Commuter E-Bike from Novara Hardtail MTB

[chroot]

Actually, I used the plastic bag with the vacuum with the molded with the fiberglass cover over the molded for few hours. It takes about 8 hours to be completely hardened epoxy then I remove the molded fiberglass case.

Let me find a thread that showing the molded fiberglass case. Give me time search it for you.

I saw different technique using heat cover. I never tried that one.

[chroot]

Here link of the molded fiberglass case.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24382&p=353117&hilit=+fiberglass+case+#p353117

nuncaestardesillegaspronto/Venta?feat=directlink#

[Alan B]

Another great case link. Thanks!

Just got email that the large screen cycle analyst is shipping. That will be nice!

CA arrived!

Off on a trip for a few days, no time to play with it now!!

Need to fix the front grip shifter. It broke on the mountain climb, either when I fell or when I was pushing the front derailleur back into position. It moved a bit somehow.

[Alan B]

Time to get back to this project!

Had some nice weather today, and fixed the broken grip shifter, finally. So now I can get out of low range and pedal at reasonable speed when I need to. The old shifter broke on the group ride to slacker's hill a few months back when I took a minor spill in the loose gravel on the steep part of the climb.

Today I also strapped a couple batteries for 10S1P (42V 5AH) and controller to the Son's bike and we went for a ride to the neighborhood "stroll".

Both bikes worked well.

Ordered a couple of the King chargers a few days ago. 75V 2 and 4 amp versions. Plan to alternate bulk and balance charging on my 18S2P (75V 10AH) setup.

[Alan B]

First Commute Run Today!

Finally got everything together for the "first" commute run to work.

Weather warm, going to be hot going home. Took it fairly easy, trying to avoid running out of juice or getting sweaty on the way to work.

14.02 miles
47 min
6.4 amp hours (of 10) (18S2P 5AH, so 75V 10AH)
75.0V to start
68.3V at work
452 watt hours
32.4 watt hours per mile (lots of vertical on this inbound work trip through Tilden park on Wildcat)
60 amps max current
66.4 V min (flogged it hard up one hill)
17.8 average mph
34.5 max mph (flew down one hill)

Took it easy overall, pedalled a little but not very much or very hard, generally ran 15-20 mph. Ran hard up one hill and down another due to a vehicle that was following me at a spot that was not good for passing.

Motor fairly warm upon arrival at work. The hard uphill run was not long before the ride ended, probably heat from that percolating out.

Charging now with Turnigy 8150 at 6 amps 25.2V. Have to charge three sections this way. Bulk charger has not arrived yet, but this balancing turnigy has been doing nicely. Should take less than 1.5 hours per section to charge.

I will probably increase the battery bank to 15AH by adding 3 more 6S 5AH packs. That should give me a comfortable margin and allow more speed, and a round trip without recharging if necessary.

[Racer_X]

where did you order the chargers?

Ordered a couple of the King chargers a few days ago. 75V 2 and 4 amp versions.

[Alan B]

From bmsbattery. It is my understanding they are the King chargers, but who knows. This is somewhat of an experiment.

[Alan B]

Work to home trip. A little faster in parts, taking my time in others. Very nice evening, warm and pretty. Took a few photos along the lake to post later.

43 minutes
14.3 miles (slight detours)
24.5 watt hours per mile
4.9 amp hours (of 10)
19.9 mph average speed
442 mph maximum speed (funny, don't recall going over 35)

[Alan B]

A couple of cellphone snaps, not the best camera, but what we had along.



Charging at Work



View of San Pablo Reservoir riding home from work

It was really a nice day to ride to work, and a spare-the-air day. I saved almost 40 pounds of CO2 today. The air temperature alternated between cool and warm this morning as I rode through cells of warm air. This afternoon the cool breeze from the bay reached through Berkeley and across the park ridges for the first part of my ride, but as I descended into the San Pablo Reservoir valley on the far side the temperature rose significantly. It was really nice to avoid working too hard in the heat and let the electric work as we rolled along the lake.

Some comments on the power supply I was using at work. I had the old Astron RS20A lying around, so I took that to work for this charging station. It is rated for 16 amps continuous, 20 amps intermittent, but at about 12 amps where the charger does the bulk charging this power supply gets very toasty. I'll put it back away and dig out another switcher. The linear supply just gets too hot.

Charging took about 1.5 hours per section times three, so about 5 hours to recharge and balance all three 25 volt sections. Using the Turnigy 8150 charger at 5 amps this time to reduce power supply heat slightly.

[Alan B]

I've replaced the old Astron linear power supply with an Astron SS30M switcher that I have had for awhile:



Astron SS30M 12V supply feeding Turnigy Accucel 8150 charger

This setup runs cool, I've been using one like it at home for some time. It will do 7 amps at 6S. Cellphone quality photo.

[Alan B]

Came to work via a different route.

13.6 miles
7.55 amp hours
524 watt hours
38.5 watt hours per mile
49 minutes

Slightly shorter, lots of hills, more traffic, not as efficient due to up and down and some poor route choices and rough pavement.

The park route (my regular route) is being oiled and gravelled again, so it is a poor route for bikes.

[Alan B]

So I decided to take a different route home today. On dirt roads. Mostly downhill, slow, very pretty terrain along a creek through forest and meadow. Hard to believe it is only a ridge or two away from Interstate 80 and bumper to bumper traffic!

75 min
16.1 mi
5.5 ah
370 watt hours
23 wh/mi
12.9 mph average

[Alan B]

...

Ordered a couple of the King chargers a few days ago. 75V 2 and 4 amp versions. Plan to alternate bulk and balance charging on my 18S2P (75V 10AH) setup.

Chargers arrived. The 2 amp has no switch, the 4 amp has a power switch. Both measure just under 75V as I requested (4.15V*18). The 4 amp unit is slightly taller and a bit heavier as expected. The shorter 2 amp unit doesn't have enough height for the power cord/switch socket hence no switch. It does have the power cord socket.

Took a day less than 2 weeks from order to arrival.

My batteries are already charged so can't try it out yet.

[Alan B]

Here are the bulk chargers:



The upper unit is 74.7V 2A, and the lower unit is 74.7V 4A

The voltage chosen was 4.15 V per cell times 18 cells.

They are the same physical size except for height.

[Alan B]

Good Visibility is important, so I'm getting a jacket for riding:



http://www.safetydepot.com

[Alan B]

Have been reading about the Magic Pie hubmotor. Looks like a nice choice for my type of hilly commuting. Probably better at climbing and shedding heat than the 9C (though the 9C is very good). Just get the model for an external controller. A dual Magic Pie (one in each wheel) would really be amazing. A number of folks are doing that.

http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?board=15.0

[dogman]

OMG, a 2810 on 72v isnt climbing good enough for you? What are you doing? riding up a ski area road?

[Alan B]

Hi dogman. The 9C is doing well. On the slacker's peak run in Marin it got really hot. On my run to work it gets very warm. It is doing the job.

At some point I'll put a temperature sensor in there and get real data. It seems warmer than I'd like, but perhaps it is not as bad as it seems. Slacker's hill was probably near damage level, though. It was really hot for a very long time. Took hours to cool off.

I was thinking we should fund a Magic Pie for you to test. That would be interesting.

[wineboyrider]

Hi dogman. The 9C is doing well. On the slacker's peak run in Marin it got really hot. On my run to work it gets very warm. It is doing the job.

At some point I'll put a temperature sensor in there and get real data. It seems warmer than I'd like, but perhaps it is not as bad as it seems. Slacker's hill was probably near damage level, though. It was really hot for a very long time. Took hours to cool off.

I was thinking we should fund a Magic Pie for you to test. That would be interesting.

Yes! So I can film DogMan climbing up to the Sierra Blanca with smoke coming out of the motors!

[dogman]

Yeah, really steep grades like slackers would be stalling it enough to get real hot. That's why I went to the 2812 on my dirt bike. It does pretty good. I did 70 wh/mi for 30 min continous the other day, and only got the motor up to about 150F. Maybe most of it was less steep than slackers, but I managed to ride an ebike up a certain slickrock part of the trail for the first time ever. About 30 degrees for about 50 yards.

Once hot, it does take hours to cool off a hub though. Big hunk a copper.

If you put a thermometer on it, you'll be able to tell if you are getting hotter and hotter, or have reached equilibrium while still in the safe, under 200F zone.

[Alan B]

Charging setup at work now with balancing charger, power supply, and bulk charger



Upgraded XTR brake lever with stiffer design and adjustable pivot

[Alan B]

The new brake lever went on easily and has great feel.

I've been looking at the Zippy 6S 8AH packs from HobbyKing for a long time. My main pack is 18S2P of 5AH Turnigy, and I have a few more for the 18S3P upgrade, so the Zippy's don't fit into the primary battery plan. But I'm thinking about making a secondary pack for those long weekend excursions that need more range. Three of the Zippies weigh about 8.5 pounds. So not a lot of weight to add. Should be possible as long as it is removable.

So let's see what that would do:

The Stock Setup Now:

18S2P is about 70 volts at midpoint, 10 AH so 0.7 kilowatt hours. At 35 watt hours per mile this is 20 miles. That is running pretty hard.

The Next setup with 3 more Turnigy packs added to the triangle (coming soon):

18S3P is going to raise this by 50% to 30 miles.

And then with the extra range pack tacked on:

Adding an extra pack at 70V 8AH would be 23 amp hours and at 70 volts this is 1.6 kilowatt hours which would go 46 miles at 35 watt hours per mile.

At a more gentle 25 watt hours per mile this 1600 wh pack would go 64 miles.

If you wanted to go 100 miles you'd have to pedal to the 16 watt hour per mile level to make it. At the efficient level of 12 watt hours per mile this setup would go 133 miles.

So I would call this range extended setup good to about 50 moderately agressive miles, possibly a lot more if riding efficiently and pedaling a lot.

Or I could swap things around and make the Zippy pack be the main pack in the triangle, and then have 8AH for the commute to work (just enough), but drop the bike weight by almost four pounds.

So with my battery set I can make 5, 8, 10, 15, 18 or 23 amp hours if the brands can be mixed.

Lots of choices!

I could also leave the main pack at 10AH land make up a 5AH and 8AH auxiliary packs.

Have to give this more thought. But I'm leaning toward 15AH in the triangle and 8AH auxiliary.

Any thoughts out there?

[Alan B]

Awfully quiet out there.

I received a pile of Anderson connectors for the battery upgrade. Plus more for future needs.



I'm considering using the PowerPole 75's to do the paralleling of the 3 packs in each section. Four #12 wires will fit into the PP75 pins designed for #6 wire. So there is enough room for the 3 pack wires (using 4mm polarized bullet plugs) plus a fourth wire to the PP30 that is used for 6S balance charging. This solution will not require a terminal strip, all connections are handled by the crimping in the pins. Mechanically this is very nice. I have different colors of PP75's so the color coding will be used to avoid mistakes in connecting the PP75's. These connections will not be disconnected frequently as charging will be done by either bulk charging the whole 75V stack, or by balance charging each 6S bank with all connections in place. The only time these will be disconnected is when servicing the pack or mounting system.

[Alan B]

Rough Cost Breakdown

Made a rough cost breakdown for this project:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html

[GCinDC]

nice rap sheet. i've gotta do one too! might be nice to link the items to source!

not sure how i've missed all this! looks great. now i gotta go back and read it all.