Monday 25 January 2016

NVS 285 vs NVS 300

NVS 285 vs NVS 300 - Intro


I couldn't find a straight comparison of the NVS 285 vs NVS 300 on the web so have made this page.

NVS 285 vs NVS 300 - Bench Marks 


www.videocardbenchmark.net gives rating of 34 and 196 to the NVS 285 and  NVS 300 respectively.



NVS 285 - (From PassMark)

NVS 300


NVS 285 vs NVS 300 - Compared



Feature
NVS 285 NVS 300
Bus Interface

Memory Size

Memory Interface

Memory Bandwidth

MEmory Speed

CUDA Processor Cores

Display Connectors

OpenGL

Power and Cooling
PCI-Express

128MB DDR

64-bit

4.4 GB/s

350MHz

NA

2



21 Watts (Passive)
PCI Express x16 PCI Express x1

512MB DDR3

64-bit

12.6 GB/s



16

2

3.3

17.5 Watts (Passive)

Picture


Video




Sunlight and Daylight Assessment

Monday 18 January 2016

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars - Intro


This sidecar project is a follow on from my DIY Long Tail Ebike which I think was nor very reliable of useful. The main problem was the drive system, where the rear sprokets kept coming undone during use owing to a reversed thread.


Sidecar for Bicycle. Mixed Results.

So how to get around this? At present I have the pedal chain and the motor chain driving two sides of a flip flop hub, so one thread in the wrong way around. By adding a second driven wheel to the sidecar perhaps this would fix things. No it won't. But I present my findings anyhow.

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars - Research Summary


I know nothing of sidecars, so I did a bit of read on the web first the main thing to realise is that a bicycle side car will need to hinged. Other wise you bike will probably fall over going around corners. A sidecar on the left of the bike for example that is not hinged will result in rubbish left hand cornering, as you will not be able to lean in to the corner.

The only non hinged bicycle sidecars that you see are either the BMX racing ones (where the sidecar is presumed to weighed down with a human whilst riding) or the taxi type things they have in the Philippines (which are named after King Philip of Spain by the way).

So in short unless you side car is heavy or permanently loaded then you will need a hinge.

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars - Motor Driven Wheel on Sidecar


So with nothing but I skewed common sense to guide me I built the side car, welded it on, use some heavy door hinges (steel not brass!) I mounted the motor and went for a test drive.


Note Mounting Plate for Motor
The result. With a hinged sidecar there is not enough down pressure on the wheel to create adequate traction. Of course when loaded this would work OK, so if you had you side car mounted with big heavy seat or a heavey wooden box, this approach may work. It didn't for me.

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars - In Use


So since this first failed attempt I have switched the motor on to the front wheel to make a front wheel drive chain driven ebike. This has proved a really good move, and I now have a reliable drive system. But I thought I would test out how usefull the sidecar was being I had gone to the trouble of making it.

So apart from the extra width when empty you would not even know the side car was there, the bike corners as normal, and when the hinges move the tire moves in and out from the bike  slightly, which you think would be noticable but whilst moving it isn't.

Right Hand View


BUT what about when you load up the sidecar? Oh dear. I put 50 kg - 60 kg of logs in sacks in the sidecar, and things went wrong. Now there is a greater deal of pressure on the sidecar wheel, and as a result the friction with the road is greater, the hing effect is now very "sticky" and this had some "interesting" effects on steering.

Hinges

Hinges


Something that is also perhaps a bit dangerous is that when you turn right the cargo bed widens, and loose sacks of say logs, will slump down in to this new widened space, and you will not be able to get the bike upright.

The ONE thing that is good, is that the bike will stay upright when you are loading it, although you have to be careful not to knock it over.

Thorpy's Guide to Bicycle Sidecars - Recommendations


Some really big spring in stead of hinges might be an idea. So you bend when going around the corner, and the hinging effect is limited.

I have seen design with a stabalising bar that you can use when loaded, and take off when empty. Best of both worlds.

Side Car Size Based on Euro Crate Size 400 x 600mm


Rear Dropouts Made from Plate Steel
 A side car seems to bring all of the disadvantages of a car, with all of the limitation of a bike. So Is not really very good. It would be OK for large light loads, but so would any long tail cargo bike + ratchet straps.


A sidecar would be useful for a permanently loaded application such as a rickshaw with heavy seat and canopy, or perhaps some sort of micro coffee kiosk. But for the occasional /one way cargo carrier it represents a world of confusion.

I will be hack-sawing this off in the next few days.


Environmental Consultants London

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Schwalbe Jumpin Jack Tyre Review

Schwalbe Jumpin Jack Review


These are a very knobbly offering from Schwalbe that come in a 2.1 or 2.25 size. Both 20".

These are pictures of the 2,25" size and they are evidently sweet.

Big Knobbles . .

. . . more Big Knobbles
These tyres have a funny little raised bit that sits against the rim, this might be there to help prevent pinch flats / snakebites but not sure. This means fitting the tyres are a bit more tricky especially on "taller" rims. These are on gusseet rims, and they were a tight-ish fit. i.e. I needed levers.

Unlike Dirty Harrys (another tyre by Schwalbe) these tyre do not have a puncture protection belt. I am running them with tyre liners.

Cheap if bought from Germany <£10.  Try Bike Parts De


Environmental Consultants London

Chain Driven Front Wheel Drive Ebike

Chain Driven Front Wheel Drive Ebike - Why?


If you are trying to do an ebike on the cheap then you might be a bit resistant to the thought of spending £200 on a Chinese no name hub motor, with lots of plasticy control and unessassary electronics.

This is why I purchased a chain drive motor, it was about a third of the price of a cheap hub motor. In fact I got everything I needed to electrify my bike for £180 including batteries (Panasonic Batteries!).


Be Prepared for Ugly

The result is a dog ugly bicycle that I know I can get parts for if they go wrong becuase I bought all of them individually.

Chain Driven Front Wheel Drive Ebike - How


You will need the motor. Unite Motor Company make lots of different electric motors. You will need one that is geared down for torque.

You will need to mount the motor above the tire quite high up, where it will not stick out too much. Or you can mount is sticking out of the side lower down, which make the bike less wobbly (lower centre of gravity).

BMX Rear hubs are 110mm OLD, i.e. the drop out are 110mm spacing. Front forks are 100mm spacing so you do not need to widen them much to fit in a BMX rear hub.

In my case I sawed off the drop out on the left hand side (right hand side in pictures) and welded back on. This was an easy job as you can use the axle to hold everything in place. Just be sure to warp some tape around the axle to stop the weld blobs sticking to it.

Note Re-positioned LH Drop Out (Right Hand in Picture)
Being you have just misaligned the drop out the wheel will not sit centrally in the forks so you will have to dish the wheel a little more so that the rim comes back to centre. You will need a spoke key to do this.

Plate Welded on to forks
The plate will need to be quite thick, even a small motor will flex a thin plate, a diagonal support to the rear will help keep things ridgid. Mark the holes for the bolt carefully, and lengthen the hole with a file so you can slide the motor away from the motor to tension the chain. Nyloc nuts are advisable.

This is so much simpler than trying to fit a chain driven motor to your rear wheel, whilst keeping the pedals. If you are running a low voltage (24v) system like this one here you will need fat wires to avoid reistsance as the wires will have to run from the back of the bike to the front, which in this case is about 1.5 meters.

To look at the whole bike, please visit my DIY Long Tail E Bike Page

Close-up of left hand drop out.



Environmental Consultants Bristol

Illustrator Devon