New Project Questions

[Island_racer]

Hi All,

I am thinking of a new project to have some fun with the kids. Using a old go kart ( racing chassis ) replace the single seat with a small bench seat or add an addition small seat to the left of the driver seat. Of course modify the chassis to be able to hold the second seat.

On the right side modify the chassis to hold the battery and then place the motor to right rear of the chassis to run the cart.

Questions:

1. I am roughly 167 pounds and my biggest daughter is 60 pounds and I would have to check what the weight of the frame is, so does this project make sense?

2. If it is workable what motor should I use?

3. What Battery should I use?

4. I am hoping to be able to reverse; can it be done using these motors?

5. What other items will I need?


I am just want to have some fun but I not a master machinist or electrician but I want to take a shot at this.

Thanks in advance

 

[Island_racer]

I forgot to mention that I am on a hill so will I have to stay on the flat areas or can it handle some climbing?

 

[carbon]

1. you can build a frame as strong as you need it to be, just dont ask me for advice

2. depends on how fast you want to go... 1500 watts at least (about 2 horse), all the way up to about 10hp if you want, but that's expensive...

3.deep cycle battery, maybe more than one depending on the voltage of your chosen motor.
if this kart won't be used much (less than 10 charges) you can get away with a normal car battery

4. depends on your motor. if youre using a controller it will probably have a reverse function. if not, you can sometimes reverse polaritty on the wiring, be careful though this can kill some motors

5. steering, brakes(regenerative?), on switch, assorted fuses, accelerator/controller?, inverter?, and an imagination

i'm not a pro, but obsessive internet research and minor technical skill makes me think i can do this
(i'm 15, so if i can do it, you can do it)

 

[wingnut]

If this is really for the kid's sake then you don't need to go very fast and you'd be surprised what you can get away with. I converted a junkyard kart to electric for my 5 year old using a 400what fleebay motor and it was plenty fast for her. I had enough torque to push me around and I weight 220 but the motor got rather hot so you'd have to gear it down some more if you really want to ride with your kid. I'll post some pics tonight if you like.

 

[Island_racer]

Thanks for the responses, Wingnut sure you can post the photo for me. I am just trying to find the chassis that I have in storage (cant remember where I put it) then I will take it from there.

 

[Island_racer]

Carbon
What do you mean by "less than ten charges"? Is this per day?

 

[carbon]

less than ten charges per battery
a normal car battery will be effectively useless after this point if you dont baby the battery (your mileage may vary)
you can discharge it to 20% and charge it to 80% to extend the battery life, or to 40% and 60% if you really want to
the closer you go to the extremes of the battery, the less time it will last
if you want long term solutions or dont want to throw out a battery every 10-20 charges, get a deep cycle battery which is designed for this kind of use

 

[Island_racer]

Thanks Carbon. I will check out the deep cycle battery.

 

[Gibles]

As for batteries go, I've found that the Deka 93A1 deep cycle battery works very well. It's a 12V absorbed glass mat battery so you don't have to worry about maintenance or acid spills.

Have you decided on a motor? What is your budget?

 

[Island_racer]

Gibles,

I have not decided on a motor yet because I cannot find my old kart yet and I don't think I will find it, so I am in the process of looking to buy an old racing kart chassis which I will convert by adding a bench seat or a second seat.

I was looking online at some kits motor and electronics but that was running in the $900 mark which is out of my budget ( $400 USD roughly "I have to add shipping and factor exchange rate to this total") for motor and electronics for this build. My concern is that my driveway is on a slope so I need to make sure it will pull my weight as my kids are too young to drive. I will be their pilot until they get the hang of it.

What motor are you using? How long will your kart run until you have to recharge? Where did you purchase the battery that you use?

 

[Gibles]

Gibles,

I have not decided on a motor yet because I cannot find my old kart yet and I don't think I will find it, so I am in the process of looking to buy an old racing kart chassis which I will convert by adding a bench seat or a second seat.

I was looking online at some kits motor and electronics but that was running in the $900 mark which is out of my budget ( $400 USD roughly "I have to add shipping and factor exchange rate to this total") for motor and electronics for this build. My concern is that my driveway is on a slope so I need to make sure it will pull my weight as my kids are too young to drive. I will be their pilot until they get the hang of it.

What motor are you using? How long will your kart run until you have to recharge? Where did you purchase the battery that you use?

I'm using a Mars/Etek 3001 motor rated at 4.8kW from Kelly Controller (as well as their controller). I get about 18-20 minutes of continuous runtime. Much longer if I play conservative. I purchased four of the Deka batteries from a local place here so I can't be much help in that regard. They are a pretty popular battery so you shouldn't have much of a problem finding them.

 

[Island_racer]

Gibles,

I saw your kart great job but my concern for mine is that I don't want to use so many batteries. Is it that I need to use a smaller motor? Also do you know what horsepower you motor puts out?

 

[carbon]

Island racer, keep in mind that gibles' kart is a racing kart (or looks like it). its probably very expensive and complex etc and you might not want to make such a ridiculously high performance machine...

 

[landy mad luke]

I think if you geared it up right you could use a mobeility scooter motor. Im not definite but it should work. just hook'er up to a 24 vot battery and away you go (hopefully at quite a speed)

 

[Hippie Mike]

if you can fine some that cat a pace saver 2 scoter you fine that work for tne motor is 24 voltes its balt and chain drive the motor its run about 12 miles an hour it can i got pic under hippie mike or the that wants to motoriz his chair