Dillenger Conversion Kit | 250w | 36v | 10Ah

These rubber grommets allow ingress - good for commuters, but not great.
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v1/1706359371_4/2014-Latest-Style-48V-12AH-Li-ion-Water-Bottle-Battery-with-BMS-and-2A-Charger.jpg

I've been warning customers to make sure they are ok with it. I'm happy enough with the one on my wife's bike but we carry a plastic bag just in case.

I have to concur with Voicecoils.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=58928#p880024

I can't imagine anyone "thrashing" much with one of those wee amp-rate batteries though!

Still waiting for the replacement controller, dillinger advising up to a couple of weeks yet as they had to send the faulty one back to manufacturer. Once you've got an ebike it's hard to go back to pedal power alone even on the perth freeway bike path gentle hills.

In the meantime I've been surfing ebike parts quite a bit and have noticed bmsbattery are selling a bottle style battery pack like this kit with a 20a controller built in. Possibly a direct plug in unit. Also notice dillinger are selling a 2nd cradle and controller as well so you can swap the battery between bikes. Not sure on the quality of the bmsbattery cells, but have to admit having the controller in the base of the bottle makes things pretty neat when it comes to wiring.

To hell with the controller, just touch the wires together for short periods ;0)

Hope your controller arrives soon.

I went cold-turkey last week for a day when I forgot to charge overnight.
Surprisingly on that day without a headwind the road bike was only marginally slower
and took only a little more effort to get to work.

I get the impression that the Dillenger kit is still very primitive. The battery pack after 3000km is still
strong (41v fresh off the charger) so I suspect the motor / geartrain is where gains need to be made.
Intuitively I think the current draw while pulling away from low speeds kills the battery capacity.

A BBS02 350w system that uses the bike's gears beckons.

Chris.

Yup been looking at the bbs02 myself. I think the dillinger kit is a good entry into ebikes, simple and inexpensive. Once you have one though the learning begins.

36v is enough speed, but 48v would be better for the days I want just a little more. Hub motor is nice and quiet/simple but I think I'd prefer mid drive for some of the bigger hills. And having a better battery indicator showing the ah consumed would be better. So basically a 48v bbs02 with a cycle analyst is the future shopping list. But this is a lot more than the dillinger kit and not necessarily better for a commuter.

Spending the difference on better tyres and riding gear may probably be best for most people. I can't wait to get my little 250 hub working again.

I love my little 250 Dillenger.
Brilliant commuter, makes the journey easier, more pleasant and you still get a nice gentle workout. When I don't think I am working hard enough I just back off the throttle and peddal, do that for a couple of hundred metres and then power up again.
Cheers

Hey chris, when you charge do you leave the battery on to balance for long, or do you switch off as soon as you see the green light? Been reading some say to leave them up to 2 days to let everything fully balance. I dunno.

Hi Tats,
I plug it in as soon as I get home and I leave it plugged in; that way I know at a glance if it's charged. It's a peak detection charger I understand so it just switches to open circuit
and can't overcharge.

Effect of Low Ambient Temp.
Low temperature has a noticeable effect on battery performance. Over July / Aug in Tas the ambient temp in the mornings is 0 to 5-6-7 deg. and
I can detect loss of acceleration and range.

Over the last fortnight the temps were higher and the bike is noticeably more sprightly.

Thanks - over the last fortnight I've been using the road bike and pedal power, the performance has dropped off considerably...

Yay Dillinger! I've got a working e bike again!!!

To recap I had an intermittent stutter on the motor using throttle and/or pas. Dillinger (Sam) asked for a quick video and suspected a controller issue, asked if I could send it to them for testing. They confirmed an issue and after speaking to manufacturer in china who confirmed about 10 early units slipped through and ended up being sent out, the manufacturer requested return of faulty unit and sent a new one to Dillinger. Dillinger tested this and then sent out to me via auspost. Just stuck the controller in and all works a treat. I've missed this bike....

(Endorsement follows...)
So thanks must go to Sam for the diagnosis and support and thanks to Tom for following up and getting a new controller out to me. Took a little while (and was a little frustrated at times) as they had to work through a China service and logistics process for this unusual problem, but this is proof that Dillinger's warranty and support works. Looking at some of the stories on here with some other warranty and support situations, I have to say it looks like the Dillinger guys are looking to provide a quality service, good quality easy to install kit at a very good price point. I'd use them for a kit in the future (bbs02 48v...)

Hi Tats,
Great to hear your electric mojo is back.
Here's to zillions of trouble-free kms.

Chris.

Just read your thread here, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience with this kit!

Im thinking about buying a kit or parts, as I bike to work ~3 days a week. It's not more than 2km but it's very steep!
So i don't think I need the biggest battery pack or the most advanced kit.

Would you still recommend the 250w kit from Dillenger? Or is there other kits or ebay sellers I should check out? (No problem with soldering and doing some DIY stuff )
I'm located in Norway and the temp in winter can easily go down to -20'C and in my experience LiPo is better to handle those conditions.

Any battery including Lithium chem. is affected by cold. Lithium is better than NiMh and NiCd though.

For temps in Norway store your batteries inside @ room temps. before use.

The 250w front-drive won't drag you up a steep hill without pedalling. Really steep hills might force you to
drop to the smaller front chain ring.

You could go the more expensive route with BBS01 250/350w mid-drive but there's more stress on geartrains.

The Dillenger is a fuss-free solution. It's water-tight, easy to install, nothing more to buy
and reliable based on my experience after 3200km and 8 months commuting.

The only negative is the extra mass on the front hub means you can't leap over obstacles as easy.

Buy it, install it in 1 hr and try to suppress the grin as you fly up those hills.

Ticked over the 1,000 km mark yesterday - last 4 rides to work (over 20k) have been within 13 seconds of each other regardless of how much effort I use - average speeds have been 30.28, 30.13, 29.79 and 29.68 kmh. I just seem to have more or less battery left showing on the display at the end of the trip....Very impressive for this little kit driving a non-aero 29er with a non-lycra rider.

Remarkably consistent Tats.

FYI
BMS Battery are selling a 14.5AHr 36v pack with 20amp controller that's highly likely to simply plug straight-in
to the Dillenger kit. I say highly likely because I haven't tried it myself...yet.

http://www.bmsbattery.com/36v/678-bottle-ebike-battery.html

This may need a new thread; Dillenger have picked up Bafang mid-drive product.

http://dillenger.com.au/shop/conversion-kits/electric-bike-kit-250w-bafang-mid-drive/

Been using the new controller for a few weeks now and been feeling the bike didn't have the same ride characteristics as before, or the same voltage sag. So just checked the unloaded front wheel speed and it's now 32.3 rather than the previous 37. Also note the voltage say seems a bit more. Hmmm...

That's no good. We can't have that.
Anything else changed? Any bearing wear? Any brake drag?

Mine with almost 3800km under the wheels is still about 36kmh unloaded.



FYI
The controller (20amp version) can be had for around AUD$100 delivered these days.

FYI
My controller:

That's the same controller I have now - the original one I had was definitely different. Piggy back board with LCD, Throttle, PAS and Hall sensor wiring on top - the three phases and Six FETs marked 031N06NS underneath. Mine is ex factory 08 2014. [strike]I've got the battery on charge and will check speed again after its fully juiced.[/strike]

Just checked with full battery, back to the normal 37kmh - doh!. Interesting unloaded after 20km its a 5 kmh drop. Guess it proves that a battery upgrade to 48v is the way to add speed, rather than the controller amps alone.

Good to hear Tats.
As for 48v, can the 250w system take more volts?

Can you try it and report back pls? ;0)

My battery is still strong. It's testament to the chemistry.
It only lost capacity during the coldest part of the year here in Tas, right now in Spring it's tip-top.

Yup, There are a lot of people on here putting 48+volts through the Cute motor and the waterproof wiring.

dv8eh seems to know a whole heap - and I think he runs up to 17A no problems through this motor and cabling with LiPOs. So an upgrade path to 48v when the battery cacks it seems very achievable.

First upgrade installed. Just went for a quick run and all seems good. Will report back difference on my commute this week.

I've installed a Lyen 3077 6-FET Mini Monster MkII controller with Cycle Analyst v2.3 - currently throttle only. Can't get the PAS sensor to work just yet. I ordered a cable from Greenbikekit to allow me to plug n play so I can swap back to the Dillinger controller quickly and easily - say 5 minutes max.

Currently I have the Max Amps set to 21A in the CA and the Low Voltage cut-out set to 31V. I figured 48v * 17A = 816 watts so 36 * 21 = 756 speak watts should be ok with the Q100 that I think the motor is. Hot off the charger my battery is 41.7v so at 21A at 875watts is the peak I'd want to run to protect the cables and connectors. At 35kmh+ its dropped down to around 2 amps too, so I don't think theres much headroom for speed if over-volting but smarter people here can comment on that one.

The ride is different compared to the Dillinger kit that I always rode on PAS and rarely used throttle. The bike doesn't feel quite as torquey from a start, is a little noisier up to about 22 kmh but from then on is much much quieter up to and at cruising speed. The front wheel unloaded speed is about 5% quicker for the same battery voltage. It's windy today so can't tell if the on road speed is any different, suffice to say on a quick 11k run into the wind I set a few Strava PBs without trying. The 11k plus 2 kms of hill work to test used 6AH of battery, battery voltage dropped from 41.7 to 37.2 volts.

Useful data Tats thanks for sharing. What conclusions can you draw from it?

Summary - The Dillinger components and kit is pretty sorted.

Going to work (wind against) used 10ah, back from work (wind assist) 7.3ah - battery started at 41.7v and ended at 36.2v going and 36.7v return. So I guess the claim of a 10ah battery is conservative.
I had the cycle analyst limit the amps at 21 this morning and 19 this afternoon - both times touching the motor after long slopes and sustained max amps the motor was at ambient temperature, not even warm. No noticeable difference in the two settings.
Speed was marginally quicker than the Dillinger standard controller, and smoother and quieter above 24kmh, but a bit growly below that. At 30kmh plus its drawing minimal amps too.

So, I've got myself cycle analyst monitoring, a backup controller option if I have a controller fail, upgradeability to higher voltage when my battery gives up and much more knowledge. That's about it.

Clicked over 1000km on my kit yeterday. Still going strong, new front wheel maybe a little noisier than the old one but still ok.
Really happy with my kit. Cost verses performance I think they are the go.
Don't think I would be comfortable going much over 30kmh on cycleways anyway, pedestrians do not look where they are going, nearly cleaned one up the other day, they change directions without notice.
Hopefully will be able to ride 3/4 times a week when the weather clears.
Cheers

Fully agree that cost to performance these kits are very hard to match. They go together really well, the components are good. The performance is good too. Its no rocketship - but as you say cycle paths are not a place for going quick.