electric go kart , building for school project?
so yeah i am making a electric go kart for a school project but the problem is i dont know how to power it and i dont want to spend money on expensive motors , so my question was this go kart will be powered by car batteries maybe a max of 4 , and can i use 120volt motor to make to go kart move or will the amount af batteries be too low for it to even budge and i was thinking of useing a electric lawn mower engine will it be able to push like 200 pounds at max? and how fast will it go , and i was also wondering would it be a good idea to just use those little grey looking motors in car engines ? will that go fast with four 12volt car batteries , i was gonna make a gas one before but the engine prices were too high so yeah help me out here i am a total newbie and the frame is gonna be built out of hallow metal pipes and rods so its strong but not too heavy , so tell me what to do and how to do it , electric lawn mower 120v motor , grey car motor or a 120v electric motor??
okay how about stuff i can use from a broken car , can i use the car starter motor to power my go kart with four 12 volt batteries will it go fast enough?
September 12th, 2011 at 2:12 am |
Gray car motor? You mean the Alternator? That will not “power” anything without being driven itself.
As for an electric lawnmower… well… those run on A/C current… not D/C (which is what a car battery is) So unless you’re planning on running an extension cord from your school all over the place… this will not work. You can jump wire four 12v car batteries into 48volts but still will not work
A strong D/C powered electric motor will cost just as much if not more than a gasoline powered engine.
Go to…
http://www.northerntool.com
They sell go-kart parts, and engines fairly cheap.
- Good Luck!
September 12th, 2011 at 3:09 am |
Hey, you know what?? That starter motor will work for on 12 volts, but don’t run it too long (a minute at a time maybe) it will develop around 2 horsepower and push your cart around nicely. The starter motor is rated “intermittant Duty” which means you can’t run it continuously without burning up. For all you guys that disagree that the starter motor will work remember three things: first it has to be cheap; next it is for a school project (not NASA); third, its gonna be all sorts of fun and a good learning experience for the lad- basically how not to build something but still have fun- OK??