Safe's Electric Bike Project #001

[voicecoils]

What's new in the world of the lone electric bicycle road racer?

 

[recumpence]

Insert Jeopardy music and cricket sounds here..................

Matt

 

[vanilla ice]

Electric bicycle road racing sounds f'n cool to me. But then again I'm a sucker for anything with wheels. Motor too, even better.

 

[AussieJester]

Insert Jeopardy music and cricket sounds here..................

Matt

.......Jeopardy Sounds...... .......Cricket sounds.......

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

What's new in the world of the lone electric bicycle road racer?

Sadly, Lord Garth has left us for treatment to get his attitude adjusted.

 

[safe]

I've passed 5,500 miles...

Also, with the new battery wiring and some favorable wind I managed to pull 49 mph on the flat today.



(this was on a full charge... at another time I pulled 46 mph on the flat somewhere else)

 

[TPA]

SAFE IS BACK!!!!



HI SAFE!

 

[safe]

SAFE IS BACK!!!!

I'm surprised that I was "unbanned".

Actually it took about two days before I was posting somewhere else, so it was a nice "vacation" from being here.

 

[vanilla ice]

Nice 'radiator' battery pack for the hybrid chem win.

 

[safe]

New Wiring, New Behavior


I completely changed the wiring order on #001.

Now two SLA's are in parallel so that they balance each other. Then another set of SLA's who are in parallel are added to that. Then all the NiCads are in parallel with each other to add to the SLA's. The total becomes:

12V + 12V + 24V = 48V

The result is that it eliminates the "runt" cell problem. The SLA's are matched so that the strongest is in parallel with the weakest and the NiCad's cut out before it's possible to degrade the SLA's. So I've finally found the "magic combination" that does everything right.

Eventually if you try enough things you will stumble on a lightbulb.

(and no need for fancy balancing circuitry)

 

[safe]

I passed 5,500 miles a few days ago.

Today I passed the 5,600 mile mark...

(we've had a wonderful late warm period so I've been riding twice a day for the last week)

 

[vanilla ice]

I would've thought it'd work out better with the wiring the other way. 48v of lead paralleled to 48v of subC. That way the lead is protected from the high amp peaks by the nicad, thus reducing peukurt effect..

 

[recumpence]

I would've thought it'd work out better with the wiring the other way. 48v of lead paralleled to 48v of subC. That way the lead is protected from the high amp peaks by the nicad, thus reducing peukurt effect..

Yes, I couldn't agree more.

Matt

 

[safe]

I would've thought it'd work out better with the wiring the other way. 48v of lead paralleled to 48v of subC. That way the lead is protected from the high amp peaks by the nicad, thus reducing peukurt effect..

That was my old wiring.

Yes, the advantage of that wiring was that the performance is flat from start to finish. But without a circuit based balancing system the SLA string was running at 2C (thinking separately) and I have a significant difference between the best and the worst cell. So what was happening was the "runt" was bringing the whole system down.

With this setup the SLA's run at 1C (and balance each other naturally) and the NiCads carry the brunt of the work. The NiCad's are running at about 3C. But my NiCads are rated for 10C so they do the job just fine.

Self balancing is worth it... at least I'm finding it's worth it...

The most noticeable difference is that the "sag" comes back but you get an extra short term period at the beginning for "extreme speed" that you don't get the other way.

I've set some new speed records this way. (in the first five miles of riding)

The other day I hit 49 mph on a flat straight away.

 

[safe]

Different Angle

A picture from a different angle than usual. It's a nice sunny day and I figured I'd take this picture showing the latest mounting location of the NiCads. It's a little higher than the first try and that helps it turn a little faster.

 

[steveo]

Different Angle

A picture from a different angle than usual. It's a nice sunny day and I figured I'd take this picture showing the latest mounting location of the NiCads. It's a little higher than the first try and that helps it turn a little faster.

loving the bike stand .. wish i had one

 

[safe]

Having the weight of the bike high means that it handles quicker on the road. But the negative is that having the weight high means it wants to tip over more easily when parked. The only possible way for me to park this is with this very durable custom stand.

Owning a welder means you can do whatever your imagination dreams up...

(you might buy one... they aren't anywhere as expensive as a set of batteries)

 

[deecanio]

Hi Safe,

thats something i would love, a decent stand for my bike, nice work.

Cheers,

D

 

[safe]

Salt, Sand, Water and Ice

Those were the hazards I had to deal with while riding today. The day started out cold... 20 degrees F... but it warmed up quickly as the sun came out. By my last ride it was 40 degrees, "hot" by winter standards.

So I take a short two mile first ride to make sure everything is okay. The power was pretty lame as the SLA's and NiCads had been idle for a long time.

My second ride got a little better and I went out for about four miles before coming back and recharging. This time the batteries are waking up and warming us as their usage builds internal heat.

The third ride (all the time I had) was for about six miles and it was getting a lot closer to normal full power. I rode down to my "private racetrack" (a housing development that was abandoned) and on the main straight away managed to pull 37 mph. Not bad... I've hit 47 mph on my best day and this time I wasn't going all out. The range gets better along with the power as the batteries wake up.

I dressed in sweats underneath my leathers and then added a full thick winter jacket on top of all that. It was warm enough.

Nice day to get some sunshine when there is so little of it this time of year.

 

[safe]

5653 miles

I've been tacking on miles here and there. Today I tried my two new chargers (so now I have 6 NiCad chargers) and that speeds up my recharge cycles a great deal. It's possible now to get a recharge in about an hour. (for a shallow discharge ride of 7-8 miles)

SLA Charger - 12V - 10 Amps - 120 watts

6 NiCad Chargers - 24V - 1.5 Amps - 216 watts

Total Recharge - 336 watts

I'm still averaging about 25 mph all the time. (though the bike is a lot slower in the winter)

 

[Bobocop]

It was hard to go through this 42 page thread with half of it being BS, having nothing to do with the build (only forum i know where the admins put up with this kind of bashing)
How can anyone learn or enjoy a build like this ?

anyway, nice build safe, bike looks great

 

[AussieJester]

It was hard to go through this 42 page thread with half of it being BS, having nothing to do with the build (only forum i know where the admins put up with this kind of bashing)
How can anyone learn or enjoy a build like this ?

anyway, nice build safe, bike looks great

Couldnt agree more..im and admin on 2 forums that has memberships quadruple this pissy site... if i saw the abuse safe receives the people wouldnt be posting again... Guess the "north Americans" that run the site have alot to learn about running a forum.. dont get it on Motorbicycles.com dont get it on motoredbikes.com or freakbikes all the members there actually APPRECIATE one anothers input and RESPECT others ideas and DONT feel the need to rip the piss out of individuals with different ideas.
YES Safe is 'out there' at times
doesn't constitute the PERSONAL attack he receives here.. Dunno if its a jealousy thing or not, seems if it aint a Wallmart piece of shit with ping battery pack duct taped to it it deserves abuse..example of their pathetic attitudes...just watch their smart ass response to this post...TD..Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh Y-pedal...C'mon your knooow your dying to Jump in with your SUPERIOR knowledge and tell us all what tools we are compared to yourselves dont let me down... Right or wrong the man doesnt deserve the shit, IMO your nothing more than bullies and detrimental to the the forum.

 

[safe]

I've gotten used to the abuse.

It's a little like president Bush... objectively there's no reason to hold strongly negative opinions of him because he's done a good job under the circumstances he was given. But the reaction he gets is "over the top" because that's how culture has become these days. The internet (as well as the more traditional media) can not be seen as "objective" or even "civil"... it's the effect of this paparazzi media hounding celebrities too.

I wouldn't worry about it... we have the "cesspool" now so anyone that really wants to be combative can go there. (back when these postings were made there was no "cesspool" area)

The bike was so shiny when new (5000+ miles ago) but it's starting to get rather grungy. There are some spots of rust here and there too. When I get the new project going (#003) I'm going to have to finally take this bike apart and repaint it. This bike is still running on the stock paint from 2006.

I have the ability to build more fairings too, so I might radically change the shape and color the next time around. Brighter colors would be nice since my leathers are bright white/blue/black.

 

[AussieJester]

I've gotten used to the abuse.

Thing is you shouldn't have to mate, its not acceptable, as your well aware I'm the first to jump in for some light hearted 'discussion' but the personal attacks you get are unwarranted and wouldnt be accepted on 99% of forums. If they carried on like that in the company of my mates they would be sat on the ass very quick......pitty the minority spoil it and the powers that be sit back and do nothing, should of just bought a wallmart bike and strapped a ping pack to it & shut up, got your 40 rating form TD and all would be rosy but NOOOO you had to go out and build a bike from scratch...not once but 3 times tsk tsk tsk safe LoL :: wink :: Enough on that though...long as your not to phased by it and know there are some here that appreciate your work

I'm going to have to finally take this bike apart and repaint it. This bike is still running on the stock paint from 2006.

Bit sentimental for the 'ol gurl are we safe hehehe..i would of thought she would of been 're-cycled' for #4 :: wink ::
Maybe the Unite replaced with an rc motor ...hint hint ;-P

 

[safe]

Bit sentimental for the 'ol gurl are we safe hehehe..i would of thought she would of been 're-cycled' for #4 :: wink ::

The seasons are so short here in the midwest (it's either too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy) to do anything that when I get a nice day to ride I want to use it. Tearing a bike down and repainting it takes a long time and the paint needs to dry a couple days so the whole process can mean I lose a whole week on the bike. If I have a second bike to ride then I don't mind, but there's nothing worse than having a beautiful day and no bike to ride.

Since the bike is so well tested it's good to keep adding to it. The bike is really becoming rather reliable now too... which was not the case the first summer when I was having something break on just about every third ride.