Proper Switch Selection

[Dennyb123]

Right now on I'm running 36 volts via SLA batteries to my Magic Pie. I'm using 3 automotive relays wired in a series. To switch them on and off, I have them wired to the lights button on my throttle. this comes in handy for powering the bike on and off with the touch of a button at the handle bars. I also have a automotive battery disconnect switch easily accessible at the rear of the bike. I should also add that I'm also using a 30 amp 250 VAC/50 VDC circuit breaker. Everything works great. But, now I'm adding a fourth battery to create 48 volts. I want to get rid of the relays and battery disconnect switch. I want to replace them with a simple toggle switch which I will decide where to mount it when the time comes. This setup would be far less bulky. Does anyone know of a simple toggle switch that I could use for my setup?

Thanks in advance,
Denis

[Bikemad]

Denis,

You could use something like this:

16A double pole switch.

You could wire it in parallel across both poles for 32Amps which would be more than adequate for the Magic Pie.

If you wired the first position through a 33Ohm resistor, you could use it to pre-charge the capacitors in the controller to eliminate the arcing at the contacts.
Switch it to the position l (Pre-Charge) for approx 1 second and then switch straight to position ll (Run) and you're ready to go.

But it will overload and cook the resistor if you try to use the bike with it switched to "Pre-charge" instead of the "Run" position.
Perhaps some sort of current limiting device could be used to prevent the resistor from being overloaded.

A switch with a momentary contact for position l and a latching contact for position ll would be better.

Alan