Seeing my new batteries have arrived I feel a bit more confident about going slightly longer distances without the fear of actually having to pedal the sherman home if the battery runs out of juice.
So..... what to do...... strap a battery on the rear carrier and swap them over en-route? Possible, but for the cost of a couple of audio XLR connectors and a length of 13amp twin and earth I thought I'd go down this route and give it a test run to see if it's a success.....
It's a bit string and sellotape at the moment but good enough for test purposes. "What is it?" I hear some of you ask........ it's two batteries running in parallel which essentially doubles the capacity (amp hours) whilst maintaining the original voltage...... My guess is this will not only extend the range but it will make serious hills a lot less demanding and she shouldn't redline as there is more juice on tap to cope with demand.
Naturally there's more "weight" with another battery strapped on the rear carrier but that would be there "anyway" if you were going to go down the other route of en route refuelling...... we could even be more perverse and add a third, a fourth or even a fifth battery and connect them all in parallel.... or we could connect a couple in series and break the land speed record (erm.... let's stick to parallel for the time being!) there is so much potential with these bikes.
I'm surprised Ezee chose a 3 pin audio XLR connector as a power connector..... perfectly good but a simple 2 pin dedicated DC connector would have sufficed.... it also amazes me in the audio world how many manufacturers use the wrong type of connector for the job (ie: a 75 0hm bayonet locking connector for DC duty) anyways.... again, rambling!
I've had a look inside one of the phylion batteries and it'll be pretty simple to make one up in a housing "purpose built" for permanent fixture to the rear carrier with a fixed lead terminated with an XLR plug to hook into the stock battery..... a lot lighter than the stock battery too (and that includes the Sanyo!) I won't say anymore on this until I have built my prototype and fully tested it...... running about with a stock phylion strapped onto the rear carrier is far from ideal...... the idea I have is to extend the rear carrier and fit the semi permanent (ie can be removed and replaced when necessary) battery pack "under" the carrier so you can still fit knogs, panniers etc. etc..... It's also simple to knock up a battery charger for a few quid, I'll upload the DIY details so anyone competent with a soldering iron can make one should they wish.
Quite a lot of thinking going on here at the moment....... along the lines of £300 for a fekkin battery and £75 for a charger you gotta be insane mate! kind of thing but even more thought into maxing the range of these guys to the hilt without resorting to onboard windmills, solar panels and fit people!
This is NOT rocket science it's essentially a motor and a battery...... thing is you can make a motor zoom with voltage but you'll soon drain the batteries...... the brief I have set myself is to get a realistic 80 mile range (on the 15.6mph cut out of the motor setting) with moderate pedalling.... (when I say "moderate" I'm basically saying just rotate the pedals with your legs in a circular motion.... ie: follow them round the dial!)
Jesus..... I don't half waffle eh? My next post on this will be the "proof of the pudding" warts and all full "under the bonnet" type of thing...... it's not only "doable" it's a walk in the park for me and WILL materialize in a couple of weeks..... being banned from "driving" was the best thing that ever happened to me....... seriously!
So..... what to do...... strap a battery on the rear carrier and swap them over en-route? Possible, but for the cost of a couple of audio XLR connectors and a length of 13amp twin and earth I thought I'd go down this route and give it a test run to see if it's a success.....
It's a bit string and sellotape at the moment but good enough for test purposes. "What is it?" I hear some of you ask........ it's two batteries running in parallel which essentially doubles the capacity (amp hours) whilst maintaining the original voltage...... My guess is this will not only extend the range but it will make serious hills a lot less demanding and she shouldn't redline as there is more juice on tap to cope with demand.
Naturally there's more "weight" with another battery strapped on the rear carrier but that would be there "anyway" if you were going to go down the other route of en route refuelling...... we could even be more perverse and add a third, a fourth or even a fifth battery and connect them all in parallel.... or we could connect a couple in series and break the land speed record (erm.... let's stick to parallel for the time being!) there is so much potential with these bikes.
I'm surprised Ezee chose a 3 pin audio XLR connector as a power connector..... perfectly good but a simple 2 pin dedicated DC connector would have sufficed.... it also amazes me in the audio world how many manufacturers use the wrong type of connector for the job (ie: a 75 0hm bayonet locking connector for DC duty) anyways.... again, rambling!
I've had a look inside one of the phylion batteries and it'll be pretty simple to make one up in a housing "purpose built" for permanent fixture to the rear carrier with a fixed lead terminated with an XLR plug to hook into the stock battery..... a lot lighter than the stock battery too (and that includes the Sanyo!) I won't say anymore on this until I have built my prototype and fully tested it...... running about with a stock phylion strapped onto the rear carrier is far from ideal...... the idea I have is to extend the rear carrier and fit the semi permanent (ie can be removed and replaced when necessary) battery pack "under" the carrier so you can still fit knogs, panniers etc. etc..... It's also simple to knock up a battery charger for a few quid, I'll upload the DIY details so anyone competent with a soldering iron can make one should they wish.
Quite a lot of thinking going on here at the moment....... along the lines of £300 for a fekkin battery and £75 for a charger you gotta be insane mate! kind of thing but even more thought into maxing the range of these guys to the hilt without resorting to onboard windmills, solar panels and fit people!
This is NOT rocket science it's essentially a motor and a battery...... thing is you can make a motor zoom with voltage but you'll soon drain the batteries...... the brief I have set myself is to get a realistic 80 mile range (on the 15.6mph cut out of the motor setting) with moderate pedalling.... (when I say "moderate" I'm basically saying just rotate the pedals with your legs in a circular motion.... ie: follow them round the dial!)
Jesus..... I don't half waffle eh? My next post on this will be the "proof of the pudding" warts and all full "under the bonnet" type of thing...... it's not only "doable" it's a walk in the park for me and WILL materialize in a couple of weeks..... being banned from "driving" was the best thing that ever happened to me....... seriously!
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