Help. Need advice on first eBike

[morph999]

phorbin,

I ordered a front wheel hub but it's up to you. I ordered from ebikes.ca also and agree that the 24-72v 35a controller is the best, that's the one I got as well for my 5303 hub.

Ebikes.ca includes 3ft of wire in on my order but other than that, the controller should hook up very easily to the motor since they are made by the same company. I don't have a cycle analyst and have still not ordered one. I think they are overrated but I also have a working e-bike so I guess if something went wrong, I wouldn't really know what to do.


if you really need 20 miles range, I'd go with the 48v 20ah ping, otherwise the 15ah will probably be alright. The problem with building your own pack is that you often have to also build your own BMS board (battery management system) and most people either don't know how or don't want to. It's a circuitry board that tells the controller which battery cell to use. Ping's all have BMS included.

 

[phorbin]

Totally forgot about the BMS deal. That does complicate things. Screw making one.

The roads around me are full of pot holes and the curbs are steep. With a front motor I'd be worried hitting a bump going full throttle. Thats a lot of torque on the front wheel, it makes me nervous. I could still maybe convinced to go with a front motor but right now the rear motor seems safer and visually looks better to me.

 

[dogman dan]

Whatever you get for a battery, you will want some anderson connectors to hook it to the controller so you may as well have a few of those added to the order.
The list looks pretty good to me, in fact, it's the same list I want next myself.

The battery is a real dilemma, It sure is hard to fork over big bucks for a larger lifepo4 pack when you haven't even rode the bike to know if you will like it or not. Here is a way to wet your feet and still have some range. Get a set of 3 12 ah sla batteries and try out the bike. You will have around 8 miles of full throttle range, and could milk it for mabye 12. If you decide you like the bike, then a 10 ah battery could be paralell connected for a pack that would go double the distance. Eventually you will want to ditch the lead, but at that point, a second 10 ah pack could be bought. But you could go a year or so with the two chemistry set up. The same thing could be done with nicad or nimh and sla's. Sure it's heavy, but at least you get to try things out a bit cheaper.

 

[morph999]

that's probably what I'll end up doing, Dogman.

maybe get a 24v 20ah lifepo4 from ping and then add 24v of SLA. That's still a pretty cheap setup compared to gasoline. All I would have to replace every year is 24v of SLA. That's not bad.

 

[dogman dan]

That's a series connection, if you are thinking 48v power. That isn't going to work as simple as a paralell connection, and won't give you any range, you would only have the range of the 12 ah sla's. A paralell connection would be a 48v battery connected to another 48v battery, positive to positive, negative to negative, and then to the controller. Basicly the paralell connection makes two small capacity batteries into a larger capacity of the same voltage.

A set of 4 12 ah sla's and a Ping 10 ah 48v battery would do that setup, For shorter rides, just the 10 ah ping could be used as long as no steep hills were on the way. Later, another 10 ah Ping could be bought and paralled with the first one. It's a big load with the sla's, but again, you could at least try ebiking with the sla's without going all the way to paying for a 20 ah ping before your first ride.

Also again, you might look at nicads from ebikes ca. I'm really happy with mine, and plan to get another so I have either 48v, 8 ah, or 24v 16 ah depending on my needs, speed or distance. It's not super cheap, but it's one way to get going without buying the whole cow. A 36v nicad pack would get you going, with about 10 miles range, and could occasionaly be paralelled with sla for longer distance rides. But an 8 ah pack would get you to work for sure. One nice thing about nicads, they can take a heap of abuse, run em dead, leave em laying around that way, and they charge right back. Try that with sla's and bye bye.

 

[phorbin]

Well I just dove into the deep end. I decided to go against a cheap SLA starter battery because it sounded like a hassle. I'd probably like the bike. Want to go further but wouldn't be able to on the SLA's. Then I'd have to get another battery making the bike quite heavy. I have to carry my bike up and down about 10 stairs to get in and out of my place. Also if I wanted to replace the SLA's I'd be stuck with them and their charger and maybe end up spending more money in the end. I think I'll be happy. Well I better be.

eBay
- 48v 20ah LiFePO4 with BMS and 5a changer for $450 shipped (8% off eBay coupon)
Sent an email off to eBikes.ca for all my parts.
- Crystalyte 26 inch 408 Rear Wheel
- 24-72V 35A Start Immediate Brushless Controller
- Crystalyte Thumb Throttle
- 12 Gauge 90 cm (3 foot) Battery Cable w/ Andersons

Only one thing remains which is my freewheel. I am going to call around see if I can get a 11 tooth freewheel locally. Also do I need a torque arm or is that only a front wheel deal?

Now I wait.

 

[Toshi]

you should use a torque arm on the rear as well. ebikes.ca has some.

http://ebikes.ca/store/store_motors.php under "torquearm14"

 

[mrgarci1]

Congratulations! I think you are correct - you will probably love your bike. Which eBay seller did you get your batt from?

 

[Drunkskunk]

Gratz! sounds like a good setup.
I think Ebikes.ca had 32-11 tooth freewheels at one time. I'm not sure if they still do.

 

[phorbin]

YEA!

My eBike gear came from eBikes.ca today! The box had holes in it from where the wheel's axel busted out. No damage to the wheel just the protective caps. I'm so excited to get it all on the bike and get rolling.

Now I am just waiting for my battery. I bought it from CammyCC, on eBay, straight from Hong Kong. I hope no one has had any trouble dealing with Cammy. I've had a little trouble but thats probably because her English isn't the best. It is supposed to ship this week and I should be getting it by next week sometime.

I'll probably need some help installing everything. Are there any good posts, or web pages I should read that can help me with the installation?