New Member, New Quad, Questionable design choices...

Wondering if these would work in a bicycle project or not. These are slated for a robot mower. 24v dc motors with electronic brakes and manual e-brakes. Reduction gearbox to a removable four lug spindle that currently has an 8 inch by 4 inch air filled tire. At the moment they are attached to a quarter inch thick sheet of steel plate that was the bottom of a zero turn powerchair.


 
I doubt robot mowers have powerfull drive motors. Designed to move 20kg at 1mph they are unlikely to move 120kg at 20mph. Some of the reduction in speed via the gearbox will be mitigated by the use of larger bike wheels but even overdriving them with 36v is unlikely to get you moving. I could be wrong though. You need to find the motor spec.
 
No. These motors are from the zero turn powerchair. I was planning on building them into a robot mower but was wondering if they might work on a project related to a quad or trike. I need to find the specs on them again. All I remember about them off the top of my head is that they are 24v dc with 10-12v dc for the electric brakes. The chair when it was whole had a top speed of 6-8 mph depending on what power level was selected. Sadly, the controller to the chair was lost so I have little to go off of.
 
Not as bad then but still only designed to get up to about 4mph using both motors. Still unlikely to have enough power.
 
How do you figure that? The chair moved at 6-8 mph with up to a 300-pound person sitting on it up inclines between floors. The fastest mower I've used can cut grass at 15 mph and there are mowers available that can cut at much higher speeds. There is a brand of robot mower / tractor that I was working off of that is designed for agriculture use. It is able to brush cut several acres in a day with standard three-point style mower heads that you would attach to a standard farm tractor. I know that most home robot mowers move slow when cutting for safety reasons and that they have limited drive trains. Last one I had had 775 drill motors on each rear wheel and when it wasn't cutting it would speed across the yard back to the charger station.
 
How do you figure that? The chair moved at 6-8 mph with up to a 300-pound person sitting on it up inclines between floors.
It's usefull to supply that sort of info before fishing for others thoughts. I'm not blessed with the ability to look at a picture and divine such things. Based on new information you may indeed be able to use them. It's going to be a complex system over a more bike specific unit. You'll probably need to remove the wheels and afix sprockets then run chains to the drive axle separate from the pedals. I'd ignore the electric braking and use regular bike braking to avoid needing 12 and 24v.
 
These kind of motors are known to me. In the early days of Robot Wars they were very popular. But they are build with safety and long lifespan in mind. Therefor very heavy and not competitive.
Power varied between 24V 250W (dual motor setup) and 750W for the single motor with a differential. (I guess legal limits in some EU countries)
Decent torque and difficult to overheat.

For Bike projects, as written, heavy and a tad clunky.

Some napkin calculations.
12 km/h with 250mm wheels. 250 rpm at the wheel.

Lets use a 26" wheel as a base line. (older MTB wheels as a guide)
Direct drive. = 31km/h
Not bad, but probably will need assist with any incline.

If I would do it. I would use an MTB wheel with disk brake mountings. Use the 6 bolt brakerotor mountings to mount a small chainring or larger sprocket on the left side, and install a freehub on the motor.
 
Was just a thought about using the powerchair motors on a bike project. I already have plans to use an actual mid drive or hub motor on the quad. The mid drive I already have on order is for the mountain bike I ride into town on a daily basis on errands that the quad would be overkill for. Though if I like riding the quad more than the other bike then that bike may just end up a backup if the quad has a major break down.
 
Well, I've run into a bit of a problem with the four wheeled bicycle project. The state of Missouri does not see anything with more than two or three bicycle wheels on the main pedal body as a "bicycle" and therefore would ban the use of this on any bicycle paths, lanes, or trails. They see it as a pedal powered car, go-kart, or atv/side by side and therefore it would be limited to street use and under the rules of a motor vehicle. They stop just short of needed it to be tagged and insured as a moped or light scooter.
 
Guess I can build a delta trike like the Ziphy 3 with a trailer to still move the loads I need to and at least the loaded trailer would have four wheels at the corners of it technically for stability.

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Ok so an update. It turns out that it's just the State parks service and the one massive bicycle and hiking trail that is the issue with the quad or it with a trailer. Due to some outdated state regulation, they operate under. In that regulation normal two wheeled bicycles and adult tricycles are defined as bicycles. Recumbents of any kind are not considered bicycles under this regulation as they don't have a saddle seat and normal handlebars. They had to back pedal a bit as they do allow recumbents on the trail and consider them bicycles in the park's rules.
 
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