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New commuting vehicle

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:43 pm
by stuartcnz
I'm planning a new way to get to work.

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I bought this bike recently, wih the intention of converting it into an electric bike,

Since I work alsorts of oddball shifts, I need to be able to use it in the dark, as well as during the day.

I have ordered pretty much all of the goodies needed to do the conversion, so hopefully by this time next week I will be on my way to getting to the conversion happening.

My round trip to work is around 30 kilometres (18.75 miles), give or take a couple, depending on the route I take, with some big hills too.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:16 pm
by rlaggren
Great project. Going to post all the gory details, right? <g>

That sounds like about an hour or so of peddling. You figure the electrics will speed that up, right?


Rufus

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:42 pm
by stuartcnz
Yes, I will be posting, as the project progresses.

My lights are in transit as we speak, should be here in the next couple of days. The lights I've ordered are an MJ-880 LED headlight (2,000 lumen) and an MJ-818 LED tailight (85 lumen) which both run off the same rechargeable Li-ion battery.

I expect round trip to be around one hour. The motor setup that I am getting should do a top speed of around 38kmh, but I don't expect to average that, particularly with the hills involved. Slower to go up, and with the regenerative braking, possibly slower going down some of them.

If this project works out as well as I hope it will, I plan on replacing my car with a housetruck, in the next year or so. As I figure that the lesser amount of driving I will need to do, should make a truck cost no more to run, than my car currently does. And as my car is getting long in the tooth, I do need to start thinking about what to replace it with, when the time comes.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 11:07 pm
by Headache
I'm definitely going to be watching your project. I've been looking at electric bicycles and scooters here but the good ones are expensive. I've actually been looking at the 3 wheeled bike so I can haul my groceries and junk I pick up at Harbor Freight.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:10 pm
by stuartcnz
I received my lights yesterday, and must say that they appear to be very impressive. Though, the true test will be seeing how effective they are at traveling speed.

The actual conversion gear is on the way now, so I should have it early next week. I've still got to get some bits locally, tyre changing gear, a carrier, heavier inner-tube, etc..

I've also got some other project stuff to post but haven't the time just yet, will hopefully get onto it next week.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:20 pm
by stuartcnz
The other day I bought mud-gaurds, a carrier, inner-tube and tyre changing stuff. I have fitted the carrier and mud-gaurds.

Today the big box of goodies arrived. I have fitted the inner-tube and tyre to the motorized wheel, and fitted the wheel to the bike. Then it got dark outside.

It seemes that the brake disk won't transfer from the old wheel, so I am now waiting on a new one. Hopefully it won't be to much of a mission to fit it. I had to modify the torque arm to make it fit my bike.

It looks like it may take awhile to get this conversion up and running, as I work through the unexpected kinks, but every day of progress is just getting the project a little closer to a working e-bike.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:58 am
by Headache
Nice! Do you mind putting up some pics of what parts you are working on or have mentioned? I don't know too much about bicycles or the electric parts either.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:44 pm
by stuartcnz
I will eventually put pic's up, but it may not be until things are a little closer to finish, as my preference is to use what daylight hours I have to work on the bike, rather than taking photo's. But I will definitely do photo's when I get a chance.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:24 pm
by stuartcnz
I managed to get everything temporarily hooked up and took it for a quick test ride, before it got dark tonight. It is going to be very good, when I finish it. I still need to work on how to permanently mount the controller and improve the way I secure the battery. I also need to tidy the wiring from the throttle and regenerative brake switch.

I think all that should be done by early next week, then hopefully I should have the new back brake disc, and should be able to fit that. Also I should get enough time to start taking photo's then too.

Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:39 pm
by stuartcnz
Here is the first couple of pics. The first is the headlight, and the second is the tail light.

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Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:41 pm
by stuartcnz
This is the torque arm which needed modifying, to fit around the derailier.

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Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:41 pm
by stuartcnz
This is the controller, with the on/off switch at the front.
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And from the other side, with all of the wires going in, and coming out of the back.
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Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:45 pm
by stuartcnz
The green button is the re-generative braking switch.
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And below is the thumb throttle, against the side of the handgrip.
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Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:55 pm
by stuartcnz
Inside this bag is the 48v 10ah LiFePo4 Battery. It comprises about half the cost of the conversion.
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And the 8.4V 6.6mAh Li-ion Battery, which powers the lights
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Re: New commuting vehicle

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:59 pm
by stuartcnz
This is about how it looks now.
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