New Bafang Crank-Drives

Does anybody know the wire gauge of the battery cable? I understand that it uses a proprietary connector. Is there a corresponding bare-wire breakout cable for connecting to your own battery?

Thanks.
 
joshseitz said:
Does anybody know the wire gauge of the battery cable? I understand that it uses a proprietary connector. Is there a corresponding bare-wire breakout cable for connecting to your own battery?

Thanks.

I don't know the guage but I easily found something very similar at the local Jaycar (in Australia). My BBS01, bought without a battery from GBK, came with bare wire ends. I just installed Andersons to match the battery available. I don't think there's any mention of proprietary connectors on the power cable as the unit comes direct from Bafang although a retailer may of course offer something to match a specific battery (the rest of the loom does have very neat connectors).

Savvas
 
joshseitz said:
Does anybody know the wire gauge of the battery cable? I understand that it uses a proprietary connector. Is there a corresponding bare-wire breakout cable for connecting to your own battery?

Thanks.

Mine came with 14awg cable and small bullets. I just cut them off and soldered some Andersons on.
 
Mine came with 14awg cable and small bullets. I just cut them off and soldered some Andersons on.

Perfect - thank you. If the leads to the controller/motor are 14 AWG, is there any reason to run 12 AWG the meter or so from the battery to the Bafang connector, or can I get away with 14 gauge throughout, even at 25 Amps?
 
joshseitz said:
Mine came with 14awg cable and small bullets. I just cut them off and soldered some Andersons on.

Perfect - thank you. If the leads to the controller/motor are 14 AWG, is there any reason to run 12 AWG the meter or so from the battery to the Bafang connector, or can I get away with 14 gauge throughout, even at 25 Amps?

Might as well run 12awg if you've got it - resistance increases with length so you can offset it with increased gauge.
 
I live in Australia where we have 250w power limitation. However it is also quite hilly here. Can anyone confirm what gradient can the bafang 250w go up easily? I am about 70kg. The hills are about 16% max.
 
kampua said:
I live in Australia where we have 250w power limitation. However it is also quite hilly here. Can anyone confirm what gradient can the bafang 250w go up easily? I am about 70kg. The hills are about 16% max.

Should be doable, but it depends on the reduction you have!
 
Kepler said:
Riding home tonight, noticed a bit of unusual noise coming from the drive. When I got home, I took the chain off and ran the drive up. Sure enough, the unusual noise continued and sounded worse with the chain off, almost like a grinding noise. Next I checked for play both in the cranks and in the chain ring. there was a little bit of play in the cranks but quite a bit in the chain ring. Not good.

First thing first, removed the cranks and chain guard and checked the bolts holding the chain ring on. All tight. So further investigation required. Removed the drive from the bike and and checked the locking nuts that set the tension on the thrust bearings. These were on the loose side so I tightened these up and re checked. All the play was gone from the cranks but the chain ring still continued to have significant play.

Was getting a bit worried now thinking the worst like perhaps a worn shaft or failed bearing. Removed the main gear cover and thrust locking nuts then extracted the BB shaft. This comes out with the final gear and free wheel assembly. Next I removed the PAS sensor ring which is held in place with a C clip. Finally the culprit was found. The 5 countersunk screws that hold the final gear on to the free wheel assembly were all loose. Excellent, a simple fix after all. Removed the screws and added new loctite then re assembled making sure the screws were torqued down firmly. All play was now gone.



Took the opportunity to clean the final gear and re grease. Re assembled the drive and reinstalled on to the bike followed by a quick test run. All fixed and as quiet as the first day I installed the drive. Back to being a happy camper :D

hi kepler

Damn... i think I got the same problem... noise from motor and play in the chainring.

Manage to remove the crank/motor/chainring/plastic cover from the bike.... not sure how to remove the bb shaft from the motor? Thrust nut?
 
kampua,

You are 10kg lighter than me, and I can ride up a 16% grade, on a roadbike, at 5kph. If you have a 34 tooth biggest cog in the rear, and don't pedal, you will go up about twice as fast, 10kph. But you will be pulling over 550 watts from the battery. Even if your battery voltage sags down to 36 volts, with the 18 amp controller, you will have plenty of power.

It may not overheat, but pedaling would greatly reduce battery drain.
 
I have a 7 speed beach curiser.

Does this BBS02 fit the one piece crank bottom bracket beach curiser?
Can a bottom bracket conversion kit make it work?
 
kampua,

I failed to notice that you were asking about a 250 watt unit. That one has a 15 amp controller limit. Unless you run a smaller than 46 tooth chainring, or bigger than 34 tooth rear cog, or have a 20" rear wheel, you will definitely need to pedal on a 16% grade.
 
LowkeeRider said:
I have a 7 speed beach curiser.

Does this BBS02 fit the one piece crank bottom bracket beach curiser?
Can a bottom bracket conversion kit make it work?

How wide is your bottom bracket? If it's a standard 68-73mm width and standard diameter, then i believe this kit will probably fit. It would probably be best to check with the seller.
 
kampua said:
I live in Australia where we have 250w power limitation. However it is also quite hilly here. Can anyone confirm what gradient can the bafang 250w go up easily? I am about 70kg. The hills are about 16% max.

I currently have a Tonaro crank drive 17 amp at 36 volts and 25 kg (26 to 80 gear inches) but I expect would be less efficient than the BBS01 unit. I climb a hill that steep on every ride, the BBS01 should do it with light pedalling, my Tonaro will do it with no assist but it is at about 8 kph and I feel guilty not giving at least a bit of help :)
I am looking at the BBS01 250w unit as a 250w hub will struggle without a lot of assist and will never make it up that slope without assist.
 
kampua said:
I am leaning towards 750w as the price difference is minimal. How likely to be pulled over by police is the question.


Lol... very unlikely assuming you are not doing stupid things.. like 50-60kph on the road without pedaling.

If you hit someone resulted in injuries... expected to be charged for unlicensed veh/no lic to ride motorbike/dangerous riding/sued 4 damages/etc
 
kampua said:
I am leaning towards 750w as the price difference is minimal. How likely to be pulled over by police is the question.
Unlikely. I've had a police car tailing me at 40 MPH+ down a hill, and gave me the peace sign as he drove off.
 
teslanv said:
kampua said:
I am leaning towards 750w as the price difference is minimal. How likely to be pulled over by police is the question.
Unlikely. I've had a police car tailing me at 40 MPH+ down a hill, and gave me the peace sign as he drove off.

lol Big difference between Washington and Australia. 750watt legal vs 250
 
Actually, My point was more that the kit is so stealthy that it is unlikely that an officer will even know your bike is electric.
 
kampula said:
I am leaning towards 750w as the price difference is minimal. How likely to be pulled over by police is the question.

Close to zero.

Get the 750W. You will regret it if you dont. (Right Melbourne :p ) All the PAS settings are pretty soft even on the 750W version. I have ridden quite a few 250W aust legal bikes that pull as hard if not harder than the highest PAS setting on the 750W drive. The difference is the throttle on the 750W bafang. This is where you get some serious boost. Also consider the speed limit. Make sure you buy it from a vendor that will remove it for you.
 
LowkeeRider said:
I have a 7 speed beach curiser.

Does this BBS02 fit the one piece crank bottom bracket beach curiser?
Can a bottom bracket conversion kit make it work?

Conversion kits are readily available and would probably be made to work OK.

However I think you may encounter two issues. The first may be clearance between the outside of the BB shell and the housing of the motor. Remember that the BB shells on those beach cruiser-style bikes are often a larger diameter than the conventional BSA type on regular bikes. You may want to check the blueprint posted by Greenspark a way back and work out if it'll fit your bike. On a conventional BB shell there is (from memory) around about 10 or 12mm clearance between shell and motor case.

The other issue you may encounter is that on the drive (chainwheel) side, the face of the BB shell ends up being approx 0.5mm (as my eyeballing suggests) inset into the plane formed by the rear surface of the main gear case (the round thing behind the chainwheel). This means that on a conventional BSA-style BB shell you need around 25-30mm radial clearance around the shell for a corresponding distance behind the plane formed by it's RH face. One of the engineering types here can probably explain this better than I!

I know this having just successfully installed the BBS01 on my Moulton TSR. The very end of the threaded part of TSR's rear suspension pivot bolt on the RHS (where it protrudes slightly from the lock nut) was contacting the back of the gear case and preventing it from seating tightly on the BB shell. I used a cassette space (2mm think) to provide clearance although this spacer is at least 1mm too thick!)

So I reckon if you like the bike, you could make the BBS00X kit work. You may just need to take some measurements first and be prepared to do some 'light engineering'.

Savvas.
 
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