My whole body is sore from working on it, mostly my hands, but I think I'm really (really!) close now. It pushed me about half a mile at about 15mph (gut feeling..no spedo yet) on fairly level ground with a good head wind and no real tucking on my part. No pedal input either..total weight was about 220lbs. With the 60w bulb on too since I was testing the mechanics more than anything. I have some AC->DC bricks I can use to try a smaller light, I just haven't gotten that far yet.
When I turned around I guess the new tensioner I added popped out of alignment so I had to push it most of the way home. I didn't have any real tools with me and it started to get dark so I fixed it when I got back. I got some interesting looks along the way...for sure. Someone I know drove by so I throttled enough that it was more obviously pushing as I threw my head back, faking more acceleration then there really was...heh..
It felt like I could go quite a bit faster but I knew the tensioner was fragile when I started out. I loaded it into the truck a little too soon I guess. Along the way it got jostled a bit so it didn't really work when I pulled it out of the truck. Rather than drive back home I tried a few different field fixes and then it seemed to work great (I went 1/2 mile and faster than parade-speed
) until it popped out again. I think I'll have to add a small toolbox..yup,yup...
On the bench my battery seems to give about 600w, give or take, so that's probably about what I had to work with on my little trip. The low voltage alarm goes off a little after 500w but it doesn't seem to be counting the light's wattage at all. With just the light on it switches between showing 0 and 10w output..split the difference and that's about what the inverter should draw idling (the manual says 6w, and the display changes every 3sec..plausible). The plan is to get 2 more 20ah batteries for more capacity/range (not that I know its true range yet) and traction. That'll increase the trailer weight to at around 80lbs...right now it's 55-ish..more batteries should make 1.5kw peaks possible, yeah?..
My only real concern now is w/ the rear of the frame. I'm not sure the tiny steel tubes can handle the power so I'll make a pair of long bolts to use as supports. I'll add another set of drop outs to the yellow forks (so it'll have 3 sets) so I can bolt it there and the tubes that hold the wheel already have a convenient hole. I would've already welded the support rods on but the easier it is to adjust things and disassemble it, the better.
I'm gonna see if I can't make the full mile tomorrow and I'm gonna pull out the good camera to get some better pics...assuming nice weather. Knock on wood!