- Blog entry posted in 'Uncategorised', August 18, 2011.
Remember that solenoid I took off the starter motor way back in post #3? I finally decided on what I'm going to use it for. :D
I figured that the regular brake system would look rather low-tech on a motorized bike. For this reason, I decided to eliminate the handbrake system that came with the bike altogether. Instead, I will be using the solenoid to pull the brake cable and slow down/stop the bike.
I lashed together the brake layout on my bike today to see how it would look:
56157 56158
Hmm... Not too bad :D
To operate the solenoid, I'll probably have a momentary toggle switch or push-button switch tucked into the existing handbrake lever. Also, in case the electronic braking fails during use, I will still have a fully-operable front brake (and yes, I know the front brake alone could throw me over the handlebars, but I think there will be enough weight on the back to prevent that from happening :p:D).
In my next entry I will start describing the actual construction of the bicycle, and will include lots of photos of the process :)
Centar, August 20, 2011
How are you going to modulate the solenoid for the brakes? A solenoid doesn't seem the best actuator to use for the breaks seeing as how they pull harder the more they close.... ALSO a Starting motor isn't is good as the treadmill motor, treadmill motor is designed for such service and one could use a modified "cheap modified sine wave inverter" as a controller/high voltage source....you could mod it quite easy to vary the output voltage... An electric bike has long been a dream of mine, I plan to use HUB motors and LI-PO batts, got the batts now just need the motors (front and rear, 1X1 drive! ;-) )
DerStrom8, August 20, 2011
[QUOTE=Centar;bt456]How are you going to modulate the solenoid for the brakes? A solenoid doesn't seem the best actuator to use for the breaks seeing as how they pull harder the more they close.... ALSO a Starting motor isn't is good as the treadmill motor, treadmill motor is designed for such service and one could use a modified "cheap modified sine wave inverter" as a controller/high voltage source....you could mod it quite easy to vary the output voltage... An electric bike has long been a dream of mine, I plan to use HUB motors and LI-PO batts, got the batts now just need the motors (front and rear, 1X1 drive! ;-) )[/QUOTE] The solenoid is just going to be a fun, "let's see how this works" sort of thing. It may not work, but I think it's worth giving it a try. It also looks cool on an electric bike :D I plan to just have a momentary switch built in to the hand brake, as I think I already mentioned in this post. Nothing fancy, and I'll work out the bugs once I get the bike built. The reason I decided against a treadmill motor, in case you haven't read my posts about choosing a motor, is that they run on 120-140vdc. There was no way I was going to get that kind of voltage for little to no cost. The purpose of this bike is not to choose top-of-the-line, brand new parts to make the "best motorized bike ever!". It's to see what I can do with very little cash and scrap parts. I envy your Li-Po batteries! I was hoping to use some of those myself, but they're quite expensive. At this point, I'm just planning on using two motorcycle batteries :p
Resistanceisbutyl, August 21, 2011
Cool! I haven't been around much, but I still pop in on occasion and see the progress. Awesome build, looking forward to more posts. Cheers
