how to protect hub for winter and salt and water

[want to build]

hi
We have a lot of snow and ice in my country. and a lot of SALT is added on the streets. my hub will stay on my bke permanently winter and summer so it will be exposed to everything
I just bought a xionda motor and before installing it on my bike i would like to know

What can i do to protect le longevity of my hub?

I heard somewhere some people where doing a hole and filling the hub with oil ... i wonder if it is safe to do and ..how to seal it after.. is there a post on that somewhere .

tx

 

[motomech]

Water ingress is going to happen on common hub motors. In reasonable conditions(Water not up to the axel), motor heat can evaporate out a lot of it that didn't drain out. Salt, dirt and other particulates can build up, more than rust, not that much will rust, and probably the best thing to do is to pull the motor out of the housing, clean and lube (light spray) at the end of winter.
If the conditions are so extreme that the motor is in water, maybe a mid-drive would be better. Or a boat.
What country? Can you fill out your profile?

 

[dogman dan]

Salt getting in will be harsher on your battery and controller than the motor. So protect them well. You NEED fenders on the thing, especially a good front fender, or at least a small fairing like attachment to the frame downtube. Keep that middle of the bike where your battery and controller are dry.

As for the motor, It should help to open it, and paint the steel parts of it with high temp paint, including the copper windings. Not the clutch and gears, the motor itself.

It will run all winter fine. But once they stop salting the roads, and rain rinses them clean, open the motor, and wash away any salt inside, let it dry, and then run the summer. It won't be that easy to get salt in the motor. But some will get in. The key is not leaving it wet and salty in there for years.

 

[motomech]

One trick we learned here from D8vh is to wear a large rain poncho and drape it over the controller, connections and battery when riding.

 

[999zip999]

I haven't done it but you can open your motor and spray a vanish. There are old threads here on it.

 

[MJSfoto1956]

I haven't done it but you can open your motor and spray a vanish.

I'd be afraid of it disappearing! Sounds scary.

 

[999zip999]

Touche. But if it's a geared motor it wouldd be harder. To Varnish ...

 

[dogman dan]

You'd need to remove the clutch, and open up the motor to remove the core from the magnets. Then you can paint just the core and the magnets.

Personally, I'd just ride it as is, then clean it in the spring. Some salty water can get in, but most of the water infiltration will be in the form of water vapor. This is essentially, distilled water. It gets in as humidity, then overnight condenses and collects, molecule by molecule. But in reality, its not much different to ride through salty slush, or just rain. It won't get into the motor unless seals are damaged, which can happen when you open it. All you really need is to drip loop the wire going into the hub.

That motor can run full of water, until the weather actually freezes the water inside, or rust eventually seizes it. But rusting takes many years to get that bad.

Again, the real problem is salt in that controller, or a battery, or just the plugs. There are better sealed controllers out there, with better sealed type plugs. I'm currently still road testing a fully sealed battery from Luna, the wolf battery. Its completely potted, including the bms. Looks to me like you could run that thing even when its sitting in a bucket of sea water. First battery I ever had that doesn't require rain protection.

 

[SamRich]

From my experience, motor itself is less of an issue if it's well sealed. Be sure to protect the wiring going to it. I have had this winter commuting hub (35mm) since 2015 and rode it through 4 winter ~4000 miles (6000 km) of harsh riding

I recently had to replace the hall/phase wire since salt got in through the heat shrink where I had soldered 12G phase wire near the axle and the salt water corroded the wires throughout! (see how black the blue phase wire is- top left corner) . The motor stator/magnets were in perfect shape however.

My biggest challenge is the rear rim corroding at the eyelet interface (aluminum/brass) via galvanic reaction. The combination of road spray and high torque on the spokes is very damaging. I go through one rear rim per season - the front rim has not needed to be changed.

I ended up trying to seal the nipples/eyelet early last spring with liquid electrical tape.

It seems to help, but I'll have to see after a few months of real winter riding.

I may also try a steel rim with no eyelet...wich BTW avoid anything aluminum if you can. I'm swapping my rock shox front fork for an all steel cheap one since the magnesium/Al body is literally crumbles apart anywhere steel touches it, like at the dropouts and headlight light holder.

 

[want to build]

Water ingress is going to happen on common hub motors. In reasonable conditions(Water not up to the axel), motor heat can evaporate out a lot of it that didn't drain out. Salt, dirt and other particulates can build up, more than rust, not that much will rust, and probably the best thing to do is to pull the motor out of the housing, clean and lube (light spray) at the end of winter.
If the conditions are so extreme that the motor is in water, maybe a mid-drive would be better. Or a boat.
What country? Can you fill out your profile?

HI i m your northern neighbor canadian! héy!
im suprised to read that dirt is a bigger problem from what you say . what kind on lube do you suggest ?

 

[want to build]

9erience, motor itself is less of an issue if it's well sealed. Be sure to protect the wiring going to it. I h

how do you protect it? protection from what

 

[want to build]

Water ingress is going to happen on common hub motors. In reasonable conditions(Water not up to the axel), motor heat can evaporate out a lot of it that didn't drain out. Salt, dirt and other particulates can build up, more than rust, not that much will rust, and probably the best thing to do is to pull the motor out of the housing, clean and lube (light spray) at the end of winter.
If the conditions are so extreme that the motor is in water, maybe a mid-drive would be better. Or a boat.
What country? Can you fill out your profile?

hi i read that by opening the motor i would break the seal.... do you agree?

 

[want to build]

i noted to enveloppe the controller and battery very well, they will be in my rear milk plastic box behind my seat.

Some say open it some say dont open it it would breack the seal..

what do you think about just spraying a rust check product on the outside of the motor?
wich product?
tx

 

[motomech]

Water ingress is going to happen on common hub motors. In reasonable conditions(Water not up to the axel), motor heat can evaporate out a lot of it that didn't drain out. Salt, dirt and other particulates can build up, more than rust, not that much will rust, and probably the best thing to do is to pull the motor out of the housing, clean and lube (light spray) at the end of winter.
If the conditions are so extreme that the motor is in water, maybe a mid-drive would be better. Or a boat.
What country? Can you fill out your profile?

hi i read that by opening the motor i would break the seal.... do you agree?

hi i read that by opening the motor i would break the seal.... do you agree?

All the geared hub motors I've taken apart had flat, metal (flanged, in English) mating surfaces that are sealed using a sealant like silicone.

 

[AngryBob]

It is not very hard to take the cover off and then seal it up again, but it IS very easy to not seal it very well. Gasket material, carefully, and thoroughly, clean, carefully re-apply, remove excess, tighten, repeat.

I do not have road salt but lots of rain and ocean air, I ran all my cables thru sections of inner tube. A skinny 700c tube makes a water-tight fit over the little plastic nut cover that protects the motor cable. If anyone knows the technical term for this piece, I am curious. I call it the jock strap. It covers your nuts and lets the main cable hang out.

All power wires similarly protected, potted controller, hardshell battery with cover, 5+ years, no problems other than throttle getting wet twice. Plastic bag solves that one.

 

[Solderbro]

Hmm what about cavity wax for cars? It's sold in huge spray cans and become harder in the winter. Should be possible to protect components from outside. For other seasons i use this red bicycle cleaning oil, it take the dirt away and leave a coating for some time.

Just got a bad experience on a muddy trail with 5cm deep puddles.

Solderbro

 

[goatman]

I watched a video Grin did about this on their website and determined any effort would be futile, I let it breathe. like dogman said if you seal it tight it will just condense and fill with water any way, if you seal it as air tight as you can it sucks air in through the inside of the motor cable like a straw.
the only thing ive done to my motor is add 15ml statorade/ferrofluid but for ice not water. my thinking was if my hub has water in it then freezes it could pop a magnet or crack the housing but I really don't know, anti-freeze basically. ferrofluid is a metallic fluid that fills all the voids around the magnets. its made for cooling DD hubs so it doesn't work on geared hubs for heat but it would fill the air gaps around your magnets wich would keep the air/salt/water from corroding that area.
I wonder if anyone has ever tried potting a motor?

 

[Balmorhea]

What can i do to protect le longevity of my hub?

Winter in Belize.