iovaykind
10 kW
I figured its about time I unveiled what I had slowly been working on since December of 2012. It's come a long way, and I'll try and cipher through what went on with the bike.
First, my goal was to build a commuter bike that I could effectively use as a downhilling bike as well. It's since evolved into something I'm quite happy with, and after having built a bike up from scratch for the first time, I have gained a lot of knowledge on what things I would do the same and what things I would do differently. For example, I would have figured out all the measurements before hand instead of building puzzle pieces and just hoping they would fit together nicely. Look at how I started..
The original specs were:
20s4p lipo
Greentime 40a controller
Goldenmotor hub in 20" rear wheel
Boxxer double clamp fork
Swingarm from Schwinn S-25
60" wheelbase
After realizing that it not only looked hilarious, but also would not be practical in any way, I decided to shorten up the wheelbase by removing the half the capacity of batteries. In hindsight, I probably could have kept the battery and still shortened the wheelbase by rotating the battery compartment to be more vertical, but I also didn't like how heavy the bike was getting. So then came the cutting all over again..
Ended up with:
20s2p lipo
Infineon 18fet 4110 controller
GoldenMotor hub in 20" rear wheel with moped SR714 tires (possibly upgrading to Crystalyte 4065 in the future)
Cargo single clamp fork (because my turning radius with the double clamp fork would've been too large)
Custom long swingarm with clamping dropouts (because I realized the Schwinn swingarm would not allow me to comfortably use regen, and the bottom bracket height would've been too high anyway)
Built in 1amp charger (with the extra space since half the batteries would be gone)
54" wheelbase (stability is still awesome)
Some of the changes I made were a result of the evolution of my knowledge over the past year.. I discovered programmable controllers and knew that I wouldn't be happy with Greentime controllers anymore. The resolution of the throttle, as well as the ability to switch settings on the fly is something worth the extra money. With the shortened mid section, I gained some space and figured adding an onboard charger would be a good idea. I like it, just running an extension cord to charge. Although it only charges at 1amp, that's enough for the every day commute charge overnight kind of deal. I do have leads which I can plug into an external charger if I choose to charge faster.
Suspension wise now it feels awesome, with about 5.5" in the front, and a whopping 8.5" in the rear. Feels as plush as my Specialized BigHit. Although I wouldn't huck it off any jumps like I would with the BigHit, I am comfortable curb hopping and the bumps on the road need not be avoided anymore. It was a definite learning experience, and I gained a lot of knowledge building the bike from scratch. Overall ended up spending around $1600 for the project, give or two $200.. I gave up calculating exactly midway through. Countless hours were spent planning, doing, redoing, and refining. I hope to break even by selling it eventually so I can do it a second time with all the knowledge I learned the first time around. Unfortunately I'll be starting medical school in August so it will probably not happen. Anyway, if I can sell my old Schwinn converted E-Bike for $1300, I don't foresee issues breaking even with this project.
Some more related specs..
Top speed 35mph
Controller is set on regen at lowest setting. EBS-0.
Programmed to only 46a battery / 100a phase, so I'm not even close to maxing out this controller by any means. I have the 18fet there so I can upgrade a motor in the future and dump more amps into it.
Range 10 miles at full speed setting, more at low speed of course. This will go up, as I have to fine tune the Infineon. It's giving too many amps to the GM hub, and its heating up way too fast. Once I figure a good balance for the hub, I'll be able to save more battery by having less of it heat up the motor.
24w of LED light with 3w each bulb, 8 bulbs total. Immensely bright, I will get videos of the bike in action later on with my two gopros 8)
Keyed ignition so that it is literally a turn-key e-bike.
On my first run I managed only 10.5 miles before hitting LVC. And it wasn't good either, one cell had gotten down to 2.5v. I quickly charged it back up to 3.5v and diagnosed the issue. One weaker cell with lower capacity. Then I paralleled the cells, and instead of having 7.5ah usable, I am able to get to 9ah usable before hitting LVC. Will need to raise the LVC just a bit, so that it comes on when the weakest cell hits 3.5v. When bulk charging to 4.1v/cell, I get 9ah or so. Going to try and squeeze just a bit more by having the weaker cell get charged to 4.15v, while the rest only get to 4.1v. Thus, it'll still get to 3.5v quicker than the other cells, but I can probably get 9.2ah or so. Anyway, that's all I got.. still a lot of refinement needed. But having a turn-key ebike is awesome.. questions, please ask! I have a lot more to share but my fingers are already tired of typing :lol:
First, my goal was to build a commuter bike that I could effectively use as a downhilling bike as well. It's since evolved into something I'm quite happy with, and after having built a bike up from scratch for the first time, I have gained a lot of knowledge on what things I would do the same and what things I would do differently. For example, I would have figured out all the measurements before hand instead of building puzzle pieces and just hoping they would fit together nicely. Look at how I started..
The original specs were:
20s4p lipo
Greentime 40a controller
Goldenmotor hub in 20" rear wheel
Boxxer double clamp fork
Swingarm from Schwinn S-25
60" wheelbase
After realizing that it not only looked hilarious, but also would not be practical in any way, I decided to shorten up the wheelbase by removing the half the capacity of batteries. In hindsight, I probably could have kept the battery and still shortened the wheelbase by rotating the battery compartment to be more vertical, but I also didn't like how heavy the bike was getting. So then came the cutting all over again..
Ended up with:
20s2p lipo
Infineon 18fet 4110 controller
GoldenMotor hub in 20" rear wheel with moped SR714 tires (possibly upgrading to Crystalyte 4065 in the future)
Cargo single clamp fork (because my turning radius with the double clamp fork would've been too large)
Custom long swingarm with clamping dropouts (because I realized the Schwinn swingarm would not allow me to comfortably use regen, and the bottom bracket height would've been too high anyway)
Built in 1amp charger (with the extra space since half the batteries would be gone)
54" wheelbase (stability is still awesome)
Some of the changes I made were a result of the evolution of my knowledge over the past year.. I discovered programmable controllers and knew that I wouldn't be happy with Greentime controllers anymore. The resolution of the throttle, as well as the ability to switch settings on the fly is something worth the extra money. With the shortened mid section, I gained some space and figured adding an onboard charger would be a good idea. I like it, just running an extension cord to charge. Although it only charges at 1amp, that's enough for the every day commute charge overnight kind of deal. I do have leads which I can plug into an external charger if I choose to charge faster.
Suspension wise now it feels awesome, with about 5.5" in the front, and a whopping 8.5" in the rear. Feels as plush as my Specialized BigHit. Although I wouldn't huck it off any jumps like I would with the BigHit, I am comfortable curb hopping and the bumps on the road need not be avoided anymore. It was a definite learning experience, and I gained a lot of knowledge building the bike from scratch. Overall ended up spending around $1600 for the project, give or two $200.. I gave up calculating exactly midway through. Countless hours were spent planning, doing, redoing, and refining. I hope to break even by selling it eventually so I can do it a second time with all the knowledge I learned the first time around. Unfortunately I'll be starting medical school in August so it will probably not happen. Anyway, if I can sell my old Schwinn converted E-Bike for $1300, I don't foresee issues breaking even with this project.
Some more related specs..
Top speed 35mph
Controller is set on regen at lowest setting. EBS-0.
Programmed to only 46a battery / 100a phase, so I'm not even close to maxing out this controller by any means. I have the 18fet there so I can upgrade a motor in the future and dump more amps into it.
Range 10 miles at full speed setting, more at low speed of course. This will go up, as I have to fine tune the Infineon. It's giving too many amps to the GM hub, and its heating up way too fast. Once I figure a good balance for the hub, I'll be able to save more battery by having less of it heat up the motor.
24w of LED light with 3w each bulb, 8 bulbs total. Immensely bright, I will get videos of the bike in action later on with my two gopros 8)
Keyed ignition so that it is literally a turn-key e-bike.
On my first run I managed only 10.5 miles before hitting LVC. And it wasn't good either, one cell had gotten down to 2.5v. I quickly charged it back up to 3.5v and diagnosed the issue. One weaker cell with lower capacity. Then I paralleled the cells, and instead of having 7.5ah usable, I am able to get to 9ah usable before hitting LVC. Will need to raise the LVC just a bit, so that it comes on when the weakest cell hits 3.5v. When bulk charging to 4.1v/cell, I get 9ah or so. Going to try and squeeze just a bit more by having the weaker cell get charged to 4.15v, while the rest only get to 4.1v. Thus, it'll still get to 3.5v quicker than the other cells, but I can probably get 9.2ah or so. Anyway, that's all I got.. still a lot of refinement needed. But having a turn-key ebike is awesome.. questions, please ask! I have a lot more to share but my fingers are already tired of typing :lol:
