Battery Vehicle Society

been givin a motor from a Lark 4 mobility scooter, 12v the writing on it says
Orthokinetics inc what controller would you recomend and throttle system thanks

Does the writing on the motor give any other details than just 12v.?
Anything like "xxxWatts" or similar?
How big and bulky was the mobility scooter?
Any chance of you acquiring the throttle and wiring from the scooter?
(A small, (box of cigarettes-size?) aluminium or plastic box which is part of the wiring is probably the controller)

I'm not an expert, but I guess that if the motor could propel a mobility-scooter plus rider, then -
With suitable gearing, it might assist sufficiently on a home-made two-wheeler, provided there were also pedals, BUT....
To what use were you thinking of putting this motor?
Also, any idea what size battery (how many amp-hours) was fitted to the original scooter?

I have built a few electric-assisted bicycles from scrap parts, and have enjoyed the exercise, however...
I have never got enough performance out of one 12v. motor to be truly practical
(even allowing for my probably inefficient drive-trains, also all home-made from scrap)
By contrast, I was given a proper EAPC, a "Yamaha Easy", which had no batteries, a while back
This originally used a 24v. 15 amp-hour Nimh battery-pack, with a solid-state controller, and a 4-speed hub-gearbox
2 12v AGM batteries, 24v. in series, from a chinese electric-scooter, restored some life to this efficient EAPC
Given a bit of pedalling, it went well..... (until I overloaded the motor at 50amps / 36volts)
All the best
Ed

ex925 wrote:Does the writing on the motor give any other details than just 12v.?
Anything like "xxxWatts" or similar?
How big and bulky was the mobility scooter?
Any chance of you acquiring the throttle and wiring from the scooter?
(A small, (box of cigarettes-size?) aluminium or plastic box which is part of the wiring is probably the controller)

I'm not an expert, but I guess that if the motor could propel a mobility-scooter plus rider, then -
With suitable gearing, it might assist sufficiently on a home-made two-wheeler, provided there were also pedals, BUT....
To what use were you thinking of putting this motor?
Also, any idea what size battery (how many amp-hours) was fitted to the original scooter?

I have built a few electric-assisted bicycles from scrap parts, and have enjoyed the exercise, however...
I have never got enough performance out of one 12v. motor to be truly practical
(even allowing for my probably inefficient drive-trains, also all home-made from scrap)
By contrast, I was given a proper EAPC, a "Yamaha Easy", which had no batteries, a while back
This originally used a 24v. 15 amp-hour Nimh battery-pack, with a solid-state controller, and a 4-speed hub-gearbox
2 12v AGM batteries, 24v. in series, from a chinese electric-scooter, restored some life to this efficient EAPC
Given a bit of pedalling, it went well..... (until I overloaded the motor at 50amps / 36volts)
All the best
Ed

Some good advice Ed.

Thank you for the advice, hopefully my efforts to attached two pictures have been successful, one is the image of the rear axle of a mobility scooter and the secound are the wheels 24inch that I am going to adapt/connect to the axle 24 Vs runthrough trike configuration, how fast will she go? Will she go? Will I need a test pilot in the form of number two son?

1st. guess:
Builder as test-pilot, with all safety-gear, and on a slight upslope, just in case?
2nd. guess:
May be a tad hard to steer if no differential?
3rd. guess:
Run a tape measure round the tread of each tyre to find the different circumferences
Maybe 23 ins around the mobility-wheel, 52ins around the cycle-wheel? {NB I could be wildly wrong}
This gives you the increase in inches travelled you are trying to get out of each axle revolution
Only a trial will reveal if the reduced vehicle-weight and rolling-resistance will sufficiently compensate
4th. guess:
Maybe best a "Tadpole" or "2 front-wheels" trike and fitting a cycle-sprocket to the motor to drive a single rear wheel?
( no differential problems, far more stable, easier to experiment with different sprocket-sizes )
5th. guess:
You will need somewhere off-road [not on the "Highway" as surprisingly widely defined nowadays] to test these ideas?

Overall:
May be worth a [literally] nailed-up wooden mule for evaluation of "Delta" [as you are so far] versus "Tadpole"
Health-warning:
Remember these thoughts come from an incorrigible "Bodgineer"
Follow any of the above at your own choice.....
All the best
Ed

Think I've either got or messed about with one of those transaxles before.

From memory I didnt find the motor to be anything special, its OK for pushing a buggy about but dont expect it to whizz you about.

ChrisB