Hi Mike,
Have you thought about one last part to your module? A cap to cover and protect the balancing tabs from dirt and water. Something easily removable, maybe a cap that snaps on?

The balance taps could be tucked under the top cap(removes with 2 screws) - not a huge concern for me personally so I left the taps out to make module balance charging easier(plug and play). A snap on cover would be cool, though. I may use that idea. :)

e-bikes, e-shmikes.

WHEELCHAIRS is where you guys need to focus your talents.:na:

Morgan Freeman just made a movie using Goldenmotor hubs on a wheelchair.

I've got a manual wheelchair with rear suspension (rock-shox!) that I've been contemplating doing this to.

How to steer? Skid steer? Add spindles and an ackerman? Someday...

Control each wheel independently. Trigger control in each hand. Just an idea, could be useless, just throwing it out there. If you could come up with some sort of mixing type controller you could do it with one joystick. When you turn the it automatically slows or locks on wheel depending on speed and turn sharpness.

Probably easier to do it mechanically. The rear wheels could be attached via a differential with disc brakes on each wheel. Then, just apply brakes to a single wheel to turn in that direction. Apply both to stop.

USB 3.0 implants directly in the brain. Meld the man and the machine.

The other upside would be if you ever got to be a PITA, we could just root you, re-format and flash a new ROM.

Otherwise I like TX's idea

modules installed
 

Got the modules installed last night and went for a night run! WOW what a difference the lipo conversion made. First ran at 66% current limit(200 amps) then in full power mode(300 amps at 74 volts in theory, though in unlimited mode it bursts higher amps). Full power mode is downright scary - I seriously am in need of a better throttle(only 90 degrees of twist makes for a twitchy ride) - I would like to get a 120 degree throttle to add some resolution for sure. The gearing tops it out at around 43mph and it gets there in a hurry! At 25, if you grab full throttle, it will throw you off the back unless you let up quickly - feels like a kx250 when it hits the powerband! I dialed in a progressive curve and went back to 80% current limit(240 amps) - theoretically limiting the power to around 20HP, which is plenty for a 150lb machine. I am totally psyched!
Oh...before i dialed back the power, i managed to rip the primary drive belt in two(hanging off the foot peg). I hope to get some body panels done this week to cover the batts/wiring a bit. Here is a picture:

pictures
 

the bike and the broken belt

Sounds great, but no pics.

nevermind. I see the pics now.
.

Yeah, I clicked "post" a bit soon! That belt had a small blemsih on it when I got the bike, but it held up to the 200 pound machine on lead power without issue. It lasted about 10 minutes in its first daylight run today - thankfully I wasn't far away(had to push the bike home of course).

Sounds like you need an exponential throttle control so the throttle is a bit more manageable at the start. If it's just a pot, you could try a "linear taper" type (these are logarithmic - not exponential, but similar curve).

It has a 0-5k pot throttle(Magura twist - very common). I would love a better throttle, but aside from building one there doesn't seem to be many other options. IMO, 90 degrees is a bit stingy - I have at least this much on every gas bike I own, but with 5 or 6 speeds, the actual "speed resolution" is 5 or 6 times better. Certainly 120 degrees of twist would help, as would an exponential throttle - they just don't exist or I don't know where to get one.

Hey mike, nice bike. What is the range on the stock bike? What is the expected range on your battery conversion? I love that you used basically off the shelf batteries, makes fixing and replacing components easier. If i ever lose enough weight, i'd like to get a E-bike for commuting to work. I would look into this setup, as i know the guy doing it is one of the best in the area of engineering and ergonomic and wouldn't sell anything that either doesn't work , or he wouldn't use or ride himself.

One thing please, If you do get into the E-bike area, please don't let it overtake the rc part. Would suck if RC-Monster didn't do RC parts anymore

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about how all these throttles are built to offer good suggestions. A pot is simply a wiper arm that scrapes across a resistor giving variable values at the wiper arm contact, so it should have virtually infinite resolution. I wonder if the controller is your limiting factor? It might apply steps of output based on different resistance input thresholds (basically a really low-resolution A-D converter :smile:). Simple testing with a meter at the throttle output should tell you what it's doing, but testing the output of a BL controller to see what its resolution is is a bit more difficult to measure. If it IS a matter of 60* twist not having enough resolution, maybe retrofit a different 5k pot in there? I would be careful about reliability though as the mechanical action of that wiper arm "scraping" does cause wear and "noisy" actuation. I'm kinda surprised digital encoders aren't used to avoid that.

While I agree with you, it is obvious more and more manufacturers are coming out with off-the-shelf electric products, so the custom side of things has to be taking a hit. It's not like the old days where if you wanted an electric toy, you basically had to build it. I think maintaining current custom items is nice for those who still like to tinker, but I can see Mike having to diversify to make enough green to keep the lights on.

I am not getting out of RC anytime soon, Larry - no worries, there. Before RC was my job, it was my hobby. Now that RC is my job, I have simply expanded my other hobbies to keep myself from going off the deep end. As Brian said, what used to be custom stuff is becoming mainstream - at one time I was the only guy making electric conversion stuff but the big dogs are in the mix now(major manufacturers). I am not dumb enough to think I can compete on price with the industry giants (on quality or innovation I try to hold my own, but volume dictates price and I have got nowhere near the volume of the big dogs). I also make my parts here in the USA and therefore pay my help fair wages - it simply costs me more to produce parts. I could go to Asia for parts like everyone else, but I would rather not.
As long as I can stay afloat doing what I like to do, then I am rich(may never be wealthy, but I am OK with that). I may dabble in other areas to stay in business as well as simply expand my knowledge - I have always been into motorcycles(street and dirt) and have always owned at least one motorcycle my entire adult life - this is an obvious avenue to explore, just like RC was 8 years ago when I went into business. :)

BrianG - I agree that a pot is theoretically infinatly variable within its travel, but controlling 35HP in rocky terrain with only 90 degrees of twist can be quite the challenge - remember I am using the same hand to hold on! The controller itself may be part of the problem, too - I just know there has to be a better system than what i currently have. This is not to say what i have isn't good - in fact it is quite awesome in most regards - just that overall control could be improved upon.

How about adding some resistance (making it physically harder to twist, not electrical resistance) on your current twist throttle? I'm thinking that making it a little harder to twist will reduce that twitchiness, similar to how the steering control works on a Spektrum transmitter.

What about a thumb-style switch? While shopping for e-bikes, thumb and twist seem to be two main options. I know from riding my mountain bike (pedal only, no assist), I greatly prefer thumb gear changing exactly for the reason you state.

After thinking a bit more, do you think that adding more than 90* of twist action will cause excessive wrist articulation making it even harder to control?

You could attach it to a spectrum RX and have the "other half" control the throttle whilst you ride it :diablo:

Mike that looks AWSOME.

Those modules look awesome, very clean look. ''Looks factory'' like Chip Foose says. The whole bike is pretty darn sweet.

Now I'm having a hard time figuring this out. I presently run on 48V 34 amp SLAs. To get to close to the 48V mark with lipos, do I need to go with 12 or 13 cells? 3.7V nominal times 12 = 44.4V or 3.7V nominal times 13 = 48.1V. Which one is it? If 12 cells is the number I need it seems a lot easier to configure, I would need 12 6S 5000 mah packs total. I would probably try Turnigy packs at first (not the Nanotechs) as I don't think I can convince my wife of letting me spend almost $1700 for Hyperions. Turnigys 40C would be under $900 including shipping.

Man I am also having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that I could get better power and range from just two battery modules with less than half of the volume and weight of my SLAs.

body panels
 

BrianG - I don't want to add 60 degrees of twist...I want to add 30 degrees of twist(90 to 120). The spring is reasonably stiff now and while it may address the issue, it may also lead to fatigue until my right forearm starts to look like Popeye's! Thumb throttles are for quads IMO - I also ride a gasser dirtbike and street bike, so I would rather stick to the twist-type...I just want a better one than what I have!

Arct1k - Chris, if the other half controlled my ride I would probably only get one ride! I like the twitchy throttle I have better than this idea, thank you. :)

Hippie - thanks for the compliment, Mike. I did some more last night and this morning - I managed to get the stock side panels on with some shimming and broke out the trusty propane torch and bent up a rear fender(not perfect, but not bad for a ghetto prototype). Pics attached

mistercrash - thanks for the compliment. "factory" is the look I was going for. The modules are held onto the bike using the two lower screws on each module(into the aluminum post on either end of the modules). I made a custom lower plate that bolts to the bike in place of the original battery plates. I still want to make a top plate for added security, but they are reasonably solid and I wanted to ride this beast. i may have John Holmes string me up a dirt bike rim onto the rear hub and get a meatier back tire on this thing - along with a gear change to get it up into the 50s(maybe - 40 is pretty fast in the trails already).

Having ridden this bike when it was a 200+ pound, top heavy lead sled I can say that the lipo conversion was worth it and then some. The 50 pound weight reduction and much lower Cg results in a dirtbike that handles like a dirt bike now(top heavy and sketchy in the rough b4). The power is unreal, too - it feels easily twice as punchy as my 300 thumper I usually ride and feels stronger than my 400 KTM supermoto, too. A rookie rider on this thing without limiting the power is almost certain to end up badly!

Sorry Mike, I edited my post, I have a question in there now lol

Mike is that chassis a kit, or a converted motorcycle ?.

34AH SLA batteries would be a rough equivilent to 17AH in Lipos - Lead batterries are capacity rated at 20 hours discharge normally - they generally get about half their rated capacity when discharged at 1c. 13s would be a 48 volt Lipo setup. I would just go 12s or 14s myself.

My conversion yielded about 3/4 the volume, less than half the weight and 4 times the usable power vs the lead. I also gained slightly higher voltage and a HUGE difference in voltage under load(way more punch). The difference is huge.

Mike - the bike started life as an electric bike. It had an Etek motor and 4 16AH Hawker Lead batteris. It was built in Oregon in 2004. It was then converted to 72 volt by adding 2 more lead batteries(about 13 ound each). Then, the Etek motor was swapped for a pmg motor(slightly larger, lower Kv) to get back to stock speed(60 mph with the Etek motor). Finally it was converted to 74 volt 30AH Lipo setup shown here. The bike is kind of a hybrid - it uses premium downhill Mountain bike parts to keep it light(Marzocchi super monster tubes for front suspension, 24" MTB wheels/tires and Hayes brakes, though now has Hope M6 brakes). The bike weighed about 165 pounds stock - about 155 pounds or so now. The bike was always electric, though - just wasn't always as light and powerful as it is now! :)

Man, Mike's bike makes my ebike look like a punk.

Awesome ride Mike!

This is getting better and better. So instead of 12 6s 5000 mah packs to have 30 amps, I could just go with 8 packs for 20 amps which would be more than enough. Even smaller, lighter and cheaper. With just 8 packs I might even be able to get Hyperions. So have you decided on how much these modules are going to go for? I'd like a snap on lid to protect the balance tabs please :smile:
And can you make a single module that can house 8 lipos? I figure that I would have to cut the bus bars.

Cool. I thought some of the parts looked like downhill bike parts in particular, the shocks & the wheels. Are you going to offer these in your store :lol:.

modules
 

mistercrash - The module pricing would vary slightly based on size and level of completion. There is a bit of work to get the wall-wrap and it is dependent on size of the batts(have to make a form, then heat the plastic and bend around the form). the upper and lower pieces and lid is the easiest part now, as I should be able to modify my existing design to fit most pack configurations(within reason). The copper plates are easy enough to machine, but the screw posts must be soldered on with a torch - not too difficult, but takes some time and skill. I really haven't done enough to have a good system worked out, so I can't really accurately quote a price yet(not sure on the time aspect). I plan on making another set for 7s packs soon and will get a better handle on the process the 2nd time around.

snellemin - in all fairness, my bike started life as an electric bike from its inception. Most ebikes are cool, though. I think crossing the lighter weight of bicycles with the motorcycle design cues is the way to go - I want to get a supermoto setup for this bike one day and maybe register it for banging around town(I do occasionally cruise on some streets around and always get rubber-neckers). :)

hippie - I didn't make the bike - I only converted it to its current state. I would like to develop an electric frame in the future, though - something that uses widely available parts, but is purposed for e-power. It won't be this week, though. :)

I know, i was trying to make a joke :lol:. But with your skills you could easily design & build something like that.

Yes, I know you were making jokes, Mike - but in all seriousness...I do want to make something like this happen one day. :)

What would you name it ?.

LOL - no idea what to call it - I gotta make something first!

RC-Monster Bike made by RC-Monster Mike. Or, the Mike-Bike :smile:

You have to call it the MIKE Bike :lol::rofl:.

Mike -bike is pretty good, also the Chroninator E-bike, amybe even the BBM (Brushless blue monster) Mike, I never got an estimate on range with your battery setup.

One thing i noticed about this thread, Most start as good threads and turn to worthless chatter eventually, This one started almost worthless, and became constructive. Wierd

That was my plan all along:whistle:

Thank you for posting yet another worthless thread sir :lol:

I think this is probably the most productive thread you have ever posted if I am to be completely honest here! :rofl:

I like the Mike-Bike name. It works, and is catchy.

I can see myself out riding one day and someone asks whats that?

I say it's a Mike-Bike.

They will never forget the name and that makes it easier for people to find and buy.

If I say, it's an RC-Monster Bike, alas, they will get confused and forget. Is it an RC bike and a Monster too? Well, it's not huge like a monster and it's not radio controlled so...........

See, confusion.

I can say I would be proud to ride a Mike-Bike one day! :party:

Right now I do have my eyes on this for keeping in my car and cruising around the neighborhood on:

http://superscootersales.com/?wpsc-p...o-1000-lithium

http://superscootersales.com/Product...ages/Black.jpg

It also comes with a 48v 12ah LifePo pack! Supposed to be good for up to 32 MPH......