Go karts that run 120 volts w home battery backups

[Sasquatchy]

I saw a mention on a previous post that seemed to refer to using 120V ac/dc home backup batteries to run ac/dc motors. Is there a specific link to this? It seems like a fabulous idea, but most often when I say that, it is because I know very little about the subject.

I have an ecoflow river 2 battery pack that runs my power tools fairly well and seems to work well w my speed controller made for this purpose. Am I setting myself up for catastrophic failures by pursuing this idea? I want to eventually build a mini tank w 2 motors. Each motor running one track and controlled by 2 speed controllers. Is this something that others have done?

This is an old motor off a joiner and 3400 rims is going to be too fast, but it's an example of what Id like to try. Any help would be appreciated

 

[Sasquatchy]

Here are the specs on the machines

 

[Functional Artist]

Howdy Sasquatchy,

(1.) Have a look at the specs of the battery pack (120V @ ~6.7A) vs. the motor specs (120V @ ~12A (max) 6A (cont.)

(2.) Compare the size of the motor on your power tools vs. the size of that motor

(3.) Look at the capacity of the battery pack (768wH)

IMO "if" it does work
...things will "get hot"
...& you won't "go" very far (range/distance)

 

[pinkpanda3310]

Not a good idea. Were you planning to run 1 battery or 2...? As FA pointed out 1 battery has only just enough output for 1 motor at 1 horse power. The thing with electric motors is the rated power is generally not the maximum power it can produce, rather it's the maximum constant power it can handle without overheating. The power needed to drive a vehicle fluctuates with driving conditions. It's possible in a high load situation the motor pulls more than 1hp from the battery. If the driver can handle this imbalance of power flow (some can, some can't) then you could damage the battery.

AC induction motors are the backbone of industrial machines. They are built to last (read very heavy for their output), they run at a set rpm which is actually determined by the Hz of the AC current (no driver needed). They 'can' be modified to run through a driver which will allow variable speed..but - Being a 2 pole motor it'll work best at higher rpm, so you will need to gear it accordingly (tanks are typically slow..?) , and the motor will have poor torque at low speed.

In theory it can be done but you might find the results underwhelming and potentially damage something if not done right

 

[Sasquatchy]

Ok is there a part of this website that may show technical ideas about what type of batteries and which types of motors to use? Do we have diagrams? I could not find any tracked vehicles discussed I think I probably missed it

 

[pinkpanda3310]

I'm guessing electric mini tanks has been done before but it seems like a very niche topic. I haven't really looked into the subject myself so I don't know where to point you, sorry.