Segway w/o that goofly long handlebar thing
imagine the faceplant if you caught a curb or something that stopped the unicycle but NOT you
Definitely an interesting little getup…
In that case, I am very much looking forward to the battery pack build, particularly your charging solution.
You cannot drive a brushless motor directly, you need to use a controller.
Yes.
Hoping your batteries revive. Those SLA's are notoriously fickle. So connections and fuse look good? If not the batteries (sudden failure indicates not likely a battery issue), the next biggest culprit is a relay.
How many lumens??
Sorry. I could not resist it!
It’ll probably be a pack of 6 cells in series, I haven’t decided how many to have in parallel. Maybe as many as I can fit? Charging will be done via a balancing hobby charger. Getting all the cells to match up in capacity will require some fiddling around though.
I think the cheap scooters (<$300) have brushed motors. I read a great insructable yesterday about using RC parts (BLDC motors and ESC’s) for an electric scooter, that that might be my new project. http://www.instructables.com/id/The-New-and-Improved-Brushless-Electric-Scooter-Po/?ALLSTEPS
Yup, everything looks good. I hooked up a 25V voltage supply in place of the dead battery and everything was working fine. Hope to get it up and running soon.
Not enough… yet. 
Typical capacity for a scooter is around 300wh. This gives you a reliable 5 miles or so. Less if you’re climbing hills (read: slight incline for a duration).
I would think the newer 26650 or 32850 would be desired for power density. Of course, LiPoFe is probably an easier solution from a robust standpoint.
However, SLA’s are still cheap and easy to maintain… if you remember to do so
Yeah the range rated at about 8 miles for the scooter with the Pb battery. I’d go for pre-made 6S lipo RC batteries if they weren’t so prohibitively expensive. Maybe if I apply some funding from the Robotics Club I may be able to afford some upgrades. Meanwhile, I’ll be reading up on batteries!
I'll contribute $5.00 to the "Ryansoh3 is in America Going to College and Needs a Scooter Battery Fund".
PM'ing you for your PP info.
Hey ImA4Wheelr, PM sent. Thanks again for your offer but I’m not sure if I’ll be comfortable accepting $$ from BLF members.
I’ll see if I can revive the SLA batteries and if not, I’ll try making a battery pack out of my salvaged laptop cells.
Edit: Oh, and if anyone has access to the PDF copy of Linden’s Handbook Batteries, it would be great if I could get a copy of it. I did check out the book from the school library but it would be wonderful if I had a portable copy of it in my laptop or phone.
Edit: Thank you Werner!
My scooters are 36V so I need a 10S solution. Interesting thing however; I went to Chrome batteries and found premade Li-Ion cells!
It would be fun to get a peek inside one of these… http://www.chromebattery.com/chrome-pro-series-batteries/chrome-pro-series-lithium-ion-batteries.html
I am not sure I understand what their charging solution is. It says it just uses regular charging protocol.
BTW: since I needed 3 cells, they actually offered a decent discount for the 12V9A cells with free shipping. Even if they are less than stellar batteries, the price was attractive enough.
Tool all the SLA’s to recycling. That’s a load of work removed for a less than $50.
Ryan, did you add the watt meter to your toolbox yet?
Thanks for the link. Integrated lithium ion (and LiFePO4) batteries have a self balancing mechanism that prevents over/undercharge and internally balances the cells so they don’t get out out of sync, something like li-ion drill packs but with more heavy duty components.
Nope, I don’t have a watt meter and haven’t thought about it until now. I did have mains energy meter that I destroyed though. These days I just use a DMM to measure the current and do quick calculations to convert that into power.
That is good information. I know some people that this might be good for in the velomobile community.
I added distilled water to the SLA batteries and started to charge them up, but they may be damaged beyond repair.
The internal resistance is very high (around 60 Ohms), and I’m pumping 25.0V into each of the 12V batteries for the past 12 hours, but the current draw is only 0.080-0.850A when connected in parallel.
I’ll give the cells another day or two until I recycle them. On the other hand, I was secretly hoping that they would be dead because now I need to build the battery pack. Otherwise, the salvaged 18650 cells would just be collecting dust.
Per a piece on PBS last night Mahindra, the India tractor company, is now into cars in India too and has developed a electric scooter with a 30 miles or so range and 30 MPH top speed. Intended to replace bikes and gas mopeds. Larger wheels than the pictured one and set up to be street legal with lighting etc. The battery pack is quickly removable to take into the house for charging. Looks kind of like a modernized electrified Honda 50 from the 1960s/1980s era.
http://ecomento.com/2014/04/15/mahindra-genze-electric-scooter-launches-in-the-us-this-summer/
Wow, I love the high tech screen. $3,000 doesn’t sound too bad for an electric scooter that is meant as a motorcycle replacement.
That’s what Harley Davidson is betting on
Hey Ryan. I have a HCF Pacelite….had it since ’99. It was very pricey at $700 back then but it’s been well worth it. Depending on how far you need to go, you can get a pair of 7AH sla shipped for under $30. It was only $24.99 shipped not too long ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Sealed-Lead-Battery-RAZOR-Scooter/dp/B006LO4L6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414625452&sr=8-1
I currently have 2 x 10.5AH 12v with the stock 350w motor. My last set were only 7AH though and I didn’t notice much power loss.
How responsive is the 350W motor for you? I’m thinking of replacing the stock 450W motor with a 1.5-2.0KW brushless motor for RC setups. Might be a fun project to pursue.
Meanwhile, here’s my charging diagram:
It’s currently reading 0.92A into two batteries in parallel at 17.7V. It’s been charging in this setup for the past 24 hours, and I’m glad the battery is starting to take in some current.
I also visited the school’s recycling center and they were kind enough to give me some pristine-looking laptop battery packs. I’ll probably build a battery pack for the scooter regardless of whether the SLA recovers or not.
http://www.radioshack.com/8-ohm-non-inductive-resistor/2710120.html
That resistor must be getting pretty toasty
holy smokes!
Dynam Motor ESC Combo BM2826D-KV3000+60A ESC for 70MM EDF Jets 60P-DY-1046-MotorESCCombo <- motor and 60 speed controller combo
What are the RPM’s on these things…little scooter will be burning tires off of it 