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Old 10-03-2012, 07:28 PM   #71 (permalink)
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Pulled the electric motor out of the motorcycle and pulled it apart to see what it looked like inside, partly because under high load the motor gave a little chatter so I thought something might be up with it, turns out the commutator has "threading"

Instead of normal wear.

So I'm going to take it in and have it turned, crank up the spring pressure (already part of the plan) so I also spent a bit of time V-grooving between the commutator bars to help reduce arcing.
I would like to upgrade the brushes but I didn't find anything other then stock golf cart brushes.

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Old 10-08-2012, 01:25 AM   #72 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenwright View Post
Your idea and plan are really great. Are you working on it or you have just provided a piece of information to us? Thanks anyways.
What do you mean when you ask if I am working on it? I'm working on it, but it's a hobby, I also have a job, a house, a garden, a regular life and my workshop is 3 miles away at my parents house so it's an investment in time to go there to work on it, if I had my own workshop then spending 10 minutes puttering away on some small part of it wouldn't be an issue!

I also like sharing information! Ben Nelson inspired me to build this motorcycle by sharing info on what he did, so I'll share what I'm doing, I also get something out of sharing info by getting others to solve problems, ask questions and help me out in other ways like the fact that I am saving $600 on lithium batteries because one of the people in the local electric vehicle club thought my project sounded like it would be better with lithium batteries so he cut me in on a great group buy, but my goal has always been to build something for my self that could be replicated in the same way you can share a recipe with someone, they can fallow it word for word and get the same results or they can make changes and make it there own, for that reason I want to know what the basics are of how well this will work! thus testing it with a heavy low voltage set of batteries with basic cheap parts, then I'll refine and hone it to make it better and test it again! and share that info, that way if I ever get kits put together then when you go to build a motorcycle you can see how the low budget version will perform or you can see how the higher budget version will perform instead of saying to your self that you have a budget of some set amount to play with and if it doesn't work it's not a big loss.

Putting together kits is on my list of things to do and I have all of the resources I need to build the custom parts, to source the used golf cart parts, but right now this is still in the hobby phase.
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Old 10-14-2012, 12:46 PM   #73 (permalink)
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Ok , just read your thread, very nice work on fitting that motor up!

I didn't catch which controller you are using and how many amps is it rated for?

Also, if it is possible to give a quick run down on cost so far that would be cool.

Thanks for sharing your project, I am sure there will be others that find one of these motorcycle to be a good conversion to electric, and of course your thread will be a great resource.
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Old 10-14-2012, 08:33 PM   #74 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenwright View Post
I knew that you have made this great plan so asked, Whether you are working on it and giving it a shape?
I'm a little unclear on what you mean still by "giving it a shape" like body work? if that is the case, no, not really, the local collage has an industrial design program that I've talked to the professors and am confident that a student would be willing to take it on as a class project to design body work to make it look good.
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Old 10-14-2012, 09:50 PM   #75 (permalink)
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Cost Break Down

I'm going to do my best to do a cost break down! I've also added links when I could to give more info.

Motorcycle without a title to build my working prototype cost me $100.
2nd motorcycle with a title and lots of good gas engine parts to sell cost $250.

Golf Cart motor from an Ez-Go cost me $200 but if I bought more $150 each should be possible, that $200 included a main solenoid shut off if I remember correctly, that part would have otherwise cost $35.

Magura 0-5K ohm electronic twist throttle I found one for around $50 with shipping.

Used Alltrax 4834 speed controller $170 with shipping, rough specs are 24-48v 300amp peek 275amp 2 minutes, 125amps for one hour.

Battery cables were $8 to $15 each for the lead acid batteries, 6 batteries so 7 cables total, it took three long $15 cables and 4 short cables so round it up to $80 for battery cables for the golf cart batteries, I could have saved money by buying cable ends, bulk cable and crimping them all together my self but I wanted to use off the shelf parts as much as I could.

I've tired two sets of batteries now, the old set I paid $20 each for 6v golf cart batteries that are now 8 years old, the other set belong to my parents and they paid $97 each, those new batteries are what I used to get my 40mph top speed test with, using 6 of those batteries, after tax the lead acid battery cost was around $610, the used set of batteries cost $120 total and worked pretty well for their age!

When I go to lithium batteries I figure my full lithium set up will cost $2616 and it could be lower if I can get someone else close by to order with me ($5000 to get a bulk discount), but that price is 16 100amp hour lithium cells, BMS, charger and gauge that all connect and talk to each other

My current battery charger for lead acid is something that I had left over, it's a 4 bank (4 12v sets) NoCo brand charger designed for trolling motors on fishing boats, I paid around $300 for it, nice for lead acid batteries but it charges kind of slow.

Steel to make a battery box cost about $45 for the sheets of steel plate cut to my specs, I then welded them together.

Each motorcycle has about $15 in raw aluminum that was then CNC machined and my current adapter shafts are $9 chunks of P20 tool steel that were then CNC machined, that tool steel was over kill so the cost would come way down on the metal and my brother thought it would cost about $300 to machine everything but I'm still waiting for all my drawings to come back to me for a true bid.

Ball bearings, I used two 6005-2RS sealed ball bearings that I paid $3.38 each.

I'm sure that there are a few misc parts that I've forgotten about and if I remember them I'll add them in, but so far this is what I have bought and how much I spent! let me note that I have not yet bought a DC to DC converter to run the lights, that will be an added cost unless I opt for a 12v aux battery and a charger to charge it, I also haven't subtracted the money that I could make from selling parts or selling scrap that I remove from the motorcycle.

Total spent to make my 40mph test run came out to $1577, using the frame without a title and using new batteries, after making that test run I had some machine shop work done on the motor to fix the commutator and that cost $38, the new lead batteries are not mine so that cuts my out of pocket costs by $490 but I'm sure that it would also have cut my top speed by a bit if I had used old batteries.

Last edited by Ryland; 10-14-2012 at 10:17 PM..
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Old 10-15-2012, 10:17 PM   #76 (permalink)
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If I buy a $60 DC to DC converter (possible on Ebay it seems) use my nice new motorcycle, lithium batteries, factor in the repair cost of the motor and everything it's looking like I can build a lithium battery powered motorcycle for $3,500 figure that I can sell the gas engine parts from the motorcycle for $500 and it's down to $3,000 for a lithium battery powered electric motorcycle that two people can tear out the gas engine and bolt in the electric parts in 6-8 hours.
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Old 12-07-2012, 10:15 PM   #77 (permalink)
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Why would you use a frame without a title? Isn't that going to make registration a pain?
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Old 12-07-2012, 11:47 PM   #78 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterInnovation View Post
Why would you use a frame without a title? Isn't that going to make registration a pain?
I used a motorcycle frame without a title because it was $100 and I wanted to build a working prototype, I've been buying, riding and repairing motorcycles sense I was 17 and motorcycles without titles are common, they also have nearly no value other then in parts, this one that I bought had an engine that did not turn over, looked rough and had been on fire at some point, in short no one was going to buy it and use it! if I ripped it apart and found out that my idea was flawed and that I was left with a pile of parts in front of me I would have been out $100 and some time, if I had done that to a bike with a title I would have felt obligated to put it all back together and make it run, I was also getting frigidity and wanted to get started on the project so I bought the first $100 Honda CX500 I could find.

The 2nd motorcycle I bought to convert to electric was $250, it does have a title, it also took a few months of searching to find.

Last edited by Ryland; 12-07-2012 at 11:54 PM..
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Old 12-08-2012, 10:20 AM   #79 (permalink)
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In Wisconsin, it's not too bad or expensive to buy a cycle and do the paperwork to get the title later. NOT having a title handy is good incentive for the seller to get rid of the frame CHEAP.

In my BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE instructional DVD, I have an entire chapter dedicated to title, license, and insurance.

The main thing for all three of those is to make sure you know what you are doing, and what you want when you are all done BEFORE you start your project.

In some states/countries it is VERY difficult to get a replacement title. In that case, I would recommend that you absolutely make sure to have the title with your cycle. On the other hand, some people just want a cycle for "the back 40" and will only be using it on their own private property. In that case, there's really no worry for title and insurance.

I knew one guy who built an electric motorcycle from scratch. He made the frame and EVERYTHING. However, he thus didn't have a VIN, and it would have been a fair amount of work and expense to get it titled and registered. Even then, it wouldn't have a made and model for the insurance company. He ended up simply dismantling it and using the parts in other projects.
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Old 12-20-2012, 06:29 PM   #80 (permalink)
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Golf cart motor

I can send you pictures of my build.
email me, well, that didn't work. 4104903376, call me.
Did you finish the motorcycle?
Gary

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