hi everyone,
i hope nobody minds me inserting into this thread, but it is some of my initial thoughts and it is on batteries -:
I’m new on the C5 scene, having an engineering background i have many questions perhaps even some idea’s to contemplate.
some constructively intended early observations/thoughts.
I noticed some C5's had a 70 amp battery, 'DAVE' also had a big battery fitted, obviously this is to improve running times. But there is a couple of counter trade offs because of the extra weight involved.
While on this these batteries, the ones i see were placed in the 'near side' of the rear foot well, given the rear brake works only on the ‘off side’ wheel, when applied the weight of the bike is added to by the battery and increasing the side ways tendencies of the bike.
it might be better to have the battery/s on the right hand side to reduce this effect
I don’t know the power consumption of the C5’s motor, but for ease of explanation lets say it is 17 amps under reasonable loading up an incline.
On Ebay there are available sealed gel 12 volt batteries rated at "17 AH heavy duty", as is used in other electric vehicles, the large one used in this thread is the same but bigger AH.
Not to be confused with similar looking batteries used in security systems, they are designed for long term low constant current, low discharge discharge and low duty cycle.
First thing to mention here is they are far safer than regular car batteries as there is no lquid sulfuric acid to leak in an accident (btw nice RTA Demo on Sunday Angie
). I would also say any battery should be secured in the bike, so should it turn over it remains secured and safely in place, it’s a legal requirement and MOT failure for all vehicles, so could be a legal matter in the C5’s for some smarty pants Copper just out of training.
Before I go on, and so everyone can better understand the following theory. To work out the life of any battery you simply divide the current drawn into the AH (Amp Hour) rating of the battery.
This means if fully charged and in pristine condition they will supply 17 amps @ 12 volts for 1 hour before the voltage drops (or 8.5 amps @ 12 volt’s for 2 hours etc).
Based on that calculation, one of these batteries will run a C5 motor (assumiing 17 amps drawn) continuously for one hour, like I said I have not been on the C5 scene for long- mere seconds, but from mu 1st Brighton Run, that’s way long enough for anyone to be in one of those seats for any ‘stint’ I’d say, especially I they ever want to be able top propagate the human race further , I’m still trying to get my pelvis out of my shoulder blades after ‘catching air’ over a road trench surface repair.
Given the much smaller size and weight, if we were to install a second 17 AH battery on parallel, we could in theory have 2 hours continuous run time. it should be possible to fit solar panels to charge the battery that is in stand bye, to aid even more run time by using a simple selector switch.
With some reasonable simple rigging of a relay, the soar panel could be recharging the batteries when the motor is not being powered, all that is needed is a relay with its coil wired across the motor power input, when energized by the voltage going to the motor the relay contacts disconnect the solar panel.
Might not seem much, but at Brighton Run we had several extended stops to chat with the natives, drink coffee and drive through Mc Donalds (what a giggle that was lol!), so these periods the batteries would get a top up. Might have saved the young mans legs (sory useless with names) or at least some of the peddling when his battery failed.
Either way, a 17 AH battery would give emergency power for when the main battery fails, a bit like a reserve tank on a motor cycle.
If anyone has tried out these ideas please let me know how you got on
Regs
Alan