So my Amazon purchased 5 amp/10 amp charger finally arrived from China direct after 3 weeks. No complaints or knocks on China, seems to be a good product & does what it is supposed to do. So far I have only used it to charge on 10 amps & it really cuts down my charge time. Charging with my 3 amp charger could take 11 hours for a similar charge level – this one takes about 3.5 hours.
The interesting part is trying to see what charge level the battery settles to after a couple of days of having been charged to its theoretical maximum (82 V or slightly higher). The batteries are all used Nissan Leaf Gen 1 versions so there’s a known decrease in performance in higher heat days and a noticeable increase in performance on cooler days.
10 amp charger in action, set on a brick to help keep ground level dust out of the cooling fan
Cleverly disguised as an on/off switch this is actually a low / high charge rate switch. low charge rate (5 amps) is on the left and high charge rate (10 amps is on the right.
So I didn’t really care for the rectangular container for the voltmeter & haven’t been able to find a round digital one of the size and type I want. So … what to do? Make your own case, came the reply from nowhere. So I did.
Started with a previous bad voltmeter, took the screws out, took the guts out, took a drill and a leatherman to the front of it after tracing the bottom of my voltmeter with a sharpie, and then installed. Note that a sharpie is not the best tool for marking on plexiglass.
So the original analog meter got stuck about 16 or so volts above actual (or above something) after the first test ride. Replacing it with this one, once I figure out how to mount it in a secure and stable way. Would also be nice if I could get consistent readings across multiple electric volt meters but there seems to be a consistent difference between 0.3 v and 0.7 volts.
Ended up changing out the rear blinkers as the base ones with rubber boots are pretty much crap. Yes they blink well without a flasher relay, but they break easily at the stems and if tightened enough to stay firm the post will pull out of the blinker material.
So I ended up ordering some more set screws and other pieces I thought I could use but ended up buying most of the pieces from Home Depot. End result? Used a double set screw for each location with locktite red, the 2nd screw to keep the first in place. Had to adjust the tire and take the chain off to work on it but that wasn’t too bad. Also added a collar lock tight against the sprocket to keep the sprocket from moving should the key find someway out again, which may be unlikely as I added an end cap to the shaft as it is a threaded 7/16-20 shaft. The concern with the shaft cap is that is clockwise to the view while the rotation is counterclockwise so it does have the potential to unscrew despite the additional locktite on it.
Was a bit surprised to find the key that fell out while riding sitting in the motor guard (put in to keep road items from bouncing up and hitting the bottom of the motor or sprocket).r
So finally got around to making a basic sprocket cover from an aluminum roll, replacing last week’s venerable card-board cover. Also swapped out the bottom cover to protect the motor from road debris. Haven’t decided if i will keep it or go with an acrylic side panel so the sprocket is visible.
Sprocket Cover, the black tape is to keep me from slicing my fingers up. Function before form.
Aluminum roll bottom cover, just to protect the motor from items kicked up by the front tire.
So looking to improve on the off-the-mark performance (the 10 T front to 40 T rear was pretty good but the chain kept impacting the swing arm) I swapped out the front sprocket to a 16 T and then replaced the rear sprocket with a 46 T as the 16:40 ratio was just too slow at start.
Seems a bit faster off the mark but I think i need to reprogram the throttle control again and start with the default (linear) curve to see how the throttle responds when riding. I feel like i’m getting a bit of herky jerky motion on start just with a basic throttle twist.
So while wrapping up some of the EV related items ( still have to cut the sprocket guard and bottom plate from sheet metal and ordered a 46T rear sprocket), I gave the Honda GL500i a bit of attention this morning.
Looking at some possible reasons it was running cold on the right cylinder (it is a 2 cylinder 500 cc engine) I made changes to the air filter, the carb knob below the carbs, and the right spark plug connection.
The air filter, pictured below, is a mess. Not sure which previous owner thought this was a good idea but the whole thing reeks of engine fumes. Ordered a new one today.
Adjusting the knob below the carbs allowed the motor to idle at a higher rpm without adjusting the choke. Nice. Even nicer when I pulled the spark plug connection out and as soon as i broke the connection, but had not removed the cable, spark was made and the right cylinder fired up as well. The engine sounds a lot better that way.
Was able to ride it up hill in my driveway twice before taking it down the street and around the neighborhood & then back up my driveway (steep and short ends). Just need to fix the fork seal leaks, the leak by the clutch pedal, and figure out what the rear leak is from. As it is a shaft drive the rear leak could be from the connection to the wheel though it is not obvious from just looking at the tire (but the leak is only evident on the bottom half of the tire).
Air filter installed when purchased from previous owner … nuff said. Ordered a new one.
You’ve heard of Dark Helmet, now you can meet the Green Helmet. For the first public viewing (and future ones) I finally broke out the never been worn Green Helmet … no green lights yet but i have a couple spares from the accent lighting on the bike.
So I topped up the batteries last night to 81 volts and then took it on an 8.4 mile ride through part of town this morning – presuming the odometer is correct. After getting out of the neighborhood it was a mile downhill at 45 mph (mostly coasting assisted), then about 2 miles at 45 mph with 3 stop lights to destination. The only difference is that on the way back it was back up the long hill.
What i noticed while returning home was that the loud squeal I was hearing from the front of the bike was the sound of the speedometer connection with the cable from the front tire spinning rather hard and vibrating like crazy. Will check it for alignment (unplug cable and replug basically) to see if it will fix.
Anyway, voltage leaving was 81.0 volts, voltage after the 8.4 mile ride was 77.3 volts. This is a difference of 3.7 volts, which comes in at 8.4 miles / 3.7 volts = 2.27 miles / volts. Roughly a range of 38.59 miles with a low cutoff of 64 volts. Need try longer, just not keen on finding out the hard way i couldn’t quite make it home.
Volts after morning 8.4 mile rideVolts last night after topping off
