CUTE geared hub motors from bmsbattery/ecitypower

[drewdiller]

Kevinator, I feel ya. Even though I like my hub, for future builds I will be avoiding them because their customer support is just that awful.

Makes me think that most of their business is elsewhere, and selling to the States is sort of an ancillary, not-very-interesting way to make some small amount of extra money.

[Malcolm]

I'm looking forward to having a play with one of these motors soon. I ordered a cute 128 front motor with a 25A Ananda controller from cell_man yesterday (see For Sale section) and got a message from him today saying it had gone out this morning. I'd been trying to get hold of one from a European supplier, but they've been promising they'll be in stock soon for the last six weeks. In the end it was cheaper and quicker to order one from China!

This motor will replace the existing MY1018 gearmotor in my bottom bracket drive. I've read that the Cute motors make some noise from startup, but that this fades away at speed. Since the motor is running at near optimum revs most of the time in a bottom bracket drive I'm hoping it will be relatively quiet. I originally intended to fit the 108 motor, but hanging around all these merrycans has given me a lust for raw power

Does anyone have any more updates on the durability of these motors? I'll be running it at the stock 36V.

Malcolm

[cell_man]

Fancy seeing you here Malcolm, thanks for the mention

I think you might be quite surprised with how quiet the 128 motor is. Just spinning it up no load to check the rpm, the 128 is a bit quieter than the 108. I have a theory that when these geared motors get smaller, the gears tend to get a little noisier as the relative size of the teeth increases and number of teeth is reduced. The 108 motor is by no means noisy but it was a little noisier than the Bafang Front I was using.

[dannym]

Sorry to res this one but I need some specific internal info.

Do the Cute motors freewheel? All of them? If so, it's at the sun gear, right? And if so, how much drag is there from just the gear meshing?

[DAND214]

My 128 rear freewheels. Not too sure it's at the sun gear, think they are controlling the ring gear. It has been a couple thousand miles since I had it apart. Very low drag on the freewheel.
I was just riding it today and was thinking how smooth this thig runs. So far so good, quieter than my 9C or most of my DD hubs. On 48v 26" wheel it runs just short of 30mph assisted at less noise than my DD's.
Dan

[dannym]

If it's already laced into a wheel, can the motor be disassembled, or does the whole thing have to be unlaced?

How do you disassemble a Cute? Someone mentioned making a special tool? How was that needed?
Are these delta or wye-connected?

[kafka-cloud]

ANyone tested the cute 128 on a rear 150mm 12mm dropout?

I am wondering if this is the motor I have been trying to find to fit into a downhill bike. A rear disc brake with 8 speed on the rear should be almost 150mm.

Any measurement of a fully installed with gear and disc brake motor would be useful.

Cheers!

[DAND214]

They claim 145mm with a 7 speed and disc. I have used them with 7 speed and shims to center the hub in the rear. Axles is long enough for what you are doing.
If you have one use it, it's a great hub. I know BMSBATTERY is out of stock and I don't think they will restock soon.
Dan

[jbond]

Anyone got any experience of the Cute Q-R-100SX ? Is BMSBattery the only supplier?

[DAND214]

Unfortunatly at this time. Cell_man was selling them a while back, but think he is sold out.
I need a set of gears for a 128 Cute, tried BMS no response. I tried Ananda the manufacturer and go no return there either. Good hub just no support if needed.
Dan

[jbond]

I need a set of gears for a 128 Cute, tried BMS no response. I tried Ananda the manufacturer and go no return there either. Good hub just no support if needed.
Dan

Did the gears break in "normal" use? For the price, I think if the gears broke through being abused, I'd just buy another motor and abuse them less.

[DAND214]

I wouldn't say it was abuse, it was running on 48v but on the flats. Heat was never a problem. I just got loud when i took it apart it seeemed the gears were swelled and were hard to reinstall. They just bound up and strippped.
I am trying to get another. It has been almost a month since I placed the order for there last one. still not hipped. Good prices poor service!
Dan

[jbond]

I got an email response from BMSbattery to some questions about the Q-R-100SX. They seem to think that there are several versions of this motor with different winds and gearing. The attributes page on their order form asks for 24-36V and a range of expected rim sizes (16" -> 700c) the motor would be used in. The motors are supplied bare so this isn't about what rim is supplied and laced. They also said a 24v-20" motor could be run and laced to 36v - 700c rim for high speed-low torque.

But. Looking at the ecitypower PDFs on motor performance and specification, there's no mention of different motor specs. A Q-R-100SX is a Q-R-100SX, full stop. Running at 24v vs 36v just gives the expected drop in no-load rpm, torque and power. There's a full set of motor curves for the same motor running at 24v and at 36v. You'd think if there were motor variations they'd provide curves for each variation.

Just another example of this industry either not knowing what it's doing, or not saying what it's doing. Grrr. Tell me what you're selling and give me all the specs, dammit!

[DAND214]

Hey jbond,
I know what you are talking about with BMS. They have good prices but have no idea what they are selling.

When I ordered my 128 rear hubs, I just said 36v on a 20" wheel, even that it was going in a 26".
As you said I don't think they are differant winds as they show 9986 in stock. So how can they have more than 1 wind?
I do like the motor and have had good luck till the meltdown. I think it could of been that I put the wrong grease in it and it swelled the gears. The other hub is still running great.
The Cute hubs are made by Ananda but they don't respond to any questions I asked them, as I needed new gears. I guess I'm SOL.
I do think you will like them, it's quiet and the power was not bad for a small gub. My 9c on the same voltage wasn't that mush stronger out of the hole but the 9c did hills with less problem.
Dan

[Kuzumoto]

So this it? should it be closed or is there anyone oute there with more experieces on these?
Thanks

[motomech]

Ok, in my on-going endeavor to decipher BMS Battery's unbelievably obtuse listings of motor specifications I've been doing a little digging. This time I've got the Cute Q[X]100 in my sights.
Recent reports of the 201 rpm "slow wind" reaching low/mid 20's mph on 12S Lipo just doesn't jive the conventional wisdom, which would have that wind being a "Euro-spec.", 25 KpH @ 36V motor.
There is remarkably little out there, considering that one would think that BMS Batt. must have sold 1000's of them.
The best I could come up with was a passing reference by Lynchy[now more familiar as the guy with the red cape and the big red C on his chest.]. He estimated an early version would spin 220 rpm @ 39V, which still seems too slow for the reported real-world speeds. I'm thinking that it must be closer to the 250 rpm @ 36V of a MXUS or the small Bafangs[which incidentally BMS Batt. also lists as 201 and 328 winds. ]. Sorry, we'll have to wait till someone bench-tests one to get the real number.

I didn't do much better with the 328 rpm "fast wind" motor. But I did find one report on a German Ebike forum where the owner reported 26 mph[i converted this from KpH]on 36V.[26"whl.]. This would be around 32-33 mph @ 48! I'm not sure dual Q100's could reach that[1100-1200 watts]. That would be one fast mini motor ride if it could be done. At any rate, I reckon that 328 number is at least one that BMS B. got right.

Why do they do this to us? It's like they pulled some flunky off the assembly line, sat him[or her]in front of a computer and told them to play around with the keys.
I guess the Mysterious East will remain mysterious.

[d8veh]

I have a rear Q100 24v 201 rpm in my folding bike in a 20" wheel. I'm presently running it at 36v and it goes to about 17 or 18mph I also tried it at 44v (12S lipo) and it went to about 20mph or more. It was difficult to tell because the bike was a bit twitchy at that speed. These speeds are a bit more than I calculated it would do. The motor is very smooth and extremely quiet. As long as it doesn't break, I'd say that it's better than the equivalent Bafang. However, I've looked inside and the nylon gears are smaller, so I try not to abuse it too much. They're very easy to disassemble. You remove the three screws on the side that hold the clutch inside, and then you can either tap directly on one of the screw-holes with a drift or you can screw in two much longer screws and hold them in a vice while you screw off the motor. I fitted a 7speed free-wheel that has a stack height of 39mm, which leaves 1mm gap. Here's some pictures of the internals of the 36v motor. my 24V one has single gears like the Bafang.

[The Mighty Volt]

Hi d8veh thanks for the photo, you find that this motor runs good and safe at 36v? What amps are you running it at?? I'd say it has packets of torque in the 20" wheel yeah? Thanks.

[d8veh]

Hi d8veh thanks for the photo, you find that this motor runs good and safe at 36v? What amps are you running it at?? I'd say it has packets of torque in the 20" wheel yeah? Thanks.

I'm running it at about 16 amps and yes it does climb quite well. It'll go up fairly steep hills, but I have to pedal as well but without any effort otherwise it starts to slow down. I'm comparing it with a ready-made electric bike with a 250w Bafang, which needs hard pedalling to get up the same hills. I don't anticipate any problems running at 36v. The motor doesn't feel strained: It's just smooth and quiet. I had to ride it home one time with a nearly flat tyre, which required full power for about 4 miles with the last mile up a relatively steep hill. When the battery went flat about 200 meters from home I tried to pedal in first gear, but it required too much effort. The motor was just about warm to the touch on one side.

[The Mighty Volt]

Thanks for that. I like the idea of the Cute in the 20" at 36v and around 20Amps, with my 12 Fet controller, should be a very capable little unit on mild hills and the flats.

[d8veh]

12 FET controller sounds like overkill for that Cute motor. How will you limit the current? I'm using a 6 FET which will go up to about 18 amps safely. A 9 FET controller would be lighter than a 12 FET.

[Haste]

so has anybody ran a high speed motor at 48v? Or go the 24v and went to 48v while keeping amps low? It should be as fast as bafang bpm correct? Im looking for a 30-32mph solution...

[full-throttle]

I'm about to try a 24V 108 rear on 48V, 10~15A, 26"

Will let you know

[Hyena]

I used to hold you in such esteem full throttle, with your cool custom stealth bomber and high powered mods. But look at you now, playing with these tiny little kids motors
You've changed man, you've changed...

[full-throttle]

should change my username to full-circle than, huh??

nah, it's just for an ultra stealthy project