My Merlin Mac10T CAV3 build.

The wiring is rough as I just put the gear on yesterday and I want some experience with it before I do more work on it.

It is 55 lbs and will do about 26 MPH on level ground. I am 151 lbs dressed with helmet. So 206 lbs or 93.5kg.

Battery is supposedly some kind of Samsung 18650 and 48v, 20 Ah from AliExpress - I assume 13S. It is on a $23 Schwinn rack that is sold at Target or Amazon. There is some rattle between the battery and rack when I go over bumps, which is why there are bungee straps on it. They help but don't eliminate the problem.

My plan for the wires and controller was to put them in a triangle bag, but I decided that I want more airflow for the controller, so I may end up just using Velcro fabric wraps. I may print a mount for the controller.

I designed and printed the 8-pole PAS wheel because the 12-pole King CA one was too large a diameter for my frame.

I would really like a torque-sensor, but my bottom bracket is 107mm, so none will fit. I know there is the chain-sensing kind, but I hear they are not so good.

So far my impressions are that it is too heavy, and a smaller triangle or dolphin battery would have been better. But maybe I will enjoy the range, I am not sure yet.

I charged it up last night and will ride it today until the battery is depleted and then report the CA data.









And with Ibera bag:

Nice commuter .

Nice bike! Any problem with getting the axle/nut fully into the dropouts?

Jon

The axle did seem to not just want to go in on its own. I had to tap it.

The nut interfered with my derailleur, but adding washers fixed that.

The axle to torque-arm fit was not as tight as I would like.

My Kill-A-Watt reported 0.99 to charge my pack. That is 990 Wh for a pack that my CA reports as providing 820Wh.

17.2% is lost due to the charger and the battery storage process.

It cost me about 16 cents to charge. I got 42 miles range at an average of 19.6 mph (but mostly at over 25 mph). So energy costs me 0.38 cents per mile. Or I can go 2.625 miles per penny.

Looks good.
Getting that battery in the frame will make it more balanced.
If you go slower you will be even more efficient.

Ride on!

This won't fit in the frame unless it is the wideish way.

If I had to do it all over again, I would look for a triangle or Dolphin battery.

When I pedal - significantly but not super hard, and give 150 watts of PAS - specifically calculated to make this bike feel like a 15 lb racing bike, I get 7.5-8.0 watt-hours per mile and average about 16 mph. That means I have a range of up to 108 miles with this boost.

The inner bottom of the Schwinn rack was starting to bend upward from the mass of the battery bouncing up and down. I solved that with very heavy duty cable ties on the bottom. I then put more around everything to keep it from rattling on the mount when I go over bumps. It is finally quiet. True I can no longer remove it, but that is no big deal.

Also note the rear light mount I 3D printed:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1008838




Next thing to do is to get a light powered from this battery.

I added an LED wheel display for night riding.

I am selling these parts now - listed in the classifieds area. I got into pedal-only bikes.