It rides again!

I bought a conhismotor from conhistmotor.com and got the velo running again. Took it out for a spin. It's got a touch more power than the 500 watt motor did. The new motor is 48 volts and 1000 watts rated. The new motor can get me up the hill from the house a little better than the old one. Now to get a new freewheel and configure the rear shifting to support a 9 speed drivetrain.

Vic made me post this.....

Wow, the last post was feb 6th....

I've been too depressed. My dream car is up on blocks. In frustration, I gutted every electronic component to start over with modern electronics, batteries, and motors.

I had to research electric motors and find a manufacturer that could meet a few requirements.

1. Push 400 pounds up a 15% grade (that's 200 pounds of velo, and 200 pounds of lard). I live on a 15% grade, so the 15% part is important.

2. Allow for a reverse -- it's not like you can put your feet down and go backwards.

3. Cover 70 miles without a charge (this is more of a battery issue than a motor issue)

4. Not run through the body -- many motor solutions use the crank system to drive them. I plan to use an internally geared hub for shifting. They typically can't take much power, and the monocoque construction of the velo bends when I press with all my might -- bad news for powering through the drivetrain.

5. Sustain 20 MPH over the bulk of my ride.

I found out that when I was pedaling with the old motor system, I was actually fighting the motor when my power output was in excess of the speed that the motor could drive the velomobile.

The new motor will probably have the same problem, but if I am pedaling faster than the motor, what I need to do is cut the power and pedal on my own power.

After talking with everyone and their mother about how to power this thing (every ebay seller, every internet ebike seller, etc), I'm planning on getting a BMC motor from:

http://www.electric-bikes.com/betterbikes/bmc.html

Whenever I can save my pennies to pay for it. I'll get a large capacity LiFePO4 battery direct from China at a place that seems to have good reviews at endlesssphere.com. In the process, I will have to change the power side of the drivetrain -- I have parts coming for that which I will show in another post. Basically, in the middle of the velomobile there is a transfer case of sorts. I'm going to mount an internally geared hub in there and affix a cog to the disk brake side of the transfer hub, and the motor. The other alternative is to mount two hubs in the middle with a crossover chain, but I don't think it will fit.

Long distance test ride...

Well, what is the first thing you would do? Get out and drive right? I showed it off to some friends down the hill. This thing is not going to get it done with san diego hills -- not enough torque... Get about 2 miles from home, and blammy, the cranks lock up -- a chain tube came loose and jammed up the rear chain tensioner -- no problem, head home electric only -- until the 15% grade that I live on arrives whereupon I get out and push up the hill while running the throttle. Fix chain tube and leave again to find that the chain keeps jumping off the internal mid drive point. After three attempts to reset, I decide to actually look at what is going on. One link has been completely thrashed by improper use of a chain tool. Remove offending links and we're off again only to find that the total distance I can drive is 10 miles -- off to diagnose another problem....

New axles and wheels.

Okay, I got the new axles and wheels in Ashley at utahtrikes.com did a fantastic job -- I'd recommend him for any custom bike work you wanted done. The axle is 20mm stainless. One end is male threaded 16mm 2.0, the other side accepts a bolt to retain the wheel. That's 12mm 1.5 threading. I used loctite red to help keep it in place.

The Wiper

My new wiper arrived today. Of course, the wiring to connect it was too short so I had to extend it and put a bit of conduit around that, and the model appears to be a bit different than the original, so I had to drill a hole in the canopy for the stabilizing point. Then it was too tall after installing it.

A quick visit to the vice and hacksaw where it might have appeared that I cut the wiper too short....

The final result was pretty clean, but I still have a small hole to cover. I'm thinking I'll find a black rubber piece and cut to shape and cover it. Also, I feel I might need a nut and a washer over the stabilizing point for the wiper.

The canopy rattle...

Look closely at the canopy and the body of the aerorider in this picture. Notice anything missing? Yeah, the bit of spongy foam that normally seals the hatch like you'd find on your car.... Fortunately Bert at Aerorider gave me the spec and where it mounts. The only problem -- where to find some. Fortunately JC Whitney had some generic substitutes that should fit so I ordered a bit. Tomorrow should be interesting as the horn to replace the missing horn, and hatch handle should arrive! Yipee, some things will get fixed.

The speedometer

The speedometer started working and asking for a wheel size. It is a wired bike computer. That seemed so 1990, so I took it out. I thought there would be just fiberglass behind, but it turns out there is a hole. No worries, I know what i'm going to use that hole for....