I have a couple of Parades and Marathons coming up that I will be using the GEM for and I can foresee running out of juice during the day. I wanted to see if anyone can think of any reason why my idea would not work from a technical perspective.
Install StakeBack mini flatbed on GEM
Mount Honda EU2000 Generator with hold down bracket
Install charger inlet on rear of GEM instead of the front
Figure out how and disable charger lock out circuit
Run generator during event and continually charge GEM
The Eu2000 is very quiet and extremely fuel efficient so it will run the charger with ease and for the entire event on a single tank of fuel.
The generator itself is not that heavy so I am adding minimal load to the GEM.
The generator being outside of the cart and airflow all around will not pose a CO concern.
It probably will work for low speed use at parade speeds. Your charger uses about 13 amps and the Honda can put out about 16. I would guess it would replace 1/2 or more of the the power used propel the car. at that rate. Let us know how it works out.
You must be planning some loooooong parades.
How much range do you normally get? You will get more at parade speeds.
Be prepared for the flack your going to get from your EV buddies.
I run communications for some of these events so we can be anything from a pilot car, follow car or SAG vehicle. In cases where we are SAG it is fast response over distance. The single loop for the upcoming marathon is 15 miles.
I think it well work . don’t know the zivan charger well enough to know what it well do if its charging and senses a voltage drop when accelerating . the deltaq would probably throw an error. I don’t see a problem trying it .
I posed this question to Zivan over a year ago. They don’t see a problem. I went so far as to bid on Clone Honda on Ebay but got out bid. Then I bought a new set of batteries which solved my basic problem of range.
well thanks to Rodney my RFF motor came Friday so now the re-assembly of the GEM is in progress. I have a bunch of aux wiring to get done before I can take it for a spin. I have the DQ charger as it is an 05 so we will see how that goes… I spent an entire evening routing the wiring harnesses down the frame channel from the stereo console that was a real joy…
Any progress? Can you run the GEM while charging? I didn’t think you could.
I installed a flat bed on my 2002 GEM and checking the specs on some generators a small 1500 watt model is small enough to fit, weighs 50 lbs so that’s no problem. I don’t travel that far with it, so not something I really need, just a ‘if I need it can I do it’. Of course there’s the weight and space of the fuel too. My bed is 48"x 34", should be plenty of space.
at 35 mph with a stock 5hp motor gem uses about 90ah avg . a gem charger puts out 10 amps ? so if you were going slow enough or had lots of stop time it would help . at speed it might add 1 to 2 miles to your range .
I don’t know how you would charge and drive at same time though. Mine doesn’t. It would be more if you went on a long trip, drive it there, say the lake, charge it then you could drive it around and back. Of course I would just drive a real car then. Keep a generator onboard for emergencies maybe. But 50lbs plus the space in bed I’m not sure I would very often.
Conversion to lithium is too pricy. There’s always going to be the cost of replacing the batteries too. At that cost I’d look at just putting in a gas motor, then you wouldn’t have to deal with charging/replacing batteries. Fuel doesn’t cost that much. Not sure if that’s legal though with NEV laws. Actually, I would just convert a side by side to street legal use, problem is all the used ones I’ve seen listed they want a lot for them.
The 10 amp charger won’t keep up when your moving but will keep charging with every inturuption in motion. It WILL extend range. For a stop and go scenario, a lot.
You can charge while running, however, I would not subject my onboard charger to such abuse.
Get a dumb charger and connect a charge monitor.
Better yet, hack the generator for 72vdc output direct. Should be pretty easy.
