Xtreme XB-600 (electric scooter mods)

[bennelson]

LED Turn Signals look good!!!

[captainslug]

Indeed. And for some reason the ones I make myself always turn out so much better (and brighter) than the aftermarket ones I've tried.

If you ever want to make your own here's where I tend to order my LEDs from in quantities of 50 or 100 at a time.
eBay Store - Chi Wing LED product shop: LED: 1000 UV Ultra Violet LED- 5mm free shipment

They're not hard to make. Just tedious and repetitive soldering of a parallel array of LEDs.


Edit: Just ordered parts to make an LED headlight that can output 450 lumens @ only 8-1/2 watts! Compared to the current headlight, that's 30% more light at half the power consumption.

[captainslug]

Ordered the parts to make an all-LED headlight.
The 435 lumen 8.5 watt "high-beam" will be a white Luxeon Endor Rebel Tri-Emitter with a 25degree lens.

The 120 lumen 2 watt running-light will be a ring-shaped array of 20 6000mcd white LEDs.

I'm going to be replacing the headlight fixture while I'm at it because the current one was picked out kind of hastily. Chrome doesn't match the rest of the scooter at all now.
Flat black on the other hand does.

[bennelson]

Keep the details coming as you make the LED headlight.

I was interested in doing an LED headight for my Electric Motorcycle, but wanted to have something bright enough, and at least looked street-legal.

I would love to piggy-back off what you do for yours!

[captainslug]

I'll make sure to take more pictures this time. I tend to get absorbed in the work and forget to take progress shots.
The LEDs will be replacing a 310 lumen 18 watt bulb.

[captainslug]

Well today certainly was a mixed bag. First I cut off the axle, chain, and bushings for the pedal assist. I then took apart the original battery box.

I made a battery tray out of scrap steel, and then proceeded to weld it to the frame.

However, I had neglected to remove the controller from the frame. So after I got the batteries strapped in and wired together the bike no longer turns on. The controller was killed by the welding current passing through the frame.
I'll have to order a replacement controller, install it, and then see if the DC-DC converters are dead too.

$65 error

[bennelson]

OUch!

Sorry to hear about the controller!

But, since the old one fried, maybe you want to upgrade? A used golf-cart controller could be pretty slick!

Those are all over E-bay for pretty cheap.

[captainslug]

I don't know.
If I swap out controllers then I'd have to swap out the front wheel and add a disc brake. Because without the motor brake that the stock controller has, this thing is very difficult to stop.

A replacement controller is only $65. And they can be upgraded to run at 72 volts by simply replacing the mosfets.
There's someone on the VisforVoltage forum that probably has a spare controller I can get for a lower price.

[bennelson]

Re-reading the thread, it looks like you want to stay under the magic 1K to remain in the electric bicycle class.

Your cycle is so light, you could make it into a sleeper if you wanted to!

At 72 volts, anything 14 amps or over would be past the electric bike official rating! That also means your bike is going to be a real amp-sipper.

The thing will get about the equivelent of a thousand miles per gallon!

[captainslug]

Total weight of it with five 12v 20ah batteries is around 130lb.
The stock controller can only output 1KW (if modified), and the motor maxes out at about the same point.

Even if I'm a little bit over 1KW I highly doubt the police are going to bother chasing after me with a multimeter. Because I'm still not going to be able to get above 35MPH, which would automatically make me a regular motorcycle no matter what specifications I may or may not be meeting.
I'm quite happy with not having to have a license plate or insurance.

Consider I weigh the same as the bike I'm pretty sure I'm already getting over 1,000mpg. I haven't gotten around to buying a Kill-a-Watt in order to find out though.

Once I do go to 72 volts it's going to be interesting because with the change over to all LED lighting I won't need anywhere near as powerful of a replacement DC-DC converter. The whole lighting system will draw 2 amps Maximum.

So that DC-DC converter you recommended earlier will be perfect. It can power all of the lights from just one 12v 2.5A output, and power the voltmeter from the 5V out.