Scruffman's Bike Build - Battery Reconfiguration and rebuild

[Racer_X]

Battery box came out really good, and you even left some space on top for the controller. One question is it easy to remove batteries if you have to take out to charge?

[Scruffoid]

Yeah the top battery slids out very easily then you just lift the others out.

No problems at all.

On other news. Here is the mounted light will test it on the way home tonight.

You can see here I just made a flat plate mount auto some Alluminium. A bit worried about the lever effect on the mount and fatiging the lower joint. Will keep a close eye on it.

And now all thats needed is the properly hook up the power to the new light which ill do tomorow.

On a side note. Just found my 2nd bullet connector on my batteries had fallen off. They appear to have dry solder joints in the negative plug.
They are Zippy 22V 5AH units. Wonder if other are experiencing this as well.

Scruff

[Hyena]

Battery box looks nice mate. If you want some advice though while you're fabbing stuff up I'd make a thin channel out of that checkerplate to hide all your controller wiring - that'd finish it all off nicely.

ANOTHER bullet came off ? Damn that's some very poor QC on hobbyking's part, I'll be sure and give all the ones I use in future a good tug. One of those coming unstuck is a quick way to to burn out your cell level parallel harness - good think you're still waiting on 2!

The new headlight looks good, I've been looking for an excuse to try one myself but I've already got a few of those T6s I showed you at Hyena HQ the other week.

[rui_fujino]

your build is looking excellent! i really like the look of it tho you do have alot of stuff on your handle bar...
I do like where you have placed your side mirrors!

[jkbrigman]

Diggin on that "cyborg eyes" look on the front of that bike. You got enough light up there to burn the grilles off oncoming vehicles!

So, I'm looking carefully at that bike and there are a number of key things about it that seem to have all added up to a great build:

- big, strong triangle with room for the batt box and controller,
- excellent dropouts, plenty of room to install the customer torque plate,
- awesome wheels and tires
- front suspension and suspension seatpost
- trigger shifters to offer more room for throttle (? I should ask that more than anything)
- plenty of handlebar space plus lights mounted on the accessory bar
- great disc brakes and fenders

Any plans to add a rear rack?

[Scruffoid]

Thanks for the positive comments.

Yeah my Bars are pretty well packed. When i originally bought the bike it had these really huge shifters so i bought the smaller ones that allowed more room for stuff. I work in IT and after i leave work i am on call. So i need to be able to see my phone at all tiems in case soemone calls me while im riding. Before the CA i was using it as a speedo but i could really put the iphone in my pocket now and wear headphones but hten that leads to the next problem. I wouldnt be able to hear my Lipo alarm buzzers

So I was actually thinking on my way to work today that i need some sort of Visual LED or something that could simply turn on to alert me of an issue. I have a mate of mine working on a battery medic style device that will show all the packs on the bike at once. Perhaps all we need to be displayed on the bars is one simply LED. When it sees a cell below a preset value the LED comes on. If it flashes we can assume its sag if it stays on the get off the gas LOL. Will discus this with him tongiht. Will be really easy to run a pair of thin wires to an LED on my bars.

I quickly turned on the new light last night when i got home from work. All i can say is OMG!!!!!!! its damn bright. I would suggest the 800 Lumens they quote are not over stated. Will try to get some pictures of it tongiht once it gets dark here. Damn i love working hard ROFL. if you have read it it takes 24 - 90 V input and they claim it draws 12W but the CA was saying 200W so needs some investigating.

I have a rear rack that i was initially using to hold my battery pack. Took it off last weekend. Gonna add it back on so i can pack some luggage in it. Thing to know is that i commute on this bike no matter what the weather. Hence i need lots of lights as i commute on motorways and bike paths which are terrible for hitting stuff on. In the rain visibility for normal bike lights so goes right away so the extra lights are for bad terrain and bad weather etc, I am very much into safety, so you wont see me posting a vid jumpings off rock shelfs or weaving in and out of traffic, but i love the others that do the videos keep me occupied at work at night.

[Scruffoid]

ANOTHER bullet came off ? Damn that's some very poor QC on hobbyking's part, I'll be sure and give all the ones I use in future a good tug. One of those coming unstuck is a quick way to to burn out your cell level parallel harness - good think you're still waiting on 2!

Mate your not wrong. Lucky both times i have been watching the charge closely. I was sitting there thinking why the hell is that still charging and then im like oh crap.

So i make sure to check all teh leads now before i start charging to make sure they are all still connected until i get over my phobia of it LOL

Scruff

[Scruffoid]

Well i guess we all gotta do this at some stage

Made my first LIPO fire tonight. Well lipo balance wire fire at least . Thank god the little thins wires burn through rather fast and act like a fuse ROFL.

So now i gotta replace all the balance wires on two of my packs. So im gonna go the whole hog now and make a full balance plug that all the packs come into so i can balance charge all my packs. I purchased a Hyperion 1420i to help me do this.

The list of toys is getting larger

I hate that burnt component smell that seems to linger forever

Scruff

[Scruffoid]

if you have read it it takes 24 - 90 V input and they claim it draws 12W but the CA was saying 200W so needs some investigating.

Turns out this is a Controller wiring issue that was sorted by Connecting pin 3 of the CA-DP plug to GND and pin 2 to the positive side of the shunt.

[Scruffoid]

I commute 30Km each way on my bike. The Battery pack on a couple of occasions was really close to being fully drained on a few commutes.

So solution add more batteries.

So This is what it looks like now. Added an extra 3 * 6S 5AH batteries.

So now we are running 18S 3P for 72V and 15AH (1080 WH) woot!

Battery box still has plenty of room in it as you can see, Another 3 Batteries to maybe go 24S3P jsut for fun

Charging is still all done in Parallel as a 6S9P using a hyperion 1420i so i balance charge to 95% TVC to prolong pack life a little.

I added some soft rubber mats that are used for camp flooring into the box to help absorb bumps etc while riding.

Controller is now mounted to the bottom of a rear rack.

[Scruffoid]

So heres a update of my commuting status

So Spoke broke - Nipple Come up into tyre - This is the result. As well as a tube which I replaced enroute and then babied the beast to work the rest of the way.

But positive side is that i have now got some Hookworms coming to replace the broken one.

Also Order another 3 * 4s 5AH zippys to add to my battery pack so ill have a total of 22S for 92 Volts Maximum.

So that is 22S3P 92Volts and 15AH ( 1380 WH ) Woot!

Only issue now is that i dont think i can fit any more batteries into battery box

[Scruffoid]

Ok So now that we have made a full size Battery box for the frame going for group rides become a real issue. Last one i had to remove both front and rear wheels to get it into my car.

So i have constructed this over the last few weeks.

Still need to organise a strap down method but what i think i am going to do is place a bar under the stand mount and bolt it down through there. Just finished making this much tonight and will take it home and bring my bike back to work tomorrow night and complete the mounting.

Its really heavy duty prob weighs around 20Kg all up. Its made of 5mm steel C channel and the bike tyre ( 2.5inch Hookworms ) slot in snuggly in teh channel.

Also received my new LVC monitors

Plan is to make a nice box to hold them all and just show the SMD LED's so i can monitor pack voltage really easily while riding by checking the LED bar graph.

[Hyena]

i had to remove both front and rear wheels to get it into my car.
So i have constructed this over the last few weeks.

Nice one, I've been meaning to do the same myself but only have a fairly light duty (195A) mig welder.
That's probably up to the task but I don't want to risk it breaking with my fighter balanced on the back!
If you feel like making another I know a fellow XR6T driver that would like one

As for strapping the bike down, check out the gripsport one for ideas to ...err, steal
They use an upright that your crank arm slides onto and holds the bike up that way. I wouldn't be inclined to trust it if I came up with the idea myself but it seems to work.



Perhaps a combination of that and your fold up ramp would work well ?
For a tie down (a single would probably suffice) I'd weld or bolt an eye onto the front of the folding part and one half way along the length and then put a rope/occy strap/ratchet through there to hold it

Those bar graph thingos look cool. I have a plan for them myself but need for a few more bits to arrive before I can put them to use
Got a pic of them lit up next to something else for brightness reference ?
Pity they dont have a beeper on them, then they'd be perfect.

[Scruffoid]

They actually have two large pads that are at teh other end to the balance connector and i am thinking of contacting the maker and asking them what they are there for.

Thats a great idea for holding the bike upgright. Will look into doing something like that i think as then you only need 1 tie down point and it will be tops!.

i can easily know up another one how wide is your tow bar tongue. Mine is like 3 inchs. I will bring the rack and bike ( hopefully ) over with me on Saturday so you can check it out in person.

[Scruffoid]

Jay the Front section doesnt actually fold down its welded there but after looking at the picture you posted i might do some grinding and make it simpler.

I have already get the metal for phase 2 of my rack sitting behind me here LOL. Its gonna be made out of Alloy this time so that is a lot lighter. Damn i havent even finsihed 1 and im onto the rebuild.

Still work in progress

[Hyena]

Jay the Front section doesnt actually fold down its welded there

Oh right. Well, if you wanted that style I'd be going with a hinge on it and strap it as i said, doubles as a ramp to roll it up (not so much an issue with ebikes as heavier dirt bikes) but yeah, it seems they downhill ones get by without it. I'd probably actually rather one I could roll up with my heavier fighter and crook back.

Let me know when you've perfected it

[Scruffoid]

Ok latest updates. Here is my bike on the rack on the back of my car.

Here is a closer view of the crank holding arm. This works so well its crazy. Bike is rock solid when used in conjuction with the 2 ratchet straps as seen in the top picture.

Here is the Rack Mark II which is a much lighter version of the first with a few mods to the design. First unit weighs around 15kg which isnt that heavy overal as my tow bar can take a downward force of 160Kg so with bike weighing 36 Kilos were only at 1/3 of its rating. Will use the crank holding arm off Mark 1 on this one to hold the bike and will modify Mark 1 to hold the bike vertically using a diff method.

So I have around 11 hours at work now to go get it done. Will post pics of the finished unit.

In other news. Side covers have been drilled. Phase wires have been upgraded. Controller has been reprogrammed. Smile on my dial has enlarge in proportion. Have now programmed the controller with a expected 45Amps setting which in practice has only given me a small spike to around 40A but mostly it sits at around 35A so will have to go back and reprogram it to get the 45A we know it can take. Jay says hes like my drug dealer handing out the power in slow increments so i keep craving the power jumps. He's not wrong even the jump from 2kw to 3.5kw has been awesome. Bring on teh power i say. Its my precious!

Bike Porn - Both side drilled outer ring of holes visible here. There is a smaller set of 10mm holes closer to the centre on both sides as well. Works well as is.

Wayne

[Hyena]

Jay says hes like my drug dealer handing out the power in slow increments so i keep craving the power jumps. He's not wrong

They don't call me Mr Asia for nothing

New rack looks good mate, but is that an authorised photoshop use of my name there ?
Relocationg the number plate there i a good idea actually, you could leave the rack on most of the time and give you a bit more "buffer" in parking lots from idiots who like to touch park.

[Scruffoid]

Jay says hes like my drug dealer handing out the power in slow increments so i keep craving the power jumps. He's not wrong

They don't call me Mr Asia for nothing

New rack looks good mate, but is that an authorised photoshop use of my name there ?
Relocationg the number plate there i a good idea actually, you could leave the rack on most of the time and give you a bit more "buffer" in parking lots from idiots who like to touch park.

LOL yes that official licence product line that I am now selling from my online store, weluvhyena.com

The number plate is acutally a NSW bike rack number plate so i still have the one on my car and yes It does make a realy good rear intrusion bar !

[Scruffoid]

Ok so didnt take me to long to complete the addition work i needed to do.

Here is the new lighter bike rack

Fresh from a spin around my workplace to make sure it was sorta gonna stay together. Will only have full confidence after a few trips on the m5 at 110km/hr to really test the workmanship.

[Scruffoid]

Used a piece of Vera board to connect all my Lipo monitors together today. Still going to make some sort of weather proof box to place over the top of it.

It is great to watch the values as you ride. Can easily see a Cell that is sagging way to much.

[Scruffoid]

Weather is now great here in Sydney. Been riding the bike to work.

Have done a couple of little changes to the bike. One forced by the Overvolting of my Hyperion the other out of a desire for better battery monitoring as talk about in previous updates.

This is my finished Battery gauge. It is mounted in a Iphone Holder and is hooked up through a centronics plug into the battery box.

IMG_0498.jpg (189.02 KiB) Viewed 605 times

I purchased a Balance charge from Jay and it is actually a really good system. I am running 20S so 3 6S and 1 4S and this charger chargers it all at once in parrellel. Takes about 4 hours to charge the 6Ah at 90volts i use on my commute. So more than enough time to recharge for my daily commute turnaround.

IMG_0497.jpg (235.31 KiB) Viewed 605 times

Still got some littel things to finish off but am enjoying riding it around.

Be Safe

Wayne

[Scruffoid]

Motor did go Caput.

Riding to work and just lost power and felt like it was running rough.

Got to work and pulled it all apart and clearly see motor windings that have melted.

So i guess i am now in the market for a new betterer motor

May the MXUS RIP!

Scruff

[Scruffoid]

So After looking at how much replacement motors cost, but more importantly how hard it is to get a hold of one. I have decided to rewind my MXUS so that i can have it as a spare just in case.

I am currently on the search for a HS3540 for a reasonalbe price to add to my bike but i will be rewinding the old motor over the coming weeks/months.

Started the dis assembly last night.

Heres the offending section of badness

Think i better make a warranty claim!

Jay Is this still covered under warranty?

All stripped

Was wound 6 strands 9 turns. New wind will be 9 strands and 6 turns. Just to muck around. Copper is cheap so i can redo later if i need to

[Hyena]

Think i better make a warranty claim!

Yeah sure just put all those windings back into their original position so I can test it and make sure it's not just a bad connection somewhere at the controller

Where ever will you get a replacement at such short notice ?