Suzuki GZ250

I've never done an ev -conversion or built an e-bike before, but have wanted to do something for a while, and my aim is to get it road legal too using the cheapest finest components!

First it was supposed to be a 800cc marauder, deemed it too heavy, tried to strike a deal on an Yahama DT125 but that fell through. Few weeks later I stumbled on a 1999 Suzuki GZ250. It's still a Marauder, just a small one!

150kg wet weight, cruiser style, cheap as bag of chips, small enough for me to look like a blueberry on a stick riding it?

Perfect!

Not much have been done to it yet. Just did a small 160km road trip with a trailer to get it, stripped it of its hard bags and oily bits and now it's sitting in the car port waiting for my parts to arrive.

For the go parts I've decided to go with the following and ordered them:
Controller: VOTOL EM-150s-72490 - To get things rolling, BAC 8000 later.
Motor: QS138 90H 4000W
Batteries: Nissan leaf Gen 1 modules, ~82% SOH, so around 52AH usable / module.
Aim is to do 10S2P on modules, so 76v nominal / 104Ah - if i can't fit it all, I'll just have to revert to 76v 52Ah.

Other bits:
84V 400A main contactor
"Z6 throttle switch combination"
Ant BMS 300A (haven't ordered yet)
Charger: ????
DC-DC Converter: ????

Still need to sort out charger and a DC-DC converter. Any suggestions for these?

For the charger I don't want to splooge on an elcon yet, because I'm on a budget and dumping ~500€ for a charger at this point is not ideal. Also it really doesn't need to be on board for my use.

As for the DC-DC - do you retain the 12v lead acid battery or just wire everything directly to the converter?

Edit: Some stripteasy pictures!


Bike just before loading it up to the trailer!


Removed things - to remove more things.


ICE BE GONE!


Popped the seat and fuel tank back on. I don't have too many shelves in my car port.

There is a non-CAN (or 'enable mode') Elcon (aka TC) charger which is much cheaper ($300usd shipped) from China.

For the 12v system you can either wire everything to the dc-dc converter, or have the dc-dc converter charge a 12v battery. The advantage of the former is simplicity, the advantage of the latter is safety (the hazards/brake-lights/headlight will still function for a period of time, long enough to get off the road, even if you experience a problem with the HV system).

Keep in mind the stock 12v battery is designed to pull a large current for the starter motor, and is very large and heavy. You can get away with a much smaller 12v battery if you are only running lights.

Nice build, post any more pics you have of the process to help others who want to copy this. How did you make the motor mounts?

Nothing made yet, just dismantled.

Planning to use the original mount points as much as possible.. Can't really move forward with the mounts before I have the motor - mocking up battery box from cardboard currently

Jordan325ic said:

There is a non-CAN (or 'enable mode') Elcon (aka TC) charger which is much cheaper ($300usd shipped) from China.

Click to expand...

I think I found it. 350ish euros shipped, taxed and ready. It probably has a voltage cut off that you can set or do they pre configure it?

The leaf cells are a bit weird with 3.8v nominal and is it 4.1 max. Not entirely sure.

As for the DC-DC, I think the stator pushes out 13.5v (after voltage regulator) and 20-30 amps. Atleast there was a 30A fuse and 13.5v was the voltage at battery i measured while the bike was running. So I should try to match that if I wish to retain the 12v battery?

That thing is tiny anyway. Or should a 72v - to 12v and 30a be enough?

Gommi said:

Jordan325ic said:

There is a non-CAN (or 'enable mode') Elcon (aka TC) charger which is much cheaper ($300usd shipped) from China.

Click to expand...

I think I found it. 350ish euros shipped, taxed and ready. It probably has a voltage cut off that you can set or do they pre configure it?

The leaf cells are a bit weird with 3.8v nominal and is it 4.1 max. Not entirely sure.

As for the DC-DC, I think the stator pushes out 13.5v (after voltage regulator) and 20-30 amps. Atleast there was a 30A fuse and 13.5v was the voltage at battery i measured while the bike was running. So I should try to match that if I wish to retain the 12v battery?

That thing is tiny anyway. Or should a 72v - to 12v and 30a be enough?

Click to expand...

It's this one:
https://www.evcomponents.com/elcon-tc-hk-h-1800w-charger.html
I ordered from them, though I will say the lag time between ordering and delivery is pretty long. Still waiting 2 months on.

It comes pre-programmed, to your specifications, in .05V increments per cell (so 4.1V per cell, 4.15V per cell, etc...).

Jordan325ic said:

It's this one:
https://www.evcomponents.com/elcon-tc-hk-h-1800w-charger.html
I ordered from them, though I will say the lag time between ordering and delivery is pretty long. Still waiting 2 months on.

It comes pre-programmed, to your specifications, in .05V increments per cell (so 4.1V per cell, 4.15V per cell, etc...).

Click to expand...

Thats the one I was looking at, not a bad price. Will probably get some slow chinese one first that could be shipped faster - in hopes i get the build done sooner

Saw this one somewhere:
https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-charger-ev-charger/822-16862-c1200-1200watts-lifepo4li-ionlead-acid-battery-charger.html?SubmitCurrency=1&id_currency=2

I am building something similar but with a '96 zx6 frame.

I am using a 106 V setup with LiFePo4 and I am using a Delta QuiQ 1000 Charger I had with the system I picked up. Only thing is you would need to load some algorithms to the charger to hand your specific voltage.
https://delta-q.com/product/quiq-1000-industrial-battery-charger/

I am also using a thunderstruck 96V DC-DC Converter and wiring it without a small battery. Less weight the better since my battery pack needs all the room it can get. The input voltage is 72V-135V so pretty versatile for a lot of motorcycle conversions.
https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/tsm-96v-dc-dc.html

Any updates on this build?