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1986 Vfr700 Conversion To Electric


frodus

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Guest mojopolo

Awesome project!! If you put the technical specs onto Wikipedia, I think you should put a paypal donations link on your webpage -- I'm guessing some people will donate as you are furthering the knowledge base around the design and engineering of an interesting electrical vehicle.

Keep up the good work!

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  • Member Contributer
Awesome project! Good luck with everything. You might want to edit out the video at 0:53 and 3:02. tongue.gif

LOL!! I was hoping someone would notice that. Since it's an empty industrial street in the evening, we do our trial runs then. The bike isn't registered or insured yet (this week probably), so...ahem, doing that thing to which you refer is the least of our worries. We had to see how fast it would go, right?? :wheel: :fing02:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Not too worry Frodus, same deal with mine. Fresh post moves the topic to the top of the recent threads, but in the Featured Mods forum it stays stuck in place. Dunno why.

thats why... I was wondering why it dropped.

Thanks for the help seb!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...
yeah no doubt, frodus had mentioned something about fitting that e-vfr with some cobalt racing bodywork, and im itching to see how that bike will look when that work is done....

well, I wanted to put a cobalt racing tail on there, but its been 5 months since I paid, I've called a few times... nothing. Not even an email.

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  • 4 weeks later...

FINALLY got the tail:

normal_IMG_2056.jpg

Now I gotta get the holes drilled on the front upper and lowers, get all the hardware mounted, cut holes for the headlights (going dual) and get her painted. While thats being done, think I'll be able to fit the rest of my new batteries inside.

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  • 3 months later...
Guest onedowneaster

Hi Frodus, I am torn,when you said super low mileage bike I envisioned a complete restoration of a classic bike,but since you didnt go in that

direction, I guess then, this is second best. If I understand your project correctly,its an electric motorcycle only,and not a hybrid?

Would it be possible to mount a small gas engine plus all the electrical equip on a cycle to make it a true hybrid, or isn't there enough space to do it? Looking forward to your write up after you have had it out for a few test runs. eddie

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Hi Frodus, I am torn,when you said super low mileage bike I envisioned a complete restoration of a classic bike,but since you didnt go in that

direction, I guess then, this is second best. If I understand your project correctly,its an electric motorcycle only,and not a hybrid?

Would it be possible to mount a small gas engine plus all the electrical equip on a cycle to make it a true hybrid, or isn't there enough space to do it? Looking forward to your write up after you have had it out for a few test runs. eddie

I don't want to run on gas at all.... thats the point.

A hybrid is possible, but there's no room for the batteries I'm using, I'd have to go with much more expensive batteries with higher energy density.

I know, i felt bad tearing into the bike, it's still in great shape, its just getting some new fairings and paint... it'l look like the original without the engine.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

So, its been a REALLY long time since I've posted pictures of my project.... It's been a busy year. Worked with the Motoczysz team for a while, started consulting, imported 25k of batteries and then joined forces with EVComponents.....

Now I THINK I finally have most of the parts I need to finish the bike. I don't have the Synkromotive controller yet due to delays in production, but if its a problem, I'll just build a Zilla 1k LV at EVC. I don't have a BMS either, but I'm working with Elithion on some BMS stuff for us moto guys, and I'll be testing his prototype. Right now I'm planning on the Lithiumate system with Cylindrical cell boards.

So what changed on my bike? Well, almost everything is changing. I decided to make the leap from Lead to Lithium before even installing the Panasonic SLA's. It wasn't enough of a gain, and would be much better long term to go Lifepo4. The fairings are no longer the stock plastic, they're all fiberglass.... Including the gas tank.

So whats going in the bike?:

  • 192qty 10Ah 38120S Headway cells in 32s6p for 102V 60Ah

  • Fiberglass one-piece tail fairing, Solo seat cowl, front fender, race upper fairing, lower side fairings, inner fairings and gas tank.

  • taller windscreen to help cut back on aero drag a little

  • K99-4003 72V 6.7" motor from Advanced DC

  • delta-q 1000W 96V charger setup for 32 cells (116.8V cutoff)

  • Vicor 100Vin 12Vout 200W DC-DC converter (works down to like 80Vinput)

  • Inertia switch in case of a wreck

  • EV200 contactor

  • LSL MIG Dual headlights

  • Sprocket Specialists 60tooth anodized rear sprocket

  • Bar mounts so I can use a sportbike/superbike style handlebar

Stuff I don't have yet:

  • Controller (Want to use Synkromotive, might have to get a Zilla)

  • BMS (I'll likely use a full Elithion Lithiumate BMS)

Stuff I need to do:

  • Fabricate new motor mount (the old one could be improved and simplified)

  • Fabricate a battery box for the Headway cells

  • Fabricate headlight mount and cut holes into upper fairing

  • fabricate charger mount

  • mount controller/contactor/DC-DC etc inside gas tank

  • rebuild front forks (they're leaking)

  • replace wheel bearings (since its easier now than later)

  • Get fairings sanded and painted

  • get wheels/subframe/gauge mounts/panel mounts powdercoated (this could wait until after bike is done)

  • Talk with Elithion about their BMS and see if I can still integrate an LCD

So here are some pictures:

Front of bike

normal_IMG_2227.jpg

normal_IMG_2238.jpg

Rear of bike

normal_IMG_2228.jpg

normal_IMG_2243.jpg

Batteries

normal_IMG_2253.jpg

DC-DC converter

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Fiberglass tank

normal_IMG_2233.jpg

bottom of tank

normal_IMG_2234.jpg

Charger

normal_IMG_2229.jpg

headlights

normal_IMG_2248.jpg

normal_IMG_2250.jpg

Handlebar mount

normal_IMG_2246.jpg

So thats about it for now, gotta check in on the controller and BMS. Talked to a welder the other day, and they said "we'll trick that bike out...." so I'm hoping the motor mount and battery box turn out good

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Very cool, the pics look good. All that stuff you wrote before the pics might as well be Latin to me. :biggrin:

I did just get last month's electric bike Motorcyclist mag, nice write up on the race and the Motoczysz bike. :biggrin:

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What's the deal w/ the gas tank? Where did it come from/who made it & why bother with a bottom half since it's not really a tank? Putting coolant in there for a liquid cooled motor?

VFRChuck makes fiberglass tanks for the VFR700/750 series, without fuel petcock. I got a "half made" tank. Its unfinished.

The reason for the tank is to house the electronics. I had to cut up the old metal tank (and it was rusted). It had sharp edges and nowhere to mount things inside. This way, the two halves kinda go together pretty tight and allow a seal to be put around the edge to keep water/dirt/bugs out. I might put a hinge on it so it flips up.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow, it sure has been a while, still not finished (never enough time). Time for a little update (thanks for reminding me Sebspeed).

I do consulting on the side and have been working with the community on designing systems, so I kinda put this off. While doing that, I got a nice Battery Management System from Elithion. I've assembled a few test packs and really like how it works. I also decided to scrap the brushed DC motor (K99 motor) and go with a brush-less AC Induction motor. I started with an AC15 motor and Curtis 1238-6501 motor, but a sold that and upgraded yet again to an AC20 motor and 1238-7501 controller. This gives a little more HP and higher running voltage and higher RPM of the motor. This gives more HP than the K99 and a higher RPM. I got some motor mounts machined, mounted the new motor and am now working on trying to cram all of the batteries inside the frame. I bought some UHMW plastic (3/4" thick, 4x8' sheet) to fabricate the cell-holders. I'm not using the cheap red plastic holders shown below, I want something more finished looking.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Testing some batteries (testing for capacity so I can match cells/test them before installing):

normal_IMG_0947.jpg

Batteries assembled into test pack:

normal_IMG_0009.jpg

BMS installed on the pack:

normal_IMG_0015.jpg

BMS controller:

normal_IMG_0024.jpg

AC15 with mounts:

normal_Picture_007.jpg

Mocking up the battery pack:

normal_Picture_006.jpg

AC20 mounted:

normal_Picture_007.jpg

normal_Picture_008.jpg

normal_Picture_011.jpg

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Drawing of one of the battery packs (I may change this):

normal_aston_pack.jpg

Prototype pack made of UHMW and milled on a CNC router table:

normal_Picture_004.jpg

normal_Picture_003.jpg

So anyway, there's the update. I got some of the fairings mounted so I can accurately design the battery pack. A heat sink for the controller is being machined and it'll go underneath the bike and stick out just a little bit from the fairing, right where the original exhaust went. It's a perfect place for airflow. Once I get the controller and heat-sink back, I can really start mocking things up with some foam-board and hot-glue. Once I figure out the maximum pack size, I can start to fit batteries inside it in CAD and send to my fabricator to CNC the final pack. Then we'll weld up an aluminum box for it, and start assembly.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Little bit at a time. I got some new levers for my front brake (the old one has an adjustment piece that was rusting) and some other spare parts. The big thing I got was a heatsink from my friend that he made. He milled a second one for me that fits the curtis 1238 exactly. I'm very impressed. Right now I plan to mount it very low on the bike so that the fins kind of stick out from under the fairings where the exhaust was located. It will provide pretty good cooling. I might also consider the front behind the front wheel. Just need to see how my mockups fit.

normal_photo.JPG normal_photo2.JPG

Also got my old 28Ah 12V SLA's back from the guy that I sold them to and didn't use them, along with some parts he wants me to sell.

This week:

Hot glue and foam-board mockup of my battery pack and location of charger and controller.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got my forks rebuilt last week and drilled out my triple clamp to attach a bar riser I found to mount some Spiegler superbike handlebars. Only 1 problem, the brake line isn't long enough, so I need to order some new lines. Kind of a bummer, but now I can upgrade to braided brake lines quick would be good since I'm running with 25+ year old lines.

Got me thinking about just replacing the front master cylinder too. They're harder to get parts for. Since I don't NEED anything immediately, I'll let things go until I get the bike running because I'll probably want to rebuild the front and rear brake slaves, replace brake lines, replace pads and put new brake fluid in there. It'l be a good nice weekend project in the spring.

But at least it's back together. I'll throw the old bars on there for now until I get the lines. Probably be a couple months because I don't really feel like rebuilding the brakes too. At least I can get back to the battery pack I keep putting off.

So here's the current state:

post-12143-0-76890300-1316189703_thumb.j

post-12143-0-05321100-1316189718_thumb.j

post-12143-0-12874400-1316189733_thumb.j

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  • 9 months later...

I’ve still been working on the 12V test pack and wiring while parts are fabricated. I got the BMS controller + cell boards talking and shutting off the charger correctly.

Been a while since I've updated here..... thought I'd post an update here too:

Working on a schematic, but here’s what I’ve got so far:

Ordered some optically isolated FETs to wire to the throttle since the Curtis I/O is not isolated. This will allow me to limit throttle as I reach my discharge current limit (DCL). It’s an analog output from the BMS, the more that output is driven, the less throttle I get. I can also limit regen by using another optically isolated FET on the CCL line and limit the Brake input.

Got the delta-q algorithms set up and wiring figured out. There’s an enable line that is grounded to B- when you want it to run, and ungrounded when you disable it. I control this with a little automotive relay connected to the HLIM (High Voltage Limit) on the BMS controller. This allows the BMS to turn the controller on/off when cells go high.

There’s a Relay inside the DeltaQ that turns on when you plug it in. I’ve taken the 12V always on from my Surepower DC-DC converter and wired that to the COM of the relay contacts. N/O goes to my V-Source of the BMS controller, so when it’s plugged in, it powers the BMS but nothing else. The N/C contacts go through the Ignition, and to the Key-switch input on the DC-DC converter. The switched output of the DC-DC goes to the V-Load input to power the BMS. It also goes to my 12V system (lights, signals, etc.).

The Curtis does its own Contactor control and pre-charge, but the BMS needs to be able to turn on/off the load. I can do that with DCL limiting throttle, but nothing disables the controller in case of a fault. I’m thinking I’ll use the LLIM line to drive a small 12V coil 150VDC contact to switch B+ and pin 1 (enable) of the controller.

I also wired up Canbus, changed the Elithion to ID 7E0 for OBD-II PIDs. I connected a Bluetooth-OBD-II dongle, paired with my Android tablet, started a program called Torque and imported a list of PIDs that I got from Elithion and added some Gauges. Screenshot:

normal_elithion_torque.jpg

So I’ve got the logic all figured out for the 4 main electronic pieces (controller, DC-DC, BMS and charger)… so after that, it’s on to the lighting/existing electrical.

Other pics of the bike below. Have fairings mounted, starting to sand and get ready for paint:

normal_2012-06-09_14_59_37.jpg

normal_2012-06-09_15_00_30.jpg

normal_2012-06-09_15_00_18.jpg

normal_2012-06-09_14_59_53.jpg

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