Amped Bikes kit plus Ping battery good for first build?

[parahsalin]

Hi, I'm about to begin my first E-bike build and was wondering if the Amped bike kit, their torque arms, etc... were a good value and a good choice for a first time build.

What torque arms would you guys recommend? The bike is an aluminum frame mountain bike, no suspension, not great, but not terrible. It probably will see off road use since I'm going to be going to college in a mountain area with lots of trails, but will probably be used mostly around town and campus.

I was planning on using it with a 36 volt, 15 AH LiFePo4 battery from pingbattery. Does anyone have experience with ping's batteries on Ampedbike kits? Is there any reason why these wouldn't be compatible?

Now, I realize Ping's packs are just shrink wrapped bare bones. I'm fine with that. I'm a pretty skilled fabricator, wood, metal, plastic, etc... and plan on making a new casing for it that will slide in and out quickly from from some kind of holder, like a drill battery. This being said I know very little about electronics. I noticed the standard connectors for both the ping batteries and the Amped Bikes controller looked very flimsy (see picture), and not like something you'd be attaching and detaching constantly. Anyone know what I could use instead? Ideally something without bendable prongs, so I could just tightly fit in place with the housing and have it all line up.

 

[dnmun]

rear or front motor? for front, you need the C washer if the fork has lawyer lips on Al frame or the Al dropout will crack and will break and the wheel will jam in the fork and throw you on your face.

 

[wineboyrider]

DD are great beginner bikes and Ping's are great commuter batteries. Why not 48v? You can limit it with hi-m-lo switch or a CA down the road. The ping is going to work great with this setup, because the controller is modest and within the limits of the mid size ping packs. The ping has a bms so you don't have to monitor voltages like you would with lithium... etc.

 

[Drunkskunk]

The only problem with your choice is you will very likely regret the 36v battery in a year and wish you had gotten the 48 volt.

 

[wineboyrider]

The only problem with your choice is you will very likely regret the 36v battery in a year and wish you had gotten the 48 volt.

+1 been there done that....
:lol:

 

[Jason27]

Amped bikes kit plus allcell battery is the way to go.

Allcell packs are lighter than ping for almost the same price.

www.chicagoelectricbicycles.com/batteries

 

[ohzee]

I bought a amped bike kit 3 months ago also cutting my teeth. the only thing left on my bike from that purchase is the rear DD motor.

I also say go 48 volts - the ping batteries seem like a good choice for reliability and support.

Good luck no matter what you do it's a blast.

 

[dogman dan]

Either battery a good choice. Nothing wrong with amped's kits either. The main thing people do wrong is buy too small a battery. 15 ah size is the way to go, both to keep the battery amp rate reasonable, and to give yourself real range.

48v is real nice, but does tend to leave you riding real fast, since it's easier to hold a throttle wide open. Nothing wrong with 36v, unless you have particularly steep hills to climb. If you have a long steep hill, you want the 48v for that part of the ride for sure.

Edit, off road on the trails. Now you will need the 48v. When trail riding, pedal hard to assis the motor up the steepest hills, or it will melt. Steep singletrack requires special motors, so stick to easier trails. If possible, ascend the easy way, then go down the steep way.

Personally, I like anderson power pole connectors for the battery to controller plug. Powerwerks is the place I get them in quantity. Solder them on if you don't have a good crimper, or get a bunch of the contacts and practice crimping with a cheap crimper. 45 amp contacts.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

I have two Amped Bikes kits, and neither have ever had any problems, very solid, reasonably priced kits.

I agree that the small wire connectors are cheesy, but that is pretty much the standard, and they work fine, you could add some dielectric grease to the plugs (not too much or you might cause a short between contacts .. ask me how I know that ... :lol: ) if you're worried about water, I live in a pretty rainy area (Portland Oregon) and I have always just wrapped the connectors in old strips of inner tube, and I have never had a problem.

Also, you're really not going to be plugging and unplugging the small wire connectors much, mainly just the battery.

I REALLY like these kind of connectors:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180686163030?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

IIRC they can handle around 30-40A which is more than enough for the average battery at 48V.

Don't buy a 36V battery, save up and buy the 48V if you have too, and buy a CA (Cycle Analyst) , you will never regret either of those purchased. 8)