Return of the Snow Bike: It actually works now
It snowed rather a lot last Saturday, so I was finally motivated to get the snow bike up and running again. Last episode, the rollers inside the treads kept jamming with snow. I actually fixed this problem shortly after (almost a year ago now), but never quite got the electrical system to be solid. The motor/controller was still plagued with position sensor errors, so the vehicle never lasted more than a couple minutes without breaking down. For now, I've replaced the big 40V, 150A Kelly motor controller with a much more modest 50A sensorless e-bike controller borrowed from Dane.
Here it is wired-up and ready to go:
A closer look at the e-bike controller. This is a 50V one Dane cracked open and modified the UVLO setpoint on:
Most of the streets were well-plowed by the time this thing got working, but fortunately someone had opened the gates to the courtyard of the Novartis building across the street from MITERS, and there was 6-8 inches of snow everywhere:
Here it is wired-up and ready to go:
A closer look at the e-bike controller. This is a 50V one Dane cracked open and modified the UVLO setpoint on:
Most of the streets were well-plowed by the time this thing got working, but fortunately someone had opened the gates to the courtyard of the Novartis building across the street from MITERS, and there was 6-8 inches of snow everywhere:
We also brought out the Atomic Thing and got to mess around on both vehicles for quite a while, until we got cold/were kicked out.
It's a bit underpowered right now - you end up holding the throttle all the way open the entire time, but still a good time.
