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Author Subject: DIY Electric Pedal Bike Conversion
jimmyhackers

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Location: birmingham

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Post #1
hey all,

thought id start a project thread on something i have more of a hope of completing Smile

INTRO. ive taken a golf trolley motor and gearbox, my pedal bike and some other bits and bobs and created a pedal assist electric push bike.

this was it a few days ago



since then ive swapped dirt for road tyres and added better/extra rear mudguard. this pic also shows my battery backpack, its a 12v 26ah golf trolley battery. that little black box infornt of the motor is a 12v-24v dc-dc step up transformer, it works as a primative (non variable) motor controller. it doubles my motor speed+torque but halfs my battery life down to an hour. probably doesnt help the brushes either Smile



heres what happens if you try and use a plastic golf trolley gearbox



and heres where i made it all, My garage/workshop



it needs some things, like some freewheeling sprockets on the motor side, but other than that its good

its fast, 20mph uphill 40mph downhill (if my cycle computer is correct)

so yeah
questions or comments welcome

thanks

jim

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Posted 10th Feb 2014 at 23:17
jimmyhackers

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Post #2
heres a close up of the motor mounting, the cable tie was only used as a chain pre-tensioner and is not a structural mounting point before anyone comments.

the motor sprocket came with extra thick teeth, nearly 5mm, had the grind the hell out of it to get it to fit bike chain

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Posted 10th Feb 2014 at 18:21
dangti6

aka JKshooter

Location: Taunton, Somerset

Registered: 15 Jun 2006

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Post #3
Any videos?

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  • Posted 10th Feb 2014 at 18:42
    axnxdxy

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    Location: Kenilworth

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    Post #4
    Get a pannier rack fitted for the battery - stuff carrying it round and tripping over when you try to get off still attached to it!
    Posted 10th Feb 2014 at 22:09
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #5
    sadly not yet. i might get one done when its not raining or dark. or i get one of my reluctant friends to help me out with my sad little project Smile

    i like the battery in the bag. although its a higher centre of gravity, it means the mass of the battery is under my control. it feels like i can handle it better (not that i have tried it mounted to the bike)

    my aim was not to have a heavy bulky conspicuous looking bike. there are laws governing electric bikes of which this meets......none : (

    200w max power equates to around 0.3bhp which is s**t. so is the 15mph limit. thers are loads more but have a look yourself.

    so already im breaking the law Sad wether a copper gives two s**ts is another matter, im currently at around 240watts and plan on going to around 360 or 480 with the current motor. i had a look at similar sized brushless and they end up in the 1-3kw range. so yeah plenty of scope for all illegal improvement :s

    the motor and control box sit neatly within the centre. the plan is i blank them off with two large black plastic triangles. this hopefiully will make the bike look a lot less conspicuous.

    not quite sure about the motor shaft n chain...... could fab something up to cover it but i dont know if that woukd draw more attention or not.

    what do you reacon guys?

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    Posted 10th Feb 2014 at 23:43
    cully

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    Location: Cullompton

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    Post #6
    how are you controlling the motor?
    put a drawing up of the electrics and the controller fellow Geek Smile

    heres a little something i built capable of 30Mph

    Posted 11th Feb 2014 at 08:53
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #7
    holy crap that motors big.....brushless? what voltage/wattage?

    um......... its not the most complex of wirings and my paint drawing is terrible but hopefully youll get the idea



    i have no speed controll...not that i need it....... the dc -dc step up transformer acts as a primative motor controller as it works by pwm and provides a "soft start" for the motor

    hopefully prolonging the brush life and battery life etc etc....

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    Posted 11th Feb 2014 at 17:01
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #8
    the transformer box came from ebay over 2 years ago. was about 30quid.

    its make is ORION......its rated max output ampage is 7amp (168 watts) but ive had it outputing at 15amps (360 watts) with no problems.

    there is a uk based company that make em in purple boxes, ii tried a 10amp 24v one and that was a crock of crap and blew at 10amps.....

    i have a 500w (800w peak) 12 - 48v one...... this sadly however is the largest device ive seen. so yeah great for small motors and kids electric toys but i think your motor would fry it Sad

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    Posted 11th Feb 2014 at 17:14
    cully

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    Post #9
    ah your running direct drive with no speed control only the ramp up of the PWM controlled via a relay switch

    lol it wouldnt run that motor of mine Wink
    its a 6.5Kw brushed motor @ 24v dc.
    the kart was running full electronic speed control 0-30mph with forward and reverse drive Wink
    Posted 11th Feb 2014 at 19:39
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #10
    um.....how much do you know about batteries??? im a bit confused now ive been reading about deep cycle and the (20hr rate) and i think ive been looking at it all wrong

    i have a 26AH battery in my backpack. i thought that meant it could provide around 12v at 26amps for an hour and then the battery is dead

    but by a few articles googles proivided now it seems like what it actually means is it can provide a continuous 26amps per hour for 20 hours, with a decreasing voltage from 12.7 - 10.5v(dead)? if that the case my theoretical range has inreased nearly 20 times.

    i ask this as today i was out on it for well over 2 hours and.......yeah the battery is still good : S i thought itd only last an hour :S

    i might step it up to 48v if this new thinking is the case Big grin

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    Posted 13th Feb 2014 at 22:47
    scotzman

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    Post #11
    I think its the 26 amps for 1 hour, if it were 26 amps for 20 hours think how much charging that would also take. Charging at even 5A would take well over 100 hours.

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    Posted 13th Feb 2014 at 22:54
    cully

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    Post #12
    yup its 26amps for 1 hour at rated voltage then it decreases in voltage but will still produce current untill there is no volts left.
    if its a dry lead acid they dont like being taken down to 0v as it will feck them up
    Posted 13th Feb 2014 at 23:16
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #13
    thanks for your replies...yeah......i read over a few things again at work to try and make sense of it all.

    the 20hr rating.....actually is the test period time of which the manufacturers drew 26AH in total from the battery.

    annoyingly this fact compounds when u take more amperage from the battery over a shorter time period. making for less overall available amp hours in the battery..... so my 26ah battery will produce more like 15-20AH over an hour Sad

    however

    i checked how many amps my charger put back into the battery this morning from my 2 hour ride... and it was just over 7amps...... meaning im only taking an average of 3.5amps an hour

    meaning i could keep riding for nearly 6 hours ...things are looking up

    i thought my amp draw was more than this as i can blow a 10amp fuse if i put extra strain on the motor from a complete standing start, uphill and not using the pedals to assist. 10amps was my peak, not my continuous which is probably closer to 2.5-3amps.

    im gonna fit the 48v booster over the weekend, see what happens.
    theoretically it should double the motors torque/speed again.
    shame that my theory (as prooved above) hasnt been brilliant with predictions

    im worried ill hit magnetic saturation at this higher voltage.
    or burn out my brushes or coil.
    or explode the gearbox/snap a chain
    or the pedals turn so fast i mash my legs up in them :s

    so a 3 in 4 chance for soime epic video footage Smile

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    Posted 14th Feb 2014 at 16:14
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #14
    oh and i forgot to ask...

    you got any videos of your kart? Big grin

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    Posted 14th Feb 2014 at 16:22
    cully

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    Post #15
    im at work at the moment and youtube it blocked so cant get a video link of the cart at Ace cafe london

    here is by build thread the kart went through two setups firts being 11mph the last being the big 6.5kw motor @30mph

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxTxE0Chl8

    http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-3216-post-71683.html#pid71683
    Posted 14th Feb 2014 at 22:39
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #16
    nice project thread.

    a lot more in depth than mine.

    UPDATE: tried the 500w 12v - 48v box last night. worked awesome...for all of 2 minutes then two capacitors on its board litteraly exploded :S

    one after the other i heard two very loud bangs coming from the box.
    i took it apart to find

    never actually had a capacitor explode on me before
    think ill replace them with same voltage but higher farrad versions. see if they hold out better

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    Posted 15th Feb 2014 at 10:53
    cully

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    Post #17
    replace them with the same farrad but higher voltage also look for the higer temp rated ones ie: 105c not 95c ones Wink
    Posted 15th Feb 2014 at 13:08
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #18
    will it be an excess voltage thats popped them then?

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    Posted 15th Feb 2014 at 14:39
    cully

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    Post #19
    possably!
    it will be mor than likly of been reverse voltage though
    when you pedal and force the motor to generate
    Posted 15th Feb 2014 at 17:15
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #20
    bike managed to split two side links in the drive chain on the motor side today. was the heaviest duty chain halfords had to offer : S

    any ideas on whats happening? the sprokets aligned properly, properly tensioned (no slap)...i think thats correct :S theres no excess noise comign from the chain

    could it be that im going from thick toothed sprocket on the motor to a thin toothed one on the pedals. the heavy duty chain the fits my thick toothed sprocket snuggly but its too loose on the thin toothed one.

    this extra play on the thin toothed one allows twist and flew in the chain causing it to break?

    so counterintutively to fix it id need to thin the motor sporcket teeth and get a thinner chain?

    what do you reacon?

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    Posted 16th Feb 2014 at 19:36
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #21
    got a much narrower chain and thinned the motor gear.

    so far so good Smile

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    Posted 22nd Feb 2014 at 19:01
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #22
    ive added a freewheel to the motor shaft with much help from stanton incs adaptor.

    not having to have the motor on when pedaling has made my range nearly double. i get above 30mins at around 20mph average. so a 10 mile range. with a better battery i can expect more.

    here a pic of the freewheel



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    the world is changed by people in sheds
    Posted 6th Nov 2014 at 22:46
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #23
    ive aldo made a second electric bike. with no pedals. purley motor powered. same bike+golf trolley motor+battery) setup but no pedals. more like an electric motorbike



    at 10mph its slow but its only 12v atm. i plan on an extra battery, a twist throttle, a 24v speed controller

    heres a closeup of the motor



    ask some questions if you like

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    Posted 6th Nov 2014 at 22:53
    RetroPug

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    Post #24
    Pretty nice little project!

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    Posted 8th Nov 2014 at 13:28
    jimmyhackers

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    Post #25
    i managed to gear the thing properly today, had to take apart the rear freewheel n cog so i could get the smallest teeth gear (14T) in a position where it lined up properly with the motor shafts 13T gear. so the chain didnt rub on the bike frame

    it was on a 20T one but now ive swapped it over its a wee bit faster on the top end. almost a 1:1 ratio from the wormdrive output

    just been out on this second electric "motorbike" for an hour varying between 10 - 15mph up n downhills.

    was most enjoyable, and the battery wasnt even flat on my return.

    ive bought a job lot of 4 of the same "broken" golf trolleys on ebay. besides new motors ill have 4 more battery holders ready to double available voltage and amperage Big grin

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    the world is changed by people in sheds
    Posted 8th Nov 2014 at 17:58

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