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[Garrick]

Hello all,

I picked up an old 81 or 82 Honda Odyssey FL250 for cheap with the sole intention of converting to Electric. Has anyone done this or know of someone else or maybe seen it on the web somewhere? Any info or suggestions would be great.

Thanks

G

[Phantom]

A good reference point, in addition to this site, is http://evalbum.com. I have spent weeks looking at what people have put together on their own. You may find that someone converted the same or similar motorcycle.

[Jake_up]

I'm in the middle of a conversion right now! It's a really enjoyable project.  A site that I get a lot of my EV stuff from is electricmotorsport.com  I am following the book they sell called "Secrets of El Ninja."   It has helped get me started, but it has a lot of incomplete information in it. 

What kind of prior experience do you have?

[Garrick]

Thank you both for the info....

Jake_up, no prior experience with Electric per say.
I am a Mechanical/Industrial designer with lots of fabrication experience.
I also have an Electrical engineer who will help me out with the motor/electronics stuff.

The platform (81 Honda Odyssey FL250) is a great starting point for my first project.
But I won't be putting too much money or time into it as the the Odyssey is old and limited by minimal suspension and so on. It has lots of room for batteries and a very simple setup for location of the motor.
I won't be putting in high-end batteries or motor on this project.

It will be fun for sure and the kids will dig it when I'm done.

This project will tell me if I want to try converting a dirt bike (my ultimate goal) to electric.

Thanks again for your input.

[Jake_up]

My conversion has some pretty heavy cost constraints as well.  I  used Sealed Glass mat Lead acid batteries so I don't have to worry about spills or topping up the water.  They are pretty heavy, but will work fine for me.  From the site I posted, I ordered a kit that contained my Motor, Controller, Contactor and throttle.  I spent a touch more to get the controller with regen braking.  After I had all the stuff, it was just a matter of hacking off stuff I didn't need and mounting the new components.  

I just did my power circuit test this weekend.  It's pretty exciting to see your motor turn for the first time.  

I used...
Motor: Etek-R (brushed) rated 48Volts
Batteries: 3 - 12V Lead Acid Batteries (36V system)
Controller: Sevcon Millipak 4Q (has regen breaking)
Contactor: White Rogers 24VDC 600Amp peak (Also used a big fuse)
Throttle: Magura twistgrip potentiometer
Others: odds and ends such as welding cable, wires, connectors, bolts, sprockets, chain, etc.

Everything here was under $1250.00 after shipping, but that didn't include the batteries or sprockets.

My calculations show it should go about 35mph and have about a 20 mile range (stop and go).
I'm using 12 teeth on my drive sprocket and 72 teeth on my rear sprocket.

I hope this helps!

[magicsmoke]

Hi guys, try over at www.elmoto.net

Nothing specific for the FL250, but a wealth of emotorcycle build howtos.

good luck with it!

Rob