A very poorly Aixam Mega City

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Colcam1
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:55 am
Location: Birmingham UK

A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Colcam1 » Mon Dec 02, 2013 12:02 am

Hello Folks

I bought a 2008 Aixam Mega City not long ago (I know I should have known better) but the traction motor decided to toast itself. Does anyone know where I might find a motor for one of these. I have been quoted £500 up for a rewind and £2000 + VAT for a new one. It would be cheaper to buy another second hand car and keep it for spares.
I have been told by a reliable source that the motors are fitted to Bradshaw tugs (baggage carriers) but don't know which ones exactly maybe a T5 or T6. If anyone could suggest where they might scrap these sort of trucks so I could salvage the motor I would be grateful.(Midlands area)

I have added a few photos of the motor and the Curtis controller, there is also a small Semcon controller but I am not sure what that is for. If anyone has any info on this car I would be very grateful as there is little on the internet.

Hoping you can help
Colcam1
Attachments
Curtis 1244.jpg
Curtis 1244 Controller
Curtis 1244.jpg (115 KiB) Viewed 35432 times
4Kw-48V.jpg
Italian CFR Motor
4Kw-48V.jpg (60.38 KiB) Viewed 35432 times
CFRmotor.jpg
4Kw- 48V
CFRmotor.jpg (203.31 KiB) Viewed 35432 times

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Grumpy-b » Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:04 pm

Some Golf buggies use a similar internal spline motor, The sevcon item is probably the DC to DC converter.
Matching another motor to that spline could be quite complex, so I think your best option is going to be a rewind, is it Armature or field coils? If Armature, it probably means the last user had the habit of holding the car on the accelerator, that is a sure fire way to burn the motor out.

Grumpy-b

irm750
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:42 pm
Location: Maidstone
Contact:

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby irm750 » Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:31 pm

The motor looks very similar to the one on a John Deere electric Gator that I repaired for a customer last week, although I didn't have to do anything with the motor so don't know if the splines are the same.

It was 48 volts and used a very similar looking controller too. Maybe another avenue to persue?

Good luck.
Ian

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Grumpy-b » Mon Dec 02, 2013 8:08 pm

I think quite a few vehicles use such a coupling. HPEV even do an AC motor with similar flange / coupling. But at a price. What power output does the John Deere have.

Grumpy-b

Colcam1
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:55 am
Location: Birmingham UK

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Colcam1 » Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:37 am

Hello Grumpy-b and irm750

The golf buggy motor could be a way to go but I thought their spares would be even pricier than the French stuff and where could you find any scrap ones. It definitely looks like the armature windings went up in smoke (obviously the temperature sensor was doing it's job !!) and you mentioned the last user holding it on the motor, that would make sense being as the previous owner was using it in London (a florist) for making deliveries.
Ian, I thought the John Deere vehicles were American (tractors and things) are there any here in the UK?
I don't have any machining capability at home but I was thinking along the lines of getting an adapter plate and short adapter shaft machined somewhere to adapt another motor if need be. I would still like to find some scrap Bradshaw tugs just to see if the motors are the same.
Grump-b the Sevcon could be the DC - DC converter for charging the auxiliary battery. This is continuously charged from the traction batteries while the ignition switch is on.

Thanks for the replies

irm750
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:42 pm
Location: Maidstone
Contact:

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby irm750 » Tue Dec 03, 2013 9:25 am

There are a few over here, we have a John Deere dealer in Stockbury which is just down the road from me.

I was just fixing it for a car/plant/machinery dealer customer so don't know too much detail about the electric gator. It had blown a fuse which is hidden away in the charge socket on the vehicle whch made it not charge or allow the machine to turn on.

Looking at the spc sheet it is 6hp

http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/products/equipment/gator_utility_vehicles/traditional_utility_vehicles/t_series/te4x2electric/te4x2electric.page

I don't suppose that John Deere wanted to re-invent the wheel with this so think that it shares a few common parts with golf buggies.

Regards,
Ian.

Colcam1
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:55 am
Location: Birmingham UK

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Colcam1 » Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:19 am

Ian I have had a look at the link to the John Deere Gator, I wouldn't mind having one on the road if they were road legal (shame there are no front brakes). What I am looking for is a working motor from a scrap golf buggy or similar that doesn't cost the earth to have it reconditioned (just in case it takes up the smoking habit like the original one). There must be somewhere in the country that handles scrap fork trucks and the like.

Thanks for the reply

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Grumpy-b » Wed Dec 04, 2013 7:55 am

I would not waste time and money on getting another motor and having that rebuilt. You wont know what it definitely is or its performance. Get yours repaired, you know it fits, you know it will work with your controller. You wont have the grief of trying to make another fit, possibly having adaptors machined etc. With yours out of the car the rewinder will be able to give you a good idea of the damage. Unless your armature is seriously physically damaged, it should be reusable. You could be up and running in a couple of weeks with relatively little work. Dont forget that travelling around the country costs a lot not only time but at 15p per mile (Even with a decent diesel) a 100 mile trip will have cost you another £15.
You have to decide if you wish to get this on the road, in which case just get it repaired if you cant get another working direct replacement, or if this is a longer term project to have fun with and spend a lot of time on then go for it, search out those other motors, and collect a few more on the way.
What ever route you take good luck with it. If you take the latter route remember its likely to take twice as long as you expect and cost twice as much.

Grumpy-b

Colcam1
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:55 am
Location: Birmingham UK

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Colcam1 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:59 am

Hello Grumpy-b

I am thinking about just getting a rewind done but I am not too worried about the time it takes even though I was quite enjoying driving an EV for the first time. It sort of turned into a bit of a project. We have already made a few modifications (not to the motor or controller) by tapping into the mains lead that runs to the charger. We have fitted some 13amp sockets in the back of the car (for charging a 12V battery booster) a 13amp thermostatically controlled socket that I plug a small 80 Watt greenhouse heater into. This was for the double purpose of keeping the cab heated to around 15 deg C and to stop the batteries getting too cold as I have read on various blog sites the performance of the batteries degrades at low temperatures. We have changed most of the bulbs to LED lights. The plans were to fit a bank of voltmeters to all of the batteries so they can be monitored under load. I have also bought a DC - DC converter that will convert 12V up to 48V to help trickle charge the traction batteries. This would be fed into a dual solar panel charge controller with two 24V outputs to charge two banks of batteries at a time. (the solar panel will have to wait a while) If anyone is interested I could stick some photos on here. I might do a youtube clip in the future of some of this work.

Thanks for replying

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: A very poorly Aixam Mega City

Postby Grumpy-b » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:28 am

Allgood, but rethink your Solar, the panels never give what they claim, if mounted to the car you wont be at an ideal incident angle, and its unlikely you will get as many hours of sunlight as you expect. In reality this just doesnot stack up. One mile will take about 300w so you would need 600w to 1kw to make enough on msot days to get that per hour. Thats a big area. Your roof could probably take 100w on flat area, thats not going to make a lot probably about 1/3 of that owing to the angle etc. The DC to DC will also not be very effecient, so losses there as well.
Do think about this.
Do it as a separate stand alone properly angled properly sized set of panels of sufficient size (Kws) off the car, and you stand a chance of doing something noticable, not cost effective but noticable.

Grumpy-b


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