Nic's Kawasaki Ninja 250 EV conversion

[Nicman]

Hey guys! A bit of an update.
I replaced the brushes in the ME1003 because at about 1,800 Ev miles, I smelled burning metal and had to pull over.

Got home and parked the bike for a week or so until I had time to take off the cover to find out my brushes we're toast.

I know DRZ warned me, it just got to my bike 200 miles earlier than I thought.
Live and learn.

Bought a new brush set from evdrives($100) and installed the brushes which was challenging since I didn't remove the rear brake lever and had no way to keep the brushes in. I had to get creative and got a jar that was the same size I needed to brushes to be pushed in and slid it on to the brushed so they could slide right on to the rotor contacts.

Took about 40 minutes. But while I thought it might only be my brushes one was destroyed so significantly that I wondered if something got caught in through the vent for the air cooling.


I found the culprit.
This little screw I think seized up the brush but I needed to change them soon anyway.
Just a reminder that there is some maintenance on these bikes, just significantly less than ICE.


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Electro Flyers]

One bad feature I've noticed with these motors is that the screws that keep the brush holders in place(as shown in your last photo) also carry all of the current to the brush holders and brushes. The screws are made of steel(not a good conductor) and small in diameter. I suspect in your case the screws heated up, burning and melting the plastic support plate and aluminum brush holders. It might be good to put in larger, better conducting screws. Or, somehow extend the lead wires on back of the support plate to bolt directly to the brush holders and brush shunt wires. At the same time, it would be a good time to increase the cross sectional size of the lead wires to the brushes. They look a little undersized to me on the ME motors I've looked at. Also, the connections need to be kept clean and tight.
How do the commutator and the rotor windings look? Also, if there are burrs or dings on the inside of the extruded aluminum brush holders, where the brushes slide, the brushes will hang-up and not have good contact with the commutator. A little clean-up with a file will take care of the problem.

[DRZ400]

Yikes! My Agni ate its brushes at 2k miles.....left me stranded on a very busy highway! Good news is I ordered a new set which got lost in shipping, the vendor replaced them under UPS claim. 6 weeks later the first order showed up! So now I have a back up set.