11 Miles on the Odometer

So I unveiled "Tronbike 1" at my birthday party as entertainment. The crowd went from spectating me riding around the block to participants riding the machine themselves. Feedback was positive from the crew of ex-motorcyclists, everyone was very careful. Play in the sprocket coupling and the chain on plastic noise were noted.

Brian taking over, me (Todd) behind bike, 11/17/2007

Today I then took the bike out for some careful loops that grew in size until I ended up riding to the hardware store for some (more) bolts. It was all good, but I can't quite hit 20 mph, which is a bit low for being in traffic on any roads without speed humps. I also came across the police who didn't bug me about a lack of running headlight or my speed since I was on a "humped" road at the time. The motor and pack were nice and cool for all the runs, I am thinking the gearing could be increased (go from 10 to 12 on front) because acceleration is crisp and top end is so low. I need to get the iPAQ datalogger going asap..

SO I ordered 2 more batteries and 2 more chargers. 48 Volts might be it for some time, I seriously doubt the wife will let the riding go on much longer, but I want the machine in a sellable/useful state before I move on. Going 48 Volts will also make using the DC-DC converter possible.

I also ordered a 550 lumen CREE 3xLED flashlight includes batteries, a charger and remote switch. I was unable to locate bulbs alone, but modding or retrofitting the light is certainly possible. An H4 bulb puts out about 1000 lumen, so a second bulb/light might be the final say here - though a cheesey H4 HID upgrade might be the easy path.

Another note to self - check for possible tax credits/writeoffs.

Counting Beans

I decided to spend an evening plugging in the numbers to see how much damage "Tronbike 1" has inflicted on the finances since July.

Its not pretty.

I am about $1200 over my planned budget, the overage is mostly in the costs surrounding getting started in motorcycling - helmet, licensing, a bike. The plan for 3 more batteries and 3 more chargers will add at least another $4-500, plus more clothes and finishing touches - like headlights, could be another $500 if I don't watch myself :)

Going in I assumed a bike conversion would be 1/10th that of a car, which if correct would have put me a whopping $10K+ with proportional overage.

To make this a viable proposition, parts need to cost much less. Tools have been surpisingly cheap, the amount into Osh steel is scary - this is something that could be cut a lot with bulk and direct suppliers.

So the trick will be to see if I can get Al Gore to fund Tronbike 2. I also predict much checking into tax codes for potential write-offs/credits. Sponsorship might also be an option.

Sawzalled the tank, got the iPAQ, and Riding!

"Sparkfest" took place on the tank, where I went to Brian's shop and applied a wide range of reciprocating saw technology to chop out a rectangle section of the tank. The grinder portion generated the sparks and was mainly used for finishing. Besides some damage from the blade hitting the underside of the outside shell, I noticed the tank had a small split which likely leaked air/gas fumes when it was a gas machine. After some filing, I masked off the outside of the tank and sprayed the inside white in hopes of preventing/slowing the rusting action.

I got the iPAQ destined for my battery meter and quickly installed the "Familiar GPE" linux installation from www.handhelds.org, using only the CF card because my serial cable hadn't arrived.
Once installed, a little treat called "usbnet/ipaqnet" allowed my linux laptop to directly connect via IP to the iP - it works great, allwoing me to rapidly install software, log into the iPAQ as a little server (via SSH) and generally run it as a little linux box. I quickly got Pythin-GTK installed and the demos I ran from the tutorial working on the iPAQ. I then got totally sidetracked by the desire to put cool e-moto sound affects out via the iPAQ, the best bet besides urandom > /dev/audio is a tool called "Boodle" that in an earlier version was ARM compatible. More on this later.

Oh, and RIDING. Today the neighborhood was very quiet and so I suited up and took a spin around the block, unleashing my 24 volts onto the public streets. It went well, the bike was easy to manage, but was surprisingly loud from the gears and chain. I suspect the chain tension might be too high, and the chain is rubbing on the swing arm plastic pad. The rear disc brake might be touching a bit too much too - I think I need to do some basic mechanical maintenance, connect up the headlight and fix the rear-brake light switch to improve roadworthiness. Its very cool all the same, and in time for the grand unveiling this weekend!

I went a touch over 20 mph according to the speedo, but Barb passed me on her bike at one pint so I am not sure I trust it. The ODO reads 0.9 miles, and the batteries charged right back up with the 2 Soniels. I should start keeping a log, forget the iPAQ audio and get a tiny piezo, focus on the battery meter and maintenance. Away we go!

Its Alive!

I logged into the controller using a USB to 9 pin over Win XP on VMWARE sitting on my Linux Laptop.

A bit of hackery was required, but once logged in I needed to reset the undervoltage (was 60 volts) to 16 so that my 24 volt pack could drive the motor. I touched the throttle and got a whirling motor and chain and rear wheel!

Backwards, of course, so I reversed the wires and started reving away.

The small cog and huge chain made quite a bit of noise, I might need to raise the motor an inch
in its mount to gain some clearance over the swingarm bolt, but once one the ground I am hoping
everything will be sane.

The monitoring mode of the "ControllerPro" Alltrax software is pretty cool, allowing me to view the voltages and amp flows - I could generate load by applying the rear brake (ie resulting in amps showing up).

From here on out, its lots of buttoning up the loose ends. Maybe I'll be riding by the weekend.

Controller Mounted, Electronics Underway

The last big lump, the controller, is now installed in a location that does not require the tank to be cut (though cutting up the tank is still in the plans). I did need to move the solenoid lower. A pre-charge resistor was ordered to go across the solenoid power contacts and with some wiring, we should be ready to fire this baby up.



Investigating the controller capabilities and previous EV work indicates that the RS-232 port on the controller can be queried for voltage and current rates at BOTH sides of the controller; throttle position and controller temperature are pollable as well.

This is terrific because it saves me from installing analog gauges/cutting wires - instead the plan is to use an old Compaq IPAQ as my voltmeter and ammeter. By installing Linux on the IPAQ, I will be able to code in Python GTK to create a very flexible dashboard AND data logger AND battery meter. I'm practicing PythonGTK now and should be able to debug using a Linux laptop.

So I "Ebayed" an IPAQ H3650 and ordered it a new battery, a car charger, serial cable and CF flash reader for my laptop's PCMCIA port.

See, the gas tank fits!