electric lawn kart

[dman]

i am new to this site .
i have recently started a new project and have limited to no budget but have made progress on it . what im trying to do is turn an old lawn mower in to a decent go kart but im wanting to make it electric. as it stands right now i have everything taken off but the hood, seat(but moved to the position i want it), rear axle, and the body panel i know what i want to do with most of it but i need help with some of the finer points like where i want to put the battery when the motor is most likely going on top the trans where the battery should go, also what size motor i should get, and i need to know a cheap way to add a throttle to the motor so i can use the trans for the speed. any help would be greatly appreciated ask all the questions u need to to understand the setup im thinking of. i will hopefully add pictures next week

 

[dman]

by the way i can only get on on Mondays and Wednesdays when i'm waiting between classes no internet at home

 

[landuse]

i am new to this site .
i have recently started a new project and have limited to no budget but have made progress on it . what im trying to do is turn an old lawn mower in to a decent go kart but im wanting to make it electric. as it stands right now i have everything taken off but the hood, seat(but moved to the position i want it), rear axle, and the body panel i know what i want to do with most of it but i need help with some of the finer points like where i want to put the battery when the motor is most likely going on top the trans where the battery should go, also what size motor i should get, and i need to know a cheap way to add a throttle to the motor so i can use the trans for the speed. any help would be greatly appreciated ask all the questions u need to to understand the setup im thinking of. i will hopefully add pictures next week

I would have a look at all the electric projects, especially the sticky threads. This should give you some idea of where you are headed.

 

[dman]

i have looked at some of the sticky threads and it helped but to only narrow down what i wanted. by the way i took the photos but do not have what i need to up load them just yet

 

[dman]

here's the photos i said id upload

 

[Fallenleopard]

with something that size and weight you will need a pretty powerful motor and good gearing.
Have you decided on a motor or batteries yet?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I know we wanted pictures, but you could have at least waited for a full moon!!! LOL

From what I can see (or think I do) it looks pretty interesting. Tell us about the suspension.

 

[dman]

well on the motor i'm planning on getting a good sized 12v hopefully one with a lot of watts needed and i'm over-volting it. The gearing i'm just going to use the trans from the mower. and sorry about the photos ill take new ones soon.

 

[Fallenleopard]

Most of the speed and torque will come from the gearing, so as for a motor i would probably aim for 1000w or something in this area. It shouldn't be hard to find an industrial type motor like that.

As for the voltage you need to be carfull on how much you over volt it, i may be incorrect but i believe if you use a Brushed motor overvolted it can cause arcing with in the motor. With a brushless motor all you need to worry about is the heat.

Yes some better pictures would be good, that suspension on the front does look very interesting.

Good luck!

 

[jman231994]

Most of the speed and torque will come from the gearing, so as for a motor i would probably aim for 1000w or something in this area. It shouldn't be hard to find an industrial type motor like that.

As for the voltage you need to be carfull on how much you over volt it, i may be incorrect but i believe if you use a Brushed motor overvolted it can cause arcing with in the motor. With a brushless motor all you need to worry about is the heat.

Yes some better pictures would be good, that suspension on the front does look very interesting.

Good luck!

What speed are you aiming for? Whilst fallenleopard is right that the gearing plays a big part in it...1000w very likely wont be enough power for you. I'd personally be looking more in the 5000w area. Whilst it will consume much more power and draw more current, it will also let you have more fun. Do what you can though, 1000w will still certainly move it if geared correctly and if you like lower speed fun you may still get some fun from it.

Overvolting is definitely necessary, 12v will cause the current draw to be insane. Look for a motor with thick wires inside it too, thicker means less resistance which means less heat

 

[dman]

i was planing on overvolting to twice the volts and definitely brush less the front was just put in place for the photo. its from my small 4 wheeler, i might need to do some cuttin on the hood to get it to steer sharp enough for me. As for speed i want it to haul some major tail but unfortunately i have a vary small budget

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Be wary of that mower tranny. Electric motors can generate an insane amount of startup torque, and there's a very distinct chance you're going to grenade it.

 

[Fallenleopard]

Yeah I was just thinking with a next to nothing budget a 5000w motor isn't very realistic. Petrol would probably br cheaper haha

 

[dman]

i have do make it electric for reasons i would rather not disclose to the public. and i'm going to put a pot on the system to throttle the motor so i dont blow the tranny.