Need help with conversion kit and battery to buy

[christopherd]

Hello, I am a newbie and I have a recumbent Rans StratusXP and am wanting to commute to work 25miles each way with 3 good sized hills 1 1/2 miles long each way. I am a fairly strong rider and would want about 20-22mph. I am considering from ebikes.ca to purchase the eZee conversion kit and Cycle Analyst for $800 and battery from BMS- 48v, 15ah for $400. I need a plug and play.

I would like to get feedback from readers telling me what you would purchase?

(moderator edit: moved from Ebike Reviews and Testing as it is not a review or a test)

 

[dogman dan]

That should work, but to really make the range on days when you have a headwind, you might need another 5 ah.

On the flat, in less windy weather, 48v 15 ah should take you nearly 30 miles if you travel at 20 mph max. By 25 mph, you will only get about 22 miles.

The hill will matter most if it is all up in one direction of travel. My commute is like that, about 500' of up and down, and 1000' of pure up to get home. The up and down kind of averages out. Takes power to go up, but you coast some going back down. But nevertheless, hills will eat just a bit more watthours compared to pure flat.

Adding to the battery with a 48v 20 ah would solve it for sure. But by the time the battery gets that big, it can be too big and heavy to carry on rear racks.

I'm not familiar with your bike, can you post a picture, or a link to one? I'm not sure if you mean to use a front motor or a rear. If you use a front motor, you can get away with a heavier battery on a rear rack than if the motor is also in the rear.

 

[migueralliart]

I'm starting with my recommendation that you are in the USA;

yescomusa kit 36V ~ 230$ dhipped from Ebay seller
Lyen sensorless controller (6fet) 79+shipping from LYEN
Direct Plugin CA ~125$ shipped from methods
Ping Battery Pack 48V 15AH ~533 plus shipping from ping

So for around 1000$ you can have it all and good components. The only thing left if the rack for the battery and some torque arm. The yescomusa kit has a controller but since you said you wanted the Direct Analyst lyens is your best option. Also if you are NOT in the USA. I would consider one of cell_mans 350watt kits and run it at just 12S lipo with a low amp controller from cell_man.

 

[christopherd]

Thanks for your replies...and I am in US of A, in NW near Seattle, Wa....
1) Link to bike info...http://www.rans.com/bicycles/stratus-xp.html

2)http://www.yescomusa.com/product.php?productid=729&cat=91&page=1 ...this rear Hub motor is 1000w 48v and weighs 35lbs ...The eZee weighs only 10lbs and sounds like high quality, ebikes.ca carries it and speaks highly of it.so I think I will go with that motor..front fork is aluminum and I had wanted to put hub motor on front but Rans people said no way," do not do this as it is aluminum" and would not hold up.

3) Now to the battery..The eZee motor is 400 W and so what does that mean for the battery requierments? Can I still use this battery? http://www.bmsbattery.com/packs/430-48v-16ah-40160-lifepo4-battery-16-cells-ebike-battery-pack.html
or this battery ? http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-10/36V-20AH-LiFePO4-lithium/Detail...and with this Ping battery I am hoping I can go the 25miles and do the hills. I will be pedaling often. I like the exercise I am not one to sit back and use motor. For that I would get a scooter.

So would it work to do the eZee rear hubmotor and this ping battery? Cycle Analyst? And a cruise control from someone?

Thx, again for your generosity,
Christopher

 

[christopherd]

One more ?

What is difference between these 2 Ping batteries?

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-12/48V-15AH-V2.5-LiFePO4/Detail

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-10/36V-20AH-LiFePO4-lithium/Detail

 

[potatorage]

One more ?

What is difference between these 2 Ping batteries?

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-12/48V-15AH-V2.5-LiFePO4/Detail

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-10/36V-20AH-LiFePO4-lithium/Detail

One is 20AH at 36V while the other is 15AH at 48V.

 

[christopherd]

potatorage,a comedian, hey? I meant that how would a 20AH at 36V perform differently than 15AH at 48V ? Would one have morer power for hills and another have more power for distance? I don't know.

 

[BikeFanatic]

The difference is the top speed. You will get a few MPH faster with the 48 volt.
they are both 700 WATT HRS, so if you Consume 20 watts a mile, (that is my avg no pedal energy usage at aprox 20 MPH) you can get 28 miles out out either
battery. You will have to charge at work, and that should be fine with the Ping battery.
Nothing wrong with the Ezee kit and ping. Sounds like a reliable system. I admire you riding 25 miles to work, Is it a nice ride? I have lots of stops and starts takes me 25 minutes to go 5 miles.
Let us know how it works out

 

[christopherd]

thx, bikefanatic, yes it is very beautiful in parts like a20 min. ferry ride across Puget Sound and then time pedaling alongside I-5, not so good but 17miles of ride is an old rail line now a bike route....very wonderful. And thanks again for your info and I will let you know how the eZee and the Ping turn out.

 

[christopherd]

bikefanatic or anyone, should I get the 2A or 5A charger from Ping? http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-30/lifepo4-48v-51.2v-16s/Detail .....5A is twice what 2A is, $66.00.

thx, again, Christopher

 

[christopherd]

Could someone help with this wiring diagram from Ping:

http://www.pingbattery.com/usrguide/Wiring%20Guide%20V2.5.pdf

The 3 prong that will need to go from battery to charger ....is that 3 prong go from battery to controller? What are the connectoirs in the first picture?The black flat connectors?

 

[Icewrench]

Get both chargers. Can`t go wrong with 2.
A spare if one goes down.
Use the slow one to charge at work on the mans dime.

The 48 volt battery is good for the Pacific Northwest.

 

[dogman dan]

Two feeds from a pingbattery. One is charger in, and comes wired with a connector matching the charger. 5 amp charger worth it for faster charging. It's a good one that usually lasts.

The controller to the battery connect is two wires + and -. Some controllers do have three wires, two + connections and one -. You can wire in an on off switch to the smaller + or just connect both to the battery +.

Living where you do, it would make some sense, a LOT of sense actually, to buy everything but the battery from Grin Cyclery. Not only the best CS in the world, but very nearby.

48v will give you more top speed, and more wattage when climbing steeper hills. If you climb hills that are 5% grade or less, you don't need 48v for the hills. Above 5%, more umph is nice.

36v 20 ah and 48v 15 ah have the same number of cells. So for range, provided you ride 20 mph, either one will go the distance, about 25 miles. Dropping speed to only 18 mph will get you a full 30 mile range. You'll need to do that anytime you have a long distance on your route that is headwind.

 

[parajared]

Lower voltage would work that ping a little harder, and you could get a bit of voltage sag. Pings generally only like to discharge 30 amps or so at a time. If you want to run 1000 watts to your hub it's better to run 21 amps on a 48 volt system (volts times amps= watts) (48x21=1000) than to try and run 26amps to your hub on a 36 volt setup.

This is why you see more hobby lipo builds on off-roading setups, and more ping setups on commuter bikes.

 

[parajared]

Kits like the eZee are nice because if you run out of electricity peddling around a 7-10lb motor is no big deal compared to a larger direct drive. My 9c hub is a bear to chug around on no electricity.

I have a ebikekit.com kit and the gears eventually wore down and gave out. I thought it would be cheap and easy to replace gears, but it turns out it's just cheaper to buy a whole new hub. I don't think I will ever buy a geared motor again.

Big direct drive hub motors can go on seemingly forever with occasional bearing changes and are preferable to smaller hubs because what always ends up happening is you go out thinking you are only going to use the thing thing to help on the hills, only use it when you get tired, ect... and it is just too fun not to use them like a segway or something. Little direct drive motors get hot too quick to be used like that.



Here's my breakdown of what kit I think you should get (not including battery) and why:

best deal: 9C kit from ebike.ca: $505 because you get the super handy, and widely used cycle analyst, which is essential to avoid overdischarging and managing efficiency. Well known for reliability, and lighter than Crystalite 45xxx series. You get a reliable but pitifully limited 20amp infineon controller with your kit.

2nd best deal: Magic Pie v3 from goldenmotor.ca: $392: known for being able to handle abuse of extreme overvolt/overamp loads. Effective, useful integrated cooling fan system. Sub-par 35a speed controllers built right in the questionable location of right in your hub, heavier 20lb motor.

3rd best deal: Max's Crystalite deal at ebikedeal.com $470-550: you get the knock off of the cycle analyst called "APM" the less preferable, but still darn good 16lb cyrtalite ht3525 and a killer awesome controller. Great kit for the price, but I almost want to give the 9c the edge over ht3525 for some reason.

4th best deal: That Yescom 1000w 48v motor that goes by a bunch of different names and sells for about $280:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48V1000W-26-Rear-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Motor-Kit-E-Bike-Cycling-Hub-Conversion-/230792243727?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35bc4a2a0f#ht_1552wt_1344
http://www.amazon.com/1000w-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Conversion/dp/B005233L2O/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1337748005&sr=8-9
Clone of the goldenmotor prokit 901. Great amount of bang for the buck. Can't handle overvolting very well, lame-sauce 20a controller, cheapie plastic throttle. Good reviews, one of the better e-bay kits out there.

Hope this helps

 

[wesnewell]

4th best deal: That Yescom 1000w 48v motor that goes by a bunch of different names and sells for about $280:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48V1000W-26-Rear-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Motor-Kit-E-Bike-Cycling-Hub-Conversion-/230792243727?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35bc4a2a0f#ht_1552wt_1344
http://www.amazon.com/1000w-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Conversion/dp/B005233L2O/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1337748005&sr=8-9
Clone of the goldenmotor prokit 901. Great amount of bang for the buck. Can't handle overvolting very well, lame-sauce 20a controller cheapie plastic. Good reviews, one of the better e-bay kits out there.

Don't know where you got your info on this, but I've got to disagree. I've had mine for over a year and about 4K miles on it and never had a problem with voltages up to 100V. And the stock controller is 30A and definitely not plastic. In fact, the one I got came with an infinion EB215 15 fet controller. I think they changed the controller model, but afaik, it's still a 15 fet controller at 30A. Stock kit will do about 35mph using 15s lipo. I'd classify as the best deal. And I'd put it up against the 9C motor any time. ebikes.ca rates the 9C at ~600W, which I think is low, but it's not a 1000W motor. And there's absolutely no reason a person *needs* a CA. So if you're on a budget, forget it. If not, then it's probably a nifty add on if you care for that kind of thing.

 

[wesnewell]

2)http://www.yescomusa.com/product.php?productid=729&cat=91&page=1 ...this rear Hub motor is 1000w 48v and weighs 35lbs ...

Wrong. It weighs about 12lbs with wheel and freewheel. 36 lbs is the shipping weight for the whole kit, which is a lot more than just the wheel with motor.