Blogger Chris B in Rickmansworth

[timpootle]

Looking for a photo I need in another post, I came across this blog.

http://berlingoelectriquee500.blogspot.com/

This poor man has been learning what can go wrong with a Berlingo all on his own. I can't help feeling he needs our help (or maybe we need his - his approach is very professional).

Are you here, Chris? Does anyone here know him?

[ChrisB]

Well actually I have a sneaky feeling I know him

3+ yrs ago, if its the same chap, I sold him a complete spare motor/controller for his CF.

Nice chap, didnt realise he'd made it into the heady world of Berlingos mind you.

I'll have to give him a shout again and see if he's the same guy ?

ChrisB

[Grumpy-b]

I sold him some usable Saft cells and let him have some duff ones as well.
Im sure he is a regular user of the Forum.
His most recent failure of the motor seems to have been caused by a set of loose armature bearings allowing the armature to have a far from consistent rotation / wobble, result serious failure. So check your bearings.

Grumpy-b

[ChrisB]

. So check your bearings.

........and the gearbox oil level is a must as it contains such a small amount, I'd think any loss could be fatel

ChrisB

[cianof]

Is it possible to check the bearings without removing the motor? I have heard they are good for 100,000 miles, but perhaps getting the comm pressed out from the casing could have caused damage.

[ChrisB]

I wouldnt have thought so, personally I'd think you'd hear any problems long before they fail totally, bearing in mind (excuse the pun) that the berlingo is such a quiet vehicle.

I must admit I wasnt convinced about his brush spring preasures, there is talk that the brushes actually sit on a plasma at speed and thus have minimal wear, by increasing the spring preasure they would then sit directly on the com and thus the considerable early failure ???

Dunno how true the plasma cushion story is though but it would seem reasonable, cant seem to find anything on teh interweb about it mind you.

ChrisB

[Grumpy-b]

I gather the slightly loose bearing wasnt that obvious, but at speed I guess any wobble in the bearing would upset the seating of the brushes.

Its very obvious when listening to the radio that interference increases significantly above about 50mph, so I guess the spark / flashover is at its greatest when the motor is running at its high end RPM range.

This could also be a reason why some users have greater brush wear. If you are doing more regular higher speeds then you will potentially have greater flashover and sparking, and probably greater wear on both brushes and Commutator.

Some interesting ideas.

The french forum site of the vehicules electric society, has a bit on bearing seals etc . It would seem that most of the parts used are standard industrial bearings and seals. A word of warning though, always buy a good quality brand of bearing. They may all seem the same but the tolerances of the chinese / far eastern ones tend to be greater, so a bit extra freedom will have more problems at higher RPM. You do get what you pay for with bearings.

Grumpy-b

[ChrisB]

A word of warning though, always buy a good quality brand of bearing. They may all seem the same but the tolerances of the chinese / far eastern ones tend to be greater, so a bit extra freedom will have more problems at higher RPM. You do get what you pay for with bearings.

Grumpy-b

I've experienced far eastern bearings that actually have less balls in the cage

Only buy reconised brands now

ChrisB