9c/HS35/X5 Norco 125 DJ 100v project

Andje

10 kW
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Messages
779
Soooo.....

I'm now a two year long creeper, I've poked my head in here and there, a couple times to be reminded of my ignorance which was fair haha.
I started asking for advice on a Cyclone build with Headways custom built into a pack, and was quickly pointed towards lipo and rc. It is really interesting how as you learn through reading this forum layers peel away like an onion; i will say that it would be more efficient if someone organized a definitive "truth" thread signed off on by respected members, but it was certainly fun to figure it all out myself through reading of other peoples mistakes. This, my first pure ev build will not truly push the envelope or develop any new knowledge :( but I am extremely interested in the rc builds, the torque controller design, the gearboxes, the battery boxes, custom frames, all of it. One day, when I have more cash :)

So, I have this bike (identical to this pick, although this not mine per se)
pbpic1519927.jpg


Im planning on something fairly extreme. I want to be able to reach the 40mph club with some room to spare. I want to be able to ride it in all weather all year in Ottawa Ontario, so it has to be essentially weather proof. I have a commuter route to take to school which is almost exactly 12 km each way, so 30km range to give myself room. I'm not going to pedal, and the bike will only be running for about 15-20 minutes at a time for the commute. I will be using lipo, almost certainly in a backpack. I'll get one of lyens 18 fet 4110 controllers, a hyperion 1420i Net3 run off of an ebay ps, ill run 100v 15ah of Turnigy 5000mAh 6S 20C Lipo, ie 12 packs in 24s3p. 1500 watt/h gives me a max allowable average of 50wh/km.

After many days of reading, I have settled on the Crystalye x5000 series for their ability to thermally ignore the kind of watts i want to shove through them. RC matt shumaker style would be nice, and i salivate over rodags recent build, but such luxuries are too much for me. Instead i will go hubmotor and loose the gearing in favor of simplicity and regen (hey, 5-10% is still something). This will definitely be a rear hub with torque arms. I refuse to run a 20 inch wheel on a 26 inch bike; i could see myself going to 24s and using motorcross tires like doctorbass has recently adopted, but again at the moment such prices ellude me. So I'm left with choosing between the x5303 and the x5304.

Now, the 03 i know is an amp whore; icecube reports that due to its efficient rpm being so high, on a 26 inch rim it tends to never reach no load speeds and drop in amperage. I beleive his conclusion was to go for 100v to see the biggest drop possible and to deffinetly opt for the 18 fet to feed the motor what it really needs. I know there is a commuter build on here that runs his 26 inch 03 at 48v and still sees 50km/h although i dont think very efficient.

The 04 at 100v will be fast enough and torquey enough in a 26 inch wheel to satisfy me. It will be more efficient and a lot less hard on the controller. It will more easily conquer hills. It will perhaps however not have quite the same rush speed fear since it will top out much sooner then the 5303.

The only other consideration is the price; there is a second hand 5303 on sale for 250 whereas the 5304 from ebikes.ca is 525. I'd have to pay to get the 5303 relaced into 26 rim.
What should i go for? Let me say that my primary concern here is simple awesomeness, so if you want a guiding light in terms of my preference, pick the more awesome one. There are clearly a few ways to accomplish what i want, but i'm not worried about safety, my ability to ride this, my ability to build it, lipo in a backpack, or replacing phase wire.
 
This is my current mtb; it is a 49cc ht engine with the sbp kit to use the gears. I retrofitted a longer jack shaft and freewheel so that an electric engine can power the bike, or it can be used to start the gas while moving the bike off of a red light. The bike can work off of gas, electric or pedal power and technically they don't interfere with each other, the weight is certainly the most notable thing when pedaling.
IMG_5135.JPG


There are more pics of it at http://visforvoltage.org/forum/9482-full-hybrid-electricgas-motored-bicycle-pics
It is the past; pure electric is the future :). But i do have some experience putting these things together is all.
 
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GO WITH THE 5304 or 5305 unless you have money for a 24 or 36 mosfet controller then by all means go for the 5303.

There is a 5304 front for $250. Gotta find a fork that can hold it though. A Surly Instigator fork and 2-4 amped bikes torque arm may work for off the shelf conversion. You loose front suspension. That fork has alot of flex. So Its not too stiff. I would go for a rear if you can. You live in Canada where the road surface can change in a day. I would go for knobbies in your area since you have more sever weather. Our weather is pretty decent In Ga so I can run slicks. You will still hit 40mph with knobbies you would just be 3-5 mph slower than riding with slicks.

By all means please consider one of the 9C. Ive switched from a 5303 to the 9x7. They have identical performance up to 66v. The 5303 out shines the 9C at 88v but the 9x7 comes in at a respectable second.
 
Haha, well that's a pretty solid endorsement from someone who knows... my opinion has just been heavily influenced... edited previous to reflect non negotiable REAR hub, tbh i would pretty much never consider a front hub since i want suspension and understand moments.

I briefly considered 9c, but as far as I can tell even though there are some who have found excellent performance at 72v+, some of these same people seem to along the way have generally burnt out a motor. I am opting for x5 because the extra money is in the budget, it just takes away from extra batteries, and because i like to have piece of mind. I know the x5s will take whatever i can throw at them, whereas the 9c might not. I am notorious for abusing my vehicles (or at least demanding top performance from top components), so this has to be overbuilt into the ebike. Even though it's a daily commuter i want to be able to ride it as hard as im able.

That said, I also msgd Justin at ebikes about it, he heavily endorsed x5 over 9c in terms of going over 48 volts; since im not going to be doing a "conservatively" amped overvolted build, i think it is prbly better to over compensate on the motor... What say you? Rear 5304 in a 26 inch with disk brakes all round at 100v 30-40 amps limited controller.
 
ok, so im sold on this at this stage. new final plan;

Norco 125 dirt jumper pictured above
x5304?
9c 9*7 + disk brake and caliper- 100$
spokes: 50$
Ryno Lyte Rim 26"- 20$
CA large screen edition ebikes.ca : 150 $
lyen 18 fet 4110 controller with regen at 100v enabled: 250 $
12 Turnigy 5000mAh 6S 20C Lipo Pack: 656 $
PSU good for 100v 7.3a: 120
Connectors/wire: 115
Axio Swift hardpack+rain cover: 150$
Thudbuster lt seatpost: 100$

final budget assumption: 2000~$
I am including shipping in the above prices. That should be good for 40mph at least :p. We'll have to see if it can get to school and back...
 
You will like that setup, almost identical as what I run now. The only differences are the Lipo, for I chose 12 pack of 6s 5800mAh 30C Flightmax; and the Norco is also one step higher with the A-line. Those differences are minor, according to performance. You will have a beast on the road, leaving all cars behind on a start, and your range expectation is OK to leave the batteries in a safe state of discharge.

I'm not satisfied yet for riding the mountain trails and I'm building another one, but on the road I wouldn't want to change anything to this setup. Chose a fat tire in the back, I like the Kenda Nevegal 2.7 sticky, it wears fast but gets even better on the road with wear, and it sticks more cornering that most riders would ever want to try. I ride the same tire in the front, but didn't see any difference with the Maxxis Minion, or the Nevegal 2.5 that I had before.
 
thanks MR that is good to hear, I would love to go with the 50c 6ah nano techs and do the same 24s3p but get 18ah... but that is a $pipe dream right now :p
 
excellent, lyens controller ordered :)
 
motherf********

so it looks like ebikes.ca has just sold their last 5304 rear disk brake 26 inch... i quickly browsed around and it looks like i may have to get the hub and lace my own rim...
 
I think that you might find it elsewhere, but lacing it is not a bad thing if you can do it, for you'd likely chose a better rim. Mine is laced on a Sun BFM, and proved a very good choice since it resisted alot of beating.

Maxwell65 has a few 5304 that were delivered with defective disc mount pattern. He will have the replacement covers with his next shipment from Chystalyte. I guess that you can have one of those for a very good price, if you are willing to wait a few weeks for a replacement disc cover.
 
Looks like a mighty solid plan to me. Great bike to build on, solid motor, sturdy controller, and batts that can take it.

But on the other hand, 20 min at 100 volts , street riding isn't going to kill a 9c that fast. So if you do choose to lighten up 10 pounds, you could switch to a 9c later.
 
The 5303 and nine continent have similar performance? I doubt it. I get 29 mph on 36v out of my 5303. I'd like to see that done on a nine continent. And that is on slow tires. The 5303 has a little more speed. Maybe I'll put fast tires on it this year. I wouldn't doubt that I could get up to 31 mph on it with only 36v battery.
 
morph999 said:
The 5303 and nine continent have similar performance? I doubt it. I get 29 mph on 36v out of my 5303. I'd like to see that done on a nine continent. And that is on slow tires. The 5303 has a little more speed. Maybe I'll put fast tires on it this year. I wouldn't doubt that I could get up to 31 mph on it with only 36v battery.

Excuse me for misleading you I mean to say the 5304 has nearly identical number as the 9C. Yeah the 5303 is faster and has about 5mph on the 9C 9x7 at any voltage. The 5303 is capeable of more speed and torque on the high end if you throw the amps at it.
 
Ok, having looked around some more, the best option for me seems to be getting just a 5304 rear with disk brake motor from a guy in ottawa that actually has an ebike buisness; 450+shipping is fine. So it looks like i will almost certainly be lacing my own rim. So... 13 or 14 gauge spokes? Should i just order one of the spoke kits designed to work with the x5000 series? Rim? I know a little about rims, but not which ones are known to be compatible; i can drill out holes if need be (what i saw in short amount of research). I cant order anything from australia :p; rim should ideally be under 100 with shipping. If that is thoroughly unrealistic i will adjust.
 
Although i believe i am the kind of user who would prbly find a way to burn it out, i will admit to be salivating over the 9c 8x8 and also the 60 dollar 9x7 in the for sale sections...
 
so looks like the easiest best thing is getting a rim without eyelets that i could drill and grab one of the custom spoke kits from ebikes for the x5000?
A lot of online dh forums are pointing to sun rhyno lite or mtx rims in the cheap but sturdy category. Is there a specific link to someone lacing a x5000? I'd love to have a tester to study :p
 
12ga spokes, to lace a X5. I guess that 13 would be allright, but the motor flange is really made for 12. You will have to drill amost any rim, I drilled the eyelets out of my BFM. The man to ask about lacing your wheel is Johnrobholmes, see in the sales section and PM him for buying spokes and get advice.
 
thanks; pm to john sent
 
so new plan; get a 26 inch dj rim for around 60 bucks and grab some of the 13/14 gauge spokes from ebikes.ca. If need be ill use the tiny washers for the spoke heads but a lot of people seem to have had success with 13 gauge. I was reading about how 12 gauge spokes require so much tension to remain tight that regular rims sometimes can't take it.; the 13/14 seems an excellent compromise.
 
Andje said:
I was reading about how 12 gauge spokes require so much tension to remain tight that regular rims sometimes can't take it.; the 13/14 seems an excellent compromise.
Most bicycle rims can't take the tension of 12ga lacing, that is why I built in a BFM. It's laced very tight single cross, and survived alot of abuse in the mountain, jumps and drops and even riding the stairs sometimes.

Lacing with 13ga is an excellent compromise for street use. I'd like lacing them double cross or crowfoot and they'd be fine for the mountain, but it's impossible with those big hubs.
 
http://cgi.ebay.ca/10-AWG-37-SRAND-...ultDomain_0&hash=item4aa47f0fbb#ht_500wt_1156 is now my new dream, and its only freaking wire... so nerdy.

So it looks like maybe ill just forgo the hyperion for the sake of charging simplicity. A lot of people seem to be enjoying bulk charging and then balancing with the battery medics. So if i got 2 48v 10ah meanwells for around 140$ and then 4 bmedics for a hundred bucks i'd have a 100v 10ah charger with 4 balancers for the 4 6s3p packs which i could just charge as a unit this way and avoid any screwing around with parallel/series every time i would have to charge. Full charge would be an hour and a half, perfectly acceptable for me since i can sit down and watch it for that length of time every day for safety. I would eventually double the meanwells for 45 min charging but alas, i find no good deals on them beyond about 70-75 dollars shipped.

I would still build a wiring harness, prbly combining the four balancers on a mounted board and have one large connector
http://cgi.ebay.ca/1-Military-36-Pi...=LVI&itu=UCI&otn=3&po=LVI&ps=63#ht_1158wt_906.

That way i would have only two plugs, and that would be fairly ideal.
 
Charging with Meanwell is fast, it won't take as long as you expect, for you never discharge your batteries flat. I use two sp-320-48 and one sp-320-24, and very satisfied with them.

Buying 80$ of one colour wire is a little too much IMO. I bought 10ga tinned copper Halar (e-ctfe) wire to upgrade the phase wires, paid 15$ for 50ft at military surplus, and it can handle more stress, current and heat than this silicone wire that you linked to. I used 10 and 8ga silicone wires for the battery and wiring harness, but purchased all matching colours at Hobby King in small quantity for very cheap, also found matching colours of shrink tubing for a very neat setup. The small hall sensor wires can be upgraded too, when you are after all-weather/terrain setup, but the most important is the choice of the best connectors that you can find, everywhere in your wiring, and adequate waterproofing of them.
 
see what i mean about being told im a noob? i'm looking at the stuff, quickly googling and found out it is indeed military and that the insulation is excellent and since it is also pretty im googly eyes.
thanks for bringing me down to earth mr, i agree way too much of one color anyway. I was planning on getting my wire through hobbyking as well, and ill pick up some of those inline fuses rated for 150 amps and ill do the shrink rap/three-one 10 gauge hole/solder job on them. I would prlby use a better thinner gauge for the hall sensors if i was upgrading them right? And then crucially make sure they are really well epoxied in so that they cannot rust right?

How bad is the spacing in the crystalyte axle; i know with the 9c people were doing the insulation removal and replacing it with shrink rap to get the 10 gauge to fit.
Finally; what waterproof connectors would you recommend? I don't mind spending money on marine connectors if i have to, but so many people on here just use bullets or andersons.. The battery will be in a backpack, so it has to be a connection that can be broken between the bats and the system easily and repeatedly. Truly, connectors are about the last thing i really need to figure out. Between the bats the bullets that are stock with the hobbyking stuff will work fine; i might shrink wrap them since im not planning to have to take apart the batt ever. But for the battery to controller connection, i still will need to at least have an inline resistor mod since i will be plugging this in at school without any small light bulb circuits around. I especially want to avoid a plug where im seeing the light of god twice a day; I'm not down for kff at school with a ride still to go...
 
Connectors:

EC5%281%29.jpg

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=9194

ppfamily.gif

http://www.andersonpower.com/products/standard-powerpole.html

Waterproofing is done best with silicone tape, and a bit of car windshield mounting gum.

You will not need to upgrade the phase wires on a Clyte 5304, if you don't ride the mountains or long steep hills with a high Amp setup. If you have to do it, 10ga silicone wires will not fit, that is why I did it with e-ctfe wire, because their OD is smaller and Halar insulation is tough enough to break a wire stripping tool. Still, it was hard to fit, really the limit of what can fit without mod to the axle channel.
 
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