Recent content by BikePilot

My son's Oset runs on a 6s4p pack of 18650 cells and it does great. I charge at 0.5c but rarely ever takes more than an hour because it lasts longer than he does. That pack gives massively more range than the 2x 12v 10ah yuasa agms that were standard and dropped 11lbs from the bike!

I run my son's electric motorcycle on a pack without BMS by stopping when resting voltage gets to 3.6 per cell or when lowest sagged voltages gets below 3.3. Usually charge only to 4.1v, and go up to 4.2 if it'll be a long ride where the range may come in handy. I always balance charge. One...

I usually charge my 6s4p pack at 6 amps which is just under 0.5C (Tesla cells). it doesn't get warm at all and I think could be charged faster, I just have no need of that. I use SMC lipos in my RC truck and they specifically instruct that charging must be done between 1 and 2C. I charge two...

I wouldn't worry about the hitch strength. At around half the rated capacity you'll be fine. Also steel will almost always fail slowly--keep an eye on it and you'll see paint flaking off where it's flexing too much, then cracking and/or bending before anything falls off. Agree with everyone...

There is a lot that can be done to make a wheel stronger. The lacing pattern, spoke type and gauge, nipple type, and tension all make a huge difference along with the obvious bits about rim strength and hub strength. As an example I used to get 1 day at best out of expensive factory-built DH...

You can get quite a lot of power out of V-Brakes. Another option if you want just a bit more feel/modulation for bikes without disc mounts are Magura hydro rim brakes. I raced downhill bikes in the 1990s and these were all the rage. They are still popular for trials bikes. For v-brakes make...

Thought I would follow up: A fellow ES member provided a 6s4p pack of Tesla cells (he built it, all welded and wrapped). I charge it with an RC balance charger (icharger 3010b, no BMS in the pack so far). We've been using it since July and it's working wonderfully. It knocked 11lbs off the...

That's awesome! Got mine an Oset 12.5 for his 2nd birthday. He's almost three now and still loving it! Maybe something like this is in his future :)

Thanks! So no soldering :) I'm not against buying a spot welder and going that route if it's the best approach. He just started riding a few weeks ago, but has really taken to it. Probably will average 5-6 rides a week so maybe ~300 cycles a year. Most rides don't come close to fully...

Thanks! I much prefer to use a quality pack and am not terribly concerned with cost. Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm not opposed to building my own pack also if there are no reasonable options for buying one ready to go. I'll need to learn best practices but am generally comfortable with...

Thanks so much, that sounds like a perfect approach, I'll research the battery holder option. I'm not sure what the upper limit in voltage is for my controller so was thinking of playing it safe with 6s, but maybe that's taking things a bit too far. 7s would max out around 29.4v, right? Has...

Thanks so much! Location is Tampa Florida in the USA. Size is pretty flexible. My current SLA battery pack is 150mm long by 125mm wide by 110mm tall and the bike has padded steel battery tray and hold-down (very much like you'd find in a car) to fit these dimensions. There is space to go up...

Could anyone recommend a high quality pack builder that could put together a 6s4p NCR18650GA pack with BMS for me? I'm interested in using a 18650 pack to power my son's Oset 12.5 (a very small kids trials bike--rider is 2yrs old). It comes standard with 2s1p 12v 10ah SLAs. My primary...