Commuter E-Bike from Novara Hardtail MTB

[Alan B]

If we assume the inbound commute depleted the batteries (which it almost did) , and at 18S the average voltage was 70 volts, and the batteries are 10 amp hours for a total of 720 watt hours. For a trip of 13 miles this would be 55 watt hours per mile. Speed was 28 mph on the near level, and 20 mph on the steep hills. The 9C 2810 motor was just warm when I arrived at work.

[Alan B]

Made it home safely. Took a leisurely pace, opposite of usual easy in fast home, we did fast in and easy home today. Indicated 5.1 amp hours on the home trip, 26 watt hours per mile. Kept the pace at 15-20 mph, pedaled a bit, drifted down the hills. Hit 33 somewhere but mostly an easier pace.

Wish I had my air horn onboard. One truck came across the solid white line and too close. Need to make loud noises when that happens.

The rear brakes are really screeching LOUD. Need to look at that.

[chroot]

Very nice, I assume the lake located near El Sobrante and Orland? Today was very nice weather and I took 2 girls on my Yuba Mundo cargo bike and it was beautiful breeze/ :thumbup:

[Alan B]

Yes, this lake is located near El Sobrante.

I charged up the pack, and clearly the calibration of my Cycle Analyst is off. I added a 0.1 bypass capacitor to the 5V (as instructed to by ebikes.ca) and that has shifted the calibration substantially. The charger put in 3.7 amp hours in all three series 6S sections. So that would be 260 watt hours and in 13 miles that's 20 watt hours per mile.

On the inbound route the calibration shift would indicate that instead of using 10+ amp hours it only used about 7. This is inconsistent with the voltage drooping at the end, so I'm not sure the Cycle Analyst readings are stable yet. At work I didn't have the RC charger cable so I bulk charged so I don't have confirming charge data.

I'll probably send this CA back for service as soon as the V3beta unit arrives. Not sure when that will be as they have been delayed. Now shipped!

[Alan B]

Commute to work

Took it easy this morning. Same CA calibration. Pedaled a lot, but not hard, not enough to sweat or breathe hard.

68.5 V resting after arrival
5.3 AH
13.8 mi
27.7 wh/mi
389 wh
24.6 amax
66.0 vmin (note that this is the minimum voltage, clearly not the nominal value!)
55 min
14.9 avs mph
30.5 maxs

12 fet controller cold
9c 6x10 just warm
tires schwalbe big apple 40 psi

18S 10AH Turnigy Lipo pack

This is probably the least energy I've used coming in to work.

Bulk Charging now, not going to get numbers from that. Will check balance with celllog.

[Scruffoid]

Another thing that would be fun to set up is Ham Radio APRS that sends GPS position reports. I suppose the Droid can do that too. Amazing how many of these current trendy tech things were invented years ago on Ham Radio.

N3RCG agrees with you. It's amazing how far we have come as well. Been a ham since I was 13, 33 now.

QSL es 73 de WB6ZQZ. Started at 13 myself, but that was a long time ago.

Hey guys was just reading this older stuff.

Im VK2TOL

[Alan B]

Greetings,

There's a thread around here somewhere about Amateur Radio operators on ES. There are quite a few.

73,

W6AKB formerly WB6ZQZ

[amberwolf]

Used to be KA5TWP...havent' had my equipment for a looong time now, so never updated/renewed my license.

[Alan B]

Used to be KA5TWP...havent' had my equipment for a looong time now, so never updated/renewed my license.

Amber, it is easy to get a new Ham License now, and if you get one perhaps some ham radio gear will show up in one of those those care packages. Also the hams in your area would be a good resource for you, and you for them. It is a lot cheaper than a cellphone and would give you some communications from your bike, even while in motion if you wanted to.

de W6AKB

[Alan B]

Took the Novara ebike out for a spin today to get lunch. It has been months since I had it off the rack and out. Have been having too much fun with my other ebikes.

Amazing things:

1) Tires at 20 psi (pretty good considering how long they sat)

2) Batteries at 4.15/cell (again, amazing)

3) This 63 pound ebike is LIGHT. I guess I have been recalibrated by the Borg at over 100 pounds. This feels like a lightweight now!

SOME of the vet-wrap tape is failing, while most of it is fine. The stuff that is going bad is losing grip and getting oily. The good stuff seems just fine. I thought it was all 3M but perhaps some aftermarket snuck in there. Some if it was lower in cost but claimed to be 3M, perhaps it was just counterfeit. Probably would not matter for short term use, but in longer term use it doesn't behave the same.

Anyway, the motor is really smooth, the control is precise, and the acceleration is .. not bad but nothing like the Cromotor on the Borg.

My battery protocol disconnects the batteries from all drains while leaving them paralleled. This seems to work quite well. Air-gapped with SB-50 connectors is very low drain.

This bike also pedals so easily .. compared to the Borg. Those big fat moped tires are hard to pedal!

[Alan B]

Screeching Brakes

I forgot to mention the screeching brakes on this bike. The rear brake has always had some screeching problems, and on this trip I used it a lot to see if it would improve. It changed significantly from a loud midrange howl to a higher pitch screech which is an improvement. These are high end Shimano XTR with supposedly wonderful aftermarket pads.

I suppose I'll have to work on them.

It is so nice to have quiet brakes.

The Hayes disc in the front have been quiet but they started to make some noise, apparently the noise from the rear was inspiring to the front.