The opening 30 minutes of this is the most exciting thing I’ve heard for small business and clean energy development, ever.
Archive for January, 2010
Ah x Volts equals Wh
Wh/1000 = KWh
that’s all i gots.
(thanks terry)
Well, OK, I think I did a pretty good job on this one. This started about putting a motor cutoff switch into the circuit for the kickstand, cutting power if the kickstand is down. Here it is.
…but here’s the post I made about paying attention and remembering where you are.
(Originally Posted by DaveAK View Post
But you can apply that logic to anything.
Logic? logic has nothing to do with it.)
FWIW, I feel the same about GPS (learn to read a map), electric starts on bikes (anybody can push a button), and UV filters to “protect” camera lenses (learn not to stick your finger into the glass). And I hate radios with more than two dials (On/Off Vol, and the tuner).
… luddite is such an ugly word.
Seriously, though… here’s the reason I feel so strongly about this- it’s about precisely that, safety. I feel that riding safely depends on you developing good habits and an awareness of the classic advice given to me by Special Forces rockclimbing buddy (3 tours Vietnam) back in the day- remember where you are and what you’re doing.
In the last year I’ve been teaching my son to ride, and the first thing I teach him is to go through the checlkist. Before starting the machine, check gas, air, chain… once the bike is started check mirrors, stand, oil pressure, etc. Same thing a pilot does, every single time, before takeoff.
If your stand is down you’re not paying attention.
That said, I HAVE ridden off with my stand down, and it’s not what I’d consider a serious safety issue. Most bikes I’ve owned just pop the stand up, some don’t and may do something ugly, to the extreme of making you lose your balance. At speed, it’s the same as grinding a peg… dramatic sound, lost metal, sheepish grin. One time, and one time only, the bike did a low-speed pivot on the stand, jarred me awake, I recovered and stopped and slapped myself in the head. Yes it rattles you. And yes, it gets your attention.
As far as someone touching my bike’s controls, again, it’s not motorcycle testosterone, it’s safety. When is it safe for anyone who is not the operator of a machine to touch the controls while it’s being run? (I have this hilarious story about my friend George, best rider I knew in High School, sitting on the back of my bike deciding we were going to turn- HERE! He shifted his weight and steered the bike right, into a driveway. Um, for me. I was like, uh, just let me know when you decide to drive next time, OK? My son thinks thats the funniest thing he’s ever heard, I was telling him that to explain how anybody but George should ride as a passenger…)
If you’re letting a novice ride your bike, you have an EXTREMELY important responsibility to show them how to ride safely, and that checklist is, again, the first, most important step. This is, again, my concern with selling Brammo at Best Buy and offering some kind of MC safety encouragement… we are, after all, riding motorcycles.
I’ll also add, before shutting up, that the ONLY times I’ve EVER done stupid crap is in front of people. No kidding, really. My first crash was in front of a crowd of friends I was showing off for. (My Dad’s sage advice: “If that didn’t teach you anything, nothing I say will.”) Trying to start my SRX600 (no electric start) in front of a group of riders… talking to friends while preparing to ride off… you get the idea. Dumb stuff, not paying attention. It’s not like driving a car, and that’s one thing I really worry about- we all have “car” habits pretty ingrained.
So, yeah, the KS warning light switch is a clever idea, and no biggie to put on, and much better than a shutoff interlock. As such, I would agree, it’s a matter of personal taste, but I worry about us all depending on technology to do what we need to do with our brains…
Sunday Sermon over, sitting down now…
-Rev. Theo
Last edited by teddillard; 4 Hours Ago at 08:10 AM. Reason: revise, revise, revise… the key to good writing
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I just heard about the Tesla ATVMP loan coming through here, on EnGadget (Tesla pulls in $465 million government loan to build Model S electric sedan), and got kind of curious as to how that works. Here’s the DOE site explaining it, but here, essentially, is the language:
Under section 136, the ATVM provides loans to automobile and automobile part manufacturers for the cost of re-equipping, expanding, or establishing manufacturing facilities in the United States to produce advanced technology vehicles or qualified components, and for associated engineering integration costs.
On the one hand, that’s all great. But on the other… it’s a luxury car at an astronomical price, when, in fact, an economy car might be a nice idea, and totally feasible- both technologically and economically. But you know, greater minds than mine… I’d love to see a company like this getting some funding that doesn’t feel like the rich getting richer.
WAIT. HERE’s an idea… how about throwing a few thousand dollars at a madman who wants to ride a motorcycle across the country to prove the time has COME??!!
Sour grapes? …how could you think such a thing?
Just found out about this motor… via Alex Tang and his “Electriceptor” conversion project.
Here are some specs:
MHM602Two turn winding motor
Power output: 10KW continuous @ 25c ambient temperature
Protection: thermally protected with kelly controller
Typical Voltage needed:
72 volts for 45 MPH with 18 X 3.5 tire
96 volts for 60 plus MPH with 18 X 3.5 tireTypical current demand:
At 72 volts and 45 MPH < 50 amps
At 96 volts and 60 MPH < 95 ampsThese voltage and current results were obtained using a 325 pound motorcycle with a 170 pound rider on a flat road with little to no headwind your results will vary depending on motorcycle, rider weight, and conditions. EnerTrac does not guarantee voltage and current specifications, but provide them as a guide to help the customer chose the correct battery for their build.
Swing arm width needed: 7.5 inches needed for installation with torque arm
Wheel size: WM3 style 36 hole 18 X 2.15
Color: Motor Black, Rim Silver
Check out Alex’s site for more info on them, but the EnerTrac site is here.
Here’s Alex’s video of the guys, and the spinup of his motor:
Thanks tango!
One of the guys on ElMoto was talking about being able to weld aluminum with MAPP gas, so I looked it up. Here’s a post on Make Online about using Alumaloy rods with some sources, too. Here’s HTS 2000, another similar supplier, with some info on the site.
Have to give it a try sometime… maybe when I build my battery cases out of my recent salvage find…
crazy cool, and who can resist that nickname? site here, it’s a transmission from a BMW K75 mated to an Advanced DC electric motor and some SWEET battery rig.
Well, they didn’t get said in 2010, but now’s when I heard ‘em. Saw ‘em… eh. whatever.
“The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature.
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes.
But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”
— Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1927)
and…
“I can’t wait for my Hydrogen powered car, I can park it next to my Unicorn”.
THANKS electrafox!
I don’t really know what this is (which bike, whether it really exists, but it’s definitely from MotoCzysz and honestly, they have the hot setup on cool lookin’ battery packs) or where it came from, but I’m posting it here because it’s awesome… note to self.
(edit: “This is the actual rendering for the E1 bike.” Thanks Chad!)
(edit2:
“Hi Ted, That is a rendered image of CAD data of the first E1 – with the triple Agni setup.
The part with the ‘holes’ is the chassis that houses the battery packs – the packs sit on the rails that you maybe able to make out on the image.
New E1 coming soon.
Adrian”
THANKS Adrian (of MotoCzysz)
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