Back on Track

The Spring semester is over. It went well. Now where was I?

Oh right - So here's the deal:

• I'm about ready to wrap this project up.
• It's summer time and I don't have school to worry about.
• The bike is more or less mechanically, ready.
• The really detailed work is what remains.

...So I do believe there's plenty left to learn.

The foam gas-tank replacement didn't pan out. Although aesthetics wasn't a huge concern, using that shell and arriving at something functional and appealing just felt afar off. We turned back to the original tank and my Dad did some intricate metal-work in order to have something compact, workable, and down-right nice looking in minimal time. This is the space that will contain the chargers, DC converter, motor controller, main contactor and a fuse or breaker.

So, now that serious electrical wiring needs to be done, I have several questions concerning the new electrical system being installed on the bike:

What gauge wire should I use for my bike?

Lennon used #4 welding wire, which should be the same as size 4 AWG. But how come all the charts I find out there for AWG show very conservative numbers? For example, this site shows #4 wire being capable of only 135 or 60 amps, depending on use (what's the difference between chassis wiring and power transmission, anyway?). A good point my Dad brought up was that there's only so much surface area at our disposal on the controller terminals and that will absolutely place an upper limit on the size of wire we can expect to need.

Will the battery side of the controller need a different gauge than the motor side?

I haven't posted yet about how my motor controller works, but I some-what understand the principle at work, and that the battery side won't (or shouldn't) see more than maybe 140 Amps, while the motor side could see 300+ Amps. I know selecting too large a gauge is not a serious problem, so I guess I'm asking whether or not there's a reason (and what that reason is) to use separate gauges for each side of the controller.

Can my proposed charging system be implemented?

This is not a question of how well will it balance the batteries, but rather, can it work at all. The chargers have been tested and seem to work fine. We just aren't perfectly clear about whether or not we can leave them connected when the bike is being driven, or if we should add a component or place an existing component such that some charging circuit is broken in order to operate the vehicle. I expect it depends on the exact method in which the chargers are wired to the batteries as well as how the chargers are wired internally, so we're just still researching and figuring this out.

Here's what remains to be done:

• Sort out a wiring diagram for our specific bike.
• Research, select and install electric drive system wiring
• Adjust and install drive chain
• Test throttle switch
• Program controller
• First test of electric drive system
• Break-in the motor
• Install PakTrakr
• Re-cloth modified seat
• Remove and/or treat rust
• Finish and paint component shelves.
• Final paint and assembly

Oh, I did want to mention how I found a supplier of certain Lifan parts. Lifan being Chinese makes it kind of a big deal to have a good supplier of parts here in the US. I ordered parts from Hooper Imports. They're in Redmond, Washington and seem to be very genuine and rather-closely tied to both Lifan and American Lifan out of Dallas, Tx. Trust me, I would have ordered parts from American Lifan, considering their convenient location, but their online parts-store has been "coming soon" for quite some time now. I suppose I could have called, but I didn't have part numbers to reference. I feel good about my order to Hooper Imports, and I look forward to verifying I ordered and received the correct items.

I wish I had an image or two to show the state of the bike, but I'll be sure to snap a few in the coming weeks. I may take a few days off work to help get as much of this done as possible. Maybe by the end of June, we'll have something ridable and almost licensable.

-Colby