GiantEV
100 W
This is my first build thread, although I've had several builds over the years. I found a used A2B Metro on Craigslist a year or two ago. The guy just let it sit outside the whole time he had it, so needless to say it was in rough shape when I found it. But I ended up buying it for $50, which I thought was a pretty good deal, knowing that I could just throw a new motor, controller and batteries on this sweet little frame. I tried taking apart the old motor to take a peek inside, but ended up cracking the housing in the process, probably because it had been out in the rain and snow for who knows how many seasons. I picked up a used Crystalyte HS3548 that I believe once belonged to our very own Neptronix. I had a 18FET Infineon controller, a 12S Lipo pack, and a CAv3 that I put on the bike. Running it at 40A battery at 12S made for a pretty good little ride. I couldn't order the A2B pannier rack from anyone I tried, so I ended up welding my own rack to hold my battery pack and panniers, which works great for my 12 mile commute to work. I'd been using a Thunder 1220 charger with a HobbyKing 12V power supply to do my charging, which worked fine except for the annoying beeping sound the charger made when it finished. I would have to come check on my battery pack at work to see if it was done charging so I wouldn't drive my co-workers crazy with the constant beeping of the charger when it finished. Part of my commute is over a bridge that doesn't have a bike lane, so I'm forced to ride in the slow lane with cars that are going way faster than the posted 35mph speed limit. Going up the bridge with this setup I could only maintain high 20's (usually around 27-28mph), which put my slower than those actually going the speed limit.
About this time, I got interested in the Adaptto controllers. I could solve both my problems by getting this controller that would charge without annoying beeping, would give me more speed, especially with 20S, and I would get all the other features that the Adapttos have. So I bought a Mini-E, thinking this is my commuter bike and I'm more interested in range than big power. I just got it put together last night and took it for a quick spin. I tweaked a few settings on the controller since then and took it for another ride today. I was a little disappointed at first with the acceleration, but realized that I'm probably missing the current spikes that the Infineon gave me. I also am having trouble with the controller overheating, which is concerning since it isn't particularly warm out today at 49 F (9.4 C). I had the controller inside my enclosure yesterday, but it was overheating even faster than today with it mounted on my rear rack. It looks like I need to find a spot where it is getting direct airflow. Again, with the controller overheating in these cool temperatures in November, I'm concerned with how much it will overheat in the summer when the outside temperature nears 100 F. So far, I'm thinking I might have been better off with the Max-E, since it runs cooler at the same power levels, but we'll see how it runs with some better airflow on the controller. I'll probably run the controller with lower power settings eventually, but for now I'm trying to see what kind of performance I can squeeze out of it.
My HS3548 is mounted in a 20" wheel with a moped tire.
Old setup:
12S Lipo (6 Nanotechs)
18FET Infineon
40A battery / 80A phase
Top Speed: 32mph on the flat with a full charge
New setup:
20S Lipo (20 Turnigy 4S Hardpacks set up as 20S4P for 20Ah)
Adaptto Mini-E
Boost setting at 48.7 battery / 126 phase (Highest they will go)
Top Speed: 38.7mph on a fairly flat road with a fresh charge
Top speed is higher, but acceleration is less now. I have OVS at 0 still until I get a temp sensor installed in my motor. Running firmware RC9d, so it doesn’t appear that a firmware upgrade will help speed at all because the RC9e firmware update seems to address mostly 2WD issues.
I set the speed ratio to 69.4, which I got from calculating the circumference of a 20" wheel, thinking it's close enough for now until I can get out the tape measure and roll out the actual circumference. That got me pretty close, with the Adaptto "Stats" screen saying I went 4.0 miles and my GPS saying 4.1 miles. Interestingly though, the main screen of the Adaptto shows "3" for my trip, so not sure why it didn't roll over to "4" when the next screen shows "4.0" as my trip distance. My max speed on the Adaptto was 36.7mph and on my GPS 38.7mph, so if I trust my GPS then I can calculate my Adaptto speed ratio setting to be 73.182.
Handling is much improved now that my batteries are in the enclosure I made. The A2B Metro has this great area for such an enclosure. In hindsight I would have probably made the enclosure a little smaller, but at the time I was trying to maximize enclosed space. With all of these batteries and the weight of the enclosure the bike is definitely heavier (haven't weighed it yet), but it handles much better with the batteries in this location versus on the rear rack. I was going to upgrade the rear suspension, but the suspension feels so much better now that I might skip that for now.
As for upgrades to the A2B Metro, I already mentioned the custom rear rack, but there is also the following:
- Cloud 9 Seat (Super comfortable, especially compared to the original seat)
- Vuelta 60 tooth 110BCD chainring (Let's me pedal at a reasonable pace up to around 23mph)
- Origin 8 110BCD crank arms (Needed new arms to work with the 110BCD chainring)
- BB7 Brake on front with 185mm rotor (Upgrading to 203mm soon but need to keep the 185 on there for now so I can use this front wheel on another bike that can only fit 185mm)
- BB7 Brake on rear with 203mm rotor (Very easy to lock up the rear wheel)
- Bell (A must for bike path riding)
- Custom torque arms I welded (A must with the good region of the Adaptto)
- Custom enclosure I welded to hold batteries, BMS, DC/DC converter
- Ortlieb panniers (Tough and waterproof, great for commuting)
To-Do List:
- Mount controller where it gets better airflow
- Route wiring through enclosure
- Build lid for enclosure
- Paint / powdercoat enclosure, lid, torque arms, rear rack
- Front light (already have, just need to install)
- DC/DC Converter (Need to test the ones I have to see if they will work at 84V)
Anyways, here is a picture I took on my ride today. Not much to look at yet but will look better once I tidy up the wires and add some paint, once I figure out a good spot for the controller. Don't mind the pink foam inside the enclosure. 8)
About this time, I got interested in the Adaptto controllers. I could solve both my problems by getting this controller that would charge without annoying beeping, would give me more speed, especially with 20S, and I would get all the other features that the Adapttos have. So I bought a Mini-E, thinking this is my commuter bike and I'm more interested in range than big power. I just got it put together last night and took it for a quick spin. I tweaked a few settings on the controller since then and took it for another ride today. I was a little disappointed at first with the acceleration, but realized that I'm probably missing the current spikes that the Infineon gave me. I also am having trouble with the controller overheating, which is concerning since it isn't particularly warm out today at 49 F (9.4 C). I had the controller inside my enclosure yesterday, but it was overheating even faster than today with it mounted on my rear rack. It looks like I need to find a spot where it is getting direct airflow. Again, with the controller overheating in these cool temperatures in November, I'm concerned with how much it will overheat in the summer when the outside temperature nears 100 F. So far, I'm thinking I might have been better off with the Max-E, since it runs cooler at the same power levels, but we'll see how it runs with some better airflow on the controller. I'll probably run the controller with lower power settings eventually, but for now I'm trying to see what kind of performance I can squeeze out of it.
My HS3548 is mounted in a 20" wheel with a moped tire.
Old setup:
12S Lipo (6 Nanotechs)
18FET Infineon
40A battery / 80A phase
Top Speed: 32mph on the flat with a full charge
New setup:
20S Lipo (20 Turnigy 4S Hardpacks set up as 20S4P for 20Ah)
Adaptto Mini-E
Boost setting at 48.7 battery / 126 phase (Highest they will go)
Top Speed: 38.7mph on a fairly flat road with a fresh charge
Top speed is higher, but acceleration is less now. I have OVS at 0 still until I get a temp sensor installed in my motor. Running firmware RC9d, so it doesn’t appear that a firmware upgrade will help speed at all because the RC9e firmware update seems to address mostly 2WD issues.
I set the speed ratio to 69.4, which I got from calculating the circumference of a 20" wheel, thinking it's close enough for now until I can get out the tape measure and roll out the actual circumference. That got me pretty close, with the Adaptto "Stats" screen saying I went 4.0 miles and my GPS saying 4.1 miles. Interestingly though, the main screen of the Adaptto shows "3" for my trip, so not sure why it didn't roll over to "4" when the next screen shows "4.0" as my trip distance. My max speed on the Adaptto was 36.7mph and on my GPS 38.7mph, so if I trust my GPS then I can calculate my Adaptto speed ratio setting to be 73.182.
Handling is much improved now that my batteries are in the enclosure I made. The A2B Metro has this great area for such an enclosure. In hindsight I would have probably made the enclosure a little smaller, but at the time I was trying to maximize enclosed space. With all of these batteries and the weight of the enclosure the bike is definitely heavier (haven't weighed it yet), but it handles much better with the batteries in this location versus on the rear rack. I was going to upgrade the rear suspension, but the suspension feels so much better now that I might skip that for now.
As for upgrades to the A2B Metro, I already mentioned the custom rear rack, but there is also the following:
- Cloud 9 Seat (Super comfortable, especially compared to the original seat)
- Vuelta 60 tooth 110BCD chainring (Let's me pedal at a reasonable pace up to around 23mph)
- Origin 8 110BCD crank arms (Needed new arms to work with the 110BCD chainring)
- BB7 Brake on front with 185mm rotor (Upgrading to 203mm soon but need to keep the 185 on there for now so I can use this front wheel on another bike that can only fit 185mm)
- BB7 Brake on rear with 203mm rotor (Very easy to lock up the rear wheel)
- Bell (A must for bike path riding)
- Custom torque arms I welded (A must with the good region of the Adaptto)
- Custom enclosure I welded to hold batteries, BMS, DC/DC converter
- Ortlieb panniers (Tough and waterproof, great for commuting)
To-Do List:
- Mount controller where it gets better airflow
- Route wiring through enclosure
- Build lid for enclosure
- Paint / powdercoat enclosure, lid, torque arms, rear rack
- Front light (already have, just need to install)
- DC/DC Converter (Need to test the ones I have to see if they will work at 84V)
Anyways, here is a picture I took on my ride today. Not much to look at yet but will look better once I tidy up the wires and add some paint, once I figure out a good spot for the controller. Don't mind the pink foam inside the enclosure. 8)
Does your batteries take up so much space?
