SRowells Sinclair C5

[Paul Baldwin]

Interesting find Sam! I remember these coming out and all the crap Sinclair got from the British press, they really went for it on that one, twats. I just found this if any use to you? http://c5alive.co.uk/oldstuff/pub/downlo...Manual.pdf Looks like the ULA chips are unreliable with age but there's a few fixes out there

Battery Protection
The C5 battery is a flat plate semi-traction lead-acid unit developed and manufactured for
Sinclair Vehicles by Oldham batteries. The specification is as follows:
Weight: 15 Kg
Capacity at five-hour rate: 36 Ah
Depth of discharge: 80 % of five-hour capacity Cycle life: 300 for 20 % reduction in capacity To prevent over discharge, a technique incorporating a compensated terminal voltage measurement under load was used.
Circuits employed are part of a semi-custom integrated circuit and these also provide a visible indication of battery charge in the form of a five segment bar graph display.
The onset of battery cut-out is preceded by a 20 second audible warning period, in order to provide sufficient time to complete any ongoing manoeuvre and make vehicle and driver safe. A block diagram of the battery condition gauge is shown in
Figure 5

Possibly something to do with the above maybe?
.

[Eeyore]

Cheers Paul. Yep seen all that before. I've got a series of 4 things to check. The oc is really good and ivve got two people who have offered to replace components in the boards etc. I did notice the x5 pin was loose after I swapped the wiring on that so hopefully I've just broken a bit of dry solder and can fix it.

[Paul Baldwin]

Thought you probably had but you never know I'm sure it's worth more standard but I do wonder what a brushless, li-ion version would be like?! Just get a Dewalt 5ah battery drill and run it like a velosolex and see how it holds up lol?

[Eeyore]

So i took the control box out and found that i had broken the solder on the X5 contact. the control board isnt designed to be removed from the box as its plastic welded in but luckily only about 6 spots so easily cut through them with a knife to get it out. Still not working!





took the pod off which simply clips on and has a few screws. All contacts and pins look good here.




Put it back together and motor engaged but then stopped. then went into a high motor load alarm flashing the pod lights and sounding the alarm. Not sure whats going on but because im getting 12v to the motor when the button is pressed the next thing to check is motor brushes which may be jammed. Its a motor out job to check and hopefully i wont have to pull it apart.



new stickers also went on as it started to rain.

[procta]

I was hoping to see this up and running, shame you are having faults, can you not just buy a replacement circuit board?

[cully]

un plug the motor then power it again see if the overload lights still warn with no motor connected

[Eeyore]

I was hoping to see this up and running, shame you are having faults, can you not just buy a replacement circuit board?

I wish it were that simple. Because everyone blows the pod by putting the battery the wrong way round they are about 150 - 200 if you can even find one for sale. The control board is the same. Tbh by that point I would just be ripping every thing out myself and just making it super simple with relays and battery etc.

[procta]

is it not worth you making your own setup up? That way you know all is well, also less of a head ache. Make life easy for your self. I did that with the rover, added a slightly later a car loom in, rather than pissing about trying to find later stuff that was near impossible to find.

[Eeyore]

its a last resort really. Id like to keep it original as possible as it uses the pod which is kind of a nice thing to have.

[procta]

surely there will be a way to keep the OEM pod,

[Eeyore]

You could arduino it but it's a lot of effort. Makes more sense just to bother to understand the stock wiring.

[Paul Baldwin]

Any more progress with this yet? Can you bypass the pod or try What Cully suggested?

[Eeyore]

fixed! So seeing as the motor was getting 12v when it should be the fault lay with the motor. One bolt to get it out of the motor housing and then two bolts to get the back of the motor off to remove the core.






Negative brush was stuck. Didnt have anything to hand so sprayed some cif on and it and its now free and fixed! Motor back together was a bit more of a mission. The motor shroud is also eccentric so you simply rotate the motor in the housing to tension the drive belt. took a few attempts to get it tensioned correctly so it didnt slip.

Managed a 4 mile trip to the local and station and back meeting people who waved or wanted a go. No rides for you, its mine!





Next day took it out and did some corners in it... one rather too enthusiastically which resulted in a mad drift on 2 wheels before the tyre came off and blew the original 1985 inner tube! New inner tubes and schwalbe big apple tyres ordered all round. Dash is also still beeping and saying that the battery is running out before saying its fully charged. Suspected op amp failure so ill have to look at replacing that.

Next thing will to be fit those inner tube and tyres, give it a big clean, tidy up the electrics, fix the horn, replace the boot lock, cut new vinyl for it and refit all the little extras i took off to stop them being lost when it was on the trailer.

[Paul Baldwin]

Nice one

I think if it was mine I'd have one of those bendy flag on a pole things hanging off the back of it if taking it on the road tho!

[Piggy]

Its so cool...

So 90s. Love it. How comfy is it?!

[Eeyore]

Its so cool...

So 90s. Love it. How comfy is it?!

90s?! you mean 80s yo! Its really comfy, and thats without the two padded seat foams ive got. tbh the only issue i had after 4 miles was i had cramp and shakes in my thumb from holding the button down for the motor to be on.

[procta]

great to see!! I bet it was funny doing a drift! you should let toms306 have a go, in fact that is the ultra thing for him! not worrying about mpg!

[Eeyore]

New Schwalbe big apple tyres have arrived. 2x16" and 1x12" along with matching inner tubes. The tyres are kevlar lined and the side walls are described as "baloon style" which should mean im better protected against punctures and also getting a bit more ride comfort. Spent some time last night getting these on before realising i had put them both on the wrong way so had to start again. Also found the right hand side wheel bearings were falling out so ill have to find some replacements. Going well and hope to get it out this weekend!

[Eeyore]

So last weekend I took this down to the sailing club and lots of people had a go. Lots of people asking questions and smiling. Sunday afternoon I got the vinyl cutter out and cut new vinyls for it so its looking mint now. Also cleaned up all the last bits of trim and fitted those. test ones done in orange before cutting the more expensive reflective yellow vinyl.



This week I took it to warwick in the back of the Saab and have been commuting in 4 miles to work with one of my colleagues cycling alongside. Everyone loves it. Ive been riding it on cycle/ways and pavements of backroads etc. Police waved as I was riding on the pavement so think I can continue to get away with it.




Still waiting for my flag pole to arrive.

[Dum-Dum]

So cool dude, any videos of the ride?

[Eeyore]

So cool dude, any videos of the ride?

nope been busy not dying. I rode whilst my colleage c5d last night and have to say that i worked up a sweat on the bike where as the c5 was no effort at all.

[Eeyore]

So progress hasnt stopped. After being stickered up and using it for a week ive decided to go 24v. In order to keep it all orginal... im going to remove all the stock wiring so it can always go back to stock. Ill be making up my own 24V loom, using a Q4D Porter 10 100A speed controller along with twist and go handle bars. Hopefully ill get 20 something mph out of it.

Most important upgrade is this motor. Its a standard motor but its got some metal parts in the gearbox. The planetary plastic gears will be the weak point now. The external metal gear wont be damaged if there is belt slip. The motor also has holes in the casing, a 24v fan and a 3d printed fan ducting to increase air flow through the motor and keep temps down. This was originally in a 60V C5 but it started melting the brush houses which have been replaced before it was sent on to me.

Looking forward to seeing what i can cook up this weekend!

[Dum-Dum]

Looks good, I like.

[Eeyore]

So this is overdue an update. The upgraded motor is now fitted and I have stripped all the stock wiring and rewired it myself for 24v. All the original stuff has been kept so can always go back to original spec. The porter 10 speedcontroller is now fitted and its all working along with the motorcycle twist grip. It does 22mph on the flat and 30mph down hills. Calculated range should be about 18 miles with two 50ah lead acid batteries.



Ive taken it up to work again and commuted for another week. One day dressed in a santa onesie. And then Ive also taken it down felixstowe front. Where ever it goes it draws so much attention. Everyone seems to be happy when they see it. Either because they know what it is or because of just how ridiculous it is.





And got this photo next to a tesla at work...



so yes all fun and games so far!

Ive also found new rear bearings which I am yet to fit. Next up is to get some lifepo4 batteries which will reduce the power and increase the range. Also to fit some straps to hold them in place as under heavy breaking the batteries fly forwards and have pulled the cables off the speedcontroller and bent the connections . Ive also bought 2x 5W T10 cree bulbs which should make the front light much brighter.

[welshpug]

thats technically illegal now btw should have number plates lol.

[Paul Baldwin]

Looking like a lot of fun that! Hopefully you managed to get genuine Cree stuff, there's an awful lot of stuff out there claiming to be what it isn't sadly.

[Eeyore]

thats technically illegal now btw  should have number plates lol.

Its not capable of greater than 15mph (unless you turn the throttle more). That video was on a film set. Its just about being sensible with it. Done it once so no need to do it again. I need to make another flag as my previous one fell off and was never found. Ive got two rolls of the yellow reflective vinyl so i can cut lots of decals and sell them hopefully to pay for a few new things.

I also made a bracket for a chain tensioner however I made it out of old numberplate and it instantly bent. 2mm steel next and then itll work great!




and heres some of the wiring. It was easier to use a strip of connectors than to make a proper loom. Especially when its going to chop and change.

[Eeyore]

So things to do on this:

More wiring
Buy lighter higher capacity batteries
Fit battery straps
Make chain tensioner mount
Buy and fit handlebar padding (dont want to cut up my original)
Clean it

If love to see a full carbon shell or even just the lower half!

[Dum-Dum]

Looks awesome moving dude

[Eeyore]

Another video down Felixstowe Front here!