Sorry things have been rather quiet on this blog lately. I recently purchased a Scion iQ - trading in my smart ForTwo - and have been focused on getting that set up as I'd like it. It's also motorcycle season again and I've been adding gear to my Suzuki V-Strom 650 to get it ready for my summer vacation; a two week long ride to the west coast and back again.
My e-bike project has been shelved for the moment. Just not enough hours in the day. -.-
I'll be making further posts soon about the car PC that I was working on soon, as I'm getting ready to install it into my iQ. Just a few more technical details to sort out first...
2013-04-13
2012-11-05
e-bike: re-wiring part 1
Feeling that it's time to get back to work on my e-bike project, I've started work on rebuilding the electrics. This will involve two sub-projects; re-building the battery pack and stripping and re-building the wiring harness.
I've disassembled the battery and will be ordering a few bits and pieces to put it all back together again as sort of a cylinder. I'm considering putting in a fan to help with cooling and maybe a heating element for when it's cold. Like today was.. nearly froze my fingers off riding home on my motorcycle. >.<
I've stripped the wiring harness back to just the wiring necessary to make the motor work. Here's what it's trimmed back to:
[Edit: Oops.. made a mistake on that diagram. I'll upload a fixed version shortly.]
I've disassembled the battery and will be ordering a few bits and pieces to put it all back together again as sort of a cylinder. I'm considering putting in a fan to help with cooling and maybe a heating element for when it's cold. Like today was.. nearly froze my fingers off riding home on my motorcycle. >.<
I've stripped the wiring harness back to just the wiring necessary to make the motor work. Here's what it's trimmed back to:
[Edit: Oops.. made a mistake on that diagram. I'll upload a fixed version shortly.]
(The light grey parts are what I've chopped out.)
I've a bit of soldering to do and then I'll hook everything back up to test if it still works. It'll be very stripped back functionality wise; just a twist throttle and that's about it. Once the battery is connected it's ready to go, no key, no safety switches that detect if the brakes a pressed, no brake lights, no turn signals, no horn, no anti-theft system. Phew.
Once I'm sure I've not killed it, I'll start building my own on/off, lighting, control panel, etc. systems based on 5 volts.
I'm also planning to rebuild the motor wheel, replace the front one and do some hack and slash on the frame. This project is going to keep me busy for a while. ^_^
2012-09-15
e-bike: horn details
I've been curious about the horn on my Switch 100 since I first set eyes on it. A simple horn does not need these many wires.
I think it's probably part of the security system, a hypothesis that's supported by the way that the power on/off key switch consists of just two wires.
Lets see what's inside. A bit of prying with a wood chisel and...
The back of this board looks a bit complex for just being a speaker driver.
Hmm.. lots of diodes, resistors, a transformer and an IC of some sort. Not sure what the IC is, but it at least drives the speaker, probably has the audio data that is played by the siren and arm/disarm in it's memory. Somewhere on here is probably a motion sensor as well, perhaps as part of the IC.. I could test that by hooking it back up to the harness, arming it and poking the speaker to see if motion triggers it.
Maybe later. I've just finished stripping the whole thing back down the the frame again. I'm considering ways to strip down the frame of the bike a bit to reduce weight and to combine it with parts from the kid's bike that I picked up.
I think it's probably part of the security system, a hypothesis that's supported by the way that the power on/off key switch consists of just two wires.
Lets see what's inside. A bit of prying with a wood chisel and...
The back of this board looks a bit complex for just being a speaker driver.
Hmm.. lots of diodes, resistors, a transformer and an IC of some sort. Not sure what the IC is, but it at least drives the speaker, probably has the audio data that is played by the siren and arm/disarm in it's memory. Somewhere on here is probably a motion sensor as well, perhaps as part of the IC.. I could test that by hooking it back up to the harness, arming it and poking the speaker to see if motion triggers it.
Maybe later. I've just finished stripping the whole thing back down the the frame again. I'm considering ways to strip down the frame of the bike a bit to reduce weight and to combine it with parts from the kid's bike that I picked up.
2012-08-22
end of my relationship with a machine
Not much to look at, but parked out on the street there - almost completely hidden behind the lamp post and my coworker's big Harley - is my wee Honda CBR125R, who I call "Arthur".
I bought him third hand, about two and a half years ago, and since then he's been my work-horse of a bike. Getting me to-and-fro on my daily commute, weather permitting. Much like this photo he's done the work in an unobtrusive manner, no drama, no show boating, just head down and getting it done to the best of his abilities. Which were uncomfortably pushed to their limits once I began riding on the highway rather than sticking to side streets. His tiny 125cc four stroke can just barely keep up with traffic if I thrash it for every cubic millimeter of power that it can produce.
So it's time for Arthur to be replaced.
Yesterday I took this photo of him from the lunchroom window of the office I work at, to remember the last day I rode him. I had to drive in my smart car today as the motorcycle insurance swaps over to the new bike, which I'll be picking that up this evening; a shiny new Suzuki V-Strom DL650A ABS.
Arthur will soon be sold to his fourth owner. Thank you, faithful steed. :)
2012-08-06
t.e.r.a. 1st anniversary meet
I attended the first anniversary meet of the Toronto Electric Riders Assoc., at Cafe Uno in the Distillery District. This morning I decided, 'Heck with it.. my e-bike is more-or-less ride-able - I'll take that.' I've already worked out a route to take if/when I ride my e-bike to work, and the Distillery District is right on the route, so it seemed like a great test to see if it - and I - could handle the route.
After topping up the batteries and inflating the tires, I was off. I used My Tracks on my Android to keep a GPS track of my route, there and back again.
With every bump and rock on the trail I was impressed once again with just how HEAVY my bike is.. or may be it's just the shocks that are way too stiff. "KaTHUNK kaTHUNK kaTHUNK", along the sidewalk gets old real fast. >.<
On the whole it performed quite well:
Trip Down
24.64 km in 1:18
18.87 km/h avg.
37.80 km/h peak
Trip Back
24.10 km in 1:12
19.91 km/h avg.
35.15 km/h peak
For the last kilometre or so on the ride back I was having to pedal assist as the batteries were on their last dregs. Which is GREAT as now I have a good idea of the bike's range: 48 km apx. I'm charging the batteries now and timing how long it takes.. see if that'll let me calculate roughly what their Amp Hours are. It's supposed to be 15 AH, but certainly worth checking.
I now know that if I want to ride my e-bike to work it'll take roughly 1.5 hours, each way. Which is far slower than riding my motorcycle down in the morning, but about the same as the ride back after work. And that I'll have to take the charger along to top up the battery pack at the office.
The meet itself was ok. Chatted with some guys about this-n-that, wandered around the Distillery looking at insanely priced clothing that I'm sure I've seen for sale at Value Village and drank an also very over priced - but GOOD - iced cap.
Here's my horrible abortion of an e-bike, off to one side of the collection of bikes that showed up for the meet.
I saw only one other bike there that actually seemed like a bicycle that was power assisted, rather than an electric scooter with pedals added as an after thought. Mind you, the pedals on my bike are pretty useless once it gets over 10 km/h. And the left one fell off on the way home.. some fool forgot to tighten the nuts on the crank arms. -.-
I plan to change that. I want gears on my bike.. and a bell.. a proper bicycle bell not the "weeenk weenk" electric horn sound that it currently makes. Would fit in better on the bike paths that way.
Anyhoo. A good day to be an e-bike rider! ^_^
Edit: Oh! The battery has finished charging.. 2:49. Nice. Shouldn't be a problem at all to top up at the office.
After topping up the batteries and inflating the tires, I was off. I used My Tracks on my Android to keep a GPS track of my route, there and back again.
With every bump and rock on the trail I was impressed once again with just how HEAVY my bike is.. or may be it's just the shocks that are way too stiff. "KaTHUNK kaTHUNK kaTHUNK", along the sidewalk gets old real fast. >.<
On the whole it performed quite well:
Trip Down
24.64 km in 1:18
18.87 km/h avg.
37.80 km/h peak
Trip Back
24.10 km in 1:12
19.91 km/h avg.
35.15 km/h peak
For the last kilometre or so on the ride back I was having to pedal assist as the batteries were on their last dregs. Which is GREAT as now I have a good idea of the bike's range: 48 km apx. I'm charging the batteries now and timing how long it takes.. see if that'll let me calculate roughly what their Amp Hours are. It's supposed to be 15 AH, but certainly worth checking.
I now know that if I want to ride my e-bike to work it'll take roughly 1.5 hours, each way. Which is far slower than riding my motorcycle down in the morning, but about the same as the ride back after work. And that I'll have to take the charger along to top up the battery pack at the office.
The meet itself was ok. Chatted with some guys about this-n-that, wandered around the Distillery looking at insanely priced clothing that I'm sure I've seen for sale at Value Village and drank an also very over priced - but GOOD - iced cap.
Here's my horrible abortion of an e-bike, off to one side of the collection of bikes that showed up for the meet.
I saw only one other bike there that actually seemed like a bicycle that was power assisted, rather than an electric scooter with pedals added as an after thought. Mind you, the pedals on my bike are pretty useless once it gets over 10 km/h. And the left one fell off on the way home.. some fool forgot to tighten the nuts on the crank arms. -.-
I plan to change that. I want gears on my bike.. and a bell.. a proper bicycle bell not the "weeenk weenk" electric horn sound that it currently makes. Would fit in better on the bike paths that way.
Anyhoo. A good day to be an e-bike rider! ^_^
Edit: Oh! The battery has finished charging.. 2:49. Nice. Shouldn't be a problem at all to top up at the office.
2012-08-03
e-bike: waiting...
Currently my e-bike project is on "pause" while I wait for packages to arrive and figure out how I'm going to reduce the frame weight.
Package #1 is coming from Taiwan, and is four "LM2596HV DC-DC 4.5-55V Adjustable Power Supply Converter Step-down Modules" from ProDCtoDC.com I plan to use these, perhaps in conjunction with other electronic components, to convert my battery pack's mighty DC voltage to something that won't fry the other components I want to use in my build.
Package #2 is coming from the US and is a bunch of electronics from SparkFun, including an IOIO board which I plan to use to connect via Bluetooth with an Android phone, to provide a new dashboard for the bike. I'm going to experiment with various sensors on the board & phone. I'm also planning to use the IOIO board to help with things like driving the turn signals.. I'll be replacing the stock bulbs with LEDs.
Frame-wise I'm leaning towards getting a small, portable oxy acetylene torch kit and learning to braze bike bits together. The idea being to scavenge some old, worn out (and cheap!) bike frames for useful and lighter components and assemble a new frame, something like the old one but lighter.
There's a bunch of other things I'd like to try as well: Rewinding the wheel motor to try and improve it's efficiency, rebuilding the battery pack so it's more aesthetically pleasing, vacuum mould my own plastic body panels, etc., etc.
Hopefully it will keep me amused for a while. :)
2012-07-29
motorcycle shopping
After looking through the bike ranges of every company that sells motorcycles in Canada, there are three bikes on my short-list: Honda NC700, Suzuki V-Strom 650 and Triumph Tiger 800.
Yesterday I drove four hours to North Bay Cycle & Sports to take part in an official "Ride With Us" event put on by Honda. I spent 45 minutes riding the NC700X in a group of about a dozen other test riders, all on different bikes, including my friend & room mate who rode an Aero Shadow. Then another four hours drive back home.
It was worth it! Bombing around the hills and lakes around North Bay on a beautiful, strong bike with a great riding position. So very, very much more comfortable and fun than my CBR125. To get up to 115kph on my current bike I have to crouch very low, my chin up between the handle bars, and thrash the engine in sixth gear. On the NC700X I was sitting up comfortably, in fourth gear, and it was purring along.. and it's a six speed, so there's plenty more power and gearing for high efficiency cruising.
Only thing I would change is giving it a taller wind screen, which is one of the available options. I also had a look at and sit on the "S" model, which has a lower seat and is more sporty in how it's set up, so I prefer the "X".
With the taller windscreen, shipping, tax, etc. it would cost me $11,039 If I financed for 60 months through Honda it'd be another $2,707. Might get a bit for my CBR125 as a trade-in, or if I sell it privately, but I only paid $2,300 for it two years ago so I'm not expecting much.
I would still like to ride the V-Strom - it has a bit less grunt than the Honda and costs a teeny bit more. I went to the Niagara Falls Motorcycle Show last weekend, but even though it was only noon on Sunday, the Suzuki crew were packing up the bikes to leave. So I didn't get a test ride. The rest of the show was nothing of interest to me; it was a waste of a 3 hour drive, $40 admission for me and my husband and another 3 hours back. Not a great potential customer experience. Looking at their events page on the Suzuki website, looks like the only remaining test ride this year is not until the end of August and I'd have to pay for admission to the Canadian Superbike Championship event to get my hands on a V-Strom. Nope.
I'm all but decided against the Tiger as it costs significantly more and - from the reviews I've read - has more grunt than I need and is less fuel efficient. Two weeks ago I filled out the forms on the Triumph Canada website to "Request a Test Ride" and I have not heard anything back. I doubt I'll be getting onto a Tiger any day soon...
Yesterday I drove four hours to North Bay Cycle & Sports to take part in an official "Ride With Us" event put on by Honda. I spent 45 minutes riding the NC700X in a group of about a dozen other test riders, all on different bikes, including my friend & room mate who rode an Aero Shadow. Then another four hours drive back home.
It was worth it! Bombing around the hills and lakes around North Bay on a beautiful, strong bike with a great riding position. So very, very much more comfortable and fun than my CBR125. To get up to 115kph on my current bike I have to crouch very low, my chin up between the handle bars, and thrash the engine in sixth gear. On the NC700X I was sitting up comfortably, in fourth gear, and it was purring along.. and it's a six speed, so there's plenty more power and gearing for high efficiency cruising.
Only thing I would change is giving it a taller wind screen, which is one of the available options. I also had a look at and sit on the "S" model, which has a lower seat and is more sporty in how it's set up, so I prefer the "X".
With the taller windscreen, shipping, tax, etc. it would cost me $11,039 If I financed for 60 months through Honda it'd be another $2,707. Might get a bit for my CBR125 as a trade-in, or if I sell it privately, but I only paid $2,300 for it two years ago so I'm not expecting much.
I would still like to ride the V-Strom - it has a bit less grunt than the Honda and costs a teeny bit more. I went to the Niagara Falls Motorcycle Show last weekend, but even though it was only noon on Sunday, the Suzuki crew were packing up the bikes to leave. So I didn't get a test ride. The rest of the show was nothing of interest to me; it was a waste of a 3 hour drive, $40 admission for me and my husband and another 3 hours back. Not a great potential customer experience. Looking at their events page on the Suzuki website, looks like the only remaining test ride this year is not until the end of August and I'd have to pay for admission to the Canadian Superbike Championship event to get my hands on a V-Strom. Nope.
I'm all but decided against the Tiger as it costs significantly more and - from the reviews I've read - has more grunt than I need and is less fuel efficient. Two weeks ago I filled out the forms on the Triumph Canada website to "Request a Test Ride" and I have not heard anything back. I doubt I'll be getting onto a Tiger any day soon...
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