Merging the R/C crowd with EVers

Castle Creations is doing some testing of their controllers with hub motors right now. They also make custom controllers that are rated at 90 volts 250 amps and fit in the palm of your hand and are USB programmable for $500. They are a custom order, though with a 6 to 8 week lead time.

There are manufacturers working on this stuff. We just need to "Encourage" them. :wink:

Matt
 
I own a castle creations speed controller for my plane.

My dealings with this company is nothing short of execellent.
Great service. Great products and most importantly they offer resonable repair and warantee services.

Their reputation is well known amoung the RC airplane crowd.

If they have an ebike product then I would be willing to purchase what they have.
This company has also done upgrades that are offered via software.

A major obstical in using a stand alone brushless controller is has been overcome.
The throttle integration

I spoke to Bob at Astroflight and he told me that thier throttles are compatable with RC type controllers.
So no need to modify servo testors and use them anymore.
All you need is to hook up a BEC and use one of their throttles and your all set.
http://www.astroflight.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20&zenid=qf0i00tf7frens602ipjt888n8ruer3v

Astroflight also offers controllers but at this time only for brushed motors.

These are major steps in the right direction for the Ebike market.
 
Microbatman said:
I spoke to Bob at Astroflight and he told me that thier throttles are compatable with RC type controllers.
So no need to modify servo testors and use them anymore.
Click to expand...

This is pretty confusing because they've just modified the wording on their website to the contrary..
" The Astro Model 903 Bike Control is specially designed for 12 to 48
volt brushed bikes and scooters."
 
I sent an email to them specificly asking the question if they worked with brushless.
The response was no..

I will touch base with them again later this week and try to clear the confusion.

I hope that the answer is yes as this would be very nice.


Here is the email I sent



they are for brushed motors and are ready now
thank you,michele

> Are you Ebike controllers for brushless or brushed?
>
> When will they be available?
>
> I have a Crystalyte X5304
> http://www.crystalyte.com/
>
> And would like an alternative controller to the large Crystalyte one
> that I have now.
>
> Thank you
 
It doesn't seem very likely, I'm afraid.

The throttle that they're using seems to be a standard Magura one. If they could modify their servo tester so that this throttle plugged into it, bypassing the internal pot, isn't that all we need? Everything else is handled within the sensorless controller. Does the Astro Flight tester have self-calibration? That might be a problem....
 
I spoke to Bob direct at Astroflight about the throttle.

He told me that it puts out the same signal as the sevo tester.

The only obstickal in making it work is that it needs a souce of power.
One solution would be a stand alone seperate battery just for the throttle.
Another soluion would be to use of a BEC device to pull power from the battery used to power the motor.

As far as calibration.
Very easy. I have 3 different brands of brushless ESC that I use on my RC airplanes ( I have about 4 airplanes)
Just need to give them full throttle once and 0 throttle and all callibration is all done.
After that you just need to make sure that the ESC is plugged in when throttle is a full off or 0.

Without throttle being first placed to full off then ESC will not power the motor.
Kind of like a safety device and callibration routine all in one.



My airplane setups do not even need a BEC or stand alone battery to get power from.
Why? Only running 12 -10 volts on my RC planes.
When you only need to go from 12 volts down to 5 (5 volts is the voltage where the ESC operates at for non motor funcions such as throttle and servo power) not much help is needed as the onboard ESC can handle reducing that load.

But when you go from 40++ volts to 5 you need either a BEC to do the voltage reduction work or use a stand alone seperate non motor battery for a power source.
 
That's good news, but I'm still puzzled...

Is this a new thing that's coming? The throttles are not even advertised separately on the site... Or, is this something integral to the brushed controller that we can tap into?

Re: Calibration - The problem I've found is that there is no memory for the calibration, so every time you switch on the throttle doesn't scale properly, at first... I've no experience of the Astro Flight tester, though.

I use a Dimension Engineering BEC, which I can recommend.
 
Hmm, I use servo testers with two different Caslte Creations ESCs and they always startup properly and scale correctly.

The only issue I have is the servo tester (Astro Flight servo tester) has a much wider pulse width generator than my ESC needs. So, the first 20% or so of throttle rotation doesn't do anything. Also, the last 10% or 15% of throttle rotation also does nothing (full throttle is achieved by 85% to 90% throttle rotation).

I am actually quite surprised how well all this RC equipment is working on my bike.

Fantastic!

Matt
 
I'm must try a few different servo testers...

The one I have behaves like this, in conjunction with the CC HV85:

- The motor initially reaches no load speed at half throttle setting.

- If you then back off on the throttle it will self-calibrate at this scaling and maintain it until switched off.

- If you take the throttle to its maximum extent before backing off it will self-calibrate with this correct scaling and maintain it until switched off.

As there is no non-volatile memory for the calibration, this is a bit inconvenient...
 
There is an auto calibration and manual calibration setting in the advanced tab on the setup menu.

I assume the 85 is the same as the 110 in that regard.

I know I always set mine (for my RC cars too) on manual.

Matt
 
Deleted
 
Knuckles said:
...Time for a 1/2 scale human EV e bike helicopter...
Click to expand...

No, it's time for my atomic or anti-gravity drive Jetsons type car that I was essentially promised back when I was a kid. :mrgreen:
 
Put me down for one of those on the order form, please :)
otherDoc
 
Knuckles said:
Is this the appropriate thread to post how I solved nuclear fusion or should I start a new thread? Hmmm. :?
Help me Doc! Help me! ARGH!
Click to expand...

Why are you going to turn this topic into the trash bin ? :evil:

Do you afraid of serious discuss ?
It is right place and right time to discuss what would work great for EV-ers as well as for RC guys too i'm sure.
 
The guys are just kidding around. No problem.

Eventually someone will post something else of interest to this topic.

Once I get my new motor, I will be posting alot, I am sure. :wink:

Matt
 
recumpence said:
The guys are just kidding around. No problem.
Click to expand...
Sorry if i was too offensive. It is for the sake of my rusty English :(
I wasn't going to hurt anybody or to force to deleting posts.
The merging idea was mine too since my early days on E-S forum. IMHO it is very promising way for fast progress or substantial progress at least. But i was too weak to start such discuss alone. (I was bashed when i was try to compare hubs to RC motors). So i'm very happy to see many other folks like that idea too. The subject is so huge so is worth of separate subforum for discuss of all related ideas and issues IMO.
So i want remind we should control themselfs to post only subject thread related messages here for better order/clarity. (It is my second post here for that reason). For jokes are better suited places.

Best regards
 
Can you post a link to that, Miles as the search facility doesn't find it very easily.
 
How about the best of three worlds....

The small RC motors are hard to control and like to run at full blast.

The wheels of the bike need to turn relatively slowly, with great torque at times.

If you could let the RC motor "charge" a pressure tank, then the wheels could be driven hydraulically with great control and torque.

The motor would just cut in and out automatically when the pressure drops.

Pressurised air might also be an option instead of hydraulic oil.

http://www.motorsports-network.com/HonDA/201atv/rubcon01/tranny.html

From Wikipedia:
Hydrostatic CVTs

Hydrostatic transmissions use a variable displacement pump and a hydraulic motor. All power is transmitted by hydraulic fluid. These types can generally transmit more torque, but can be sensitive to contamination. Some designs are also very expensive. However, they have the advantage that the hydraulic motor can be mounted directly to the wheel hub, allowing a more flexible suspension system and eliminating efficiency losses from friction in the drive shaft and differential components. This type of transmission is relatively easy to use because all forward and reverse speeds can be accessed using a single lever.
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuously_variable_transmission
 
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