geared kona dirt jump frame SOLD

[flyinmonkie]

Thanks Snow,

I tested continuity on all the wires on each side of the plug and triple checked everything went to its mate between plugs. I think the balance leads aren't getting a good connection right from the LVC boards. the wires are pretty small.

I have been to busy moving this week and weekend to look any more. Only going a short distance, like around the block. Unfortunately I will no longer have a garage. Good think I am almost finished with this bike.

I'll have to test my output leads from the charge plug and make sure the polarity is correct. I'll also pop open my charger to see what was melting. I am guessing it was just a bit of insulation on a wire, or at least I am hoping it is. Still seems very odd to me that it would smoke at all. It is a hyperion 1420i, so I would guess it has a reverse polarity warning.

Anyway, this will all happen after I have finished moving this weekend. It is warming up, so I need to sort it soon. I want to get back on the bike for commuting this summer.

Clay

 

[sn0wchyld]

Thanks Snow,

I tested continuity on all the wires on each side of the plug and triple checked everything went to its mate between plugs. I think the balance leads aren't getting a good connection right from the LVC boards. the wires are pretty small.

I have been to busy moving this week and weekend to look any more. Only going a short distance, like around the block. Unfortunately I will no longer have a garage. Good think I am almost finished with this bike.

I'll have to test my output leads from the charge plug and make sure the polarity is correct. I'll also pop open my charger to see what was melting. I am guessing it was just a bit of insulation on a wire, or at least I am hoping it is. Still seems very odd to me that it would smoke at all. It is a hyperion 1420i, so I would guess it has a reverse polarity warning.

Anyway, this will all happen after I have finished moving this weekend. It is warming up, so I need to sort it soon. I want to get back on the bike for commuting this summer.

Clay

the other possiblility is that your wiring accidentally sent the balance leads across 2 or more packs to 1 port... ie pin 1 and 4 from the batts were = pin 1 and 2 at the charger. basically rather than seeing ~4v at that pin, the charger got a dose of 12v or something (basically 3s rather than 1), and fried something that way. (I hope this description make sense).

easiest way could be to check the voltage across each individual pin on the chargers balance plug.

good luck with the moove mate.

 

[flyinmonkie]

Thanks Snow,

I thought about that, but I wasn't sure where to measure the voltage. You put one lead from the meter on the pin of the balance plug, and where doest the other lead from the charger go?

Clay

 

[sn0wchyld]

Thanks Snow,

I thought about that, but I wasn't sure where to measure the voltage. You put one lead from the meter on the pin of the balance plug, and where doest the other lead from the charger go?

Clay

Easyest way is to put your gground from the meter on the ground of your battery lead ( the main discharge lead)
Then one by one connect the +ve lead of the meter to the ground lead of tthe ballance lead, then the next one up, and so on. That way if everythtings wired correctly, you should see 0v, 4v, 8v, 12v, etc etc (assuming your cells are at 4v). If you see a jump thats greater than 4ish volts youve got dodgy wireing.

Make sure youre testing the same puns that would be goimg into the chargers balance port.

If thats not clear let me know ill draw up a quick diagram.

 

[flyinmonkie]

Thanks again snow. I thought it didn't really matter what wires went were on the balance plugs, but obviously it does. There is definitely something funky in my balance wires after testing them. I found a wire diagram to tell me which wire is which, so I can wire them to the LVC boards properly.

I opened the charger and there was a slight burnt smell, but I couldn't see anything toasted. It all seems to work fine as well. We will see soon. Tomorrow I'll plug in the proper balance plug to make sure it works fine. Then I'll sort out my plug to match the correct wiring. Hopefully it all goes well then.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Balance wires sorted. They work much better when they are in the correct order. The charger seems to be fine as well. Now I just have to finish the top of the battery box and give it a coat of paint. Hmmm... What to do after that?

Clay

 

[sn0wchyld]

Balance wires sorted. They work much better when they are in the correct order. The charger seems to be fine as well. Now I just have to finish the top of the battery box and give it a coat of paint. Hmmm... What to do after that?

Clay

errr... ride it? :wink:

 

[flyinmonkie]

I have blown my first freewheel. I hope I make it home from work on it. It is pretty bad. I'll take some pics when I take it off.

It is the freewheel on the final drive output from my reduction set up. Not sure if I will be able to just put new bearings in it, or if I will have to try to get it off the freewheel adapter. I hope I don't have to order another freewheel adapter. That would take too long as it is now ridding weather here.

Add that to changing my first and third gears so the bike shifts better and the chain doesn't skip and finishing the lid to the battery box. I really miss having a garage and a workshop.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Not too bad actually. Not enough damage to warrant pics. The clip holding the pawls in broke and a set of pawls got jammed in the workings. That unscrewed the plate and the freewheel started to come apart. I could only find one set of pawls and and I am pretty sure half the bearings came out.

It took some doing to get the freewheel adapter out. A vise, a big punch, a hammer, and a lot of whacks. It is all off now and I am just waiting for a new freewheel to arrive. Hopefully early next week. I got the gears changed so it should shift much better. I'll find out when I get the new freewheel.

Clay

 

[epack]

Nice job on this bike. Just found your build thread. I'll try to mimic some of your innovations when I do my first build.

 

[flyinmonkie]

Thanks epack

I have been pretty bad at posting over the last year or so. The freewheel arrived and went on easy. The bike is running great and shifting smoothly with the new gearing. I hit about 49 on a long flat. I am thinking about bumping the controller settings up a bit. I am sure there is room to move as the controller never gets warm and the motor never too warm to touch. I'm still procrastinating with the lid to the box. Not sure why really, just haven't been motivated to finish it.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

I got pulled over today on the way to work. It was pretty funny actually. I was cruising down the shared bike path I usually ride and wide open (pushing 5okph) as usual. There is rarely anyone else on the path and when there is I slow down and move off the path to give them room. It is long and straight and you can see nearly a kilometer a head.

The cop was going the other direction and rolled his lights. I slowed down and pedalled for a while to see if he was going to turn a round. He did and I went over to the road as he came up. The first thing out of his mouth was, "I have no problem with what you have there. You were really moving along though." I said yup, fair enough. He then said he had no issue with the bike, just ride it on the road, as I was going as fast as a car and it is a shared path. I said no worries, I do slow way down and give others lots of room when I pass them, but I'll move to the road. Then he said, "That thing is groovy." I told him it is an electric bike and he went, "electric?" I said yup, and he said "That's groovy. Have a good day."

I pulled out on the road and as he turned around past me I told him to have a good day as well.

All in all a good encounter. I was worried about being on the road with no registration and the speeds I go, but figured I was going to get picked up for speed on the paths, if I did get picked up. Glad to hear I can use the road without issue here. I think the cop really wanted to ask if he could get one.

I pulled over and was very friendly and obliging. I didn't give any attitude and politely listened to what he had to say. I answered any questions directly and honestly without offering any more information than necessary. I got a friendly polite officer in return. I do live in a very small town and that helps, but I have always found that if you are honest and friendly with police they are in return. It seems they get that reaction so little, it takes them by surprise.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Got the top for the battery box finally finished. It makes a big difference in the sound and feel of the bike. The whole battery box feels far more solid with the top attached. Almost all the little rattles are gone now. I was worried the motor sound might resonate more with the box covered, but it sounds better. The sound got a little deeper and seems to be a bit quitter. I'm really happy with it. I just need to paint it all now. Give me another year to get that done, ha ha. It does mean taking the box off the bike and the batteries out. Not sure when I'll stop ridding it long enough to do that and paint it. I'll put up some pics in the next couple days.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

I am having some issues with charging my batteries lately. I have one set of cells that goes to 4.20v and is held there by the charger. The rest I struggle to get over 3.87v. If I balance charge the same thing happens. They usually charge to about 4.0v or so. I'm not getting nearly the range I should be. The batteries don't seem puffed or anything. They are almost 3 years old though. Any suggestions? I know, new batteries is probably the best way to go.

Clay

 

[wildharemtbkr]

Which charger are you using? Is it the Hyperion 1410? Did you ever fix it after wiring your 1 plug solution incorrectly? I did the same to mine, let the smoke out yet it still appeared to work, then the batteries got out of whack and it wouldn't fix (balance) them, I replaced the charger and all was well after a few cycles. I think you ruined your charger when it released the magic smoke. Basically you have been bulk charging all this time and not balance charging. Or worse the charger is incorrectly reading them and throwing the batteries out of balance. Do you have another charger you can check with? Run a few cycles on that charger if you do. I'm not sure what mine did, but it seemed to be working, I replaced it and the new one balanced all my cells fine. They are going out again now, I have a few with a bit more ir then the rest, so the discharge the fastest and recharge the fastest, but it does balance up eventually.

 

[flyinmonkie]

It is a 1420i. I have thought about that and checked the actual voltage of the batteries. It matched exactly what charger says. I did get the one plug set up all sorted and working correctly. I have an imax and I checked them with that and it matched as well. So I charged each battery individually with the hyperion. The 2 that are paralleled wouldn't go past 3.99v on all the cells except the one that goes to 4.20v when charged individually. The other 2 charged just fine individually with the hyperion. I think one of the cells went in one of the batteries and took the matching cell with it in the paralleled battery. Like I said they are about 3 years old and near the end of their life. Pretty sure I'll get some new batteries.

Thanks for the input wildharemtbkr

Clay

 

[wildharemtbkr]

Do you know which input you wired incorrectly on the Hyperion? They are great chargers , but I wired my single plug db 25 late at night under a fluorescent light, it had 2 red wires one had a pink stripe I couldn't see, wired it to the balance and the other to the main (44.4v) plugged it in and vaporized my plugs . I still don't have a working single plug solution :lol: . My batteries did just like yours, got further and further out of balance. I thought the same thing, bad batteries. It may be as they are 3 years old. How many volts did you feed the balance tab?
I've been rereading your thread, I still have the lame currie motors, I have a 36 v 750 w and a 36 v 1000 w, I almost think the 750 has more power. I'm using the same controller, they are on different scooters, the 1000w is going through a nuvinci. It may be sucking up the power! It will climb steep hills and run quite well on the flat.
How do they compare to the rc motor on Matt's trike? And to the cyclone that you have now? Thanks

 

[flyinmonkie]

wildharemtbkr - I only had the balance taps mixed up with each other. I didn't realize that they had to be in a specific order. So the voltage through the balance taps wasn't very high. Only a small amount of smoke came out and very slowly. I think I just heated up the wire enough to smoke the insulation a little. When I opened the charger I couldn't see anywhere that looked burnt.

My batteries haven't gone any further out of charge. They just have one cell that goes to 4.20 fast and the rest balance at 3.97 every time. I think the average is not letting the charger charge up the rest of the cells and it just won't bring the high cell down. No matter how I long I let it go. Like I said the the 2 non-suspect batteries charged fine on their own.

I liked my currie motors. They really took a beating from me before they fried. They had lots of get up at 50v off the charger. And they weren't very loud compared to an RC or a cyclone. They just couldn't handle the amps that I was putting through them. My controller was amp limited at 100amps and you couldn't adjust it.

The short couple of runs I did on Matt's trike were awesome. The whole thing felt very solid and like a production product. It was more high pitched than really loud, but very noticeable due to the pitch. I didn't have a problem with start up and it pulled hard. My currie wasn't too different off the line, but this just kept going. If you want to do a lot of slower technical or slow up hill stuff, go with something else though. RC motors and controllers don't play nice at high load and low rpm.

The cyclone is a solid motor and feels great. Lots of pull off the line and just keeps going with every gear. It handle well slowly, but the throttle takes a little getting used to before you are confident at slow stuff. There is also the problem of the non-linear throttle. Near the top end it gets really touchy and goes from a nice gentle cruise to all out with just a little twitch. Once past a certain point it is just all out. Sometimes I want to be between where I was and all out. It is also noisy. It isn't a lot louder than the currie, but it is harder hear cars coming up behind me. I wouldn't say any more people look at me because of the noise that they did with the currie. I do like it and it is a solid motor. I may do the oil bath mod for the gears. I hear that quites it down a little.

Clay

 

[bandaro]

hmmm, interesting to hear abut the noise, the current setup is slightly noisier than the curry. Do you know what rpm the drive gear is spinning at, and I assume it is straight cut?

I am in the design phase of a drive now, won't start it until I get back from Dublin in August when I have my bikes and workshop again, but I was intending on a gear reduction for the second stage, to reduce the size involved with a chainstay length. Max rpm should be around 900 unloaded, so curious as to how loud it will be. Was going to laser cut some acrylic and polystyrene out and make an oil bath for it as well, to help with the noise. Thinking I will order 2 small gears, one big from metal and one of plastic, might as well see if the weight saving and noise reduction will hold up with a plastic gear, it's basically a negligible cost compared to the whole bike...

As for your noise issue, they can be expensive but there are a few helical gear setups/upgrades getting around, saw a link the other day, may have been one of miles's... but yeah, they are weaker so might not hold the power too well...

 

[flyinmonkie]

bandaro - I can't remember. I posted it somewhere around when I got the cyclone. It is faster than 900 I remember that. The sound doesn't bother that much, I just can't hear cars sneaking up behind me on the road. If I got a mirror then it would be like ridding a motorcycle. I just can't quite go as fast as the cars on a couple of the roads I ride.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Well, I finally got some picks of the finished battery box and bike. I need to do some body filler work on the lid and paint the lid and the box, but it is all done now. I've been watching the GNG threads closely and getting some ideas for my next couple of builds. Enjoy the pics.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Went for a little ride today on some of the less travel trails. I found that puling lots up hill makes the motor mount swivel in it's clamp. I had issues with that on my currie setup as well. I have to make a little bracket that goes from one of the water bottle mounts on the down tube to the motor. Easy to do and it will prevent the motor from moving at all.

I also found that the motor was slightly against the battery box the other day when I was cleaning and lubing the primary drive chain. I adjusted the box a little so it wouldn't rub and the bike is a lot quieter now. With out the motor resonating through the battery box it is no longer over powering. Not that it was that loud before, just kind of resonating and louder than my old set up.

Some new batteries and a few more for more range will be ordered soon. The bracket to hold the motor down will be installed soon. And, if I can stop ridding long enough I'll paint the box black.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

I made the bracket to hold the motor down. It works great. Now the motor can't swing up or down, or left or right. The whole bike is solid as now. I have a couple of batteries on order to replace the funny ones. In a month or so I might order some more to give me some more range.

The fabricator I had make up the motor brackets and weld up the box is keen to make a bike for himself and maybe think about making them up to order. He asked me for some help putting the first one together. As he wants to trial ride, I have suggested a full sus and using the GNG kit. He has the tools and skills to sort the issues out with them easily. We will see how it goes.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

My power supply for my charger had a meltdown today. Not sure what happened, other than it got very hot well charging and stopped working. It smelled like burnt electronics and melting plastic when it stopped. I haven't been able to open it up yet as it has funny tamper proof screws on the case. I have another one on the way so I can continue to ride. I'll get it open and get some pics if it is worth looking at.

Clay

 

[flyinmonkie]

Nothing obviously destroyed in the power supply, but definitely something toasted from the smell.

Batteries arrived today. Haven't checked them with my imax charger yet for balance.

I have a new power supply on the way and hopefully will see it in a couple of days.

Clay