kids would finally leave, so i didnt' finish that.


I also got one of the LED bars installed on the downtube in front, and I electrical taped over the red ones just in case someone decides to be picky. It doesnt' completly cover them, but it's almost all reflected red light that gets out, unless you're in just the right palces. Mostly the white light drowns out the red, at any distance. It's just running off the 12V lighting pack, tied to my headlight low beam so I can turn it off with the headlight if I want. later I'll make a separtae swithc but i cidn't have tiem for that now.

I spent a lot fo time just trying to hold wires to strip ends, cut things, solder them, heatshrink stuff, etc., cuz I am still allhurty form the last few days. And a few unintended naps here and there as it got late, past about 7pm. (which is nromaly more like noon to me but my schedlus is backwares form how I normally wake/sleep/work/etc, iuntil I'm done with the remodels). I've had severla of them typing this up, too, some kinda long, but not long enough.



I have both packs on there, the green 10Ah ammocan in the center triangel between the black struts, and the white 20Ah ammocan strapped to the right side under the seat like usual. Theoretically gives me at least 50 miles range.


The MXUS is the newer style with bell left disc cover and flat right freewheel cover, so I couldn't just use the drilled covers I had on the 9C, even though it fits the magnet ring/rotor from the 9cC fine. So i triekd to get the shimano singlespeed frweeheel off the 9C covre but i dont' ahve the toolf or that and nothing i imfprovised would work. so I got out a 5 speed freewheel from a box of stuff 9which is where i found the pin werench).

Oh, also the mXUS is a longe ra xle by far than the 9C, cuz th e 9c used to be a front, and the MXUS is arear. I had to use a jack to spred the dropouts to let me put it in. works ok . Left the derailer on there sinc noe w I might be able to shfit giears if I have to for pedalling, but no shifter on the bars yet. Just ziptied it into the second gear from the right (almsot smallest). If I really need it ci could ziptie it into the lower gears instead. but I can't really pedal the thing fast enough to balance it or it hurts too much to do. About 8-9mph, IIRC.


The 12FET is only a 40A controller so no hotroding stoartups, and I vcforget what the 6FET is but probably a 20A. both worhk fine to lauch from a stop without pedalling.


I forgot to take pics so will do so tomorrow after work i guess.

 

[amberwolf]

Pics of as-ridden-home-from-work configuration. Bapckacks are on the trailer cuz the pods are full of frozen and cold stuff from the grocery tsore on the the way home (really good clearance sale on 93/7 hamburger, and some frozen veggies, etc); i had carried work stuff, tools, lighting pack and charger in the one backpack and my mornign ride cold-gear (pants, jacket, goloves, etc) in the other.




had them in backpacks just in case of something like this; needing to carry loose salvage stuff in the pods or whatever.
View attachment 5




Here's a pic of the light bar under the downtube, at sunset, you can barely see the LEDs shining, but you can see them, so that says how bright they are.



Just after full dark with the flash:


In no-flash mode, but for some reason it leave sthe shutter open for a whole 2-3 seconds? Cant' find a setting for it but it mus have one:



In flash mode but covering it with my hand; can barely see anything in the pic though.



anyway it's pretty bfight, it lighs upthe road around the front of the bike and the whole front wheel and myf eet ansd stuff, makes me look bigger on the road so a lot more visible.


considering putting it on the steering tie rod instead.

 

[amberwolf]

Oh, and I forgot to say:

I LOVE THIS BIKE!!!!!

I didnt' realize how much I missed riding it until I got back on it, and just the shrot test ride made me wanna keep going tilll the battery dieed but I dindt have time.

So the notsolong ride tow ork (45min? less? I forget, and didnt' write the data down until i got home with lots of detours on the wya home so cant' just cut it in half to find out) didnt' seem all that long, except i wanted to go joyriding and i did cut curves on corners pretty sharp, leaning as hard over as I could without scrapin th e pods (which isn't very, unfortunately), dragging the trailer all over the place skidding it's tires and such.

I didnt' go any faster than 20MPH, but on this biek it feels a lot faster than on the trike, cuz I can lean and swerve and accelrate decently, though it takes almost 10 seconds 0-20mph with this little 40A 12FET., vs 4seec for the 80A 18FET.

One thing I did note though was that I should change the handlebar angle a little, cuz whatever I have it at on the trike is better than what CB2 has. I think it needs teh bottom of the bars pushed forwardd an inch or so vs the top, which would stay teh same place. And I need to fix the seat frame since the right side is still broken so I can't sit quite stragiht---but evne so the sling seat is still more comfy than th e padded on e on the trike.


Did I say I love riding this bike?


Cuz I do.