Albie's ebike - my 'daily driver' project

[albie]

I got a EZIP (which is really an IZIP) Trailz... its a full steel frame and i had BiGH help upgrading the bike recently...

Got a set of 12V 17aH SLA batteries and built a pack running at 36v 17aH. This will work with the bike till I organise a set of lipo batteries. The only problem i have now is the charger but I have my setup from a 36v scooter so I'll just check out what wiring I have on that thing.

here is the setup of what it is now... currently the top speed i've got on the bike is 35km/h on the flat and 25km/h while hill climbing.

The Currie Tech motor... crappo 200w motor!!!

Messy wiring... has been cleaned up after the photo was taken...

This is the fastest I've gotten it going down hill....

More piccies here

Pretty much the plan for this bike is to have a 72v hub setup running on this as a daily driver with lifepoo packs! Which involves removing the existing currie tech electric motor setup / controller and replacing them with a 408 hub and a 72v 50A controller and drain brain from ebikes.ca

It's a well planned project with stages involved so i'll update this thread as it goes... but I really want to thank all you guys and especially BiGH for showing me the light on EVs!

 

[BiGH]

welcome and thanks mate

 

[Ben]

Firstly, welcome.

Secondly, is that was the bike I saw in the Kmart catalogue? I was thinking about getting it as I am in need of an electric bike and also to play around with (overvolting and cooling the motor).

The rating on that motor is completely false BTW.

Just a question, were the stock batteries any good?

 

[albie]

the deal that they have at kmart is an awesome deal as other ebike retailers in melbourne sell a similar setup for 800 - 1000+. so really its a good starting point.

the stock 24v batteries give you around 22km/h top speed on the flats (slow) and also hillclimbing it struggles a fair bit. with 36v, it does seem to struggle much although there is a fair bit of power in the packs i have.

The controller and motor is can easily run 24v or 36v batteries without any issues. The stock setup only lasted around 2 - 3 days till we decided to go the 36v. I haven't done any cooling mods to the motor (ie drill holes in the thing) cause I'm worried that water will get into it if it starts raining!

if you look in the documentation that comes with the bike, you can get a 36v 10aH battery pack from Currie tech.

The only issues i'm having at the moment is the recharging of the batteries as I want to set them up in a plug and play fashion (as I will be using it on a 24km commute). Since the pack i'm running has 3x 12v 17aH SLAs it's hard to find one big 36v charger. I did find a 36v charger at EVWorld in St Kilda this morning, and it is pretty sufficient for the SLA setup I have (can lug around the charger in my backpack without issues).

The bike is pretty modifiable, except where if you do want to get a bigger motor/controller, you will need to replace them which I will be early next year.

The battery adapters for the bike, can be easily taken off with a screw driver (once you take the adapters off - you pretty much end up with two wires). Will try and take more photos of the setup. I've really cleaned up and it looks pretty stealthy (ie just your standard mountain bike with a basket on the back).

As I also stated in the earlier post, I'm also in the process of organising lifepoo batteries, which will end up running a 72v setup (or possibly 108v with 3x 36v lifepoos)

 

[Ben]

Sounds like a killer deal for what it is.

I was thinking of paralleling the 2x 10Ah and getting 2x 17Ah SLAs to make 36V @ 17Ah.

*Sigh* the sale ends tomorrow, oh well, I might wait until Boxing Day to see if they have it on sale.

Great pictures too.

 

[albie]

the sale only took 70.00 off... imagine the money you will save not having to drive to work / school ...

oh yeah you'll also get the ev grin for like 5 mins then you realise you want more speed / power! hahah

BTW... having too many SLA batteries... makes the back really heavy. At the moment the 36v battery pack is around 20kg. The 24v pack that comes stock with the bike is around 10kg.

 

[Ben]

Yeah, SLAs are really heavy which is a bit of a shame.

I'm gonna need a way to get out to monash uni next year (either by car, bus or bike).

The great thing about this bike is that it is "200W" and that if you do anything that makes it stop working (you know what I'm talking about) you could just take it back and they should change it over/refund.

 

[Drunkskunk]

good looking boat

 

[BiGH]

exactly kmart return policy is great!

so simple!

running 108v... thats going to necessitate a 4110 modified controller as a minimum and would be right on the edge of frying...

72v is fine, I hardly ever use full throttle (except up hills)

the acceleration at 108v would be insane. Your bike is very steady though
plus also remember that while the batteries are "36v" they really have a higher starting voltage.

I'd say you wouldn't want to go over 96v without adequately rated components, and even then you're bike is giong to be NUTSO fast.

if my 408 runs at 55kph on a fresh charge at 72v... 108v *could* run as high as 80kph (clearly it wouldn't because of increased wind resistance), but hopefully you get the idea of this insanity hehehe

 

[albie]

hahah yeah... for the past few days... i've been researching controllers... i'm leaning towards the 4110 modifed controller your showed me.

yeah nutso fast hahaha

even though the final setup is rated for stupid speeds... i won't drive at that top coz thats f@#$ing scary hahah

 

[BiGH]

yeah but if ur running 108v its costing u a LOt more than 72v... There are other considerations when running higher voltages, its easier to explain them when you're actually riding the bike though.

if u figgure $500 per 36v lifepo4 it adds $500 in batteries alone (and the controller is more $$$)

 

[Ben]

According to my figures, at 108V you'd be using 3.4x the juice than at 72V just to overcome air resistance.

Here's a vid of the currie at 48V (I don't think it's going quite as fast as stated though). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJqVRO5zUkA

The other videos from that guy show him using a small geared motor to power the wheel, check them out, pretty violent.

 

[albie]

if you factor in wind resistance etc... of course the motor will work harder the faster you go.

however, as stated... i'm not really going for a faster top end speed (cause the cops would pull me over and give me a massive fine!). I'm thinking more to the fact that if you can get a higher constant speed for lets say at like 50 - 70% throttle, that would be good. For two reasons... the range will be better than 72v and also the fact that you will get to places quicker than with a smaller setup.

But going the 108v is pretty much more further down the line and would involve a heap of strengthening of various components (from the bike frame to the various electronics involved). At the end of the day, I'll be happy with a 72v Hub setup as a daily.

 

[albie]

Ok the 24v charger that comes with the bike is a piece of shit.

This is the second one thats broken ... so back to kmart i go for a replacement!

 

[albie]

Ok more charger woes...

i got a 36v charger from an electric bike place in melbourne... took it home and it didn't work. grrr sooo annoyed!

Going to take it back to them today to get a replacement.

I think i'm really unlucky with the chargers at the moment! hahaha

 

[BiGH]

this sounds like the day i'm having!

grrr...

to top it off I didn't get paid!

mmmm GRRRRRR

 

[albie]

sucks huh...

Ok well i got the replacement charger after driving out all the way to knoxfield. The guys at the shop goes there was something lose in the charger and i'm like well i haven't dropped it or anything so i wouldn't know anything about stuff being loose.

Finally got the replacement charger and hooked it up to the battery pack and now charging as we speak... first good thing I've had happen all day!

Will take it for a ride out in a few hours

Didn't realise how hungry I was haha

 

[albie]

I finally took the bike out on a full charge with the new pack... did around 6 km on the ride. I must say wow!

Hit the 35km/h as top speed but the setup really feels way more responsive. The controller / motor did feel warm when I got back to my garage but it was touchable (not burning hot).

Here are some piccies:

This is the current setup (very stealthy!)

Shots of the basket / battery pack

Battery Pack wiring (Anderson connectors FTW!!!!)

Battery with the charger (Anderson connectors FTW!!!!)

More piccies here

 

[Ben]

Hey Albie, do you reckon you can fit a 17Ah'er in the frame triangle or not? Just interested as this is a very cheap way of getting into the e-bike scene.

 

[albie]

possibly... although when i had the triangle bag (you can see it in the last photos i set up)... i kept wacking into it with my leg which was insanely annoying.

Personally, I don't really like mounting anything in the center frame but it is good for weight distribution but its really up to personal taste.

I'll measure it up over the weekend and post it up in the thread here.

 

[Ben]

OK, that'd be great.

It will be a bit of a hassle if you want to pedal too I suppose.

Thanks.

 

[tonrob]

Hi Alby
I am looking at getting the same bike as you from kmart as an intro to ebiking ( I have a recumbent trike that would be ideal to electrify...too costly at the moment) I am 5'4'' tall so the idea of one frame fits all worries me.......do you think it would suit someone of my height?
thanks
Tony

 

[BiGH]

best thing is to rock into a kmart and see if you can get your leg over the top tube. it is pretty generous though for shorter people as well as giants.

no front gears could be an issue though - albie did u find out if it has the space to put them in later?

 

[Ben]

I think I might fit into the giant category

I might make my way down to kmart some time this weekend to see what it's like.

The fixed gear on the front is a bit of a bummer, but I spose we'll find out soon enough if that can be fixed.

 

[tonrob]

My kmart is slack, they wont unbox one to try, they reckon too much gets broken on them!!
The top tube in the photos is sloping a lot so should get my leg over ok but may be a long stretch forward to the bars for a short arse like me?