Link's first ebike. (Now: The S-Go)

[kbarrett]

You probably won't need the other four speeds either.

Wanna save some weight? Remove the front deraileur. Remove the extra two front sprockets. Consider replacing the big front sprocket with a 56 or 62 tooth monster. Remove the freewheel hub gears and rear deraileur, and replace with a shimano BMX singlespeed freewheel and a surley singulator.

Viola! No more gear shifters to screw with.

 

[Link]

Eh. I carried around 25lbs of lead on my back. I'm definitely not in the weight weenie category. I'll probably use those gears, anyway.

Anyway, I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a cheap-ass seatpost rack, a chain, and a speedometer. Spent a while mounting that up. I was going to add some steel supports to the rack, but it's supposed to be good for 20lbs and my battery weighs about that.

Now I need to find a replacement voltage regulator for the controller and some black zip ties. Them find something durable to put the batteries in and I'll have a pretty nice looking temporary setup.

The current regulator is a L7815CV. Can anyone suggest a good replacement? Fechter? :wink:

There's also one behind it labeled L7805CV. Don't know if I need to replace that one, since the resistor you'd normally put a few zeners on comes out of the first regulator.


Oh, assuming a speed similar to the BD36, this 48V 20Ah pack should get me over 30 miles with little to no pedalling.

 

[kbarrett]

Add a steel seal ( zip-tie like ribbon ) to the controller. That will prevent some dumbass tweaker from stealing it with a box cutter.

 

[Link]

I plan on putting it with the batteries sort of like I did with the old backpack setup. That way I can take all the electronic bits (except for the throttle and motor) off the bike and keep them with me.

Anyway, today has been a pretty good day, even though I didn't get much sleep last night. :wink:

Didn't do so good at bowling (only like a 470 series) during league, but I won six free games off a friend. I'm also the new king of the Yokohane area on Midnight Tune 3. That record should sit there a while, because I beat the old king's ghost by over 60m.

I plan on finishing up this thing today, so expect pics later.

 

[Link]

So, from what I've heard, the Golden Motor controller doesn't take to 48V well because the voltage regulator is outside of spec and won't feed power to the logic or something. 12V worth of zener in series with the existing resistor solves this problem. Not having suitable zeners around, I tried using a small pot set to 200Ω (the power resistor is like 140 or something; I forgot how to read the bands). Worked on the first try.

Pics and a vid:

[youtube]6IlJp1ORpHo[/youtube]

Camera was taking very clear pics today. :wink:

More work to be done yet! Well, after dinner, at least.

Oh yeah: I added some hot glue to the pot and it's legs to keep it insulated and to keep it from changing its value.

Also: The rim itself I managed to true pretty well. The tire isn't seated right, though, so it oscillates like crazy. It was so bad it made the bike fall over the first time I went to shoot a vid. There's a giant tire mark on the washing maching from it. :lol:

 

[Link]

Finished the wiring. 'Bout 12:45AM right now. Bedtime's in like an hour, LOL.

More pics.

If you're wondering what that second one is, it's my shirt. The black stuff? I dunno. It got on me when I shorted out the battery on accident and it sprayed molten crap all over the place. Sounded like a firecracker.

 

[icecube57]

IS IT LOUD ENOUGH... Excuse me is it loud enough. If you can train your brain enough u can use the clicks for ecolocation of pedestrians in your path. I know its the free wheel mechanism just playing witcha.

 

[Link]

LOL

It's my camera. It takes good pics and videos, but the mic sucks. It makes everything sound all tinny, and combined with the camera trying to equalize the decibel levels throughout the video it came out screaming loud. It's louder than a normal freewheel because it can resonate of the covers of the motor, but it's nowhere near as loud as the vid makes it out to be.

Anyway, I painted the motor's connectors black to make them a bit more stealthy and added some heatshrink for strain relief, but I've hit a bit of a snag when it comes to the battery. I can't seem to find anything lying around that I can put it in and not have to worry about it being suitably protected in the event the bike falls over or something. I may have to make something.



Hey, wait...There's a fairly big sheet of 1/8" plexiglass in the garage left over from who-knows-what. Superglue works on plexiglass if you can get it cut cleanly enough, right?

Have to work out a rig to cut it straight, since I don't have a table saw. Do they make stands you can attach a normal circular saw to so that you can use it as a small table saw? Sort of like the way you can turn a router into a moulding machine? :?

 

[TylerDurden]

1/8 plexi is brittle.

Find a (cough) discarded/abandonded traffic or parking sign. 1/8 aluminum is tough. Get a sabersaw, drill & pop-riveter and have at it.

 

[Link]

True, but that'll go inside a backpack. Plus it's only semi-temporary. And I have nothing else to use.

And after that short I caused there's no WAY you could get me to put that thing in a electrically conductive housing. I shorted out the 72V block of SLA before, and it didn't put out even CLOSE to the energy this did.

 

[Drunkskunk]

IS IT LOUD ENOUGH... Excuse me is it loud enough. If you can train your brain enough u can use the clicks for ecolocation of pedestrians in your path.

ROFL, the first time I read it, I thought you ment his shirt.


Superglue doesn't bond Plexy very well, but Epoxy does. And it bonds even better if you roughen up the edges with sandpaper before gluing.

Realtor signs are made of metal.
And they aren't bolted to an 8 foot pole.
Every now and then they get blown away in a storm... or something...

 

[Link]

LOL @ realtor sign.

LOL @ loud shirt. My English teacher once commented that I reminded him of a traffic cone while wearing it. I still like it. It goes well with black jeans, IMO. A few of my friends have taken to giving my shirts "flavors". I currently have "orange sherbet", "chocolate fever", "blueberry", "black licorice", "grape", and "cherry". They haven't decided on a suitable name for the dark blue one I'm wearing now. I'm probably forgetting one, too. The orange one is good for riding in traffic, as you're more likely to be noticed.

Anyway, I got everything rigged up ghetto status in a cardboard box to take a test ride on.

Love this motor.

It growls when close to 0rpm, but after about 4mph it runs very smoothly.

My first thought was dayam this thing has a lot of torque for only 20A. It takes off like the BD36 in the 20" rim. Afterwards, however, I checked the Doc Wattson (nice to be able to use that again) and it turns out I have a 40A controller. :lol:

Now that I've used a full twist throttle, I can say that I'm not a fan. It's hard to keep it in one place when you're riding the thing. Good thing I have yet another half twist on the way. :wink:

I <3 LiFe! It sits at 53V and only sags down to 48.5V at 40A!

The seatpost rack seems to be pretty robust, since I had the battery sitting on it in the worst position in the box it was in; at the very back of the thing. It held up fine.

However, the battery doesn't seem to want to charge. I say "seems" because although the charger itself gives no indication that it's doing anything (fan doesn't spin up, lights are green), three resistors on the BMS got quite hot. These three resistors also happen to correspond to the three lowest-voltage cells in the pack (about 0.03V difference between the lowest and highest cells). So I don't know if it's really charging or not. I'll hook it up through the Doc Wattson to see if it gives any amperage. If it doesn't, then I'll see about getting a new one. If it does, then I'll drain the pack a little more (I only used up 1.3Ah) and see if I can get a red light to come on.

Ping's BMSs...do they LVC based on total pack voltage or the lowest cell? I ask because before I finished rewiring the pack last night, I noticed that the tab on the leftmost cell (in the cell group that makes up the final + in the string) had broken away. I managed to get some solder on what was left and reconnect it, but I worry that it might have happened to another cell or two. If the BMS cuts out based on the lowest cell, then I'll be able to tell whether or not this has happened based on how many Ah I can pull out of the pack. If it cuts out based on total pack voltage, then I'll find out when I ruin a cell group. I'd rather not find out by ruining a cell group.

I'll need to be on the lookout for a new kickstand, too, since the bike won't stay propped up with the pack on the rack.

...

Heh. "Pack on the rack".

 

[Link]

Hmm.

Well, I didn't bother getting around to using the Doc Wattson, because I plugged in the wiring harness and those three resistors got hot again, WITHOUT the charger being plugged in. It might not actually be three, since it seemed like the one in the middle wasn't getting hot on its own, but absorbing heat from the two next to it that were. In any case, I'm thinking something on the BMS has fried. Any ideas?

Looks like I might have to come up with some other way to charge these after all. :?

 

[Link]

Well, I've had another short go (0.4Ah used) and I'm liking this battery. Too bad I can't charge/balance the thing.

I don't mind checking the cell groups after every ride or so, but I can charge these with a SLA charger, right? They just won't get a full charge? I can deal with that, since I doubt I'll ever use more than 7-8Ah of the thing. It seems fairly balanced (1.25% difference between the highest and lowest cells) so I wouldn't be too worried...:?

 

[Johnbear]

The ping chargers are just sla chargers with a higher voltage setting. The 36v ones I have go to 43.8 and 46ishv one for Yesa and one for duct tape. A regular 36v sla charger is something like 41.5v so it should be fine.

 

[Link]

Kay, I thought I had heard something like that before.

Anyway, my birthday was on Monday and it's kinda been stretched out over four days because of Father's Day and the last two days of school ( ), so the bike hasn't really been worked on much. Gotta start work on a new BMS. First: chargers from Voltphreaks.

Also: My sister made me the most epic birthday card ever.

 

[TylerDurden]

Sisters... gotta luv 'em.

Mine's artsyfartsy too... can't pay the bills tho.

Many Happy Reruns.

 

[Link]

Well, seeing as I had no way to get to the bowling alley today, save for my bike, I saddled up the pack again. However, the stupid thing has a habit of falling off the rack, and I noticed a dent in the bottom of the pack from it. I cut up the cardboard box I got it in to fit and put it inside. Just for that little bit of protection:

Well, let's just say that that was a very, VERY good idea.

Luckily, I used to ride the trails when I lived in the mountains. A lot. I can take a fall very well. This is my only injury:

You know how I took off the front derailleur and replaced the chain? Well, for some reason it has this habit of occasionally moving off of the front sprocket and onto the chain guard. I was pulling onto my street when this happened. I looked down at it and was irritated about it; it's easy to push it back on, but it's a nuisance. I looked back up and see another biker coming around the corner. I'm going like 20mph at the time. I only had about 15 feet to stop, so I rammed into his back tire at about 10-15mph. Instantly potato chip'd my wheel so bad that it won't turn. A guy on the corner offered me a ride home, but I was only like 5 houses away, so I put on the backpack, popped the bike onto it's rear tire (which was, thankfully, unscathed), and walked it home.

*sigh*

So, I am, once again, without an ebike.

 

[TylerDurden]

Sweet.

Get a couple of 4x4s under it and jump on that sucker. Back true in no time.

 

[Link]

The picture doesn't really show it, but the disc itself got bent pretty badly. Even if I fix the rim, I'm not going to ride without a front brake. At least it's your everyday 160mm rotor. I can find another for less than $10 no problem. :?

 

[ngocthach1130]

Nice...Must be evil Schwinn month, because a few days ago i was riding and when i pedaled and turn the front fender got struck by my foot and was crooked so it rub against the wheel. Normal people stop and adjust it straight, no I am superhuman and i could fix fender, steer, and pedal at the same time. Next time i look up i realized i was on course to hit a parked car at the passenger side(Right) swerve at the last minutes and my left foot clipped the door while my handle bar and left hand clipped the side mirror. Man that hurt, thumb still a bit swollen, hope no fracture. Rode away as fast as i could. Think it was a newer BMW. Don't think i left a scratch or at least a noticeable one. Sorry to that dude.

 

[Mark_A_W]

Link, did you get the model direct from Goldenmotor?

 

[Link]

Nope. I got it from ebikes.ca (non-stock item) for like $100 less than I would have if I had got it from Golden Motor. It came with everything except the rim, but I had a spare left from the BD36 anyway.

LOL @ pwnd BMW mirror.

 

[D-Man]

So what happened to the other guys bike? Was he pissed off?

 

[Link]

Naw, he was cool. Go figure how I hit him that hard and his bike wasn't damaged.

Really nobody's fault, but we were both going faster than we should have been in a corner.

Weird thing is, I couldn't help but think he looked a lot like my dad, only with greyer hair. :?


I think I bruised a bone in my finger or something, though. It hurts to bend it and it's swollen kinda bad. Oh well.