Has anybody un-displayed and un-PASed a mid drive?

[Chalo]

[...]the unfortunate thing is that to many people feel 'making more money' is more important as doing something which gives you feeling off purpose.

Ofc, being able to do both at the same time is even better, but if not possible I feel more people should really rethink what makes them happy in the end.

I decided a long time ago that I didn't want any more money than I need to get by. It's obvious (and not at all coincidental) that the more money people amass, the more their character deteriorates, and the more negative their net value to the world becomes. No amount of so-called "innovation" (actually done by others) or philanthropy (kicking back an insulting pittance of what they stole) can offset the harms done along the way.

Even people who don't have any money become worse people when they envy or try to imitate those who do.

Money is useful like sewage, and toxic like sewage. Everybody should have sewer service where he lives, but nobody should want to have all the sewage for himself.

 

[marvin78]

Not all rich people are crooked, but I agree that those in persuit of it, generally are pricks. I also agree having less then 'average' can also make people less enjoyable, but that's a far lighter correlation. Plenty of people I know who are living on a meager income, below the median, making lots of hours working meager jobs in hospitality or service.

Having a feeling of 'having less' only makes people toxic if their environment lets them. The more isolated people become, the more toxic. I think this is also what happens with people who have to much, they isolate themselves from others who they don't identify with, and this is the poison which seeps through and kills people's soul.

 

[JackFlorey]

Nah, the unfortunate thing isn't that people can earn more money with those skills when applied in a pure commercial setting, the unfortunate thing is that to many people feel 'making more money' is more important as doing something which gives you feeling off purpose.

Well, here in the US, making no money to do what you love generally leads to homelessness, loss of healthcare and starvation. Even getting a low salary can result in some of those things, depending on where you are. It would be great if that wasn't the case, but that's the way our system works.

I am fortunate that what I love to do (engineering) pays well, and I am now in a position to do whatever I want, because I've saved up enough doing what other people want me to do that I can afford to make far less doing what I want to do. But not everyone has that luxury.

 

[Chalo]

I am fortunate that what I love to do (engineering) pays well, and I am now in a position to do whatever I want, because I've saved up enough doing what other people want me to do that I can afford to make far less doing what I want to do. But not everyone has that luxury.

But what you did to make the money-- did it make the world better, or worse? I can understand being okay with either answer, but they're not equally good. My impression is that most people who get a decent living, work to make the world worse. At least that's the way of the USA.

I managed to gain some little property doing a rich man's folly. Not much, and not long, but I'm also not especially proud of it. I don't know. Maybe I'd have been faced with even worse choices if I hadn't taken that one.

 

[marvin78]

Well, here in the US, making no money to do what you love generally leads to homelessness, loss of healthcare and starvation.

You just described why I would NEVER move to the US

It's also a matter of balance. I'm not unhappy having almost nothing to my name, I grew up with a deadbeat 'father' who couldn't keep his hands to himself and when my mom finally had the guts to leave him, he never paid a dime in child support.. after having beaten my mom in a wheelchair as a paraplegic so she's on welfare.

I grew up in a house where 'diner' sometimes was bread with butter and sugar.

Later, there was a time I been homeless as well, living in Amsterdam with the 'zwerfjongeren'.

You don't need stuff to be happy. You need a connection with others.

Now, my kids on the other hand, they are the only reason I wish I had money growing on trees, so I could give them everything they wanted... not that it would be healthy.. so probably it's a good thing I can't.

But what you did to make the money-- did it make the world better, or worse? I can understand being okay with either answer, but they're not equally good. My impression is that most people who get a decent living, work to make the world worse. At least that's the way of the USA.

I don't think engineers can make the world worse, it's the managers who decide what to do with whatever the engineers come up with. You can't blame Oppenheimer for the deaths of those Japanese, eventually someone would have done it ( develop a nuke ), and it was Truman who ultimately had to decide.

But managers will pay for engineers who are capable of giving them those opportunities to make those decissions.

 

[amberwolf]

Apologies for continuing the OTness:

Well, here in the US, making no money to do what you love generally leads to homelessness, loss of healthcare and starvation. Even getting a low salary can result in some of those things, depending on where you are. It would be great if that wasn't the case, but that's the way our system works.

Unfortunately true, AFAICS and IME. What I really love is to make music, but with an audience of...less than a dozen, probably not even that, with a few dollars (at most) in sales each year (some years there's none), I can't do it for anything other than my need to do it. My next love to do things would be to create other artworks or work on whatever ideas that come to mind whenever, however...but, no money in that--more cost for stuff to do it with than I would ever make back in my entire life. (same with the music).

So, no chance of doing what I love for money.


Instead, I'm stuck in retail helping giant companies make money, while I don't even get paid a real living wage (it sort of is at the moment, but at current increasing costs it won't be...before covid i was actually beginning to save money but that's draining away now).

I get by, for now; we'll just have to see how the future works out.


But...that's all just how life works.


I'm not...super unhappy, but I'm not happy either. More money would indeed make me happier, but only if it was enough to not have to work, and could just do the things I want to do. Unfortunately that would be a lot of money, since there's stuff I can never do on my own, and would have to pay others to do it for me exactly the way I want / need it done.



It would be great if we had the "star trek utopia" where everyone can do what they want to do, but I can't imagine that actually ever happening, mostly because of individuals that gather power and money and use it to gather more power and money to do whatever they feel like regardless of what that does to others.

 

[A-DamW]

Have yet to see another VESC maker do better than a half assed job on packaging :/

Just found out about these VESC based controllers from Electro&Co:
Controllers

They appear to by fully potted, and a bit spendy.

 

[Chalo]

I'll be back soon with photos of the external controller installation and cockpit.

I still need to wake up the JAG35 battery I bought as "tested" but which has low voltage. But here are some progress photos:

"Display interface", haha. Power
switch and throttle. The throttle came with a long enough cable, but the switch needed a piece spliced on. Throttle uses a cheapo 3 pin plug to match the cheap controller, and I fitted the enable switch and the controller enable wire with a pair of JST-RCY plugs so they wouldn't match anything else on the tangle of mostly irrelevant controller plugs.


The controller is mounted up out of the way with 5 zip ties on top and two underneath, to keep it from wagging around too much. I put a slice of double sided foam tape between the controller tab and the frame to mitigate abrasion.


This is where the new motor plug emerges from the frame conduit. There's a now unused taillight cable in there too, which I left in case the future owner wants to energize it.


This brings me joy. It's my favorite kind of internal cable routing grommet: one with nothing in it. I decided to do the future owner a favor by tying off the switch and throttle wires to the rear brake hose instead of stuffing them into a hassle hole.

 

[aae34]

Progress/wireless display is looking good.

into a hassle hole.

 

[Chalo]

I just strapped on an interim battery and took her for a spin. I was trying to answer for myself the question of whether 36V would allow a decently high enough pedal cadence, given that the bike originally came with 48V. It is okay, and I expect it's efficient as heck because the motor isn't working hard or making much power at cruise speed/cadence. But I think it will pull harder and go faster on 48V, and not require the rider to let RPMs fall so it can pick up the load.

I could go either way, and the bike could go either way as well. So there's another advantage to the lobotomized mid drive.

 

[PaulD]

As far as I know, most of the Bosch mid drives don't have a freewheel between the motor and the pedals. If the motor runs, it will drive the pedals, so throttle only could be a safety issue.

This came up with a discussion with another ES member offline. It turns out that the Gen 3 Bosch motors have a single stage gear reduction and no freewheel. All of the other Bosch motors (that I am aware of) have a freewheel. They must have some very quick acting electronics to turn off the motor after easing off on the pedals. I think the single stage reduction (lower motor RPM) helps to reduce inertia in the system that would otherwise tug the cranks forward as you stop pedaling.

 

[JackFlorey]

But what you did to make the money-- did it make the world better, or worse?

Both. I developed the technology behind wireless charging of small devices. Good for convenience, bad for the environment (one more thing to build and later throw out.) I did a lot of work on the reuse of EV batteries for stationary storage. Probably good overall; less batteries in landfills. Energy efficiency in DC/DC converters - probaby good overall, because the converters were going to get built anyway, but are now a little more efficient. Military contractor work - probably bad overall. I didn't work on weapons but everything the military does supports the mission of the military, which is aggression (and the threat of aggression.)

 

[Chalo]

Both. I developed the technology behind wireless charging of small devices. Good for convenience, bad for the environment (one more thing to build and later throw out.) I did a lot of work on the reuse of EV batteries for stationary storage. Probably good overall; less batteries in landfills. Energy efficiency in DC/DC converters - probaby good overall, because the converters were going to get built anyway, but are now a little more efficient. Military contractor work - probably bad overall. I didn't work on weapons but everything the military does supports the mission of the military, which is aggression (and the threat of aggression.)

It was a rhetorical question-- just something to think on. My own time in tech culminated with a private space program that stimulated my imagination at first, then demonstrated to me why it's a hugely wasteful and arrogant vanity endeavor. That was after a couple of startups in semiconductor/IT support hardware industries, and I decided to reflect on how I might better spend my working life.

I didn't come up with anything better than repairing bikes for indifferent fools to put back out in the rain in their backyards, so that's mostly what I've been doing ever since. It's honest work, and every so often it actually helps someone to live better. But making the bikes work right is most of what's in it for me. There's not really a living in it, but with some creativity and a support network of old time local weirdos, I somehow get by.