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Gotway ACM 1600 Autopsy and Mods


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20 minutes ago, SuperSport said:

 

I remember the fins on the wheel being discussed a while back.  I believe they decided against it due to balancing issues and dirt collection.  They were concerned that the fins would collect dirt and mud while riding, effectively making the cooling even less effective, and becoming more imbalanced.

 

Yes I can see dirt collecting around the fins. That is why I want someone else to try it first.;)

20 minutes ago, SuperSport said:

IF you re-use the paste that is there, be sure you don't have any tiny pieces of sand or dirt in there as they will keep the two metal parts from making good contact.  If using new paste, wipe everything very clean before applying a new layer.  I know you probably know this, but there are a LOT of people reading this thread.

Yes any gap between the two components from dirt would diminish the thermal conductivity. The paste is really messy stuff. Hard to remove from your hands. I have vinyl gloves but forgot to put them on.

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1 hour ago, SuperSport said:

Awesome!!!!!  Congratulations!

Thanks! It felt good to heard that beeping sound again! 

Many thanks for everyone's advice and kind support throughout this project! :clap3:

A special thanks goes out to @Jason McNeil for acquiring the new updated motor direct from Gotway and also for shipping out the new main board so fast!! Cheers To Speedy Jason! :cheers:

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1 hour ago, Rehab1 said:

A special thanks goes out to @Jason McNeil for acquiring the new updated motor direct from Gotway and also for shipping out the new main board so fast!! Cheers To Speedy Jason! :cheers:

Maybe a disclaimer is in order: this is NOT a paid endorsement, Rehab1 does not get beer credits when he mentions my name :cheers:, I was just in the fortunate position to have a couple ACMS+ boards on hand when he needed one.  

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9 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

I began installing the new main board this early morning before the holiday weekend. I still need to solder on new 4mm bullet connectors and reattach the wiring. Then I can test it to see if indeed the old board was fried.

As I was beginning the install of the board I thought about a concept of adding fins to the motor's housing so as it spins it provides additional cooling to the Mosfet heat sink. I do not plan on doing this modificatipn at the moment as I just want to reassemble the ACM and ride it!

 

The fins are a good idea. However it's probably overkill. I've ridden the ACM under some really tough conditions (95+ degrees and steep hills). It never got close to overheating. Seems like their passive cooling design is effective enough.

Really good to see the new connectors. I was out on a ride today with @jrkline and @noisycarlos. We were all riding ACM's. Jeff's ACM died on one of the hills. He's going to post more about, but he was able to MacGyver a fix to keep riding. The motor connector cabling broke. We could see that two of the wires barely had any solder. So that's two first-hand accounts where I've seen the motor cabling break. Knock on wood that it hasn't happened to me yet.

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7 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

Ok here goes!! 

 

Congratulations! That's a great sound to here :)  What a long journey. Hope you can start enjoying your wheel now, and enjoy your weekend too :cheers:

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1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

Really good to see the new connectors. I was out on a ride today with @jrkline and @noisycarlos. We were all riding ACM's. Jeff's ACM died on one of the hills. He's going to post more about, but he was able to MacGyver a fix to keep riding. The motor connector cabling broke. We could see that two of the wires barely had any solder. So that's two first-hand accounts where I've seen the motor cabling break. Knock on wood that it hasn't happened to me yet.

Ugh! Sorry to hear that. I would love to see some close up photos. The fix is relatively easy. The bullet connectors GW is currently using are a very sound solution. They use 3.5 mm bullet connectors but I went with 4mm. They carry more amps although probably overkill. 

 

1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

Congratulations! That's a great sound to here :)  What a long journey. Hope you can start enjoying your wheel now, and enjoy your weekend too :cheers:

Thanks! Such a relief! :) I will be sending @esaj the old board next week. Maybe he can find out what component died.

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1 minute ago, Rehab1 said:

Ugh! Sorry to hear that. I would love to see some close up photos. The fix is relatively easy. The bullet connectors GW is currently using are a very sound solution. They use 3.5 mm bullet connectors but I went with 4mm. They carry more amps although probably overkill. 

You should have seen how thin the cables were in this ACM, and if I recall the thin cables were solid and the thicker cables were stranded. I think Gotway has come a long was since a year+ ago when this wheel was build.

Maybe @jrkline will have some pictures in his upcoming post.

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5 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

 

Nice job with the new components!

 

Thanks buddy!:)

5 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Hey with a new board do you need to run a calibration cycle on it first to make sure everything is leveled out?

 

4 hours ago, Hansolo said:

Yes with a new bord a calibration is recommended

Thanks for the advice! It will be on my agenda next week. 

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4 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

You should have seen how thin the cables were in this ACM, and if I recall the thin cables were solid and the thicker cables were stranded. I think Gotway has come a long was since a year+ ago when this wheel was build.

Maybe @jrkline will have some pictures in his upcoming post.

Only 1 year since his wheel was manufactured? I cannot imagine GW using solid cables even in the stone ages! If jrkline would not mind ask him to peal back some of the insulation to expose the core. Yes photos! :clap3:

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26 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

Only 1 year since his wheel was manufactured? I cannot imagine GW using solid cables even in the stone ages! If jrkline would not mind ask him to peal back some of the insulation to expose the core. Yes photos! :clap3:

I may be wrong, but I thought one side of the connection was solid wire. He'll correct me if I'm wrong. BTW, this was my first wheel, bought in August 2016. I later sold it to Jeff.

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28 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

Only 1 year since his wheel was manufactured? I cannot imagine GW using solid cables even in the stone ages! If jrkline would not mind ask him to peal back some of the insulation to expose the core. Yes photos! :clap3:

The acm motor wires are stranded.

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1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

I may be wrong, but I thought one side of the connection was solid wire. He'll correct me if I'm wrong. BTW, this was my first wheel, bought in August 2016. I later sold it to Jeff.

BGG....Before Gotway God?:)

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On 27.5.2017 at 1:45 PM, Rehab1 said:

I began installing the new main board this early morning before the holiday weekend. I still need to solder on new 4mm bullet connectors and reattach the wiring. Then I can test it to see if indeed the old board was fried.

As I was beginning the install of the board I thought about a concept of adding fins to the motor's housing so as it spins it provides additional cooling to the Mosfet heat sink. I do not plan on doing this modificatipn at the moment as I just want to reassemble the ACM and ride it!

 

I guess there is a lot of drag and airflow on top inside the shell because of the thread in the tyre. They could maybe rebuild the shell with paths for that air/water to be redirected towards the motherboard.

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On 5/28/2017 at 9:10 AM, EU GUY said:

I guess there is a lot of drag and airflow on top inside the shell because of the thread in the tyre. They could maybe rebuild the shell with paths for that air/water to be redirected towards the motherboard.

The tire is not the original OEM tire. I wanted a tire with a deeper tread as I plan to ride the ACM in off-road regions.

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On 5/27/2017 at 4:46 PM, Marty Backe said:

The fins are a good idea. However it's probably overkill. I've ridden the ACM under some really tough conditions (95+ degrees and steep hills). It never got close to overheating. Seems like their passive cooling design is effective enough.

Really good to see the new connectors. I was out on a ride today with @jrkline and @noisycarlos. We were all riding ACM's. Jeff's ACM died on one of the hills. He's going to post more about, but he was able to MacGyver a fix to keep riding. The motor connector cabling broke. We could see that two of the wires barely had any solder. So that's two first-hand accounts where I've seen the motor cabling break. Knock on wood that it hasn't happened to me yet.

 Did the cable actually fracture or just came un-soldered. @Marty Backe

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All these talk about fins is non-sense! That would just create more drag like the stationary exercise bike or row machine with fins. Lots of air flow and lots of energy used to keep the wheel spinning.

I would suggest you just do the math. I hate all this crazy speculative talk.  Maybe I should have an ice compartment filing all the internal cavities with ice inside the wheel. Then every day I just store my wheel in the freezer to regenerate all the cooling for my ride. LOL.

Cooling Flow Calculation:

Forced air cooling of electronic components results in a dramatic improvement over natural convection cooling. This effectiveness is the result of the following:
Although the best way to make an accurate determination of cooling requirements is by actual test of the equipment to be cooled; a good approximation of the amount of air required can be determined from the mass flow relationship:
 q=wCpΔt                                                    (Eq. 1)

Where                

q = amount of heat absorbed by the air in BTU/hr
w = mass flow of air in lb/hr
Cp = specific heat of air in BTU/lb °F
Δt = temperature rise of the air in °F
 
This equation yields the following formula, which is more directly applied to electronics forced air-cooling:

                Q = (178.4*ti*kW)/(Δt*Pb)                                    (Eq. 2)

Where                      Q = airflow required in cubic feet per minute
ti = inlet temperature in R (R = °F + 460°)
Δt = temperature rise across the equipment in °F
kW = power to be dissipated in the equipment in kilowatts
Pb = barometric pressure at the air inlet in inches of Hg
 
Here it is assumed that all of the heat to be dissipated is picked up by the air; i.e. conduction and radiation as well as natural convection effects on the external surfaces of the equipment are ignored.
 
For standard conditions of 70°F and 29.92" Hg, equation 2 reduces to the familiar:

 Q = (3160*KW)/ Δt                                                (Eq. 3)
 
Recognizing that a given cooling application has numerous design considerations, a temperature rise of 15°F will usually yield effective cooling without incurring penalties of over sizing of the air moving device.
 
For a general reference on the subject, consult the book Cooling of Electronic Equipment by Allen W. Scott, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1974

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2 hours ago, Carlos E Rodriguez said:

 Did the cable actually fracture or just came un-soldered. @Marty Backe

Hard to say. It appeared to be a cold solder joint with very little solder in two of the three connectors. Did it break or come lose from heat? Can't say. This was a field repair with no magnifiers available.

3 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

The tire is not the original OEM tire. I wanted a tire with a deeper tread as I plan to ride the ACM in off-road regions.

Although you won't have an ACM reference point, I'll be interested to hear from you on how the tire handles in pavement, dirt, etc.

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3 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Although you won't have an ACM reference point, I'll be interested to hear from you on how the tire handles in pavement, dirt, etc.

I put a few miles on the ACM before the tear down but you are correct that it will not be a true base line where I can reflect back and provide an accurate evidence based comparison. I have  pretty good sensory recall from the wheels I have rode including the NB1E+. I must admit that wheel handled very nice on back woods trails. 

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