markz said:
Cheap batteries dont last long.
You may have been lied to on how the battery was built, you may have been promised 2021 Ferrari 18650's and were actually sold 1972 Ford Pinto 18650's as a battery because you trusted a no name battery seller to save a few pennies and you are left with paying more then double because the second battery is sold by a reputable seller/builder and costs more then the cheap battery you got to save a few pennies.
That... is a valid point! Sketchy sellers are sketchy!
goatman said:
ya the batteries are garbage but you replace them with 25r's, good,cheap and reliable
I'm definitely not at the point where I should be doing anything like that! (Safely, that is...) Thanks tho!
99t4 said:
Dear DearDeathDay,
You posses tremendous writing skills. Very expressive. Way better than most of us. But what I am perceiving is that you lack mechanical skills, electronic, troubleshooting, tool usage, shop safety skills, etc. (Admittedly I could be wrong but that's what I perceive via your remarks and comments.)(Basically 0 necessary skills.) Therefore it's going to be very difficult for you by yourself to piece together a reliable safe system given your budget.
Can you find someone local that has the necessary skills, maybe an auto-electric mechanic or similar hobbyist to help you, and work out a trade? Can you find a local park or field where the RC (Remote Control) folks fly their RC planes or run their RC cars or boats? They would most likely be great at putting together your e-bike.
For example, when I need to do some important writing I get my daughter to help (she's a fantastic writer like you) and I fix her car or change the oil or whatever, things she can't do. Works out way better for both of us.
Not trying to discourage you because given enough time and training (and $$$) yes you can get there and do it all yourself but is that the most efficient way?
Just making suggestions to keep you safe, sincerely not wanting you to create an inadvertent fireworks show
while changing out some connectors trying to hook up a cheap battery from x to a cheap controller from y.
That is very kind of you to say and I totally get where you are coming from! Right now I'm not really friends with anyone that has those kinds of technical skills nor do I know of any places nearby where I wouldn't be charged out the nose for some help. I'm sure if I look hard enough I'll be able to find someone though. After all, there is the saying that anyone is 6 handshakes away from anyone else.
I do have
some experience with engineering but definitely nothing like this. Mostly, just pulling smartphones apart and doing basic part replacements. For example, I know way more about the programming behind the screen then I know how the wiring works.
If I can't find anyone to help me or I'm not 100% certain that the parts I get will fit together without issue then I should probably just get a 1-and-done kind of kit. The ebikeling kits that have come up a few times also have batteries and they're just basic DD motors so there shouldn't be any part of the assembly that could go catastrophically wrong. However... I want the challenge of something interesting and settling for safety will be a hard decision... I'm leaning towards saving a bit more to ensure I don't have any remorse over the battery being cheap and getting a complete kit from somewhere right now. That will just take more time... and time is the enemy of still having to pedal everywhere!!
P.S. You're the first person to make an attempt at a joke outta my name worth anything so points to you!
markz said:
Save your money and spend more time reading up on the difference between motors, pro's and con's to each hub motor, geared vs direct drive, play around with the tools to figure out your riding terrain and what specs to buy. Change power ratings.
Ebikeling is is decent, I never bought them but others have and seem to like what they bought.
Buy 1000watt direct drive or geared. Read what the differences are, run out of juice on dd you need to pedal harder like a flat tire. Geared freewheels, and more torque due to the internal gears but more moving parts can fail unlike dd which is strong.
You want to pedal, huff and puff, break a sweat, want pedal assist and display, then buy KT display kit no big deal. Buy it all as a package or buy a battery separately.
MAC motor is geared, buy that, I wouldnt want to buy less power. Power/Speed is limited to controller+battery.
http://www.macmotortech.com/ebike-kits.html
https://mac.en.alibaba.com/
https://evfittinggreentime.aliexpress.com/store/group/Brushless-DC-Motor/313864_251592060.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.pcShopHead_11248317.1_4
https://bmsbattery.com
https://ebikeling.com
https://lunacycle.com
https://em3ev.com
https://ebikes.ca/
https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&_ssn=elifebike2010&_sop=16
https://www.pswpower.com/collections/controller?page=2
https://www.greenbikekit.com/electric-bike-kit/rear.html <----do a search on them, hit & miss.
These guys are good sell everything from geared to dd to controllers to throttles to high power to weak power, displays, batteries, torque arms.
https://mxus.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-810199622/Geared_motor_250w_1000w.html?spm=a2700.shop_plgr.98.3
Thank you so much for all the links! I've been to a good half of those sites at one point or another but definitely haven't aggregated them like that! My spreadsheet is pitifully empty of entries. I mostly gave up on filling it out when I realized anything decent was outside my current budget lol
MAC looks like the kind of website where "if you have to ask the price then you can't afford it."
I'm totally still doing research! After everything I've learned so far I know making a hasty decision won't get me anywhere and, strictly speaking, I don't
need the ebike until the summer lets out. So, I have plenty of time to make the right choice... A 1000w kit does seem like the best option for something that won't ever have issues getting me around at the speed limits. However, it's not strictly street legal where I live so... that's just something I have to take into consideration. I definitely want PAS as an option but I'd also like to have a throttle (even though that doesn't quite appear to be exactly legal either, technically speaking) so having a display is pretty important. If I don't get a display then... I could probably hide the battery as back rack luggage and only someone who knew what they where looking for might be able to tell it was an ebike. Which, might not be such a bad thing. I do like data though, so not getting a screen doesn't appeal to me very much.
A DD motor seems like its probably the easiest choice. They're a bit cheaper and, like you said, easier to take care of. Still, more research is required!
dogman dan said:
You will want a stronger motor later, but if you buy that kind now, you will just need a lot more money to get the battery that will last with the motor pulling so hard.
Best thing you could do? Get a top quality kit from a vendor that sells only that kind of kit. But that puts the budget as much as $1500, or even 2500 if you buy a complete name brand bike from a shop.
But for now, get a decent 350w geared motor kit from a known vendor. The gears inside just make the tiny motor able to pull harder for its size.
Then up your battery budget as much as you can stand to. keep the whole thing well under a thou. The motor will be weak, but you don't have huge hills. You don't mention needing 30 mph to mix with traffic. If you did, Id start saying get a 150cc gas scooter that can go 50 mph. And that little motor will do the trick nicely, for riding around at 15-20 mph.
Bear in mind, here at ES we are a lot of guys who like making miniature motorcycles. We modify frames with welders, build wheels with motorcycle rims, build our own batteries from raw cells, and we consider 72v bikes that go 40 mph a starting point.
One last word on the battery fire thing,, I only said charge it outside. You can keep it inside just fine, but it can be a good idea to keep it in metal, like a toolbox or something. It won't set the wiring of the building on fire if something happens. The main thing about charging it in a bbq grill is just that you can keep the thing charging if it happens to be raining out there. And its out of sight.
Yeah... going over ~$1K just means I should probably get an actual ebike instead of trying to put my own together. Doing a project for the first time on that kind of budget with my kind of income would be a terrible idea. However, a few years from now... that's a different story entirely!
This might just be my elitism talking but a 350w motor seems so weak :<
This
kit, for example, is 36v 500w with a 36v 11.6AH ~417wh battery for like ~$700 (after factoring in another torque arm + stuff) which isn't... out of the picture entirely and is better than every ~$1K ebike I can find anywhere. I'd prefer to get the same thing but 750~1000w because its like... a few $100 for the difference between... meh... and... less meh... but, obviously, I can't quite afford that.
However, you are correct that anything more than that will go outside the possible budget I'd like if I want to get something reputable and dump every last cent into the best battery I can.
Getting any kind of moped/scooter or whatever is... just as expensive! And that isn't taking into account I'd probably need a motorcycle endorsement or some nonsense. The moped would need a license plate and insurance... all those things riding an ebike was supposed to help me avoid lol
I'm the kind of person who just doesn't want to break any enforceable laws as a point of fact, so not doing those registration things is impossible for me.
On a side note, can you believe how much they charge for a terrible pre-built ebike? Waaaay too much! Way too much.
Also, I don't need to mix with traffic much. Anywhere I can't be on a sidewalk will be so packed with cars I'll be going 10x faster than them just trying not to unbalance.
Don't worry, I have definitely picked up on the fact that everyone here just wants to build illegal motorcycles! I
almost share that sentiment... I'm just a bit too concerned about the risk for permanent physical injury to go that far.
I think I'll probably look into a ~$50 investment of a battery charging "case" - if there isn't a risk of an electrical fire... then that's just the safest option and, generally, something I'm willing to pay to make sure it doesn't destroy my life. Its a permanent investment and even if I get the best battery ever there would
still be a risk of it catching on fire!
Then again... within 10 feet of me there are at least 3 different Lithium Ion batteries that I have never been particularly worried about spontaneously combusting... maybe... I should be? Or maybe I shouldn't be so worried about the ebike battery >.>
