Battery choice for Golden Motor hub motor.

[aquietstorm]

I recently purchased a Golden Motor 500 watt 36v hub motor and their 48 volt regenerative braking controller. I intent to use it in a home built tadpole recumbent. I am still a while away from having this project completed and I am now contemplating batteries. Since the controller is rated for 48 volts can I run this motor/controller combination at 48 volts safely? Does anyone out there have any experience with running this motor at 48 volts? What kind of performance could I expect out of a 10Ah LiFePo compared to a 13 Ah NiMh pack?

 

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I run it on a 48V 20Ah PingPack (lithium).

My motor works fine at 48V 40A, but some I guess have had problems with the phase wires coming from the motor being too small.

Assuming the NiMH is decent, you won't see much difference between it and LiFe, save for the extra range the additional 3Ah grants you.

 

[aquietstorm]

Can I use 36 volts with the 48 volt controller?

 

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Hmm, I don't think so. I believe the controller was designed for SLA, which means that it will have an LVC (low voltage cutout) at around 40V. You'd need to find a way to disable it for it to run on a 36V pack.

But why would you want to? 36V is boring.