I'm A Newb with Electrical

[Coolone6992]

Ok, I have to sudden urge to do something with my hands, and my mind came upon a go-kart. Something to build for a fun, and it will be fun when I'm done. I plan on using the Electric Motor do it yourself that converts the car starter. I have a couple of questions.

Will I be able to control the speed of the motor?

What will I need to power it?

Will I need to power it by a switch?

How will I start it?

Eh. I'm so confused. The idea I have in my head is that as soon as it hits power, its gonna go. So I'm gonna need to wire it up so that I need to put a switch between the power source and the electric motor.

I do car stereo installation and some minor car electrical troubleshooting. That is my job. I also do car alarms and such too.

Thanks for any input and feedback
Richard

 

[MDMike]

Using a Car Starter as an electric motor to power your cart isnt really going to work well.
The starter was only designed to Start a engine and not run for extended amounts of time, it will heat up, fail fast, and they draw quiet abit of amperage. They do have gobs of torque, so you're short run could be kinda fun.

 

[kibble]

Well, like MDMike said, they do draw a lot of amperage so battery life probably wouldn't be all that great.

But on the other hand, I've heard that the torque these things provide make for some quick vehicles!

To answer your questions:

1. You'd need a high current controller. You could substitute a high amperage relay but be aware that you wouldn't have control of the motor. It would either be on or off, which could be fun. :arf:

2. Some high amperage batteries, preferably something deep cycle.

3. Switches don't power things, they just turn them on and off.

4. You don't need to start a starter...

 

[Coolone6992]

Sorry

My apologies Kibble. I didn't word my question very well. Let me try again.

3. I know what ya mean. What I meant to ask was "Would I need to hook it to a switch to power it on or off?"
(This applying to one end of the switch being hooked to the battery, and the other hooked to the engine, so as soon as I turned that switch "on", I would be feeding power from the battery into the engine.)

4. And this question was similar to the one above. "Will I need to use a switch to start it, i.e. flipping a switch will turn it on?" Which is the same as above, so an answer to 3 will answer 4 most likely.

And let me restate question 1.

1. Is there any way I can hook that particular modified starter so that I can control the speed of it?

 

[kibble]

No need for lengthy apologies, we're all here to learn!

It would be a good idea to have an On/Off switch for the whole system, but once again, it would have to be able to handle high amperage or it'll heat up and melt really quick. Harbor Freight sells a battery disconnect switch that uses what looks like a sort of removable key which may be suitable for this type of application, but I have not used one myself.

You wouldn't be able to vary the voltage/speed with just a switch and the motor itself. You'd still need a motor controller. There was another member here that was gonna try to make a regulator using several potentiometers.

I was gonna try to make a really simple high current (but probably not very efficient) controller out of a cheap scooter motor controller and several MOSFETs connected in parallel. Have not gotten around to it though. I'll be sure to post up details once I get around to it.

 

[GoAlterBridge]

This is a good simple setup for an electronic project like yours:

Battery > High amp on/off switch > High amp speed controller (Make or buy one.) > Motor > Drive train.

The on/off switch will be like an emergency kill switch; Wire it so you have to have it on before you can even move the cart. Once you flip it on, then you can use the speed controller to drive it. This is a good heavy duty switch:

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-SWH2.html

It's got a little key so that your kart can be set up like a car, with a key needed before you can turn it on.
Hope you can understand my babbling!