2QD Repairs, Modifications, Thoughts, Part 2, Used NiMH Packs

Some pics of the modification/repair in progress.

This is the old Jensen inverter case:

The three long caps "below" it are the ones from the UPS. The smaller one to their right is the one I originally had on the 2QD, and it has been getting hot with generous motor use.

An end view of the box with all the controller parts loosely fit inside it (except for MOSFETs)

The two large holes on this end used to house the AC outlets on the inverter. The switch on the right is one I've had laying around unused for around 15 or 20 years; bought at Radio Shack for some forgotten purpose. ;) It has an orange LED in it that will be used at VERY low brightness (20K resistor) to tell me if the controller is powered on and the throttle connected, and not open-circuit.

With the case open, you can see the general fit of parts. The three caps with the main power supply wires feeding between them will fit on one end/side. The MOSFETs will be clamped to the left side, and hand-wired to the PCB.

The PCB will fit in as seen above, and is cut down from it's original length to do so.

Another shot of the layout.


The 2QD PCB freshly cut.

It is separated just at the gate resistors for the lower leg of the half-bridge, as that is the length needed to fit inside the Jensen case.

The MOSFET end can be used as-is to keep the MOSFETs together, and easy to mount to the wall of the case.

They do still have to be electrically insulated from the case, as their heatsinks are electrically active and different parts of the circuit.

I am not sure when I will finish it and get CrazyBike2 back on the road for the 30 miles it needs to get to 1000 miles, as time is a scarce commodity right now.



To add to my growing collection of power sources, a couple of NiMH packs arrived tonight:

USPS kind of squished the package but didn't damage the contents.

They did put a nice notice about the oopsie, under the shrink wrap plastic they put on to hold it together.


The packs themselves:

The white one is a Sanforce 24V pack. The green one is a 36V pack from a Giant Suede.

I know that the 24V pack was damaged a bit by a thermal issue during charging, so it reportedly now has voltage sag if more than 7A is drawn from it, even at full charge. It's made of 10 super-F cells of 13Ah each. It's charging rate is 1/10C, for 16 hours. Don't know the original discharge rating, but now it's about 0.5C.

The 36V pack's original specs were 12 pounds, 9Ah, rechargeable in 4 hours (so charging at about 4.5A or 0.5C), and originally drove a 240W hub motor. Don't know what it's discharge rating is.

I dont' have a NiMH charger, so will have to use the Sorenson and careful monitoring for now.

I'm considering putting them in series for a 60V pack, then modding a 2QD for that high a voltage operation, and putting them on DayGlo Avenger along with one of the various motors I have around here, with appropriate reduction system. There's a 1/3HP 100VDC weedeater motor I might try, or perhaps a couple of my radiator fan motors in series. Have to see how things work out with CB2 first.