Hi Jeff keep me posted, I’m looking at the blackhawk liteweight trike. Although I spoke to PD White yesterday hes working on a trike…so if it comes to production by summertime Ill be very intrested. I here you loud and clear on the battery seperation. Oh one thing made me laugh on the simplify lite trike the paramotor gets a better seat rest than the pilot lol. Nice and light though. thx for the reply. Rgds martin
Martin- I looked at the Blackhawk liteweight trike as well. Went with Simplify XT One Plus,
I’m new to the forum, thanks to @JustFloating Chris for pointing me here! I’m resurrecting this thread because I’m building my own trike to attach to the SP-140 frame/cage, but I want to include a second battery and I have some questions.
Firstly, @Patentguy Jeff; (how did your build come along?) choose the anderson connector approach in case one BMS (or pack) has a problem. That seems like a fairly sensible way to do it as long as you can reach around to all the connectors and none of the leads threaten to get into your netting! Did the rest of you ( @zjwhitehead Zach etc.) approach your wiring the same way?
Second, I’m torn between keeping the weight down as much as possible or adding an upper set of bars (like the Simplify XT One Plus has) around the pilot to provide extra chassis stiffness and a bit of a safety cage in case of incidents. What are the groups thoughts?
And for now, finally, what is the maximum safe total weight you would suggest for a trike using an SP-140 motor and 3-blade 140cm prop and an appropriate wing?
Thanks in advance, for any insights!
Cheers,
Ross
Brit in Florida
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I am very interest to see you results - keep post your progress.
Yep, just 2 of the same battery in parallel with a “Y” connection into the ECS
There are too many factors to safely say a number here but assuming the structure and wing are well built for many multiples of the takeoff weight, the thrust of the SP140 is sufficient for 2 medium sized adults + a trike.
What are things to watch out for when pushing the SP140?
- Over current - Drawing too much from the battery for a long period can degrade the cells (mostly because of heat). Having 2 batteries splits the current draw across the packs so you should be good there.
- ESC Over temperature - The ESC has a high temperature shutoff and you can see the temperature on the controller display with the latest firmware. You’ll want to keep it under 100c.
- Motor Over temperature - There’s no sensor on the motor so this one is the hardest to monitor out of the box. In our testing we’ve added a thermistor probes to keep tabs on temperatures. High temps over time can break down the motor wiring enamel and the magnets among other things.
Hi – So, during testing how close was the motor getting to being too hot?
Very close with the double trike and full power for a few mins.
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Thx. So maybe a slightly bigger motor and controller would be warranted if a double trike and or a heavy grip on the throttle for long climbs with a heavier rider maybe.
My general outlook on power is it is better to have more than you need most of the time, than not to have enough the few times you really need it 
. Remember the vid of the guy that lived but had turned in to a valley and could not turn or climb out of , maybe having a sh!t load more power in reserve would have allowed a steep climb out?
Cheers
Yep, we’ve tested some different motors in the past but have put it on the back burner while we focus on making the best possible solo paramotors.
Here’s another example we flew with
Nice👍, you remember the specs on that one.
Cheers
That looks like a retracta trike. When I contact them they told me they “don’t make a trike for the SP140 anymore due to inconstancies with their frames”. I assume that your frame is a V1, I am trying to find which model of the retracta trike did you use and maybe I will be able to adapt it to the V2 frame.
jeff how you getting on with the battery mounts etc. I looked at the simplify website wasnt very simple at all. Like soooo many of the sites they say a lot less than they actually say. e.g you download a 2023 price list and only one trike price and not yours with roll bars!
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Guys I have the same Fly Products trike with a Cosmos 300 on it. I’m a certified tandem instructor from One Up Adventures. My cosmos is still running strong but I’d be interested in swapping it out for electric just for the simplicity of low maintenance. I also have an SP-140 Batch 2 that I carry with me in my RV for short flights in epic locations. The Xenit breaks down in my Jeep towed by the RV but is a pain in the ass to assemble and disassemble with the heavy Cosmos. My last trip I had oil spill all over the back of the jeep and made a huge mess of everything. I would be thrilled with a multi battery pack setup on the Xenit that are removable. Any info you can give me about your setup and how I could replicate it would be appreciated. Pic of me flying over Loan Rock at Lake Powel in my SP-140
