Build of Bafang BBS02 from Greenbikekit

Joined
Aug 28, 2014
Messages
147
Location
The Beautiful Mountains of Utah, USA
I was totally blown away when hie2kolob told me he rode his BBS02 Cannondale up a 5,000 foot climb to a nearby mountain peak: http://endless-sphere.com/forums//viewtopic.php?f=28&t=62646

When he let me ride it, I had such a blast that I knew I was going to get one. This is my third electric bike. My first was a dual-chain rear wheel setup (one chain from the pedals and a separate chain from the motor to the back hub.) My second was a brushed front hub. Both were very heavy and nearly useless climbing hills except for the first mile or so of a freshly charged pack. I used the second ebike for a 3.5 mile commute from home to the train station and from the train station to work; I had to keep a second charger at work to top off the batteries before the commute home or the bike would die on the final half-mile climb on the way home.

I ordered the 750W kit from greenbikekit.com for $530 shipped. http://www.greenbikekit.com/electric-bike-kit-1/central-motor-kit/bafang-8fun-mid-crank-driving-bbs-02-kit-48v-500w-750w-central-driven-motor-kit.html

Took a mere eight days for it to arrive (ordered on a Thursday, received the following Friday). I had seen another thread suggesting that emailing Anna at customer support was a good way to keep your order moving. So I did that and she responded promptly, giving me a tracking number the Monday after I ordered.

install02.jpg

Hie2kolob helped me install the kit. We installed it on a Mtn Tek that a friend gave me. So wonderful to have someone helping with the install who has already done the install TWICE before. I highly recommend it! LOL. After the install, I went on a 5-mile midnight ride and had this silly grin on my face the whole time, especially when I cranked up the PAS for a big climb. I think I could happily ride with the stock programming, but I just finished reading the programming thread and look forward to tweaking some settings. http://endless-sphere.com/forums//viewtopic.php?f=28&t=62646

View attachment 2

I'm using the same 12s 10Ah pack that hie2kolob put on his second build. Great value! $162 shipped. The pack is housed in triangle bag from Amazon that teslanv recommended on his excellent build thread: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56512

Here's a link to the bag on Amazon. $16 or so shipped. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JA8WEG/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's a link to the batteries. I am using 6 of them. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=18631

The wire exits the bag through a small hole left by not closing the zipper all the way. There is enough of a lead on the connector wire that I can quickly unplug from the main pack and plug in to a reserve pack on a rear rack, should I ever choose to build a reserve pack. Ignore the wire hanging down from the top left of that photo; it's not part of the BBS02, it's the wire to my headlamp.

motor.jpg

I simply cannot believe how light this bike is with the kit installed and the batteries mounted. Of course, I'm comparing it my previous set up, which had a brushed front hub motor and 3 x 12Ah sealed lead acid batteries. Night and day difference. And night and day difference in performance. Wow! Third time's a charm to get an electric bike that I'm very happy with.

Now, if it'll just stop raining, hie2kolob and I can go on a ride tonight. :)
 
Great install info and thanks for the update on the project.
I'm really interested on those economical packs. What equipment are you using for charging and balancing the packs? How much does that add to the cost?
I've purchased a headway cell pack. It's too pretty to keep in a case and for dry weather riding (especially for testing) I plan to just secure the pack on the back rack of the bike with a foam pad underneath for the bumps along the ride. I can't wait for this weekend, as the project is about finished.
I had some things to figure out on the bike. That plus the minimal time I have to devote to the project these days had stretched the duration of the install past a reasonable timeframe. ;)
 
0utrider said:
...
I'm really interested on those economical packs. What equipment are you using for charging and balancing the packs? How much does that add to the cost?
...
I ordered the same battery medic for monitoring/balancing that hie2kolob has. I ordered it with other stuff, so I'm not exactly sure what the shipping would be for ordering just the medic, but I'm guessing around $20: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=41170

I was also going to order the same Meanwell bulk charger that he has, but they are out of stock for some time. So I ordered a 240W bulk charger from greenbikekit. It won't charge as fast as the Meanwell, but it's half the cost ($61 shipped), and I usually charge my lipos at less than full charging capacity anyway. http://www.greenbikekit.com/battery-charger/240w-lithium-ion-battery-charger.html

Greenbike will set the voltage to whatever you want, so I had them set it to 50.2 volts, which will leave just a little bit of margin in case any of the packs get slightly out of balance. I'll report on how well it works; it hasn't arrived yet, as I didn't order it til late last week.

I also already had an Accucel-6 balancer/charger that I use to charge my RC batteries. I can use it if I need to give any TLC to individual batteries. Although I'm not sure I'll need to, since that battery medic has been working really well for hie2kolob. You just plug it in and it balances and monitors an individual battery in real time.
 
I put the Bafang through its paces tonight on a 14.4 mile ride with hie2kolob. The bike outlasted me! I was ready to quit and the battery pack was still somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 depleted. It took about 40 minutes or so on hie2kolob's Meanwell charger to recharge the pack.

I was able to get pretty much whatever performance I wanted by adjusting PAS from 1 to 9. I used the throttle occasionally just for fun, but PAS is good for every situation I encountered except for when I simply wanted to do nothing and let the bike do all the work. LOL. For my riding style, this bike is extremely usable without any additional programming. When I get my programming cable and pull the settings, it'll be interesting to see how my default settings compare with others'.

One thing I noticed differently than hie2kolob's bike is that PAS kicks in MUCH quicker on mine. I quite like that. Maybe just a half a revolution of the pedals and it kicks in. I really like that. That's probably one setting I'm not very likely to change.
 
darth_elevator said:
I put the Bafang through its paces tonight on a 14.4 mile ride with hie2kolob. The bike outlasted me! I was ready to quit and the battery pack was still somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 depleted. It took about 40 minutes or so on hie2kolob's Meanwell charger to recharge the pack.

I was able to get pretty much whatever performance I wanted by adjusting PAS from 1 to 9. I used the throttle occasionally just for fun, but PAS is good for every situation I encountered except for when I simply wanted to do nothing and let the bike do all the work. LOL. For my riding style, this bike is extremely usable without any additional programming. When I get my programming cable and pull the settings, it'll be interesting to see how my default settings compare with others'.

One thing I noticed differently than hie2kolob's bike is that PAS kicks in MUCH quicker on mine. I quite like that. Maybe just a half a revolution of the pedals and it kicks in. I really like that. That's probably one setting I'm not very likely to change.

Good info. I'm encouraged with the range you are comfortably obtaining. I hope to have the bike running this weekend with some video to show for the efforts.
Fingers crossed.
 
darth_elevator said:
I ordered the same battery medic for monitoring/balancing that hie2kolob has. I ordered it with other stuff, so I'm not exactly sure what the shipping would be for ordering just the medic, but I'm guessing around $20: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=41170

Thanks for the links!
 
I made a reserve pack using 4 x 3s 5000mAh packs that I already had on hand. They fit perfectly into the bag that came with the rack, which I picked up for $10 in the local classifieds. This picture shows how the power cable that normally connects into the main pack in the triangle bag can easily pivot back to plug into the reserve pack. It takes just a few seconds to disconnect the main pack and plug in to the reserve pack. In fact, it's a quicker changeover than switching to the reserve fuel tank on my brother's truck. LOL.

reserve pack.jpg

Unfortunately, I won't be able to test the reserve pack on this afternoon's ride, because I noticed, just as I was leaving the house this morning, that I had soldered on the wrong connector -- identical to the one I'm using on the motor side. LOL.

0utrider said:
Thanks for the links!
You are most welcome!

0utrider said:
....with some video to show for the efforts....
That's a great idea! I hadn't thought of videoing one of my rides. I don't have a gopro, but I have a small non-HD camera that I could easily shoot some video with.
 
darth_elevator said:
That's a great idea! I hadn't thought of videoing one of my rides. I don't have a gopro, but I have a small non-HD camera that I could easily shoot some video with.

I picked up a cheap Sony Action Cam to make overly long and boring videos such as the one linked below:

[youtube]Ha19xA0T6DI[/youtube]

I'll be using that strapped to my head when I record my first test. If I laugh uncontrollably from a positive experience or curse due to complications of the install, an external microphone will pick up the joy, swearing or a mix of both.
 
Wow, that takes really good night time photos. Where'd you get it?
 
darth_elevator said:
Wow, that takes really good night time photos. Where'd you get it?

The Action Cam is a Sony HDR AS-15 which I picked up on Craigslist cheap.
The stills were taken mostly with cellphones and there are two or three shots taken with a decent Canon camera.

Unfortunately YouTube butchers the quality of the videos. You should see the pre-compressed recording, it's very clear even in the darkest of passages with no compression artifacts.

I sure wish there was an affordable alternative to YouTube but I have yet to find one.
 
Nice thread darth_elevator!

Thanks for the great ride today along the Bonneville shoreline trail!
 
hie2kolob said:
Nice thread darth_elevator!

Thanks for the great ride today along the Bonneville shoreline trail!
You are most welcome! And thank you! I never expected that I would like to uphill parts better than the downhill. So awesome to punch right up those climbs. And thanks for letting me switch connectors on the reserve pack. It was nice to try it out. When I topped it off, it took just over 1950 mAh. That's around 40% for the first 2 miles of the ride, including that big initial climb.

0utrider said:
....picked up on Craigslist cheap....
I'll have to keep an eye out. Thanks!
 
darth_elevator said:
0utrider said:
....picked up on Craigslist cheap....
I'll have to keep an eye out. Thanks!
10485084714_9388b7bd49_z_d.jpg

I picked up mine about a year ago for about 100 bucks including a 64 GB micro SD memory card and a couple of extra mounts.
It's bound to be much cheaper after this much time on eBay or Craigslist. I'm happy with cheap even though it's not as highly regarded or desirous as a $400+ Go Pro or Drift Ghost-S.
 
Awesome setup, Outrider!

Here's my current setup with 15Ah, 10Ah in the triangle bag and 5Ah in the rear bag. It's so easy to switch to the reserve pack, I'm tempted to get a bigger rear bag so I can add another 5Ah for longer rides. Also pulled some handlebar extensions off an old bike, as my poor back sure has needed them on the last couple rides.

9.11.2014.handlebars.kickstands.reserve.pack.jpg
 
0utrider said:
Updates to the bike pics soon. The weekend is near!
Looking forward to seeing them. I looked at your flickr pics. Impressive build. Do you also have a thread here?

You asked me earlier about my charger. I have since found the Meanwell in stock elsewhere (at Mouser). It was a little bit more expensive, but I didn't want to wait until October for it to come back in stock at the other site. :)

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=HLG-320H-48Avirtualkey63430000virtualkey709-HLG320H-48A
 
darth_elevator said:
0utrider said:
Updates to the bike pics soon. The weekend is near!
Looking forward to seeing them. I looked at your flickr pics. Impressive build. Do you also have a thread here?
Nope, no thread per se. I wanted to wait until I was past powered testing or finished it to post a new thread clean of my previous ramblings about which bike to use and waffling on multiple motor considerations.

darth_elevator said:
You asked me earlier about my charger. I have since found the Meanwell in stock elsewhere (at Mouser).
Thanks for letting me know about your approach to the bike's power supply. I'm going to have to take the time learn more about using R/C type batteries as they are a level above my current cognitive capabilities at the moment. Heck I just learned the "S" in a description of a battery refers to how many cells “in series” reside in a pack. Much to learn but the price point is too good to ignore.
 
26 more miles today on the Bafang

Hie2kolob and I took the Bafangs mountain biking this morning. 14 miles up and back (round trip) on a single track with a 2230-foot elevation gain. The Bafangs performed beautifully! I ran at PAS 4 for the first few miles, and then switched to PAS 5 when I started getting tired. Used about 55-60% of my main pack, so I didn't even touch the reserve pack. Threw the main pack on the Meanwell for 30-40 minutes, so I'd have plenty of juice for our 12-mile night ride after dark.

Today's morning ride was a great test ride in preparation for the 5000-foot climb I'm hoping to do soon. Looks like I could probably get by with 15Ah, but I ordered an additional 5Ah, so I can make the attempt with 20Ah. I'd rather finish the ride with an untouched reserve pack than risk running out.
 
Great video, Outrider! I love the sound of the system ramping up -- music to my ears. Makes me want to go on a ride right this very second. LOL. Looks like you're just about ready to ride. Where are you thinking of mounting your battery?
 
darth_elevator said:
Great video, Outrider! I love the sound of the system ramping up -- music to my ears. Makes me want to go on a ride right this very second. LOL. Looks like you're just about ready to ride. Where are you thinking of mounting your battery?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't antsy to get out and ride it but I'm being methodical with the little time I can turn to the project.
I literally had 45 minutes time in-between chauffeuring the kids around and yard work yesterday to quickly install the control head and wires and rig the battery.
As soon as my wife turned into the driveway, testing was over for the day as we had errands to run and had to take the kids to eat.

15240609835_e0878861c3_z.jpg


Battery: I plan on mounting it on the rear rack. My efforts will be to find a way to secure it in a less cobbled fashion. I'm currently using an anchor strap. :)
I think I'll place some plastic over the terminals but I like the blue/orange industrial look of the Headway pack that I'm going to try to find a solution to cover the ends in orange plastic while leaving the cells exposed. I even joked to my wife that I want to put blue LEDS in the pack to make it glow blue. Ha ha ha.

Fingers crossed for road testing this weekend after I dress up the wires.
 
Outrider, that bank of batteries is an impressive sight. Good luck with your final preparations for the test ride!

I thought I'd post some pics of my charging setup. Here's the bulk charging in process. No need to be scared of lipos, just cautious. I charge these in the garage, which is where I charge all my RC lipos, as well.

bulk.charging.jpg

Here's the timer that Hie2kolob kindly built for me. Having a timer that shuts off the power to the Meanwell is a very smart precaution to take.

timer.jpg

I hadn't ever really balanced the individual battery packs with each other since building the pack, so after bulk charging them to get them all nearly full, I put each battery on a balance charger to finish topping them off. I don't anticipate having to do this very often, as the lipos now stay in balance WAY better than the lipos I was flying with 7-8 years ago. Another great lipo charging precaution: a flame-resistant charge bag.

lipo.bag.jpg

Perfectly balanced and maximum charge. When I see 4.20's across the board, I get the irresistible urge to take the Bafang for a ride! :)

 
Nice! I really like the timer circuit in a metal box. Great idea!
4.20v Man, that's spot on for all of them! Wow. I've not seen that yet. Then again, I've yet to test the pack out on a long discharge yet either to see if it would even charge correctly yet. All I have done so far is top off the pack this past Saturday overnight to get it ready for the final install and testing.
 
0utrider said:
.... for the final install and testing....
Make sure on the test ride that you have the video camera pointed at your face. If you're reaction is anything like mine, you'll have this big, cheesy grin the whole ride, accompanied by continuous giggling. :D :lol:
 
darth_elevator said:
0utrider said:
.... for the final install and testing....
Make sure on the test ride that you have the video camera pointed at your face. If you're reaction is anything like mine, you'll have this big, cheesy grin the whole ride, accompanied by continuous giggling. :D :lol:

Noted sir!
 
Back
Top