Overvolt
Warning: This may cause irreversible damage to your Voy. This can fry the controller or worse, the motor.
Warning: This may cause irreversible damage to your Voy. This can fry the controller or worse, the motor.
An overvolt mod involves adding a fourth battery to your Voy. Some add the fourth battery under the seat. The voltage of the Voy is 36, but the controller will accept somewhere around 40-42 before cutting out. If you have an older 12V lead acid battery, you can add the battery to your set of three in series.
Replace rear wheel and controller
This is the most cost effective choice. Most people that find this page are looking for more speed to climb hills, or keep pace with city traffic.
This is the most cost effective choice. Most people that find this page are looking for more speed to climb hills, or keep pace with city traffic.
Don't forget that the Voy is a low power electric bicycle at heart. It was produced early on before more powerful 400-600 watt electric motors could be sold cheaply.
Because the Voy is a bicycle at heart, that means you can easily replace the rear wheel, with an Electric Bicycle conversion kit for 16" wheels. The controller will have to be replaced in the process, but you can use your existing batteries and the Voy's bicycle frame.
I know another great mod i did to mine and didnt cost much extra maybe a few dollars at the most.I cut the two wires by the motor. Then hooked up a negative wire to the black wire ran it up to the front up under everything to a toggle switch. Then i ran a wire from the negative of the battery closest to the fuse. I ran it up to the toggle switch. You then hook up the wire from the wheel to the accessory on the toggle switch and the other to the ground on the toggle switch. So your scooter will go normal speed until you hit the switch, Mine says 18 to 20 driving normally and when i hit the switch it read about 24 sometimes beyond it. Climbs hills amazingly. An has used the same amount of battery. Oh make sure you have an 30 amp fuse.
ReplyDeletegreat mod but your description does not make sense if you cut the two wires on the motor what did you do with the positive? Can you try explaining it over again? I would like to try this.
ReplyDeleteI know this mod and just finished repairing the sloppy job of the previous owner. This included mounting the toggle “Turbo” switch in the handlebar casing rather then the sorry Velcro tape they had hanging off the mirror and most of the battery packs wire connectors.
ReplyDeleteYou splice into the black ground wire for the rear hub motor; I’d recommend further up the frame then way back at the wheel where it was done so you don’t have to worry about the rear wheels swing arm and run it up to a (SPST) single pull/single throw switch. Then run another lead wire down to the battery pack from the switch; give yourself enough wire for lifting the battery pack up for disconnecting just like the main power cord has. You could get fancy and use a lighted switch, robbing voltage from the dash lights but I couldn’t see reducing what little power the thing has for a switch you would only notice at night and then it would just be distracting.
I used a rubber sealed male/female plug for easy battery pack removal adding a hole with grommet next to the fuse holder then feed the other end of the plug into the pack; tying a couple of knots in the wire inside the case so it wont pull on the connections should the plug get tugged on.
On the end of the wire inside the battery pack use a female spade clip which has an extra male spade also on it and swap it with the ground wire on the charge/power plug port then slide the pack ground wire on to that extra spade. I also bumped up the fuse to 25 amps.
Apparently the controller has a limiting resister through the ground of some kind in it which keeps the speed to approximately 14mph so this mod bypasses that by giving the motor full 36 volts at the hub while still having throttle control and gets the scooter up to 24mph.
I just got my Voy and of course interested in getting a little more out of it. This mod makes sence but do you really need a switch why not just ground it that way permenantly?
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that the switch is there for safety, since it sounds like you're effectively bypassing the ground for this to work.
ReplyDeleteI added the Turbo- bypass mod and everything works great.
ReplyDeleteSince the 48v mods don't work due to the controller, why hasn't anyone tried adding a 6v battery to make a 42v system.
Has a good chance of working since mine worked ok with 42/43 v from the charger(without the battery load). I realize that a fully charged 42v system would run about 45/46v but I think it has a good chance of working.
If it can handle the voltage, the Voy could have 36v for KEY 1 and 42v for Key 2 and the bypass mod could work for both voltages. 4 different power levels; very cool! What do you think?
I've just finished modifying my Voy. It had set around unused with dead batteries for 3 years and I decided to get it running for the grandkids to ride.
ReplyDeleteAfter 3 new 12ah batteries, it ran like a normal Voy; which leaves a bit to be desired.
First I added the controller by-pass mod which raised top speed by 5-6 mph and increased climbing ability by at least 100%. I added the mod so that I can totally disable it with 1 alligator clip for new, young riders.
For still better performance I added another battery for overvoltage available only in Battery 2 Key position. Key position 1 still gives the stock 36v system.
The by-pass mod works for both voltages. The overvoltage position gives normal throttle control and is easy to control for new riders.
At present I am only adding 4v over normal (total 40v)(app 45v fully charged) but can easily go up to 6v with just a battery change.(Controller is said not to work at 48v) Performance with the extra 4v is: Top speed increased by 3 mph and climbing ability by ~50%. Bypass mod and extra 4v together gives ~25mph top speed.
Would like to hear from anyone with Voy mods especially those running overvoltages to compare notes and plan my next mod.
-Ken
fordisoman@aol.com