Ideally, I’d think you’d want to log pedal position, motor speed, driven wheel speed, non-driven wheel speed, PWM or whatever applied to motor, 3 axis acceleration and motor temperature. 3 axis gyroscope might also be useful for suspension tuning. At the speeds you’re talking, 5-10hz would probably more than suffice.
I do this for a living with hydrocarbon powered vehicles, 
-D
As far as running the suspension it’s a fixed axle system with a heim joint steering setup that is adjustable so I can align the front with rear then add a few degrees of tow in if needed. It has very standard basic basic spindles. Also no sensors are hooked up to the front wheels or the rear. As for the suspension it is a horizontal mounted shock that was from the kids atv however it is being swapped to a crf100 shock first thing in the am to cushion the rider but mainly the powecell as no matter what spring weight or shims we put in would get it where we want it. The rear axle is a rear carrier from a atv with solid rear axle with a drum/band brake on one side and it had a nissis hydraulic brake system from a cr250 I picked off my motocross bike however with the slow speeds this travels at that was overkill and a company makes a heavy duty cable operated billet machined cable brake that’s going in hooked up to asv hand lever assemblies. Also with the rear axle there are no impulse rings/wheel speed sensors nor on the input and out put of the transmission either. Main reason for this is the build has to cost under 500 dollars with some leadway on battery cost. I have thermistors however with an out runner brushless the whole case turns and the end caps stationary which bolt to the transmission housing. Jim came up with a great way after a motor was burned up at the meeting and got a lower kv motor which changed the speed torque curve drastically. I also bought a set of sprockets for it depending on the course we run (you do not have any clue on layout till you get there) depending if it has all straight aways or all s turns with a hairpin or 3 lol so the final drive is where our power train kills the competition or kills us from a fire…jk plus fire suit does not fit anymore lol. So in a nutshell Jim has been doing some awesome software to get us rolling however this event is amp limited by a fuse as well so with his software and if we can get some thermal readings on the motor every few trips around the building and play with the sprockets to get the best combo for the track were up against I think that’s about all of the tunabability we can get out of it. I think Jim nailed it on the lower kv motor and hopefully the new shock will give the cell more cushion well know tomorrow morning when I weld it in
Side note we are right at the 500 lol
I can work on data acquisition when I get back in town. Won’t make it for the first event but you might be able to make use of it down the road for further tuning of the thing. I have suspension engineer friends who can help determine optimum spring rates and shock dampening rates if you want to get really spiffy.
-D
heh, I have a vote for decorating the power series
http://nerdist.com/thinkgeek-unveils-mad-max-fury-road-power-wheels/
According to rule of the event mad max carts are illegal.
Which rules are them?
Hah, that’s awesome. Unfortunately I think the spikes disqualify in the official rules (I skimmed through them when they were open on the computer).
If we are going to talk about a new design for the power series (since the minecraft pig is probably not going to work due to shape and head causing a major impedance of the road, I’d love to see a Herby design or Twisted metal themed shell (the helmet could be designed to look like the flaming clown head) =D
Nerf spikes???
I am in favor of a mad max car! Or tank girl? I don’t think it would be too hard to get the point across without spikes.
I’ll also note this article was posted on April 1
Mike
This
No spikes here
Once you have a theme, I have a real nice airbrush. You can use it for detailing - much classier than spray paint…
If we tie a stuffed animal or American Girl doll to the front, and a fake (or real) gun mounted up on top behind the driver. the structure couldhide the battery pack and have a small shelf for the elctronics…