The SB Cruiser : Amberwolf's 2WD Heavy Cargo Trike & Dog Carrier

[amberwolf]

Grocery run today, so finally a chance to test just the trike, with the new tires, on mostly the same route I use for work commute, plus about a mile total extra (half each way).


These Shinko tires give a WAY better ride than any of the bicycle tires tried on SBC so far; even the manhole covers and grates that are 1-2" below the level of the asphalt are just bumps, and not WHAM WHAM canyons like they were with the bike tires. I'd guess its' the much larger volume of air, plus the thicker rubber and sidewalls, with the lower pressure, that is smoothing out the ride so much.



Another tidbit: While riding with the trailer and Yogi, I tested making turns at closer and closer to 20MPH, and was able to make left turns without slowing at all, and could make at least 17-18MPH right turns, depending on the intersection (some have too lumpy pavement, or loose asphalt, etc).

I assumed it was because of the trailer's width and weight and yogi in there, with the tongue holding down the back end of the trike--but I can make these same turns without the trailer, with or without cargo in the back.

I managed one right turn at 19MPH, just beginning to feel the rear end start to lift on the inside of the turn so I let off the throttle just an instant and it settled, then I hit the left throttle again to push me thru the rest of the turn (how I usually make my turns...motor on the outside of the turn with power, no power to the motor on the inside of the turn). This was after shopping, so there was a small load in the back of the trike, maybe 30lbs.


The wh/mile isn't noticeably different from the bicycle tires--about 48wh/mile for the total average trip.

Anyway, it is definitely an improvement with these tires.

 

[iangreenhalgh]

Nice to hear you like the Shinko tires. I found the same thing - the big tires iron out a lot of the bumps.

 

[amberwolf]

So, Yogi's not on crate rest for now, see here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68997&p=1172445#p1172445

So Monday I didn't have the trailer or a dog or cargo, and just used the trike just for my work commute normally. That had an average Wh/mile of only 43! Pretty low, for this thing.

Tuesday I had Tiny in the trike's crate (see the above linked post for why), and it was up to 56wh/mile.

Yesterday, I had her in Yogi's new trailer, the MkIV version of the flatbed kennel trailer

and it was up to 68Wh/mile average.

So while it might actually be a hair more efficient with the new tires/tubes on there (rather than less, as was expected), it's way less efficient with the (loaded) trailer attached, or a load/dog on the trike itself. Better with Tiny vs Yogi (as expected), but still pretty poor compared to just the trike/no-trailer.


Side note: the centering spring on the steering column broke at one end, so I have to make a new attachment for it to clamp that somehow.


Oh, and the Satiator's red Anderson plug apparently had a bad crimp, where rather than the ~1/4" of wire it should have had inside the crimped contact, it only had about 3/32", if that, so it pulled otu of the crimp. Was easy to fix, but annoying to ahve to, especially with everything else going on ATM (esp with Tiny's and Yogi's issues). Good thing about it is that being teh Satiator, rather than a dumb charger with jsut red and green lights, a bad/intermittent connection doesnt just show a green "full" light, it tells you the battery isn't connected! So you don't end up thinking you have a full battery when inf act it may never even have started charging at all.

 

[amberwolf]

Made a parking spot for the trike and trailer to keep them out of the rain; this means less worry about Tiny and her (or Yogi, if he's in the trailer) padding / blankets getting wet otehr than while riding.

details here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49550&p=1173717#p1173717

 

[amberwolf]

Today's grocery run was kinda hard on the way home: I couldn't find a way to load it up that woudln't cause it to tip back, putting the front wheel in the air, without me sitting on the front edge of the seat, leaning forward.

It was weird, cuz I've had it loaded up this heavily before with no problems, maybe even heavier.

I had to lean forward most of time I made any turns, and apply power very gently, or the torque would wheelie the trike and I would be unable to steer except via the throttles.

One wheelie happened just as I was turning right, and a police vehicle was turning left on teh cross-T street, as I enetered metro parkway; it was pretty dramatic so I'm sure he saw it, but he didn't change directions, even though it probably looked like I was hooning around. :lol: At least it was easy to recover from, by releasing power, and putting my weight further forward, and leaning to the right to help continue the turn and stay in my lane.


I realized when pondering this just before posting that it is probalby because the kennel'crate isn't fully forward right now. I'ts about 8-10 inches further back than normal, because the frame around it to hold the rack up (with my trunk on it) still isn't completed, so the cargo straps that hold the rack in place on the crate are pushing the crate backwards, until it hits the hitch ball and stops.

So, the load being that much further back is a definite problem. :/ Next time I do this I need to ensure I have the crate all the way forward before I load it up.

 

[bobsyleck]

lov'in it, thats what I call dedication to the craft - does having the the extra horse on the back give ya any more punch?! lol

 

[DAND214]

lov'in it, thats what I call dedication to the craft - does having the the extra horse on the back give ya any more punch?! lol

It must, now he'd doing wheelies :lol: :lol:

Dan

 

[amberwolf]

So I toasted a cell in the EIG NMC 4s1p 20Ah lighting pack a few days ago.

It's all puffy and only reads about 0.79V.

I screwed up and left the lights on while doing stuff when I got home from work the night before that, for at least an hour. Then I finally remembered to turn them off, but that was probably almost half the pack's capacity right there, inlcuidng the commute for that day.

Then I was busy with Tiny (cuz she's sick again) and other stuff, exhausted from all that and work, and forgot to recharge it before work the next day. Then I screwed up again and did the same thing that night, but when I remembered and came back out the headlight was really dim, and the pack as a whole was only about 9v, which is about 2.25v per cell, if all 4 cells were equal. But since
three cells had most of the 9v, they were actually all down at ~2.7v, and relatively balanced (and still able to supply enough current to the halogen car headlight to keep it at around 1/8th brightness even at that voltage!).


I took apart the pack, and replaced the cell (most positive one) with one off the other lighting pack (that I'd been using for my music amp), and manually balanced the cells by charging up the 3 to equal the "new", as closely as I could. Since the Ri on the 3 vs the 1 is different, it's hard, becuase during charging the voltages on the old 3 are higher than the 1, but drop below that when no current is flowing.

The reason I did not simply use the other entire lighting pack is that it itself is made of mismatched cells, too, at least one of which is a "bad" cell that came out of the main traction pack some time back.



Anyway, it's working again, though probably reduced capacity, and I can see the headlight dim slightly whenever the incandescent turn signals blink, which it didn't do as much before this, so it also has a reduced current ability.

 

[amberwolf]

part of what i needed to do this week while on vacation was to rebuild the back end of the trike to accomodate tiny's inabilty to turn around in the crate without me hodling up her back end the whole time. that would mean taking at least the top of the plastic crate out, and finishing the reinforcements and vertical supports for the rack, and making some sort of holder for the top hinge point of the crate's gate so it could still swing and latch and all.

then i'd be able to use just the trike to transport her without the trailer, which would greatly simplify getting into and out of work each day.

but tiny needed more care than before and i needed rest, so the first few days i didn't get anythign on th trike done and figured i'd do it later, maybe saturday. in the meantime i was working on her wheelchair project to improve it for her present conditions.

but before saturday came, tiny fell and broke her leg, and complications and implications of that lead to her death on friday nite, and burial saturday morning.

see here
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68997&start=50#p1180630
for details, and replies to it are best done there.


so the main reason this trike was built, to transport tiny around if needed, no longer exists. it can still be used for cargo, for yogi if i build a different crate setup for his larger size, etc., and it is still easier for me to use for daily commute especially since i'm often so tired that balancing a bike can be a problem. but tiny doens't need it anymore.

neither me nor yogi is taking this all very well, so hoepfully it doesnt' sound liek i'm just whining or feeling sorry for myself; this is very hard to deal with after everything tiny has gone thru and how hard she fought to get past it, how hard she tried to stick around.

i can't even describe how much i miss her.

 

[amberwolf]

dunno if i'll ever get to it but got this fake halfbarrel could make a cargo box/turnk to replace the red suitcase.



replace wood strips with curved metal to hold barrel shape

caulk up gaps

make boards to fit curves as endcaps

detach flat boards on back and make hinges so it opens

mount flat part on trike rack then can use as trunk


yogi likes it




also fixed tiny avatar onto trike



.

 

[amberwolf]

ca reading when installed on 110215= 11024 miles
ca reading as of 050516 = 11620
difference = 596
plus 738 miles previous yo ca install = 1334 total miles
minus 5 miles for work trip wed = 1329 total miles before tiny died

 

[amberwolf]

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49550&p=1183203#p1183203

 

[amberwolf]

Almost had a fire on the trike on Wednesday this week.

Since I got Yogi's new playmate Teddy (one week ago today),


and Yogi doesn't like her yet, I've been taking one or the other of them to work with me all week. Monday and Tuesday it was Teddy, as I meant to take Yogi on Tuesday but had not yet gotten the trailer re-readied in time for him (as I had not yet been able to bring myself to clean it out after having to keep Tiny in it overnight after her death).

When I got the trailer cleaned up, and some mods done to it to help keep him shaded and cool in the increasing heat about midday when I am on my way to work, I hooked it up to the trike, and plugged in the lighting conector to the trike's power. When I did so, the lights went out on the trike itself for a moment, then came back, so I thought I might have a problem with the Andersons there--I'd had a contact bend and back out once before, as these are pretty old and well-used, recycled thru at least three bike projects and were used off something else before that.

Unplugged and examined both ends, didn't see anything wrong with it, so hooked it back up, and got the same quick glitch. There's no BMS or anything on the lighting pack, so I just figured it might be my imagination or just a bad spot on the contacts, perhaps.

Then I saw the light inside the crate wasnt on. So I wen to the trailer and verified the switch there was set to II, which is white light, vs just I which is the masked-off blue LEDs, or O which is off. As I was doing that, I smelled smoke, and turned and saw smoke coming from under the seat.

At this point, Yogi, who had already decided to occupy the trailer, changed his mind and ran off. Smarter than I might've guessed.


Thankfully, it was just the very thin gauge wires I'd used to run the few inches from the back of the andersons to the start of the regular wiring that then leads to that light in the trailer crate; they had been melting and smoking. I ripped them out of the back of the connector, which fixed the problem of potential fire, at least.

Looking for the cause, I thought perhaps this strap:
View attachment 1


that I had run under teh seat to better secure the kennel-crate on the trike from sliding backwards might have crushed insulation on these thin wires and caused a short. But none of the wires ran under it where they could be pushed against anything else.

I traced the wiring back and found it had actually been pinched and shorted on the trailer itself! I don't know exactly what happened, but I suspect it was when I dragged Tiny's body into the trailer that night, after I coudln't dig any deeper for her grave.

To insure it didn't get in my way at the time, I'd had to push the crate door open and wedge it that way against the trailer frame, about where the wires are fixed to it, which is about where I found hte problem. It was an ordeal of several kinds to get her into the trailer and then close it up to keep any birds or cats from getting to her overnight while I rested enough to go back out on the morning of my birthday to finish digging her grave, so I could easily have damaged the wiring during several parts of that effort.


I found the wiring had melted in a few spots along that, so ended up replacing the whole run, with no further damage to the system.



I find it interesting that even though there was enough current flowing thru the short to heat up the wires to insulation-melting-point after around a minute, maybe less, there was not enough voltage drop on the rest of the system to keep the lights from working, including the several-amp-drain car headlight (which IIRC is something like 6-8A with both filaments on as it is presently wired).

It *was* enough to cause the "blink" at connection, though, as that didnt' happen after removing the short and fixing the wire run.

I don't know how much current was actually being pulled from teh battery druing the event, as I had no meter on it, but I'm assuming it was at least 10-20A more than normal to heat those wires that much, probably more than that.

Those EIG cells can certainly handle that much with ease, as they are "5C" cells, IIRC, and even given their age and usage they're probably still easily 3-4C cells without all that much sag. The ones in the traction pack are aged more and harder, and sag more probably, but the lighting pack hasnt' seen as hard a life, most likely, being used mostly at <0.5C, vs the traction pack's numerous repetitive 4C+ bursts it endures on every ride.

 

[amberwolf]

I've been getting about 60wh/mile when hauling Teddy in the trike's crate; it's about 1/2 to 1 wh/mile more now with the 50lbs-ish cooling mats from this post:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=76539&start=25#p1187790
vs using just the gel packs, and performance is different (more tail heavy so braking with just front wheel is not possible; will skid, would need to lower front tire pressure too much to fix that).


About the same kind of difference from adding those mats to teh trailer for Yogi.


But the mats make a big difference to their comfort in there, especialy over a work shift, so it's worth the extra hassle of putting them in there and taking them out each ride, and the handling and other issues.

The handling might be fixed once I have time and energy at the same time to move the seat and cranks forward a few inches.

The Ashtabula cranks would be removed, leaving the empty BB shell since it's thoroughly welded in place. Then a threaded standard BB shell for square-taper cranks would be welded on the front of the downtube, opposite side of it from the Ashtabula shell. I should still have just enough clearance to the back edge of the front tire to still be able to pedal if necessary. This is pretty easy to do, and wont' take long.

Then the seat mount and associated frame under it would be cut off the trike, and moved forward a few inches. This is the hard part, because it changes a number of central structures on the trike, and requires re-bracing the cargo area to the underseat framework in a new way that gives me more cargo area back there, and lets me move the dog carrier part forward so more of it is in front of the rear axle, improving the handling and carrying capacity as more of it is on all three wheels rather than just the rear.


I probably won't be able to take another long vacation to do this part for quite a while, possibly not till mid or late summer, when it will be so hot I won't really wanna do anything like that.

So I need to plan it out, have all the materials cut and ready, so that I can try to do it on a single weekend. The catch with doing it this way is that first I must make sure CrazyBike2 is fully operational, because if anything goes wrong with the trike upgrade, I have to still have a fully functional dog-trailer-hauling vehicle to get to and from work and elsewhere, until I get the trike back to operational.

CB2 has been sitting a long while now, I'd guess about 3/4 of a year, and I've taken a few bits off here and there for fixes to the trike I couldn't do quickly any other way, so those all have to be re-fixed, and everything retested. And I have to re-learn riding it; I've gotten so used to the trike.

 

[amberwolf]

I moved the A123 pack to the bike, and left the EIG on the trike.

Didn't get anything else done yet, though I started trying to get the tires better-centered in the rim, but I didn't get it done.


Before that, I took a trip up to Bill's (about 7 miles each way) to help him install some stuff, and the usage was only 34Wh/mile on the way there (during the complete calm before midday), and 38 on the way back (against headwinds that started in the late afternoon).

I only had to stop a couple of times each way, so it's a lot more efficient than my work trip, which is around 45-50wh/mile, but has a dozen or so stops each way.

With Teddy in there the work trip is more like 60-65wh/mile, and with the trailer with either Teddy or Yogi in it it's 70-80wh/mile.

Average speed on work trips is around 15-16mph up to 17-18, depending on traffic, average speed today on longer trip with few stops was around 16mph

 

[amberwolf]

Interestingly, without the A123 pack on there (which has just been there in case I needed the extra range, not electrically connected to anything), my work trips are down to about 41-42wh/mile average (peak is the trip there which is around 44-46wh/mile).

 

[DAND214]

Interestingly, without the A123 pack on there (which has just been there in case I needed the extra range, not electrically connected to anything), my work trips are down to about 41-42wh/mile average (peak is the trip there which is around 44-46wh/mile).

WOW, they must of weighed more than the dogs :lol: :lol:
So what do you make of it?

Dan

 

[amberwolf]

WOW, they must of weighed more than the dogs :lol: :lol:

Nah, but it is about 28lbs I think including hte ammocan? I'd have to go weigh it again cuz I forget.

So what do you make of it?

Not sure what you mean?

Do you mean "what am I going to make with it?" If so, it's going to go on CrazyBike2 so I can use that bike again whenever needed, especially since it's likely the trike will be down for a few days (at least) when I start the fixes on it. Hoping not but nothing ever goes quite as planned. :/

 

[DAND214]

Sorry AW, I meant why did the w/h go down. That little weight wouldn't do it I don't think so.

 

[amberwolf]

It might, because of all the complete stops and starts I have (about a dozen each way) on the very short (2.2-ish miles each way) commute, and I typically acclerate at WOT until at speed, with both motors, then let off to cruising. So it takes a lot of power, and less mass = less power to do that.

On longer trips it doesnt' make as much difference, as there are less stops/starts vs long cruising stretches. Or on short trips carrying other cargo that makes up for the weight.

At a guess, the almost 30lb pack is probably a bit less than a tenth of the mass of the trike plus me.

I can feel the performance and handling difference, primarily in right-hand turns because of the weight shift toward the center withotu this pack there (it had been right of the seat and down), the righthand side lifts easier at lower speeds without it there. But I can also feel a bit of difference in acceleration.


Sometime it might be interesting to strip down the trike to minimum (no trunk, no crate, no rack), and measure its' weight (and mine), then do a test run over a specific distance on my local street, with specific stops and starts at marked spots. Then recharge it to full, and add specific amounts of weight and redo the test run, each time noting the power requirements / wh/mile.

I'll probably never get around to it, though.

 

[DAND214]

It might, because of all the complete stops and starts I have (about a dozen each way) on the very short (2.2-ish miles each way) commute, and I typically acclerate at WOT until at speed, with both motors, then let off to cruising. So it takes a lot of power, and less mass = less power to do that.

On longer trips it doesnt' make as much difference, as there are less stops/starts vs long cruising stretches. Or on short trips carrying other cargo that makes up for the weight.

At a guess, the almost 30lb pack is probably a bit less than a tenth of the mass of the trike plus me.

I can feel the performance and handling difference, primarily in right-hand turns because of the weight shift toward the center withotu this pack there (it had been right of the seat and down), the righthand side lifts easier at lower speeds without it there. But I can also feel a bit of difference in acceleration.


Sometime it might be interesting to strip down the trike to minimum (no trunk, no crate, no rack), and measure its' weight (and mine), then do a test run over a specific distance on my local street, with specific stops and starts at marked spots. Then recharge it to full, and add specific amounts of weight and redo the test run, each time noting the power requirements / wh/mile.

I'll probably never get around to it, though.

No need to. 30lbs is 30lbs!
It's great to hear that the SBC is doing well.

Dan

 

[amberwolf]

So far, more or less.

It's up for some major modifications at some point, once I have worked them out. This trike:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=80951
will be the testbed for some of them.


Today I'm gonna do my work commute using this battery that's here for test/repair:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=81108
cuz it doesn't charge normally. After the test ride, depending on results, I'll probably have to open it up and check it out to fix it.

 

[amberwolf]

Ride went about as expected. Battery isn't meant to be high performance, and if it started out that way it definitely isn't now. :/

Acceleration was drastically reduced, felt as if I were pulling about half a ton of stuff in the trike, even though it was basically unloaded (other than the trunk/crate weight).

I don't yet know if they were caused by the battery or the controller, but I got cutouts several times on the trip home, starting way before the halfway mark, after only about 3 and a quarter miles total ride distance. The motor would lose power then recover immediately, as the voltage dipped to 39.9v and then rose anywhere from 3 to 5V once load was removed by motor cutting out.


Details (including the above) on battery performance over here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=81108&p=1194271#p1194271

 

[amberwolf]

New problem on the trike: Something in the left rear motor is feeding power back into the righthand turn signal lights, only as it spins, in pulses. There's more current when powering the motor via it's controller but it's still there even when just hand-spinning the wheel.

It appears to be from just one phase, and it sort of seems like there might be a short somewhere on one phase, because I can't use the left motor to get the bike started going, though I can use it just fine once it's moving forward already.

It's just wierd that it ONLY feeds into the righthand turn signals. :?

Especially since the 12v (16V really) lighting system is totally separate from the motor system, except for a common ground.

I need to inspect the wiring everywhere to find out what's shorted. At a guess two wires are pinched together under some common bit of frame or clamp or whatever, and just barely touching conductors a tiny bit. But I can't imagine where that might be cuz there isn't anywhere I can think of where both systems are run next to each other, with the sole exception of under the seat where the batteries actuallly are (on opposite sides of the frame). Even there, its' inside the frame, and anythign that were to short there would short the entire systems together, not just the righthand turn signals. :?

 

[amberwolf]

I've gone over all the wiring and can't find any shorts (or opens) anywhere.

The problem happens whether or not batteries are attached--as long as the left motor is spun fast enough to generate more than a few volts, the righthand turnsignals will pulse once per revolution, meaning something in a single phase of that motor (or controller) is somehow feeding back to just the righthand turn signal.

I see no such issue with the lefthand turn signals, so whatever's going on is a pretty wierd problem.


I'm probably going to have to disconnect the motor from the controller and test the FETs, and if those all turn out ok I'll try hooking up a different motor to it setup on a frame next to the trike, and see if it causes the same effect.

If it doesn't, then the problem is in the trike's lefthand motor itself, or it's phase wiring. I have other stators if that's the problem, and plenty of wire to rewire it if the wiring is it.


This is just a PITA because I can't see how the feedback could even occur, but it's obviously happening--and at night it looks like i have a righthand turn signal going all the time I'm moving (blinking brighter and faster the faster I am moving, slowing and dimming as I slow). It's nowhere near as bright as my actual turn signal, but it's probably confusing to drivers.