E-BikeKit rewiew, 36 volt front hub

[dogman]

As my pack get older, I am noticing that a discharge all the way to cutoff tends to leave it unbalanced on the next charge. It's always come back after 2 charges, and I try to avoid two discharges to cutoff in a row. This last time was the most unbalanced I have ever seen it. I do one or two discharges to cutoff a year, just to monitor the capcity, and see if any is lost. Or to find the max range with a new motor. Then during the year, I may do a few more when on long distance rides where I may go 60 miles in one day. I find that if I just stop when the first voltage sag is noticed, about 1.5 miles before cutoff, I don't get so unbalanced.

99% of my riding is about 60-80% discharge.

[dogman]

Due to some rainy, and even snowy weather, I've still not reached the 500 mile mark on the new E-BikeKit motor. Still working flawlessly. In the winter, it's not so cold, but my job needs a truck a lot more to haul off the firewood from tree pruning, haul in cement for winter improvement projects etc. So I may ride less than 50 miles a week in Dec and Jan.

I plan to put 500 miles on the motor, and then move it to a bike with better suspension and ride in on the dirt trails. It should do well, it's sure has some tourqe, and the dirt bikes run on 48v nicads, so it should have even more toruqe then.

[mwkeefer]

Dogman,

I don't know if your charger has adjustable current but if your using 36v lifepo4 (12s) then an iCharger 1010B+ can provide current from 1-10A with a decent DC supply... Normal charge rate is what 1/2c - 1/4c? Try letting the pack trickle charge at 1/8C using a different power source.. it will give the bleeder BMS a better chance at equalizing the cells to their maximum potential... then see how bad the oob situation is after full discharge.

I just read back the last few pages I had missed, nice - est. 60mi on that ping pack.

The suppressor / limiter loop won't effect accelleration (up to the limit) so it shouldn't interfere with hills at lower speeds, only the speed % which are programmed would affect accelleration and / or top end.

Glad to hear things are going well with the review, curious how you keep toasting thumb throttles?

-Mike

[dogman]

The ping is back to normal now, just needed a couple cycles to get balanced as usual.

The throttles I break off the thumb tabs since I ride with it 100% about 99% of the time. The bike trail has several big dips to let water cross, and sometimes I get both wheels off the ground at 25 mph. So I bust off the tab landing the jump. I just glue on a piece of 1" pvc pipe and make em half throttles.

[mwkeefer]

The ping is back to normal now, just needed a couple cycles to get balanced as usual.

The throttles I break off the thumb tabs since I ride with it 100% about 99% of the time. The bike trail has several big dips to let water cross, and sometimes I get both wheels off the ground at 25 mph. So I bust off the tab landing the jump. I just glue on a piece of 1" pvc pipe and make em half throttles.

That's a tough one... I've jumped my 9FS (thumb) a bit and I know what you mean, I always lego the power on launch and revert to holding onto the bars until i've landed, pedal and throttle out of it.

Full twists are bulky but it's what I put on my specialized and it's far better for off road use (more like a dirt bike) and I've done some MEAN stuff to my ride without breaking anything (> 1K miles, rough riding).

The trails I ride here (if you can call them trails, more like the side of a mtn) have some mougles (I think that's akin to your dips) but I extend my body while taking them and if I get air (I rarely do as I conform to the dips) again I lego the throttle. I guess this is what everyone means by "Technical Riding" and I just take it for granted (many many years motocross - 80cc - 250cc).

You should see me hopping over speedbumps at 30-35mph, full clip. I guess you figured out I rarely sit while riding (old habits die hard).

-Mike

PS: Would you be interested in an Aluminum body thumb thottle to try out (might stand up a bit better for ya)? I have to order one for a custom build and there would be little difference in 1 or 5 units to me.

[ambroseliao]

Hi Mike,

I would be very interested in an aluminum thumb throttle. I keep worrying about breaking off the little tab. Let me know how much it is!

Ambrose

[mwkeefer]

I guess I'll start a new thread to offer these at buy in cost to ES folk since I have no plans of stocking them (it's for a custom build).

Dogman - I could also send you a half grip or full twist if you would like to give those a go?

-Mike

[dogman]

I just turn the broken thumb throttles into half twist ones with a piece of glued on pvc pipe. If you do that before it breaks, you get both a thumb and a half twist throttle. Nice for really long rides where hand fatigue can be a problem.

I know I should let off the throttle on those dips, but I forget sometimes, or just hit a pothole by suprise. On the mountain trails, I use only half twist throttles, and pay a lot more attention.

All those broken thumb throttles were from aotema kits anyway. No problems so far with the Ebikekit stuff. I'm supposed to try the thumb throttle and the full throttle too, but I confess, I just put on my favorite, the half throttle.

[dogman]

Not a lot of riding going on lately, in the winter I do a lot more work that requires a truck, and even here, it's 25F at dawn so an hour ride is not ideal.

So it's a good season to rebuild bikes. I just moved the EbikeKit motor to a new bike. Actually an old bike, but new to me. Here it is,

Dogmans commuter V2.0.jpg (102.03 KiB) Viewed 489 times

All the seat, rack, etc was just transfered to the newer bike. This bike has much better suspension including, Alloy suspension forks. Something I never thought I'd do, but after some fiddling around with a couple forks I found one that the motor fits well, and installed it along with dual tourqe arms and c washers from Ebikes-ca. Kid's, don't try this at home. The fit had to be absolutely perfect for me to try this. A complete description will appear in a review of the C washers in another thread.

I have a 48v pingbattery on order, so by early spring I should have some opinions on how the Ebikekit runs on 48v. The motor continues to work flawlessly.

On this install, I tidied up things a bit more. For instance the wiring harness comes like this.

Wiring before.jpg (80.55 KiB) Viewed 488 times

Actually, you want it that way, so when you install it you can troubleshoot any connector issues that though rare, do happen. After testing, then you can do your own idea of how to seal up things. I live in a dry climate, so I just like to tape em up like this.

wiring after.jpg (82.86 KiB) Viewed 487 times

Back to the subject of throttles, I have put the full throttle on the bike for a test. I sorta hate it already but will give it a fair try., It would be fine if I always rode full throttle. I find it just a bit harder to keep a steady partial throttle speed on a long run with the full throttle.

I tried to use the thumb throtte, but it did not fit well with my shimano trigger shifters on the new bike. One issue with all thumb throttles is that the spot where the throttle tab is comfy may cause the part where the wire exits to interfere with brakes or shift levers. If you install a thumb throttle in the wrong position on the handlebars, then you get hand fatigue.

[Rassy]

Dogman, look at my reply at the end of one of your threads. Adding a little "thumb" tab to a full twist is working real good for me. The inspiration for the tab came from some of your modifications.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11505

[dogman]

That's a great idea, that would work with any full or half twist throttle. Having it both ways, a regular twist throttle, plus a bit of extra grip for the thumb can really help with longer rides. I'll have to do something like that for when I ride long distances. I'll have about 60-75 mile range when my second ping arrives.
Definitely planning some long weekend tours this spring.

[dogman]

I've now aquired a 48v 15 ah pingbattery. The ebikekit runs fine on it, and really zipps. I was expecting 25 mph but have hit 27 without pedaling when the battery is fresh off the charger. Well worth it to upgrade to 48v if you need more range or want a second battery. So far no problems with the controller, but I've only ridden about 30 miles so far. Hill performance is great, I can climb a 7% hill at 17-18 mph without pedaling.

Technically illegal in my town though, 25 mph is the speed limit for mopeds. We have no ebike laws in NM.

[geetarboy]

Hey Dogman, Nice set-up on the mongoose! I am in the process of upgrading my E-Bikekit to 48 volts. It's encouraging to see that you're getting 27mph. Any idea how many watts you're pulling at full throttle? does motor or wires get very hot?

[dogman]

Nothing gets hot right now. We are having winter this year, even in New Mexico. Everything stays cool when it's below 40F at 3 pm.

[dogman]

Still a good season to work on the bikes, but riding season is really just a few weeks away for this part of the southwest. I got a great deal on a new bike for pedal riding on mountian trails, so my commuter just got a real upgrade. The version 2 mongoose frame turned out to be weaker than it looked, and was going to crack someday for sure when I load up the panniers. The frame would bend with every pedal stroke when the panniers had a load.

So here's the EbikeKit on the commuter V 3.0 The frame is a 2005 Giant OS 3. This frame does not bend at all, and 5" suspension travel is very nice. Fitting the motor on the alloy front forks was quite a process, and recomended only for the very experienced. In the end I took the file to both the forks and the axle to get the fit perfect so the axle fits snug and the forks don't bind from being spread to use the inner washers.

Giant OS 3 Ebikekit build.jpg (95.89 KiB) Viewed 179 times