Found a forklift!!

[WaxyChicken]

Sorry about the delay, I don't get much internet time during the weekends. During the week I surf here while I'm at work.

I e-mailed crown because I hope to find out what the PSL plugs are for and what the 2 RPMs are. (This will help me calculate speed for transmission gear ratios.)

THANK YOU Tom, your quick post showed me that BOTH motors are good.
I tested them with a 12V 750CCA 500CA auto battery. both sound great.
There is something rolling around inside the case of the giant motor, i'm hoping it's just a bit of sand or pebble that i can shake out. if not then i'll have to pop the case and find the cause. If i do have to open up the case then i'll spend some time to find out what the PSL plugs are wired for.

Can i regen off of the Engine motor or will i be using the Jr. size motor? I guess I'll have to do some more research.

My wife won't let me get a target vehicle until I do two things:
1 - sell Big Ben. There is rust in him and i don't want to get in there and find a ton of problems such as Metro had to deal with.
2 - Figure out what i'm going to do for a controller.

After that i'm in clear so long as i stay in budget.
Costs so far:
$60 for main drive motor
$30 for smaller motor (this was the main drive motor of a stand-on forklift)

Also, before I actually use the motor in the auto, I'll probably clean it up and paint it (preserving all markings). Since there are almost no oils in an EV car, there is no reason i can't have everything pretty under the hood.

Thanks for the input and info, guys. As always you've been extremely helpful.
When i start my build thread I'll probably title it something like
"EV Conversion For The Average Dummy"

[bennelson]

Looks like you are kinda on the same track that I am.

I already have LOTS more money into this project than you.
$500 for entire forklift and charger
$180 to move it.

I decided that I need to get rid of the rest of the forklift before doing anything else. Get one wreck out of the driveway before bringing another one in.

I pulled the controller off the forklift, although it doesn't make any sense to me.

I just got a book from the Library called "How to convert to an electric car" by Ted Lucas and Fred Riess. It was copyrighted in 1980, so it uses some older technology in the book. This includes showing an "SCR Controller", which I believe is what the forklift has.

I may be able to use the forklift controller - at least for some early tests, until finding a really good deal on a PWM controller.

[chris_alliance]

I am also considering converting a rear-wheel drive. Does anyone have any information or links regarding the advantages/disadvantages of front and rear wheel drives?

Thanks in advance.

[MetroMPG]

Hi Chris -

Some talk on that subject here: Front VS Rear drive on electric

[WaxyChicken]

The CROWN company has come through for me.

Originally Posted by CrownFokliftCompany

Vincent

Thank you for contacting Crown. P/N 020347-001 is a brushed, DC traction drive motor for our model FC, a four-wheel sit-down counterbalance lift truck. For reference, I've attached a parts breakdown of the motor below. I can see you have the voltage and kW ratings already. For further assistance, parts or service, please contact your local Crown Dealer who's information can be found at the bottom of this email thread. For reference, a copy of this message has been forwarded to Naumann Hobbs Material Handling.

Sincerely,
Donley Myers
General Manager - Customer and Product Support

An attached .PDF document was with the E-mail.
This .PDF provides me a complete parts list and an exploded diagram of the engine.
If i should ever need to rebuild it, then i have all the basic diagrams i need.



It's not clear what the PSL plugs are for, but - if i understand the diagram correctly - then they are parts 14 and 25. "Connector Thermals". This implies to me that they are temperature sensors that maybe break an electric current connection when the motor gets too hot. This may be to signal to the controller to do an emergency shutdown.
well.... that's my theory.

[bennelson]

Cool to get that diagram and parts list!

Maybe I should contact Raymond and see what I can dig up on my motors!

[BigMouse]

Originally Posted by WaxyChicken

(...) Friday I will go down to a forklift salvage yard someone told me about and see if that works out. (...)

Does this forklift salvage yard ship? They seem to be giving those motors away very cheap!

I got mine from a local forklift salvage place, almost the same motor in yours, except mine is a Baker. Cost me $200.

Hook me up with that place's info please?

[bennelson]

I just got the drive end plate off the drive motor from my forkift!

I would like to use this motor for my project, but I just don't know how much amp/volts I can put through it. It only weighs 90 lbs. Not sure what weight car I can push with this.



More photos here!

[MetroMPG]

Are all the pics on that page of the same motor? Looks like it's another one with the brushes set at an angle to the commutator, which suggests it's designed to go run mainly in one direction. Doesn't make much sense to me though, since the forklift was direct drive to the differential, wasn't it?

I think Jim likes the many-segmented comms, such as this. The only downside I can see is that it appears to have one brush per holder, rather than a pair.

[bennelson]

yeah, all the photos on that page are just of the forklift drive motor.

I was suprised to see the angled brushes and the motor was used directly to power the wheels and I am almost positive it just swapped power connections (reversing contactor?) to the motor to make the forklift go in reverse.

The brushes are four single brushes and are angled for clockwise rotation of the driveshaft.

The other motor looks to be better because it has 6 brush pairs and weighs 20 or 30 lbs more. Too bad it doesn't have a drive shaft!!!