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

[pwbset]

So, yeah, the truing stand showed up earlier

Link where did you get that stand and how much was it? Despite my best efforts I keep popping spokes so I'm thinking Sheldon and a stand almost have to be in my future here for this ebiking thing to continue working for me. I sure am getting good at hobbling home on a wobbly wheel anyway.

 

[Link]

Here's a hint: Gixen.

I've used the site to my success a few times. :wink:


[But now that you mention the Golden Motor being sold for $106, I now wonder if the "deal" I got was much of a deal at all. It was $200 for a slightly rusted, working brushed Golden Motor with controller and 2-year old huffy bike with rear bike rack and a battery tray in the frame triangle designed for 3 12V 12Ah batteries. It sounds like it might have just been "fair market value". Eh.]

I wasn't entirely sure I wanted it when I saw it, which is why I was just watching it instead of actually placing a bid (if I really want something, I just bid high). It's my fault for forgetting about it, but, oh well. :?

You got an okay deal, I think. It went for $106 and had the brake cutouts, but the controller didn't work. So it was an okay deal for the average buyer, but would have been great for me, since I already had a controller.

Link where did you get that stand and how much was it? Despite my best efforts I keep popping spokes so I'm thinking Sheldon and a stand almost have to be in my future here for this ebiking thing to continue working for me. I sure am getting good at hobbling home on a wobbly wheel anyway.

eBay. I won it for $52.55 and it shipped for another $15. The little adjustable pointer thingies could be made out of precision-machined metal or something, but they aren't bad and don't move around unless you want them to. I like the one-arm design, since there's nothing in my hand's way when I'm using the spoke wrench. The Golden was heavy enough not to balance on the stand normally though, so I turned the base backwards (check the first pic) and that took care of that problem.

They're cheap, but not the cheapest of the cheap. I like it, in any case.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_fromZR46?_nkw=ultimate+support+truing&_fromfsb=0&_trksid=m270.l1313

Or just search for "truing stand", for other models. But anything else I could find that looked decent was like $150 minimum. :?

 

[swbluto]

Here's a hint: Gixen.

I've used the site to my success a few times. :wink:

(if I really want something, I just bid high).

I don't like that strategy as it makes you vulnerable to those who don't bid upto their realistic maximum and leave it alone(Which is what ebay's proxy system is meant for) and instead get caught up in the heat of the moment. I have a feeling I've been ebay-ing far more than you have, sonny!

(I actually have a voluminous ebay resell business, so I know the different "types" of buyers.)

 

[Link]

By "high" I mean a little more (mebbe 10-15% more) than I think it will go for, which I've gotten pretty good at guessing. I'm much too weary of the few who would try the same trick to bid for way more than it's worth. I only do that when I can't be there for the end of the auction, otherwise I keep an eye on it for the last couple minutes.

I've rarely had to do any actual auctions, since most of the stuff I buy there is ebike related and can be had through the eBay stores (buy-it-now). That motor and the truing stand are really the only two I can remember doing, since it's been a long time between those ones and the last aution.

I usually end up buying something once a week from eBay. It got to the point to where I had to clean my room because there were so many boxes lying on the floor that I couldn't get around my bed.

 

[Link]

ANYWAY.

Did a bunch of soldering yesterday. Completion is so close I can almost taste it...

Might as well use some of that leftover teflon wire.

Soldering small wires is nice. Effed up soldering the black wire because I screwed up my conical soldering tip a while ago and have been using the flat one since.

Not-so-fun fact: Notice I replaced the old D-sub with one that had solder cups. Plus the plastic is black.

Soldered up to leftover plugs.

Rats nest of wires after I put the plugs back.

 

[swbluto]

I'm way too lazy to go through the >10 pages to watch every increment, so if you could take summary shots when you're "all done"(let's say greater than 90% "done"), that'd be AWESOME!

 

[pwbset]

I'm way too lazy to go through the >10 pages to watch every increment

Boo... down with lazy people! :wink: You should read the 65+ page Ping/LiFe thread... now that's a good read! :lol:

 

[TylerDurden]

I'm way too lazy to go through the >10 pages to watch every increment

Boo... down with lazy people! :wink: You should read the 65+ page Ping/LiFe thread... now that's a good read! :lol:

UP with efficient people! Start at the end... if it looks interesting, .sdrawkcab daer

 

[Link]

Eh...I guess I can make a summary. Later.

Bit of a problem with the derailleur. Turns out that when I ran into that guy and the bike fell over, the weight of the batteries and hub was great enough to screw up this odd little mount that the derailleur attaches to.

Shifted the thing too far over to work.

Tried smashing it in the vice, but that didn't really do much.

Mess with that later. Don't think this is a standard sort of part...? If I can't fix it, I'll just ditch the derailleur entirely. Not like I pedal much, anyway.

I didn't really consider it at first, but putting the peg over the axle on the wire side is going to be a PITA, too. I officially hate this particular way of having the wires exit the axle. It's STUPID.

But at least I got the other D-sub and the hub's wires soldered up (which I'm going to have to cut off and resolder to get the peg on, dammit).

 

[Sturdly]

Try here, they should have you covered. One of the advantages of the replaceable type, you don't have to try and straighten the frame.

http://www.goosecreekcycle.com/DerailleurHangers.htm#3

 

[Link]

Ty.

I think this one is what I'm looking for.(?)

Also got the wires from the D-sub fished through the rack.

I think I'm going to have to invest in a good industrial hot glue gun at some point. I use it like Xyster used (too bad I have to say that in the past tense) duct tape. :?

 

[Link]

So, I got fed up with the way the wire exits the axle. I actually hadn't really thought through how I was actually going to get the nut on the axle after I had gotten the wires through the peg because I was kinda preoccupied with other aspects of the bike.

Originally, I didn't think I could modify the axle to slip the wiring under the bearing and have it exit WE style because it was already hollow, and a big enough notch would make it much too weak. Then I realized I could swap the cover plates and mess with the OTHER side of the axle. So I did. (Sorry there's no close-up pics; I forgot to put the SD card in the camera and was using the internal memory of the thing. I can't find my micro-USB cable right now, so I can't get them off the camera.)

After a bunch of wiring and soldering was done, I actually got everything mounted on the bike itself. Haven't covered up all the connectors yet because I haven't been able to make sure everything works right.

Mebbe I'll finally get my bench cleaned off after I'm done with this bike.

Then got to work on the box again. Soldered up a few more wires and fuse holders to the battery.

Then added some wiring to the relay I'm using. It's a 12V relay, but I shouldn't have any issues with accelerated contact wear because I'm going to put a precharge button on the box. For now, I'm running the coil off a tap 3 cells deep into the pack. I'll let the BMS take care of the imbalance until I can get a few fans wired up in series with the coil to drop enough voltage to run it off the pack.

Then got the power switch mounted. It's just a latching on/off pushbutton switch from Radio Shack.

I would have actually finished today, but I wasn't paying attention when I bought the momentary pushbuttons to use for precharging the controller. I only saw "momentary pushbutton", and completely overlooked the very obvious "N.C." (normally closed) text on the package. D'oh!

There's no pegs on it right now because I didn't have any socket wrenches big enough to use on the axle nuts and I forgot Home Depot closes at 8:00PM on Sunday.

Oh, I dished the motor's rim hilariously badly. I can barely adjust the brakes enough to make them work. Mebbe fix that at some point.

 

[swbluto]

How's the truing stand working for you? I'm thinking about getting one(cheap, hopefully) but I want to make sure I'm not skipping out on some essential that a complete n00b like myself would be prone to.

 

[Link]

It's pretty good. Doubt it would be worthy of a bike shop, but worth the money, IMO.

Interestingly, I realized the dish of the wheel could be checked by flipping it around on the stand. Huh.

 

[nicobie]

I sure would like to see close-ups of how you routed the wires on the GM hub motor.

Nick

 

[Link]

I'll pick up another cable when I go to Fry's so I can get the pics off the camera. I have to pick up some whatnot there, anyway.

After buying ANOTHER deep socket wrench set ,

I got around to installing the pegs. Wewt.

Torque arm. Haven't decided what to secure it with yet. Any thoughts?

 

[Link]

Found the camera's cable hidden between the other computer and the wall after I went to Fry's and bought the wrong one.

Also got a new 2GB SD card. Seeing the remaining image count maxed out (9999) on TV-size (640) is funny.

So here's the pics I took on the camera.

Magnet ring (rotor) of the Golden:

Stator:

Good to know the Golden's sensors are protected from moisture:

Cut this big notch in the axle to rout the phases through:

And they fit. Wewt.

There's another much smaller notch in the other side for the halls.

Wires cinched in place.

No more wire issues for this motor:

Heat shrunk and cinched down. Made sure the cover plate isn't rubbing anything:

Forgot to put this back in the motor. Whoopsie.

Oh yeah, I filled the other end of the axle partway with hot glue to keep water out.

Hoping to more or less finish the bike tonight.

Also got a 203mm Avid BB7 front brake set that I'll replace the 160mm Shimano set with. That should be interesting.

 

[recumbent]

Link, to mount your torque arm securely and look good, use "strapping" also known as "all-round" galvenized.
I used it to secure my controler also, and looks factory perfect. 3/4" with two different size holes punched along it's length, great stuff.

Good to see your build will be ready to ride 8)

 

[Link]

Nerrrrrrr...too late for me to be still up...and I'm getting up in like four hours to do more work.

Added yet more connectors to the relay. One set is a short for the precharge resistor and switch, and the other set is connected to the coil connectors so I can shunt power from it to a power indicator LED I decided to add. There was 10V of potential across the coil, so, according to the LED's packaging, a 260 Ohm resistor would be about right. I already tested it, and it worked without anything getting warm.

Here's a pic of the charger plug (3-pin XLR), green power LED, precharge button (black), and power switch (red). Freshly installed.

And the controller's housing doesn't quite fit in the space between the batteries and the side of the box, so I'm going to lop off the top of it. Airflow through the box should be more than enough to keep it cool, even without the heatsinking the top provided. I had it stuffed in a backpack earlier (where it got no airflow at all), and it only ever got warm.

Thanks for the tip about the strapping. I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

 

[nicobie]

Link,

Thanx for the pics of the motor. I think I'll do the same if I can't squeeze 14 gauge thru the hollow axle.

Nick

 

[Link]

You'll have no problem squeezing 14AWG through the axle, especially if you use teflon wire like I did. That's 12AWG on mine, which I originally had routed through the axle.

I posted this a while ago. Think you might get some use out of it.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6159&p=93471

Also I failed at getting up early so yeah. Guess I'll bend the battery's cover and attach the side covers later. :?

 

[Link]

Found something even better than strapping: A turnbuckle. Combined with a loop of scrap brake cable soldered to itself, it's perfect.

Fairly well hidden and adjustable tension. I was worried that soldering the cable into a loop wouldn't be strong enough, but I can't pull it apart. I even tried sticking it in a vice and levering it out with a screwdriver and it held fast.

Originally I wasn't riding very hard because I was worried about the drops. BUT NOT ANYMORE. 8)

 

[Link]

IT IS PRETTY MUCH FINISHED.

I thought the box was a rats nest before. Guess not really...

Got the top of the controller sliced off and stuck it in the box.

The BMS basically doesn't fit with all the wires. I am sick and tired of working on this box, so I MADE it fit. Managed to short something out in the process, though. Burned off a trace.

OR DID IT?

The components seem to check out on the multimeter and it looks like it's charging normally so I think it's okay...

Stuck the sides on. Screw drilling airholes and covering them with cloth.

Unfortunately, the PowerPoles stick out kinda far into the box. They almost don't fit. The wires force them into an angle, and they don't really want to fit with the ones on the rack very easily now. I'll deal with it, because I'm only going to open this box once more to add some zeners, and that's IT.

BB7 also showed up today. These 203mm rotors are pretty impressive in person.

Not sure how good the brake as a whole works, since it hasn't been broken in, yet.

I was going to ride it to work today, but somehow I managed to mix up the hall and phase wires. Now it spins perfectly, but backwards. Gonna have to fix that. And spraypaint that chicken from the ruler onto the box. :wink:

Pics of the whole bike later.

 

[Link]

Bike's pretty much finished for real this time. Took it for a short 3 mile ride today. Would have been longer, but it was getting dark.

Couple pics later. Brawling now.

...

I don't think the implications of the bike being finished have sunk in yet. :|

 

[Sacman]

Your done... I said YOUR DONE! (reminds me of my old drill seargant :lol: )
Give us some video... let's check it out!