professor
Active Member
Being that it is now a NY legal moped, I decided to make the bike more efficient and a little lighter.
Deleted- 450w motor and one battery, Ford alternator, controller.
Added- 250w motor acting as a generator, another jackshaft, belts, clutch idler.
My plan was to use a delco (internal regulated) alternator to supply the juice for the mandatory head/ tail/ stop lights. Boy, did that not work. The Delco sucked a huge amount of power from the HF.
Decided to put a 250w scooter motor right where the Delco was and use it for juice by spinning it like I did the Delco. Driving it just a tad slower than the HF.
I used a diode from an old generator to prevent juice from motoring the motor during off or low rpm situations. ( important)
If you do anthing like this- also make sure all your polarities are right- spin the "generator" one way and you get different polarity than the other way from the 2 leads out of the "generator".
I guess if the battery was deleted, this would not matter, but I wanted to battery to give power at engine /off plus it acts as a bank to stuff excess juice (for a bit) into, so lights won't over volt.
Cranked up the engine with the lights on and =12.55 volts- rev the engine real good ,and voltage goes to 13 something. Yeah- that will work.
Gear ratio- guessed at 15 to one and it was too low. launched like a rocket, made a lot of noise, (big amount of engine clatter, real quiet exhaust and intake) the HF clatters like an old motorcycle (did you know it is a Hemi).
So I changed the pulleys and could hardly get going- but would idle at 20 mph or so- the odd thing is, that once rolling, even with what seemed like 3rd gear- it would pull strong.
OK, change the gearing again (to another unknown number (didn't count) and it feels like 2nd gear in my Toyota. Comfortable cruising speed around 20. A little clutch slip required to get moving. I can't imagine a hill that would slow this thing down.
A note on chains- I tried a bike chain as an intermediate power thansfer and it was incredibly LOUD - went back to the little #25 scooter chain and -quiet as a mouse. Amazing.
I am going belt to the first jackshaft, them #25 chain to the second jackshaft (actually a modded scooter rear axle with a freewheel).
A note on using belts with idler/clutchs- with the belt in the "not engaged" mode- it helps to have little "Guides" that keep the belt near- but not riding(as much as you can) on the pulley sheaves. Belts naturally "Want" to go to a roundish shape which puts drag on the sheaves.
These little stops keep them from doing that.
Sometimes it is necessary to make one to hold the belt from spinning (have a little tractor that I could not get into gear until I made one for the idler arm).
Why not just use one jackshaft?
Because I already had another one, and using 2 of them gets away from needing a huge pulley (as on the the single set-up).
I took the pics without the shopping bags that normally adorn the sides so you could see the works underneath.
Using a dual brake handle on the right hand -takes serious effort, but stops OK.
Using a HT clutch handle on the left hand - only backward action- squeezing makes you go and locking it keeps it engaged.
Yet to do- make chain guards. Make a wiring diagram so I will be able to figure out this thing later.
What I would like - add a derailer on the engine side with a smaller sprocket that would give an even more relaxed cruise rpm.
Probably won't do it. I don't go fast and it would be yet another control to work.
Here are pics:
Deleted- 450w motor and one battery, Ford alternator, controller.
Added- 250w motor acting as a generator, another jackshaft, belts, clutch idler.
My plan was to use a delco (internal regulated) alternator to supply the juice for the mandatory head/ tail/ stop lights. Boy, did that not work. The Delco sucked a huge amount of power from the HF.
Decided to put a 250w scooter motor right where the Delco was and use it for juice by spinning it like I did the Delco. Driving it just a tad slower than the HF.
I used a diode from an old generator to prevent juice from motoring the motor during off or low rpm situations. ( important)
If you do anthing like this- also make sure all your polarities are right- spin the "generator" one way and you get different polarity than the other way from the 2 leads out of the "generator".
I guess if the battery was deleted, this would not matter, but I wanted to battery to give power at engine /off plus it acts as a bank to stuff excess juice (for a bit) into, so lights won't over volt.
Cranked up the engine with the lights on and =12.55 volts- rev the engine real good ,and voltage goes to 13 something. Yeah- that will work.
Gear ratio- guessed at 15 to one and it was too low. launched like a rocket, made a lot of noise, (big amount of engine clatter, real quiet exhaust and intake) the HF clatters like an old motorcycle (did you know it is a Hemi).
So I changed the pulleys and could hardly get going- but would idle at 20 mph or so- the odd thing is, that once rolling, even with what seemed like 3rd gear- it would pull strong.
OK, change the gearing again (to another unknown number (didn't count) and it feels like 2nd gear in my Toyota. Comfortable cruising speed around 20. A little clutch slip required to get moving. I can't imagine a hill that would slow this thing down.
A note on chains- I tried a bike chain as an intermediate power thansfer and it was incredibly LOUD - went back to the little #25 scooter chain and -quiet as a mouse. Amazing.
I am going belt to the first jackshaft, them #25 chain to the second jackshaft (actually a modded scooter rear axle with a freewheel).
A note on using belts with idler/clutchs- with the belt in the "not engaged" mode- it helps to have little "Guides" that keep the belt near- but not riding(as much as you can) on the pulley sheaves. Belts naturally "Want" to go to a roundish shape which puts drag on the sheaves.
These little stops keep them from doing that.
Sometimes it is necessary to make one to hold the belt from spinning (have a little tractor that I could not get into gear until I made one for the idler arm).
Why not just use one jackshaft?
Because I already had another one, and using 2 of them gets away from needing a huge pulley (as on the the single set-up).
I took the pics without the shopping bags that normally adorn the sides so you could see the works underneath.
Using a dual brake handle on the right hand -takes serious effort, but stops OK.
Using a HT clutch handle on the left hand - only backward action- squeezing makes you go and locking it keeps it engaged.
Yet to do- make chain guards. Make a wiring diagram so I will be able to figure out this thing later.
What I would like - add a derailer on the engine side with a smaller sprocket that would give an even more relaxed cruise rpm.
Probably won't do it. I don't go fast and it would be yet another control to work.
Here are pics:
