Thursday, April 9th

Thursday, April 9th

Today was a bit of a scare. After some research last night, Eli and I realized what we thought was the battery to our kit was actually the controller (something that dissipates the heat). So, we realized we were without a battery! We looked all night for batteries and realized the cost was way out of our budget. We decided to wait and ask Patrick what we should do. We met at WalMart this morning and purchased a bike rack to mount our theoretical battery onto. We then headed over to Patricks. Once there, he made many calls to different auto stores asking what the best way to approach this problem was. Most suggested fusing multiple batteries together to create 48V, the voltage of our controller. 

With that in mind, Patrick sent us to Batteries Plus, where we met an extremely kind employee. We explained our situation, and he was super excited, because he loved to work on stuff like our project. He showed us the 12V battery, and suggested buying four and connecting them through a cable to make 48V. The only problem was that was that the batteries were about $36 a piece. Luckily, the employee said he could work the price down for us. We ended up getting 4 batteries for around $16 a piece, thanks to his help. He told us good luck, and we went on our way after thanking him many times. 

With our problem solved, we headed back to Patrick's to see if the batteries would fit on the bike mount we purchased, which they did. However, we had no way to tie them down on the back. So once again, we loaded into the car, and headed off to Home Depot looking for some restraints to keep the battery pack in place. Unfortunately, they didn't have much of a selection. We were also looking for a specific type of screw to mount the controller onto the bike, as the bike rack was full. Making the best of what we could find, we bought some bungee cords and screws.

Once back at Patrick's, we realized the cords we bought weren't going to work. We agreed to both look into different ways of securing the battery pack onto the bike tonight. We then went to work mounting the controller onto the bike, which proved to be quite difficult. We had issues lining up the screws with the holes in the controller. Using much tape and forcing of screws, we were able to secure about half of the controller to the bicycle. Before we knew it, it was 3PM and Eli had to return to Lovett for tennis practice. So, we are planning on attaching the whole controller to the bicycle tomorrow, fastening the wires to the bicycle, and securing the battery pack. If all goes as planned, we should be done with the bike by tomorrow afternoon. 

Today has shown me that everything does not go as planned. Originally, Eli and I thought we would be done with the bicycle by today, but this is obviously not the case. We now realize we will have to cut down our efficiency testing a little bit next week in order to build the motor bike. However, building the gas powered bike may prove to be easier than the electric, as we are sure that all parts are included in the kit. We are still very into the project, and want to thank Patrick for his help. We couldn't have solved our slight problem without him.