Electric-Couch-Man
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So I posted this on the general go kart forum too, but here is just a little bit of background 
My name is Ethen, and I'm currently a university student studying mechanical engineering and loving it! Three years ago, in high school, I had the idea to make a couch drive because I couldn't afford a car. My community helped me fund the concept through gofundme, which wouldn't have been possible without their help. Through lots of trial and error, I was able to make it come to life! As I left home and high school, it had broken and was lost to the landfill. Now I'm back and have a whole new idea of how to make it better than ever! I have done all the research on what parts and electronics I'll need to make it faster than before and wireless. I have checked and double-checked the math, and I have an estimated cost of everything to make this dream a reality once again. I've looked at sooo many of the forums on here for help and I've gotten a lot of answers because it's pretty close to a go kart!
So I'm planning on using a 48V 2000W motor off Amazon and I think that'll work okay. We're looking at about 400 lbs on the higher end for all the weight and I think that the motor can do that alright. It'll probably be about a 5:1 gear ratio. I'm also planning on making it wireless and controlled by an xbox controller hooked up to a raspberry pi. I think having 4 12V 35Ah batteries (the kind they use for mobility scooters) and then an extra battery for the raspberry pi + a servo motor for turning. The biggest thing I don't know is if a raspberry pi would be able to control the 48v motor or if it would fry the raspberry pi... I don't really know anything about the raspberry pi or those kinds of things yet. Maybe someone could help? Feel free to ask more questions if you need clarification hahaha
I'm starting it with what I have, but feel free to donate to my project because I can't really afford it as a student $10 here and there really makes a difference
https://gofund.me/233e16bb
And here are some pictures of the last time I tackled this project:
(It was really cheap and I was only 17 haha)
My name is Ethen, and I'm currently a university student studying mechanical engineering and loving it! Three years ago, in high school, I had the idea to make a couch drive because I couldn't afford a car. My community helped me fund the concept through gofundme, which wouldn't have been possible without their help. Through lots of trial and error, I was able to make it come to life! As I left home and high school, it had broken and was lost to the landfill. Now I'm back and have a whole new idea of how to make it better than ever! I have done all the research on what parts and electronics I'll need to make it faster than before and wireless. I have checked and double-checked the math, and I have an estimated cost of everything to make this dream a reality once again. I've looked at sooo many of the forums on here for help and I've gotten a lot of answers because it's pretty close to a go kart!
So I'm planning on using a 48V 2000W motor off Amazon and I think that'll work okay. We're looking at about 400 lbs on the higher end for all the weight and I think that the motor can do that alright. It'll probably be about a 5:1 gear ratio. I'm also planning on making it wireless and controlled by an xbox controller hooked up to a raspberry pi. I think having 4 12V 35Ah batteries (the kind they use for mobility scooters) and then an extra battery for the raspberry pi + a servo motor for turning. The biggest thing I don't know is if a raspberry pi would be able to control the 48v motor or if it would fry the raspberry pi... I don't really know anything about the raspberry pi or those kinds of things yet. Maybe someone could help? Feel free to ask more questions if you need clarification hahaha
I'm starting it with what I have, but feel free to donate to my project because I can't really afford it as a student
$10 here and there really makes a differencehttps://gofund.me/233e16bb
And here are some pictures of the last time I tackled this project:
(It was really cheap and I was only 17 haha)
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