[jonesee]

well I started this build with a $65 peg rzr that needed a new motor and wheel driver. Instead of spending the $30 to get it going I thought I would steal my buddies already proven kick butt mods of adding currie 1000 watt metal gearboxes http://www.thesuperkids.com/10wabrmowdid.html. An electric speed controller from Kelly http://kellycontroller.com/pm48201200a48vwith-regen-p-83.html and these bad boy offroad wheels from surplus center https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=1-3189&catname=wheels Just like most of my builds I neglect to take step by step pictures ( I applaud all of you modders that have the patience to stop what you are doing to document the progress) as I am so focused on the task at hand and usually to grubby to grab my phone out of my pocket. I also added 2 Gruber 12 volt 26ah batteries for long run time. Project rzr "K" has been gps verified at 10 miles at 20 mph until dad got tired of chasing her around on his mountain bike and called an end to the distance test. I am not sure if I will go back to 18 ah or keep these behemoths under the seats. Full custom roll cage lighting and bumpers coming as soon as we get the new JD2 tubing bender set up. We plan on using EMT conduit but is still up in the air. Let me know what you think!!

[jonesee]

Ok, resized some pics to show how I put this beast together.

[DaringDad1]

what motors and gb's and tires did you use on 24v fj cruiser i have one i wanna do 24v to but am going crazy thinking?

[jonesee]

stock GB's hpi gt 550 motors and the lbd-14 scooter controller from TNC is what I used on the FJ. motors run hot so fans and heat sinks needed.

[Jornum1]

Wow Jones, your going all out on this one! I love it. You say 2 12v 26ah batteries, but arent those 36v gearboxes? Is that just a typo?

Love the wheels might have have to steal a few ideas for my son's!

Remember to wear a respirator if you weld EMT, its nasty stuff.

[gratefuldad]

Wow Jones, your going all out on this one! I love it. You say 2 12v 26ah batteries, but arent those 36v gearboxes? Is that just a typo?

Just IMAGINE these motors at their full 36v potential

[Jornum1]

Ahh I read the description on his controller. You can run different input voltages, very cool. Pricey project though, and I am the guy who spend $300 on a steering servo!

[Battman2036]

Not to sound dense, but do you have one motor/gearbox for each wheel? I've been thinking of doing a pvc pedal car build and am now thinking these would be a much nicer ride for us full sized folks.

[jonesee]

Not to sound dense, but do you have one motor/gearbox for each wheel? I've been thinking of doing a pvc pedal car build and am now thinking these would be a much nicer ride for us full sized folks.

yep, one gearbox per rear wheel. I am looking into going full 4 wheel drive!!

[TxChristopher]

So jonesee you are running the two 1000w Currie motors at 24 volts instead of 36?

[toycrusher]

Ahh, the cooperation we get from our kids...

[ccsurep]

Wow one nice ..expensive build. One of the best I have seen. The wheels, motors, amazing, and the performance is off the charts. Very very nice.

[jonesee]

So jonesee you are running the two 1000w Currie motors at 24 volts instead of 36?

in those videos yes but am going 36 volts now.

[TxChristopher]

I have a very similar build going on my sons peg 900xp. I have the lighting in already and am plotting my motor installs. Once you go 36v how fast do you expect it will be? I have been torn between running the 36v 1000w motors or instead running the 24v 750w motors at 36v because I think I can get even more speed out of the 750's.

[jonesee]

I have a very similar build going on my sons peg 900xp. I have the lighting in already and am plotting my motor installs. Once you go 36v how fast do you expect it will be? I have been torn between running the 36v 1000w motors or instead running the 24v 750w motors at 36v because I think I can get even more speed out of the 750's.

according to the person that I got the metal currie gearbox idea from there is no difference in the gearboxes! he called the supplier to find out the difference in the 24 and 36 and he said they are just different stickers. I do not know if this is fact, but when I got mine you could see where the sticker was peeled off.

[TxChristopher]

I have a very similar build going on my sons peg 900xp. I have the lighting in already and am plotting my motor installs. Once you go 36v how fast do you expect it will be? I have been torn between running the 36v 1000w motors or instead running the 24v 750w motors at 36v because I think I can get even more speed out of the 750's.

according to the person that I got the metal currie gearbox idea from there is no difference in the gearboxes! he called the supplier to find out the difference in the 24 and 36 and he said they are just different stickers. I do not know if this is fact, but when I got mine you could see where the sticker was peeled off.

Hmmmm I dunno that doesn't seem right, because I researched the e-zip 750 and the e-zip 1000 which are the scooters they are from and one of the "complaints' of the owners is that the 36v e-zip 1000 is no faster on top end than the 24v e-zip 750. They say it accelerates quicker and has more low end but that the top speed is identical which leads me to believe they are differently wound motors. If they were the same motor then moving from 24v to 36v should make it faster. I suppose the difference could be in the controller but when you buy them they have different part numbers. I am sure the gearboxes are the same but the motors almost would have to be different.

[jonesee]

Well, "Rock-N-RZR" is finally getting some work done! Last year I installed the huge Gruber 26ah batteries and for some reason the kelly controller kept kicking out a low voltage error code? I gave up on trying to figure out what was going on and ripped it out (as I was installing the new double esc setup I noticed that a ground probe on the J2 controller plug was broke off inside the connector that was the problem the whole time no ground ) Oh Well at least the controller is still OK. I replaced it with 2x 1000 watt blue sky 24 volt controllers. I am really liking the 5 wire hall effect pedal setup that I have been using lately. You do not have to install a seperate brake pedal, when you let off the gas it triggers the brake relay. I also welded up a throttle pedal bracket to place the pedal in the perfect position way up front, to allow my growing kids to have leg room. I also was sick of the red plastic, so out came the adhesion promoter and rustoleum blue rattle can. Still have the same currie metal gearboxes and just got a tubing notcher so I hope to start bending up the metal conduit roll cage soon...

[jonesee]

Got to play with my newest toy today
I preparation for graduating to the next level of kids entertainment (custom tube framed kids sized rock racers) I purchased a JD2 notchmaster. Nothing better than perfectly sculpted copes to weld nice and tight. I used 1" emt conduit for the roll bar material and simply used a manual conduit bender for the bends. I think it turned out pretty good.
Plan on painting the roll bar, shock springs and steering wheel bottom half white.
I am still brainstorming on what to do for roll bar lights. I am thinking of taking a one inch square tube of aluminum and install a bunch of oznium super flux, still not sure which route I want to go

[hkayssi]

Great skills man. That ride is going to be great

[nkrzykwa1]

This thing is too sweet. I saw it on craigslist going for a pretty penny.

[jonesee]

Actually, that is a silver and red one that I juiced up to 36 volts, single controller and stock motors.

This one would cost way more!! the gearbox motor combos alone on this one cost $500. I don't even want to know the total on this one. Lets see price of ride on, snowblower rubber tires, golf cart hub caps, golf cart throttle pedal, 2x 1000 watt controllers, 4 relays, voltage reducer, 2x huge 22 ah batteries, 80 amp fuse, lots of wire 10 gauge and 18 gauge, metal for roll bar, already at 2 rattle cans of paint and one can adhesion promoter, have not even got to the lights and switches yet, Yep, still don't want to know!!. Value of seeing my kids romp around the neighborhood in bad buttocks ride ons =priceless!!

[TxChristopher]

So jonesee would you have just kept the Kelly controller if you wouldn't have had the problem or is there some compelling reason to use the 2 new controllers you have now?

[jonesee]

So jonesee would you have just kept the Kelly controller if you wouldn't have had the problem or is there some compelling reason to use the 2 new controllers you have now?

for the power I would have kept the Kelly (200 amps compared to 30x2=60 amps now!) for the ease of electro braking using a relay, the 2 scooter controllers. The Kelly controllers are designed more for electric vehicles with independant brake systems, though they do have regenerative braking option that turn the motors into generators. Like most of my builds, it is overkill.

[jonesee]

So jonesee would you have just kept the Kelly controller if you wouldn't have had the problem or is there some compelling reason to use the 2 new controllers you have now?

to back up the answer of this question....

We had a mild thaw a while back, so I told my son to go out and tear it up! I guess 3 inches of slush was just too much draw for the two 1000 watt controllers. as both the battery and motor leads coming out of the esc cooked like spaghetti. Looks like I need to throw the Kelly 200 amper back in now that I found out all that was wrong was a loose pin on the J1 plug

I have been getting a lot of questions on the facebook forum and it looks like I never updated this build thread with the finished roll bar, so here it is.

Man I forgot what a pain it is to have to resize pics, create a folder, upload and comment. Wish it was as easy as the facebook page!!

[toycrusher]

Came out looking great! But how long does it take that light bar to kill your battery?

[Jornum1]

Looks awesome Jonesee, I havent been on the board much lately. That came out great!

[jonesee]

Looks awesome Jonesee, I havent been on the board much lately. That came out great!

thank you sir! I know how it is being busy, focusing on the things that matter most! wink, wink! glad to have you back btw.

[jonesee]

Came out looking great! But how long does it take that light bar to kill your battery?

have not had much testing but I was actually wondering this question for a long time now. I have the two 12volt 26 ah for motor power so they are in series. can you also tap into these as a parallel setup at the same time? that way I could have 52ah for the 12volt accessories. Seems like I tried this a year or two ago and ended up making a mini welder if I recall so I figured it was a no go. Any sparkys know if this will work?

[toycrusher]

Came out looking great! But how long does it take that light bar to kill your battery?

have not had much testing but I was actually wondering this question for a long time now. I have the two 12volt 26 ah for motor power so they are in series. can you also tap into these as a parallel setup at the same time? that way I could have 52ah for the 12volt accessories. Seems like I tried this a year or two ago and ended up making a mini welder if I recall so I figured it was a no go. Any sparkys know if this will work?

I'm afraid it's either/or. Both will definitely light up fireworks!

On the bright (pun intended ) side, most of those light bars can be run on 24v. I forgot you had such big batteries in there, the current draw is probably not a problem

[plyful0]

I am sure you already figured this part out, but you could always use a inline dc to dc converter to step down the dc voltage to the light bar if you had to much voltage running on the line, they are small and can easy take 48 volts down to 12

[jonesee]

I am sure you already figured this part out, but you could always use a inline dc to dc converter to step down the dc voltage to the light bar if you had to much voltage running on the line, they are small and can easy take 48 volts down to 12

tx for the tip, the watts that the bar draws is pretty high and I think it will fry a step down pretty quick.

[toycrusher]

I am sure you already figured this part out, but you could always use a inline dc to dc converter to step down the dc voltage to the light bar if you had to much voltage running on the line, they are small and can easy take 48 volts down to 12

tx for the tip, the watts that the bar draws is pretty high and I think it will fry a step down pretty quick.

I recently discovered it's actually worth putting an ammeter inline to test. I have some LED cans on my pickup that throw a monster pencil beam. I tested them before wiring them up and was shocked to discover they only draw 2.5 amps a piece. I have five on my rollbar for a cumulative 15 amps. Practically nothing for the light I get. You can get away with quite a bit with LEDs

[Hammer-fm]

This bar looks pretty similar to the Nilight 126W one that I have and it pulls enough (>10A steady-state, seems to be more than that at startup) that I couldn't get a single "12A" step-down I got from China to run it (XLSEMI 4016E based) . I suspect that you could gang two and they would run just fine ($10 and 1 wire connection; I have 4 ganged on the Hurricane to basically do variable speed control).

I had done quite a bit of testing on these step-down boards and am pretty happy with their performance but they do have their limits, and two of the smaller (18/36W) light bars would be a good fit for one controller. They'd certainly beat out the small 2W landscaping lights I'm using in my vehicles ...