How to Convert a 24V scooter to 36V - Dirty Method

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introHow to Convert a 24V scooter to 36V - Dirty Method

It's a quest for E-speed... And I don't mean a dot com bubble "E." These instructions are proof of concept for, hopefully, bigger plans.

How to Convert a 24V scooter to 36V - Dirty Method

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step 1Source Parts

Two scooters were used for this project. Both of which were found deralict and to be thrown away at Standford University. Dumpster diving may, or may not, be illegal. But better to ask forgiveness later.

The first scooter has rusted away and is completely un-ridable. It is a 36V machine.
The second is a 24V model, with heavily sulfated battery packs. Ridable, if you can get it power

Charger: I picked up a battery charger from harbor freight for other projects -- it cost me $10

That's all that's really needed -- lets get to it.

Source Parts

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19 comments	Add Comment

Jan 19, 2009. 8:55 PMalex-sharetskiy says:

how would you fix the batteries?

Jun 7, 2009. 12:36 PM12V says:

basically you use a Desulfator (there is one on instructables!) which sends 1ms long 50v pulses.

Mar 16, 2009. 2:14 PMamando96 says:

i broke my scootrer's headtube aswell, but fixed it...

Dec 23, 2008. 12:27 PMReCreate says:

those batteries look like they need to be cleaned or exchanged for new ones

Dec 23, 2008. 7:50 PM

trebuchet03 (author) says:

Naw, like many things - it's what's on the inside that counts ;)

Aug 25, 2008. 12:38 PM

Radioactive_Legos says:

My friend and I are going to be converting his older-model Razor E300 to a higher voltage. I'm thinking we could get a new controller and a 48 volt battery pack, and probably a new motor. The batteries will still have to fit in the existing cavity, so they'll each have to be half the size, making the scooter have a much shorter range (oh well). I have a Zivan NG-1 48 volt charger from me and my dad's electric bike conversion. Any advice? Thanks

Apr 10, 2008. 9:40 AMDerin says:

how do u dispose the cells

Nov 3, 2007. 5:15 PMcandle360 says:

can somone help me find a 32v scooter with charger, I need it to fix my bro's electric chopper, I just want it to go faster, his has no charger, about 50 bucks to replace it... so I'm just looking for the gutted parts, and I can do the rest, because my bro's chopper only went about 20mph when it worked, and with a 32v, I looked it up, will tow more and may go faster...

Jul 27, 2007. 1:12 AMnewkiraj says:

One of my friends and I took a Razor E100 Scooter, and ordered some rather huge NIHM's online. It will do 40 mph w/ his 250 lb dad riding it. WOO HOO!!!!

Jul 27, 2007. 1:14 AMnewkiraj says:

hey I was just wondering 4 one of my other scooters, could I take a 12 V. , and a switch and just hack those right to the motor just skipping the controller? If so, could it damage it at all? Im not sure about the motor's ratings, but its another E100

Jul 27, 2007. 1:58 AM

trebuchet03 (author) says:

You would lack control -- in that case, you'd be either all go or nothing. Which, on a scooter, can be a bit dangerous (from a control standpoint). Being able to slowly get up to speed ("slow" being relative to immediately all on) is in fact a safety feature on two wheeled vehicles ;)

Jul 27, 2007. 2:43 AMnewkiraj says:

i might rethink doing that... maybe a potentiometer instead of a switch?

Jul 27, 2007. 2:44 AMnewkiraj says:

or any type of variable switch for that matter

Jul 28, 2007. 1:34 AMnewkiraj says:

Okay, I did it today, I think it might fry the motor eventually, because the original controller is toast, the throttle is toast, and it caught fire. But, now that I put in new EVERYTHING it will go about 25 - 30 MPH -- a lot faster than the original 8 MPH! xD hope it dosent start on fire again!!

Jun 30, 2007. 9:22 AMdrcrash says:

Does increasing the voltage by 50 percent roughly double the power? For resistive circuits, it generally does---the power is proportional to the square of the voltage, so 3/2 the voltage gives 9/4 the watts. I'm not clear on inductance in electric motors, though. I'd think that if you saturate the flux capacity of the electromagnet cores, the excess power would be converted straight to heat. Does your motor get very hot? I'm wondering if there's a simple test you could do with your multimeters to tell when you're saturating the cores, and limit the power to what actually boosts speed, without wasting more as heat. (BTW, those meters look familiar... and really cheap... I have a yellow one and a red one from Harbor Freight, too.) Also, do you have any links to good instructions for de-sulfating the 12V sealed batteries? I have a couple that need help.

Jul 25, 2007. 3:54 PMgmanstl says:

See Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?
Increasing the voltage by 50 percent will probably smoke your controller before it even gets to the motor.
What motor and controller ar you using?

Jul 25, 2007. 4:50 PM

trebuchet03 (author) says:

A 36v controller from the 36V derelict scooter ;) I used a 24V rated motor - which is still healthy and spinning away :)

Jul 27, 2007. 12:28 AMgmanstl says:

K, the motor may take over 24 Volt, but not 36 Volt. Is it a Unite Motor?

Jul 27, 2007. 1:56 AM

trebuchet03 (author) says:

Yep, it's a United Motor - it's been taking the 36V and hasn't had a problem yet. On paper, 36V would be bad for it. In reality, it's a hunk of copper, aluminum, steel and plastic. Remember, for this we care what it can do, not what it was intended to do ;) The wire inside is too big for the loads at 24V - so I'm not concerned about a fire or anything of that sort. Switching over to the 36V motor would yield a bit more speed, as it was wound for 36V, but that added complexity to this very short project.