I Spent $4000 Rebuilding the Twike and Immediately Crashed It

Summary

The transcript details a lengthy process of restoring and upgrading an electric Twike three-wheeled vehicle. It begins with replacing the unsafe lithium battery pack with a new custom 9 kWh pack with proper cell monitoring. Other upgrades include dual voltage charging, a new rear window, fixing paint and canopy issues, brake light repairs, a new rear cargo shelf, and more. Despite underestimating the time and cost required, which ended up totaling around $4500, the meticulous restoration process results in a much improved Twike that is ready for future video filming.

Takeaways

• 😀 Robert restored a 3-wheeled electric vehicle called a Twike
• 🚗 The Twike had issues with the battery, steering, brakes, etc that Robert fixed
• 🔋 Robert built a new, safer 9 kWh battery pack for the Twike
• ⚡ The Twike has a top speed of 60 mph but the steering is very twitchy
• 😨 On the first test drive, Robert crashed the Twike into a ditch
• 😅 The crash was caused by Robert's butt inadvertently locking the steering
• 🛠 Robert spent way more time and money restoring the Twike than planned
• 🎥 The script is for a video Robert already filmed showing the Twike restoration
• 📅 The video script refers to events happening in the past, present and future
• 🏁 After many trials, the Twike restoration is finally complete

Q & A

What was the initial problem with the Twike that needed fixing?

The Twike had issues with the canopy seals needing resealing and reattachment. The rear window had also been removed by the owner to get better access to the components in the back.

What was the main problem with the existing Twike battery pack?

The main problem was that it did not have a proper battery management system (BMS). This meant there was no individual cell monitoring or balancing. Without a BMS, the cells could get dangerously overcharged.

Why did the owner decide to build a new battery pack for the Twike?

Even if the original pack had not been damaged, the owner likely would have built a new one anyway since the original design was unsafe without a proper BMS.

What capacity and voltage is the new Twike battery pack?

The new pack is 9kWh capacity with a nominal voltage of 36-38V (configured as a 98S pack).

What charging system components were added or replaced on the Twike?

A new BMS system was added with satelite units and master control unit. A new 2.5kW Thunderstruck Motors charger was also installed, along with a J1772 charge port.

What drove the cost overrun of the Twike restoration project?

In addition to the $900 spent on new battery cells, around $3000 was spent on the BMS and charging components. More was also spent on new wiring, switches, the rear window, canopy work, etc. The total came to around $4500.

What happened to cause the owner to crash the Twike on its first test drive?

The steering tiller unexpectedly locked up. When the owner tried to brake, he realized his shoelaces were tangled in the bike chain, preventing him from braking. In a panic, he improperly activated the e-brake, failing to stop the vehicle before crashing.

How did the owner determine what caused the tiller to lock up?

Upon reviewing footage of the incident, the owner realized that by twisting in the driver's seat, his butt had pressed down the tiller lock button, locking the steering in place.

What final testing did the owner need to complete after finishing the restoration work?

The owner still needed to fully charge, discharge, and cycle the new battery pack, and validate proper functioning when integrated with the Twike's existing computer systems.

Was the extensive restoration work financially worthwhile for the video content produced?

No, the owner estimated both the restoration costs and the value of the resulting video content likely did not outweigh the amount of money and time invested in the project.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introducting the Twike project

The narrator introduces a video project documenting the restoration of a three-wheeled electric vehicle called a Twike. The Twike is currently non-operational and needs repairs. The narrator will be upgrading the battery pack, canopy, rear window, and other components.

05:02

🛠️ Repairing the canopy

The narrator removes the remaining paint from the Twike's canopy where it had worn off. He masks off areas not to be painted, repaints the canopy black where needed, and reattaches it using adhesive. Some issues later arise with paint pulling away from the canopy.

10:02

🔋 Assembling the new battery pack

The narrator explains issues with the Twike's original lithium battery pack related to lack of cell monitoring and balancing. He assembles a new higher voltage pack from salvaged 18650 cells and adds a BMS system for monitoring and balancing. Cells are bottom balanced before assembly.

15:02

⚡ Wiring up the BMS

The narrator wires together the BMS components for the new battery pack and tests communication between them. Some troubleshooting is required to get all satellite units communicating properly. Cells are then balanced and charged.

20:03

🚗 First test drive!

The high voltage system is connected and the Twike driven for the first time. The narrator discovers wiring needed to allow drive mode and other aspects of the Twike's operation.

25:04

😱 Crashing the Twike

While test driving the Twike on public roads, the narrator accidentally locks the steering and crashes into a ditch. Upon review, the cause is found to be accidental steering lock engagement by the narrator's body positioning.

30:08

🪟 Installing new rear window

To replace the missing rear window, the narrator cuts a new polycarbonate window and adheres it using automotive windshield adhesive. Additional vinyl tape is added to improve the canopy's appearance.

35:09

🛻 Completing the restoration

The electrical restoration is nearing completion but high voltage testing remains. A custom mahogany and aluminum rear shelf is constructed to replace the original. Total cost and time exceeded initial estimates.

Keywords

💡twike

The twike is the main vehicle that is being worked on and modified throughout the video. It is a small electric vehicle created by the company Twike. The video focuses on restoring and upgrading the twike by rebuilding the battery pack, installing new electrical components, and fixing other issues.

💡battery pack

The battery pack is a key component of the twike that the narrator rebuilds. It is the assembly of battery cells that provides power. He explains issues with the original pack and designs a new higher capacity pack with proper battery management.

💡BMS

BMS stands for battery management system. It is an electronic system that monitors and controls the battery pack. The narrator adds a new BMS to provide individual cell monitoring and balancing that was missing from the original pack.

💡high voltage

High voltage refers to the electrical system in the twike that operates at a hazardous high voltage, like most electric vehicles. The narrator points out and modifies various high voltage components and notes safety concerns.

💡tiller

The tiller is the steering control on the twike. It is a vertical lever that pivots to turn the front wheels. The narrator has issues with the tiller spontaneously locking up while driving.

💡canopy

The canopy is the upper exterior body of the twike. It detaches for access. The narrator removes it to work on components and fixes issues with paint peeling from the canopy.

💡DC-to-DC converter

A DC-to-DC converter steps down and regulates the high voltage from the battery pack to power lower voltage accessories. The narrator taps into the twike's converter to add a 12V battery.

💡windshield wiper

The narrator notes issues with the windshield wiper scratching the polycarbonate windshield and wanting to discourage its use.

💡brake switch

The brake switches were faulty on the twike. The narrator diagnoses bad connections and replaces the switches to restore brake light functionality.

💡rear window

The narrator removed the rear window for access and fabricated a replacement polycarbonate window with automotive adhesive.

Highlights

The twike battery pack had no battery management system or individual cell monitoring, making it unsafe.

The old twike battery pack experienced overcharging issues that damaged cells.

Built a new 9 kWh battery pack with proper BMS for cell monitoring and balancing.

Had issues getting all BMS satellites to communicate and learned the hard way about bottom vs top balancing cells.

Added a new 2.5 kW thunderstruck charger with dual voltage charging capabilities.

The twike has a convoluted "driveway protection loop" to shift between drive and charge mode.

Replaced the analog loop with a relay triggered by the BMS master control unit.

Had first test drive crash because the steering tiller locked and brakes failed simultaneously.

Learned the steering tiller can lock if pressed down while turning, easily done by leaning body.

Spent way more money and time restoring the twike than expected - estimated 1 month initially.

Spent nearly $4500 on parts and upgrades to restore the electric twike vehicle.

Battery upgrades alone were about $900 for new cells and $3000 for accompanying equipment.

The project took almost 3 months working on and off to complete all updates and fixes.

New custom mahogany and aluminum cargo shelf took 3 weeks to design and build.

After all repairs and changes the twike is ready for final testing and validation.

Transcripts

I can't break with

my oh

[Music]

oh it's the twike but you already know

that because you've already seen the

video where I tell you everything about

this and how silly it is but that video

was shot in the future presently it's

the past and right now the twike is

inoperable and it needs some work the

canopy needs some resealing and

reattaching I popped out the rear window

to get better access to the going Zone

back here but it's not in the best shape

so I need to make a new rear window for

it but most importantly the battery

package shot so I need to build a new

one for it although even if it wasn't

shot I'd probably still build a new pack

for it because the way they designed

this battery pack is not good or safe so

let's do those things that didn't

latch let's do something about this

canopy

now that was too easy which is why I

need to fix

it all of these scuffed areas is around

the edge and down the center spine is

where it's supposed to be painted black

and where it was painted black at one

point in time but as you can see most of

that paint has fallen off so I need to

remove the remaining paint what little

of it is left mask off the areas that

are not supposed to have paint and then

reapply black paint where there should

be black paint and while that's drying I

should probably start scraping off the

adhesive that looks good even if I do

say so myself it's not glued in yet I'm

going to give the paint more time to

cure to give it a better chance of

holding on and I probably need someone

to help me lower this down into place

without smearing the adhesive all over

the place but the paint job looks

good there we go there we go got

it several days later some cosmetic

issues have popped up at the canopy what

I think happened is the windshield

adhesive that I used as it cured

contracted slightly and there's some

places where the paint is is pulling

away from the canopy it is still very

firmly glued in place it is basically

irremovable right now so I'm not going

to do anything about it but you can see

where the paint is being slightly tugged

away from the canopy and it really

bothers me two things that make me feel

better about this though twike also

screwed this up that's why I had to

reglue the canopy because all of the

paint detached from the canopy and the

second thing is it looks better than

when I started so success now onto the

battery pack but first let me show you

all the high voltage GB in the TK this

is the main reason I popped out through

reir window it makes it much easier to

access all the crap back here first of

all yes the wiring is a mess but that is

the battery tray running the entire

width of the car leaving very little

space on either side of it this with all

the wires going into it is the main high

voltage and everything else control

board and this is the DC todc converter

from the other side you can see the

front of the tray this is what twight

calls a BMS that's where all the

thermister go into and there's some

logic and some cut off in there that's

the existing charger that I will be

bypassing and that's about it really

this is the entire battery pack out of

the twike just 3.5 kwatt hours not very

big originally the twike had a nickel

cadmium or nickel metal hydride battery

I'm not really sure and this is the

factory lithium upgrade option from

twike each module is a 4p 14s

configuration of 18650 cells there's

seven modules in total wired in series

for a total pack nominal voltage of 36

62 volts easily the highest voltage to

capacity Raco I've ever seen luckily the

reason they went with such a high

voltage on such a small Vehicles because

the peak power draw on the twik motor is

only 9 Kow if it's even that and because

this is such a high voltage the amperage

is basically nothing and they could get

away with these tiny little wires for

the main high voltage connections so

what's wrong with it why am I saying

this battery pack is a bad design and

unsafe well if you're a battery

Enthusiast you probably already noticed

what's missing each one of these modules

here has two wires coming out of it a

positive and a negative and nothing else

there's no battery management system

there's no individual cell monitoring at

all if you're not familiar with the job

of a BMS or battery management system

it'll have a balance lead going to each

individual cell in the overall Series so

it can monitor each cell group's voltage

individually to prevent overcharging

over discharging and to keep all of the

cells balanced to the same voltage

because the twike doesn't have a BMS it

has no idea what each IND individual

cell voltages and it has no way to keep

the cells in Balance so when it charges

it just charges to an overall pack

Target voltage and the charger will just

keep dumping in current until that

overall pack Target voltage is met in

normal operation this is totally fine

the cells aren't going to drift apart

very much they'll stay mostly in Balance

all on their own without any external

help and when you go to charge them

they'll all end up roughly at 4.2 volts

all on their own the problem is those

pesky edge cases let's say in an extreme

examp example you got one cell that has

a significantly lower voltage than the

rest of the pack the charger doesn't

know that so it's still going to Target

the same charging voltage for the sum of

the pack because that one cell is lower

than the rest of them to bring up the

sum voltage for the rest of the pack the

rest of the cells have to be overcharged

or for a different scenario you could

have a couple of cells that are slightly

higher voltage than the rest of the pack

again the Chargers just looking at the

sum total voltage you could have a

couple of cells that are significantly

overcharged overcharging damage the

battery but more importantly it can

cause a thermal event In fairness the

cylindrical style cell that to chose to

build a battery pack out of is less

prone to outright fire than a pouch

style cell like this one I pulled out of

a phone and overcharging is something

the previous owner of this TKE

experienced he put his T in storage

while he moved and unbeknownst to him

several of the cells in his battery pack

dropped down to Zer volts I don't know

why but the heavy corrosion here might

have something to do with it several

months later he pulled his twike out of

storage and again he didn't know that

several his cells had dropped to zero

volt so he hooked it up to charge and

the ignorant onboard charger overcharged

the vast majority of the cells in his

battery pack thankfully though nothing

happened well nothing catastrophic

anyway I mean his battery pack was toast

but given this it's probably not in the

best shape to begin with to give twike

just a little bit of credit while there

is no individual cell monitoring there

is no BMS there are therms to monitor

battery temperature and one of the

series Connections in each one of the

modules is made up by a couple thermal

fuses so your Twix battery probably

won't burst into flames but it's still

not a good design so for the new battery

pack that I'm going to build for this

twike I'm going to add a proper BMS that

can do all of the individual cell level

monitoring and I'm going to add a new

charger that communicates with that BMS

so the BMS can tell the charger to stop

charging if it detects anything off

whatsoever it's not just a safety thing

either having properly balanced cells

means you have a better battery pack if

the cells go all out of whack it reduces

its usable capacity building a new pack

starts with sourcing new battery cells I

didn't want to pay a fortune for brand

new 18 650s or 217s and then build a new

pack completely from scratch so I went

to battery hookup.com browse their

inventory and ended up with this this is

a battery module from I have no idea

what battery hookup must have bought

these wholesale or Surplus or something

importantly the cells inside are 18650s

they've never been cycled so they're

brand new there is a two cell BMS inside

here but I'm not interested in that nor

am I interested in the connector and

this was only $100 per kilowatt hour

which for brand new cells is awesome I'm

also not interested in any of this

plastic casing so let's remove the cells

first with this plastic strip that

covers the cell

Taps and then this should just pop right

off and there is the small BMS board

with connector again I'm not interested

in any of that now I can throw this away

holding these two halv together are a

bunch of

screws cut the label in half cuz that's

still retaining the two halves together

and

then the cells inside this module are in

a 2s 10p configuration I know it looks

like there's 12 cells on each side but

the two middle cells are actually just

inert pieces of plastic for spacing

these are labeled 2600 milliamp hour

which is 2.6 amp hours but I didn't just

believe that at face value I took one of

these modules apart previously fully

charged each Bank of cells up to 4.2

volts and then capacity tested them down

to 2.8 Vols and the actual capacity I

got out of them was 2.65 amp hour so

these were in perfect shape the pack I

took out of the to was in a 98s

configuration I intend to replicate that

so I bought 49 of these 2s modules the

first step I'm already working on in the

other room I'm bottom balancing all of

the cells which means I'm individually

discharging each one of these cell Banks

down to 2.8 volts using the capacity

testers I just showed you that way when

I assemble the battery pack all of these

will start out at the same state of

charge and the same voltage the first

step to building this new battery pack

is is to take these small modules and

group them together into slightly larger

modules these cells are all spot welded

together but on the other side because

this is how connections work they're

bifurcated in the middle so to join

these two halves together I'm just going

to squirt some high strength hot glue in

the middle

here to add a little more strength and

to support these spot welds I'm going to

put some glue on the edges too between

the

cells and to be clear this bead of hot

glue that I ran on the perimeter between

each cell is not necessary it's the belt

and suspender approach now to pack these

units together again using hot glue and

by the way if you think that this is too

big of a task for hot glue just know

you're wrong I uh I glued that module in

backwards okay these modules are

permanently bonded together the only way

I could think to remove them I did try a

knife it didn't work at all is with a

hot wire cutter which is about a 100

bucks on Amazon so I weighed that price

against the price of these modules which

was

$1850 per module so I bought three new

modules I'm going to forget these exist

and I'm going to be more careful from

now on hey it's me from the future I

made that mistake more times but if I

wasn't an idiot I would have realized I

didn't have to order brand new modules

and remake the stack anytime I glued one

on backwards all I have to do is cut the

series Connection in the middle of the

nickel strip and then remake that series

connection on the other side boom I

flipped it anyway back to ignorant past

Robert okay there we go making the

serious connections between these cell

groups would normally mean nickel strip

and a battery spot welder I'm not going

to do that the design of these modules

allows me to use a method that doesn't

require any specialty tooling soldering

to the end of battery cells is a bad

idea cuz that's a lot of heat being

dumped into the cell for a prolonged

period of time which damages it but in

each one of these cell groups are two

plastic cells so I can make all my

solder connections here on top of these

plastic cells and not worry about

damaging any of the battery cells there

will be some heat transfer over

obviously but not enough to damage

anything on the back side of these

modules the series connections are made

by these nickel strip Bridges bridging

between the two halves of the modules

now I calculated the current carrying

capacity of these little 0.15 mm nickel

strip Bridges here all four of them

combined and it's about 20 amps give or

take the twike will be pulling more like

30 amps so I'm going to reinforce these

with the jumper wire going across to

give it a little bit of extra current

carrying ability now to solder on all

the individual cell balance leads that

will lead up to the BMS satellite

that'll sit right about here the nice

thing about this thunderstar BMS I'm

using is that these two separate wire

harnesses despite going into the same

BMS are completely independent which

makes wire management so much easier

each half of the module gets its own

cell balance lead wiring

harness all right that's done now I need

to validate that I put them all in the

right place with this little harness

test board here and a voltmeter just

need to make sure the voltages go up in

order and I didn't skip or rearrange one

33 all right they are all

validated

now it's time to stack these two halves

on top of each other and to separate

them I've just cut this ABS sheet on the

table saw tacked on this little extra

bit cuz it was too short and to provide

some cushion I've lined this with well

it's just rubber window seal if I'm

honest I think for the remainder of

these modules I make instead of

soldering jumpers on the back I'm going

to break out the spot welder so these

can sit more flatly against each other

but this works fine for now I'm going to

put an ABS shield on both sides of the

module as well as wrap the whole thing

up but first I need to solder on on this

wire that connects the two halves

together and the positive and negative

lead that come out the top of the

module done now to answer the inevitable

question why didn't you use heat shrink

battery

[Applause]

wrap and on the bottom I put on some of

this rubber mat for abrasion resistance

where it's going to be sitting and

finally I added some THS to the back of

the module they connect to the harness

up here that plugs into the BMS

satellite and it was a pain in the butt

to put these in because this harness

that connects to the BMS satellite is

pre-wired so you got to take the little

thermister in tip and solder it onto the

cut wires thankfully this job was made

easier by my little heat shrink

connectors with the solder built into

them once the connections are made I can

slide it under the heat shrink battery

wrap and then tape the wires in place

with capton tape that smells like urine

that's one module done now I need to

will four more into existence

oh that one's all weird I made some

slight improvements as I went along on

the first two as you saw I soldered on a

wire to increase the current carrying

ability of the nickel strip on the back

and then took up the remaining Gap with

this rubber window seal on the remaining

three I just spot welded on some extra

nickel strips so these two sections fit

more closely together and I didn't need

the rubber window seal between the two

halves all the modules are in a 20s

configuration with the exception of this

one which is 18s because I wanted the

whole battery pack to be in a 98s s

configuration just like the battery pack

I took out of the twike it would have

been much more pleasing to make all

these modules the same size and make the

battery pack 100s and just increase the

voltage by these two extra cell groups

but I don't know how the Twix computer

would play well with that two extra

cells worth of voltage very likely

wouldn't do anything at all especially

since I'm not reusing the twi stock

charger but I don't know so I played it

safe and went with the same

configuration I took out of it the

capacity of this new pack 9 KW hours

gross almost triple the capacity of the

original pack pack BMS time just like

with my previous lithium converted mower

project I'll be using components from

thunder struck Motors not sponsored and

I paid for it myself I just really like

their stuff I'll be using five of these

BMS 24 BMS satellite units one for each

module to control the BMS and the

charger I'm using their MCU or master

control unit and this is the new charger

I'm going with a TSM 2500 also from

thunderstuck TSM is just thunder struck

Motors this is a 2.5 Kow charger plenty

for this application 3 Days Later here's

my bench test setup I've got my five BMS

satellites all wired up and strapped to

their respective modules got an MCU to

control everything I've got the charger

and I have a j1772 port and when I plug

in the charging

cable it works I've got it turned down

to 5 amps for now but it do work this is

a very basic and easy setup the reason

it took me so long to get it working is

because I had a few issues along the way

when I first wired up these satellites

the MCU did not see the last unit in the

daisy chain I even tried switching the

modules it was consistently the last

satellite that it wouldn't see so I

emailed thunder struck about this and it

turns out four satellite units is the

limit of one daisy chain so at least one

of these had to be moved to the second

bus on the board I chose to wire two of

them on the bus cuz I don't know it

looks nicer once I got all the BMS

satellites to properly communicate I

encountered another issue first of all

the cell voltages weren't all quite as

similar as I expected given I bought and

balanced all the Cs beforehand but there

were two CS in particular that were

dramatically higher than the rest of

them because somehow I forgot to bottom

balance beforehand so I had to do that

while they were in the module which was

easy enough to do I just used the BMS

harness tester board as a breakout board

to individually discharge the two

offending cells but because these cell

tap wires and the traces on that board

are so thin I only discharg them at 1

amp compared to the three amps that I

discharged all the rest of the cells in

this pack at for bottom balancing and

that's a problem because the lower draw

you put on the cell the more you'll get

out of it so when I got everything

hooked back up together rather than

those two cells being at 3.4 volts like

the rest of the pack they were at 3.1 so

I had to then charge them back up again

a little bit to match the rest of the

pack and then I had a whoopsie I

accidentally touched two of these wires

together shorted them out and then

melted one of the traces on the cell

harness test board right there fixed it

I tested the absolute limits of my

soldering ability by soldering ing this

jumper onto that tiny little surface

mount pin down there once that was

sorted then I could charge those two

cells up to 3.4 volts couple things I

learned from this experience one I

didn't need the bottom balance all the

way down to the low voltage cut off of

2.8 volts I could have picked a higher

value I didn't need to drain the cells

completely and two and this is something

the Thunder stroke guys told me top

balancing is more reliable rather than

discharging all the cells to the same

value charging them up to the same

voltage is more reliable as I showed

with these two cells here if you dis

charge them at a different rate they end

up at a different place than all the

rest of the cells because I bottom

balance these my voltages are kind of

all over the place if I type show cells

my voltage is range from about 3.41 all

the way to 3.44 which given I balanced

these beforehand is not all that similar

the thunderstroke BMS does have passive

balancing though which I can enable

using enable balance and now it will

balance all the cells and I just found

out another new thing BV Min is the

minimum voltage value of this cells will

balance at default was 4 volts so I

lowered that down to 3.5 volts and now

you can see all of the high cells that

it's discharging using passive balancing

okay after about an hour and a half of

charging with balancing enables the

cells are a lot more in line than they

started out because I'm putting a new

charger in here you might think that

I'll remove this old one but no for now

and possibly permanently it's staying in

there because I took the cover off and

look at how many communication wires

come out of the charger and go to the

main l board I don't know what most of

those do the new charger also comes with

another upgrade that I didn't think

about originally the twike did not have

dual voltage charging for the US market

it was 120 volts or bust but the

previous owner of this upgraded it to

dual voltage

charging here's that upgrade two

extension cords hardwired to it this one

is for 120 volt this one is for 240

volts you have to switch between them

with a toggle switch all of this is that

double extension cord mess with the

toggle switch there and some other stuff

I will be removing all of this as well

but again I'm going to wait to make sure

all of the new stuff works first the

inputs I need from the twike to the MCU

are very simple I just need power ground

and a key switch input the key switch

input I think I can just tap off of this

on switch on the dash here but the power

and ground is actually a little more

complicated because this has a 12volt

system but it doesn't have a permanent

12volt Source it doesn't have a battery

just has the DC todc converter back

there and no place to store that energy

so I have to add a battery to it all

right I've been putting it off because

I'm nervous but let's go ahead and put

the batteries in here right after I

mount this on jack stands for

safety off with your diaper or

Underpants now let's move on to putting

the batteries in here right after I get

some hardboard to fill out the floor

I'll be I'm going to go with town real

[Music]

quick this tray doesn't have a flat

floor this is sunk down below this

angled lip so I just cut this to give it

a flat floor okay now we can move on to

putting the batteries in Okay negative

most battery module which I have labeled

one NE now these modules barely fit with

the BMS strapped on the front here which

is kind of perfect cuz it'll sandwich

them in place and I am going to reuse

these therms because they're there why

not go ahead and tape them back in

place the BMS the charger all that stuff

isn't installed yet but the high voltage

is connected so let's power on the twike

for the first time and see what happens

happens I don't know what's going to

happen possibly nothing let's first trip

the breaker high voltage going live

now nothing happened okay let's undo the

or open or whatever EOP

off it's making

noises this is a thing there's a light

this is the first time I've ever seen

the twike with power running through it

I'm discovering all sorts of things you

have to hear this blinker sound it's the

dumbest thing ever

what is that okay we got to try drive we

got to try Drive let's put it in

Drive what will

happen nothing all right I couldn't

figure out why the twike wouldn't go

into drive so I called the previous

owner who has been extremely helpful in

this project and found out something you

know I said this extension cord Mass I'm

going to leave it be until I make sure

everything works and then I can slowly

remove things well that was true it

except for this this is a little pigtail

it was only connected to the board with

the ground wire going to a spade

connector I removed it because I looked

at this and thought this is a vestigial

charge cable I don't need this anymore I

was wrong this is the driveway

protection bypass Loop to make it go

into drive you take the 120 volt

extension cable which is here and plug

it into this so that it lets the twike

know that it's not charging anymore and

this connects to the board you have to

plug the twike into itself right now to

to make it work I'm going to make this

better but for now let's just go ahead

and do this so we can see spinny twike

Wheels it's in

forward spiny

wheels off camera I made this bracket

out of aluminum I didn't film making it

because I didn't feel like it and that

bracket goes right here it's held in by

these screws that go directly into the

plastic which I don't trust at all so

I'm using six of them and being careful

not to overtighten them on top are these

two Riv nuts and I also put these two

Riv nuts back here these Riv nuts go

into again plastic which I don't super

trust so I put epoxy around them to keep

the riv nuts from Breaking Free or

spinning out and on top of them sits the

new thunder struck

charger I recognize that I'm bias but I

think this new install looks better than

the old one by the way this box here

that I've been referring to is the

charger it occurred to at some point

this might also be the motor inverter

the charge port should go right about

here this feels so

wrong here's the pinning of a j1772 port

if you were curious and now it all goes

into here all right let's take the

protective film off of this mounting

tape that I added for

waterproofing all

right charge port installated wiring is

done and it's charging now there's the

new charger there's the MCU there's the

charge port and the charge port wiring

going from the port to the charger

there's a bunch of new wiring going from

the MCU to the everything else there's a

new relay I added and there's an alarm

buzzer and there's the new 12vt battery

I added now let's back up a second so I

can show you how I got here I mentioned

the twike doesn't currently have a

12volt battery so I need to add one in

order for the MCU to function properly

so to add one I 3D printed this thing

then I screwed these other things to the

side of the thing I 3D printed and that

thing is a battery tray and it goes into

the twi's existing battery tray where

there's currently a gap and here's that

new 12volt battery post wiring for the

key switch input required by the MCU I

removed this top panel out of the Pod

here soldered a wire to the back of the

power switch fish that wire down through

the back tube the Pod is mounted on

which ended up being incredibly

difficult and required the use of a

boroscope you can see the reason I

needed the boroscope is cuz the bottom

of this tube had a circular hole and had

trouble feeding the wire through that

but now it's in and put the panel back

in place to keep the 12 battery I added

charged up I connected it up to the

output of the DC to DC through a diode

so the battery can't back feed into the

DC to DC and something I just found out

that DC to DC converter on board is

always active even with the twike off

and the EOP button pressed in and

activated as long as the high voltage

battery is connected that DC todc

converter is putting out 12 volts so

really I don't even think I needed to

add the 12volt battery I'm glad I did

it's a more robust solution but I don't

think it was strictly necessary I

already shows you the nasty manual

driveway protection Loop where the Tok

has to be plugged into itself in order

to be able to go into drive and when

it's unplug that puts it into charge

mode and even with the switch off the

twike is powered on for charging or

whatever reason they had I replaced all

this nastiness with a relay all that was

happening when I plugged the to into

itself was I was connecting a spay

connector on the main board to ground so

I replaced the manual way of doing that

with a normally closed relay that is

triggered by an output on the MCU an

output that I have programmed to be

active in other words the relay opens

when I plug it into charge so when I

plug this into charge you'll be able to

hear the relay click and the twike will

come alive which is what it did when

charging for whatever

reason low voltage cut off I didn't add

one because I kind of can't with the way

the tce configured if I had a high

voltage disconnect in there anyway to be

triggered when there's a low voltage

situation the toy would have to reboot

it's a whole thing wouldn't work

properly but I did add a low voltage

alarm in the center console between the

seats I cut a hole stuck an alarm in

there and now that buzzer is triggered

by an output on the MCU that was

programmed to be on if there's a low

pack condition or a low voltage

condition on any of the cells something

else I changed is this key down here on

the side of this C console this was the

high voltage cut off trigger that key

when turned would trip this breaker here

and disconnect the high voltage

theoretically anyway the problem was you

had to have power running through it for

this remote key trigger to actually trip

that breaker and even then it wasn't

100% reliable and then to reactivate to

untrip the breaker you still had to take

the high voltage cover off everything to

reexpose that breaker so I've just

disconnected the whole stupid key

assembly put a label above it that says

this key does nothing and now to

disconnect or reconnect the high voltage

you have to access this breaker and hit

the button on the top the brake lights

have an issue too they do work but the

signaling to them is all faulty the

brake switch is bad for one but that's

okay because the previous owner gave me

two spare brake switches another problem

is the connection to the board there's a

little plug down here and the pins in

that little plug are all wallered out so

I took the plug out took a picture of it

sent it to a friend who's really good at

identifying connectors and within 5

minutes he identified it properly and I

was able to order a new plug from Digi

key here's the new pins in the header I

ordered I crimp the pins on the end of

the wire with my crimping tool snap the

pins into the new header and then

soldered the new stub onto the end of

the old brake switch cable job done this

brake switch is also so bad these two

prongs work but these two don't and

these are the ones that I need so

luckily I have a replacement right here

I put a silicone mat underneath this in

case it leaks breake FL which I know it

will now let's test it when I press down

the brake

pedal this contact and this contact

should

close and they don't the previous owner

this gave me two brake switches but

turns out they were used I cut one open

to see what was wrong with with it the

seal had leaked and the contacts were

all corroded so I went and bought a new

brake switch I looked up the part number

on the back of this one turns out this

is a brake switch for a Volkswagen

Vanagon so I went and found another

let's install

it now let's test it brake lights all I

needed was a new Switch and a new plug

back there good news I got the twike

registered right it is not ready I still

have a bunch of wiring to clean up

there's no rear window I didn't put the

mirrors back on or anything but it's

going to rain the next two days and I

want to take this thing for a test drive

before it gets dark my leg's already

cramping it's a good

sign oh my

God I moved 2 Ines

[Music]

whoa whoa what A noise

too oh my God back pedal okay we got to

try out the

brakes oh this is terrifying oh my God

I'm going to drive this on the

road

oh my God I'm doing

[Music]

it Jesus shift the shifter seems to not

be doing

anything all right that was

25

Jesus no thank you oh

regen wow the front end is so already

holy

[Laughter]

crap oh my

God holy crap why is this front end so

bad I am never doing highway speeds in

this absolutely no way it's happening oh

my

God I think I kicked it out of gear yeah

the pedal's not doing anything I can't

break with my

oh

[Music]

oh yes that's right the first time I

ever drive the twike on the road I crash

it I drive it right off the road into a

ditch up an embankment so what happened

cuz I reviewed the footage after the

accident and it looked like I just

decided to start panicking and have an

accident what happened was three things

right in a row the steering in tiller

locked up you couldn't really tell this

was happening on camera but you could

sure see the Panic set in on my face

when I realized the steering was locked

up then I tried to push the brakes at

which point I realized my shoelaces were

Tangled in the bike chain and I couldn't

push the brakes down anymore and then in

a panic I tried to set the E bra but I

got confused in the panic and instead of

pushing forward on it I pulled back on

it which just releases it again so yeah

I had an accident and immediately

following the accident I was very

confused and couldn't even figure out

how to open the canopy where's the

button oh wow I just had an

accident come on nothing was harmed on

me or the twike thankfully before the

test drive I didn't reinstall the arrow

underbody shielding down here if I had

reinstalled that before that test drive

that Hill would have ripped it clean off

okay but how did the tiller

spontaneously lock while I was driving

it well as it turns out the twike wasn't

designed for Fat American butts here's

how the steering tiller Lock Works you

twist the key and then you push down

when you push down that's what engages

the lock and keeps the tiller from

moving past this position here's the key

here's my butt I made a left turn before

the tiller locked up and this is how

that turned out I'm turning the key with

my butt and all I have to do is lean

over a little bit and I can very easily

with my butt press down on this and lock

the tiller in place thankfully the

tiller didn't lock lock in place I was

just holding down on that tumbler with

my butt and as soon as I got got up off

of it when I hit the ditch the tiller

was unlocked again but that was

terrifying from now on I take the key

out before I ever drive the twike hey

it's me from the future about that

Twitchy steering after I released the

last video both the previous owner of my

twike and twike the company reached out

to me to let me know that my steering

appears to be twitchier than normal

twike even sent me a whole list of

things that could possibly be wrong with

my Twi causing the extra Twitchy

steering I haven't had time to go

through this list yet but I thought I'd

let you know that apparently my steering

is twitchier than normal in a twike now

back to the past on to the rear window

to make a replacement window I bought a

piece of UV and scratch resistant

polycarbonate to cut it to shape I used

the old window as a template and cut out

the new window with a flush trim bit in

the router and to glue it in place I

used regular automotive windshield

adhesive which was probably

Overkill broke the tube open on the side

I guess I'm done putting it in there

this is my clamping mechanism to hold it

in place while the polyurethane cures

and makes my terrible job permanent I

Then followed that up with a bead of

black silicone around the edge to add

prettiness and to fill in this lip that

would have otherwise collected water you

probably already noticed in the previous

video that that glue bead is visible and

it looks awful if I wasn't an idiot I

would have seen this coming and I would

have put a vinyl border around the

inside of the window to hide the glue

seam like all car windshields do but I

am an idiot and I didn't think to do

that ahead of time it's still totally

possible to add a border to the inside

now but with the window in place it's

much harder to do so so I'm just going

to leave it for now whatever it can look

ugly speaking of insightly glue-ups the

canopy I was not happy with how the

canopy looked where the paint was

slightly pulling away from the canopy

was unsightly and it bothered me so I

covered it up with vinyl tape black

vinyl tape over all of the areas where

there was black paint underneath the

canopy this was super tedious especially

right here where I had to make it match

this curve to make it match this curve I

laid down masking tape to make my

template and then I peeled that shape up

and placed it over vinyl wrap and cut

out the vinyl wrap to match the masking

tape template it was a lot of work but

it looks so much better now I'm very

happy I did that this is essentially a

coverup job but it looks much better

there is one downside though there's

vinyl tape here where the windshield

wiper sits so if you use this windshield

wiper it'll swipe past the edges of this

vinyl tape strip and slowly peel it up

and I'm totally okay with that because

if you use this windshield wiper on this

polycarbonate it'll scratch the absolute

crap out of it so I'm okay with use of

the windshield wiper being decentivize I

removed all the old charge cabling this

was satisfying to get rid of I cleaned

up all the new wiring I added and

crucially to signify the danger all the

high voltage connections I've wrapped in

Orange tape for configuration I set the

charger to charge up to 4.1 volts per

cell which is about 90% capacity for

longevity low voltage cut off is 3.3

volts and while the charger is capable

of 2.5 Kow of output I have it turned

down to 1.4 Kow on both 120 and 240 all

of this is very easily changeable should

I decide to change it later the

electrical stuff is mostly done but

before I call it fully done I need to

fully charge it fully discharge it run

it through some charge discharge cycles

and just test it to make sure

everything's okay I'm not worried about

the system that I added I'm worried

about how the system I added plays with

the stock Twi computer there could be

some complications that I'm not aware of

just yet but that's going to wait

because real winter is set in and it's

very cold and salty outside and finally

this is the shelf that came with the

twike sat in the back it covered all the

high voltage bits you could put your

Cargo in here Etc two problems with this

shelf one the new battery pack that I

built is taller than the old one by

quite a substantial margin which meant

this is now too low and actually rubs on

the high voltage cables on the top of

the battery pack which not ideal the

second problem with it is this is almost

impossible to get in and out of the back

of the to my understanding is this was

for for safety so you couldn't

willy-nilly take the Shelf out and have

access to all the high voltage

components but I wanted to improve this

so I made my own shelf for the back of

the twike out of mahogany and aluminum

and I didn't record any of it because I

thought it was just going to be a quick

side quest I don't know why I thought

that I spent 3 weeks on it the new shelf

is in three technically four pieces to

make it easier to install in place

here's the back piece that screws onto

this back

plate you can see the four little L

brackets coming off the bottom with Riv

nuts in them that's where the back of

the Shelf sits and bolts into then

there's the front piece which sits just

behind this support bar I also added

this laser cut piece of acrylic that's

held in place by magnets this is the

access to the high voltage disconnect

switch behind it and finally the Shelf

which is hinged in the middle you can

see the underside of it these are the

brackets that bolt through here and it's

tinged in the middle so I can actually

get it in and out of there unlike the

old shelf which was just an impossible

puzzle

like I said I massively overdid that

shelf but I like it so there and that's

it it's done now like I said I still

have to do some high voltage validation

testing and possibly some changes based

on that testing but by and large it's

done now I spent so much more time and

money than I thought I was going to on

this stupid thing I estimated in my head

that it would take about a month to do

everything I spent almost that much time

on just the Shelf in the back again that

wasn't solid work that was off and on

work but still and as far as money goes

well on the battery cells that wasn't

bad at all I spent about $900 for 9

kilowatt hours that's pretty good but

then there was the BMS the MCU the

charger the charge port all of that

stuff added up to about

$3,000 and then there was all the extra

wiring stuff that I had to get on top of

that plus all the other stuff that I did

on the to this new rear window all the

work I did on the canopy the brake

switches some other stuff I'm probably

forgetting I think I think I spent about

$4,500 restoring essentially this twike

which not worth it no I mean will I get

that much from the videos that I make on

it also probably not

so this an ill advised project but I'm

really happy with the end result I don't

often get time to sink as much time as I

want to into a project I did get that

opportunity with the twike and I kind of

wish I hadn't but anyway it's ready to

film the video that you've already seen

now so I'm going to go do that bye