Electric Argo build

[Flounder]

I think this is the best place to post up and ask questions for this project.

I am building an electric Argo 8x8 for use as a paintball tank. I plan to use go,f cart motors and controllers to drive this. Each side will have an independent motor and controller. While I have a basic understanding of electric motors golf cart motors are new to me. I am looking for information on regenerative braking, ideas for controllers, and actual physical brakes for this project.

My goal is to co tell each side with a push pull lever for forward and reverse with a neautral detent at the mid position. I usually will be under 6 mph but would like the ability to hit 10-12 mph for limited time. I plan to build a gear reducer out of chains and sprockets actual gear ratio to be determined. I am running 22 inch tires. I currently have 48v and 260ah for my battery bank. I am trying to keep cost of motor and controller under $2k for the pair.

Please share your ideas or ask any other questions you may have.

Thanks

[Flounder]

Ok, 75 views, no comments. I will just press on with the information I have scraped together and let you know how it goes. We can either laugh at my failures or find joy in my successes. Either way it should be fun to watch.

[meimk]

Interesting project. I doubt anyone has tried it before, thus the lack of input - yet. I'm guessing you'll get more comments as you move forward. Some of the aftermarket type controllers (like Alltrax) have a lot of adjustability of things like input sensitivity and regen braking %. I have to admit I'm not too familiar with how the Argo's original brake system was set up.
FYI: we LOVE project pictures.

[Flounder]

The original brakes on the Argo I have were a disc brake one each side of the transmission output. I have already removed the engine and transmission out of the unit and will be building a chain box on each side with independent motors and controllers. I will need to add a brake to each side of the chain box. I was thinking about using a go-cart type disc brake setup after the first reduction in the chainbox.

As for some project pictures.

I started off with someone else’s build that was pretty cool but not well thought out. The engine was loud, the transmission not ideal for low speeds. Here it is with the skin removed but the frame still on it.

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Then the frame came off

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Followed by the top of the hull being removed

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Then it was time to pull the 500cc Arctic Cat out

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And then the transmission was pulled leaving just the mounting plate for both of them.
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I plan to put her up on blocks and pull the axles out to check the condition of each and the bearings on them next. The side plates for the chainbox are on order with the machine shop, chains, sprockets and shafting will be ordered early next week.

More updates to follow, hopefully soon.

Please excuse the mess in my garage

[CustomCurt]

gonna be a cool project!!! maybe two foot pedals like maybe from an e z go? share the voltage between each system? two seperate control systems just sharing batteries. could set up with a single control stick or two foot operation? not sure on the f and r controls that might get tricky....definately gonna be a challenge depending on how agile you want it to be.....

[CustomCurt]

05 to 07 club car stuff, fresh from the golf course on speed code 1 should do the trick, they have rocker switches for forward and reverse, the 07's have programmable controllers so its the better choice over the 05 with 3 more speed codes to be gotten, my o7 is doing 17 mph on 19.5 tires the controllers don't seem to have a bunch of lag when You hit the gas

[bronsonj]

Very cool project!

Have you considered using a single motor into the existing transmission? That'd simplify things quite a bit, I'd think. You'd add a foot pedal to control speed/accel and still have the existing two sticks for right/left track. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting the controller to figure out forward/reverse. But, it would be a lot less efficient than the electronic method.

A stock golf cart has about a 12:1 rear diff gearing and in 'freedom' mode the controllers will reach 19 mph on 18" tires. So your gearing will be a lot taller to keep the speed low and will give you gobs of torque. Or you could go without Freedom Mode (I thought Freedom Mode disabled regen braking) and get 17mph which would bring your gear ratio down a bit and still allow regen. Or go with an Alltrax controller and program the regen/speed you want.

Remember, most golf cart motors use the bearing in the rear diff to hold one end of the armature. So you'll need to account for that in your build.

As for regen braking it depends on the motor/controller. You can get series motors or sepex motors. Sepex are the ones that allow regen. The controller you get will obviously have to match the motor. The regen option on a cart is quite nice, hopefully it'll work as smoothly on a dual motor argo. On my cart I have an Alltrax controller and I set the regen braking to what feels natural for me and I set the plug braking to zero. The plug braking (I think) is when the cart has slowed to the point where the motor doesn't generate enough electricity to effectively charge the pack anymore and the controller can then dissipate (short out) that energy to provide additional braking. When it gets to that point it's slow and just wasting the energy so I opted to disable plug braking. In my real world experience, the regen does great and when the cart gets to 5 or 7 mph the electric braking really diminishes so if I want to stop I use mechanical brakes from there.

Again, very cool project and I wish you the best.

[Flounder]

The old transmission was not ideal for efficiency, if it had been the newer style it would have been a different story. Instead we pulled it all out and moved the drivers position up and centered it using a rascal scooter seat. Here is the mock with plywood just to get spacing right.
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The plan is for hand controls with the reversing switch built into the handles. I will add a foot brake for each side for safety purposes.


The final gear ratio is still yet to be determined, fortunately using chains and sprockets makes it easy and affordable to swap out.

Right now I am leaning towards Alltrax controllers. There seems to be plenty of support for them as well as plenty of adjustability.

I have already figured out how I will deal with the drive end of the motors. I have drawn up a mounting plate to hold the bearings for the spline shaft for each side. That will be bolted to the frame of the chain box.

I will be going with sepex motors for the regen capability, this will see some hills and the reclaimed power as well as saving the brakes will be useful.

My initial battery pack will be a 240ah AGM set up. I hope to go to a lithium set up eventually but that will be awhile.

[bronsonj]

I never thought to ask before, but what is the weight rating on that thing? I don't know what your individual batteries weigh for what you're doing, but the weight is usually 600 to 700 pounds for the battery pack.

Lithium is less than half that. So if you plan to use this in water (I thought these floated) then maybe lithium needs to be a higher consideration?

[Flounder]

No idea on the weight rating but this thing is never seeing water again (on purpose). I need to swap out all 8 tires because of dry rot and the swimming tires cost a mint compared to a turf or mud tire. I am looking at 650 pounds if I go 48 volt or 490 pounds with 36 volt. I am leaning towards the 48 volt just based on performance. I need this thing to be able to go up and down hills for 6-7 hours with some sitting and waiting in between. Then a trip to the charger for the night to do it again the next day.