Hi all,
after finding a new job during corona crisis i soon started thinking abour upgrading my sachs xtc.
Biggest issue for me had been the bats.
By sheer luck i stumbled onto a supplier for nissan leaf gen4 cells, that got me thinking..
Hmm, for the same price as upgrading my sach`s batteries i could buy 6 of those, giving me 24s instead of 22 like now.
..but of course this would mean a new bike conversion as these will not fit the sachs.
Browsing for used bikes finally found me a long love and favorite of mine:
A Kawasaki zxr 400.
A brilliant bike, better components than its counterparts 600 and 700 and a relatively tiny bike - just to my liking.
Got the bike cheap, with extra discount after telling my conversion plans, and took meassure.
The leaf cells should just fit in... my cad said, so that got me rolling.
After de-ICE-ing it and selling the parts i payd only 100 euro for the kawa, good start for a conversion.
This taken care off i ordered the cells late nov as well as my dc-dc converter.
The latter being a neat product made in germany , very small and only 800 grms.
reasonable priced , as long as you consider aditional postage from USA for most other products.
Pics show bike, cells, and the dcdc.
CAD will follow, along with design goals and further explanations.
Biggest issue on my sachs conversion had been the range, only getting 55 amphrs out of 90 installed. lots of dead weight carried around.
So this time, using 24s ( 6 modules leaf gen4) and having 100 amphrs (rated, graphs show 54 amphrs each cell /times two) on hand i have 10% more voltage and 10% more amphrs giving 1,21 the energy of the sachs at the very least.
That should bring range up to 65km from 55 for sporty driving and 90km from 75 for a normal ride at the very least.
Taking into account the far better quality of the leasfs (grade a cells) there should be even more in them..
most important for me being the fact that the leafs hardly need ballancing, as an bms will be added only later, when money alows. Till then i will ballance same as with the sachs, split into sub pacs.
Speaking of sub pacs, this time i will split into three instead of 4 so that should make ballancing even more easy compared to the sachs.
As this bike is 4stroke in original form the choice of sprokets and spur gears is far more limited compared to the sachs..so a double gearing will be on order.
This will bring gear ratio up from 3,85 on the sachs to 4.25, which solves two things.
namely a bit more punch on take off (still using the kelly) and keeping speed to 130kph max as is now.
Looking at the cad one might think the weight is a bit high up, but actually the motor sits lower than in the sachs and the original ice version. Weight distribution should be almost as in the sachs.
2 cells sit where the original gear was, 2 cells about the hight of cylinders, the upmost as high as former gas-tank so only one cell (7kg) being a bit above the frame. Should be neglegtible, as everyone, who has toured with a tank bag will know.
I would have gone another route , but trust me i tried everything i could come up with.
At least like this my mock-ups say it fits.
Build like this the whole battery assembly can be taken in and out of the frame completely assembled, and as connected to the e-stop with no wires "life"
Drop in, connect to fuse and contactor, then to kelly and bike is basically done.
Easy to assemble and service
More supplies arrived, a few sheets of aluminum, new mill-bits for it, a few plates of fiberglass for the batterybox and those Sprockets and tapper bushes.
Yes Tapper-bushes are going to get used. Not only this safes my buddy producing 3 Sprocketholders (as the one ,on my last bike), but these make for simple change of gear ratio. Quite convenient to work with at least from viewing their tutorial-vid. 300Nm slippage without keystone but i will use some still.
Only part needed to be worked on for Michael will be the new Axle, carrying the sprockets and 2 keystones set into it.
.
Pics show the sprocketholder of my sachs in cad, as well in the background of pics.
In foreground you can see sprocket and tapper-bush and how it works. After pushing the sprocket onto the bush, and thereby locking it, a screw set into half of each part will make sure it stays so.
Kables, plugs for bms, ball-bearings all on order, and if arriving on time i am all set- minus a new charger... comes spring and money..
At least i can start working on it by next weeks hollydays
HI
had to relocate the mounting holes somewhat so once more the by now well beaten mockups had to be placed into the kawa.
Seems to fit, so i should be ready to mill parts by next week.
Hi
had a quick first go at one of the two chain gaurds.
These will be printed using carbon fiber enforced fillament .. should do at 4 mm wall thickness.
More to follow
Hi,
I'm new with this issue. We have here available second hand Nissan Leaf lithium batteries with 51Ah left, about 110 €/each. Is there any idea to go with these? What are dimensions of these batteries?
Hi Heska
not sure i understand your question.
You need to know the dimensions of my nissan leaf gen4 cells?
@Stevo
Belt was first choice, of course. Even of the same supplier as the chain/tapper bush setup, as they have a belt calculator availible on their site.
Outcome:
50mm wide belt, giving only 108% so only 8 % safety at 32jkw. Using that i would have run into quite some clearance issues too, more expensive by quite a bit,
your normal tensioners would not have fit into the setup for the chain being so short ...
have a look:
Likes: 
, and took meassure.
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