fan conversion

[Gerhard]

Ich habe den Lüfterumbau durchgeführt.
Die Drähte gut mit Schrumpfschlauch isolieren. Die Passgenauigkeit ist wie im Original. Die Schrauben passen auch noch, obwohl die neuen Lüfter etwas dünner sind. Achtung nicht zu fest anschrauben, sonst schleift das Lüfterrad.

Google:
I have carried out the fan conversion.
Insulate the wires well with heat shrink tubing. The fit is as the original. The screws also fit even though the new fans are a little thinner. Attention screw too tightly, otherwise drags the fan.

http://e-motorraeder.xobor.de/t46f9-Brammo-Enertia-Erfahrungsbericht.html

Gerhard

[Knipdlo]

Looks like you used a G5 Mac fan? I will be doing this soon.

Do you have any more photos or wiring/mounting info?

Thanks!
Tim

[protomech]

Yes. Posters claim the G5 PSU fan is approximately 14 CFM, so any other 60mm fan with 14+ CFM would work fine. Likely would need to be weather-proofed.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22201651#22201651

[Richard230]

Speaking of weather-proof fans, I would think that a IC motorcycle radiator cooling fan obtained from a salvage yard would be a good application for anyone needing a fan to cool their motor, or whatever, that would be exposed to the elements.

[Knipdlo]

Is that low of a CFM safe for warm climates? I live in Los Angeles, I'm worried about fire hazard- will the charging stop if the fans fail/overtemp?

I have to come up with something, my land lady lives in the other house on the property and she doesn't appreciate the shop vac sound every night after work.

Love my Brammo though and I don't want to sell it..

Thanks for the help!
Tim

[kingcharles]

Charging at a slower rate would reduce the heat production. Is this possible with the charger software?
If the fans are temperature controlled (?) they will slow down due to the lower heat production.
Another option to maintain airflow is to use a larger fan spinning at a lower rpm. You could use an adapter to fit it to the bike just like you would fit an oversized fan on a CPU cooler.

Once you go EV, gas is history!

[Auslander]

Not sure a slower rate would help.  My Enertia+ has a problem right now, after 22-25 minutes, it drops from charging at 8-9A  to 3, then 1.   The fan stays on the entire time, even at a 1A (20 hour long) charge cycle.  If I leave it plugged in after 100% to allow the batteries to balance, the fan still blows.  If that isn't by-design then your idea may work, but if the behaviour of the fan on mine is correct, then my bike is pretty decent evidence that a reallllly slow charge rate still has the fan blowing.

[skuzzle]

Any chance that some cooling fins are blocked or covered with mud?  The air inlet for the charger on my Empulse is located directly above the rear wheel.  Mud flys right into it.  (I live in rainy Oregon on a dirt road).

[Knipdlo]

Just came in from replacing my fans with these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835352003

Seemed to be one of the highest CFM/lowest dB at 20CFM/17dB

They're silent.. under the sounds of cars passing on the other side of my house. I had to put my ear to the side of the "tank" plastic to hear the humming. Installed them backwards the first time (sucking vs blowing) they go opposite from the originals (blade faces up) but so far they seem good. Obviously don't move as much air as the high CFM Deltas that it came with, but now I could park it in my living room and not hear it in the kitchen.

I do most of my charging at night since I'm driving it to work every day, its usually in the 60Fs here, so I'm hoping the charge controller will stay at safe temps.

Good luck!

[Auslander]

Just came in from replacing my fans with these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835352003

Seemed to be one of the highest CFM/lowest dB at 20CFM/17dB

I haven't looked under the top panel on mine yet, but looking at Gerhard's original pictures... did you use a pair of these, or just one?

Also, some fans somewhere on the side, have two arrows, one showing the direction of spin, the other the direction of airflow, just for anyone installing other fans in the future.

[Knipdlo]

Auslander: I used two, the original setup utilizes two. I didn't know about the arrows, learning new things all the time!

[Glump]

On the Enertia Classic, the original fans are delta QFR0612UHE and the spec sheet says:
56CFM (1.6m3/min) and 61.5dBA so not close at all of a 20CFM computer fan....
I charge outside, in direct sunlight with air temperatures exceeding 35 °c so i won't risk putting crappy computer fans...

For now after a quick search i found the ebmpapst 612H wich is 35CFM (1.15m3/min) and 53dBA wich is already a good improvement in noise but loosing some cooling performance.

[protomech]

It's unfortunate that they sized a 60mm fan. In the computer world, the larger the fan the more air you can move at lower noise levels.

Does the Empulse control the fan speed based upon temperature? Or does it immediately spin up to full speed when charging begins? Do the fans spin down when charging is over as it tapers off, even when still plugged in?

[kingcharles]

My Empulse does a fan test at full speed before the charging starts and then they turn off for the first few minutes of charging (I guess because the charger is still cold) but after a few minutes it turns the fans back on and there is no variation in speed. Only off or full speed.

When the bike reaches 100% charge the fans stay on for a while and then turn off. But I also found the bike with the fans still blowing at full speed even after 6 hours of charging at 0 amps.  But that was at a public charge point and I have been seeing some strange behavior at some public charge points. So that might not be an Empulse problem. Still trying to get my head around that strange behavior.

I hope Brammo will improve the firmware to allow adaptive fan speeds depending on the cooling required.

[Auslander]

When the bike reaches 100% charge the fans stay on for a while and then turn off. But I also found the bike with the fans still blowing at full speed even after 6 hours of charging at 0 amps.  But that was at a public charge point and I have been seeing some strange behavior at some public charge points. So that might not be an Empulse problem. Still trying to get my head around that strange behavior.

I hope Brammo will improve the firmware to allow adaptive fan speeds depending on the cooling required.

Since we have my charging issue sorted, the fan noise that I heard previously is apparently not the 'proper' fan noise.  Some time after plugging in the fans turn on at the level I heard before, which I'll call "low".  Later in the charge cycle, they go to "maximum" which sounds close to a hair dryer, and the remain there through the cycle to 100%, and some time after, before dropping back down to "low", where they remain until unplugging.  Previously, I had no idea that there were two levels, and didn't really understand the audio concerns people had.