Newbie with my first E-bike

[Tincan]

Greetings!

Well after being convinced by 2jzee to join up I better make a thread and get some ideas.

Purchased this off ebay for the tidy sim of $450.

It was in kinda poor condition when I picked it up, but that didn't really worry me, it worked and was what I was looking for (moped style). It used to be hot pink! The lady who owned it before me, painted it with a can of silver paint (poorly) to get the male members of her family to use it.

The trip home was the best, people looking at you with the WTF look on their face, priceless!

Once home, I lost the keys within hours! I think they went down the elevator shaft of the apartment block i live in :S

Ohh well, being a friday night, there wasn't much i could do anyway, so i decided to do what any self respecting male would do and strip it bare and remove any evidence of it's previous "pink bits" also removing the ingition lock to take to the lock smith was another reason.

Finished, no longer looks like a chick should be on it

From what i can tell, its a 48v (SLA) 200w job, usual indicators, headlights, horn, spedo and battery meter.

Top speed was between 35 and 40k. I know it has a speed limiter on it, if i put the bike up on the stand and wind the throttle on full it sits at 40k too.

It does have a funky button on the handles that enables a 10km/h mode that is great for high built up pedestrian areas too!

Originally i got caught up in the ebay bug and thought that buying everything i could see in sight for it was the best option to go with, ie my original plans was dual 1000w hub motors ad twin 48v battery packs, factory location is under your feet, and i was going to put the second bank under the seat.

2jzee, who has a lot more history with these things convinced me otherwise and to come and read on here, and FK me dead! there is a LOT of info here and changed my approach totally.

Looking now at replacing the battery pack with some LifePO (as much as i can cram in there) this would leave me enough space under the seat still to be able to carry basic items.

I still need to work out what to do with the controller. Like mentioned in another thread, these bikes, being 48v have the caps in the controller ratted at 63v.

I would still like to retain the factory speed cluster and am a little worried about upping the voltage to 60v causing damage to it.

Ultimate aim is 50 km/h ~31mph. As i live in the CBD this would suite me perfect and could happily mingle with traffic.

In the car park of my building, Centre management is anal about parking, lucky there was a power point right near the wall i can hide it behind

Parked at work, kudos the the man that put a double power point in the bike room!

Cheers,
Shane.

 

[BikeFanatic]

Shane thats a nice bike, I think it is Vespa style I like it. 450 good price. I also like your bike parking at work arrangement INSIDE bike parking is great.

Good find.

 

[02jze]

Nice scooter. Now you mention it was pink i think i saw this on ebay.. Parking at work is good. I park mine in my office as the warehouse is low on powerpoints. I over volted mine to 65volt still yet to blow the caps.. Needs more RC lipo packs.

 

[Tincan]

Ok time for a bit of an update.

Well after a week of having the scooter, i put myself into hospital with a smashed elbow and needed to be reconstructed!

Long story short, i turned up a gutter at about 10km/h and where the kick stand used to be was a little metal tab, that hit the gutter and spat the bike out from under me. I came down, hit my elbow square on the gutter and snapped the end of the bone clean off. Not a bad little effort. :lol:

This was 30 mins after i had the accident...

After surgery...

Ok now all the gory parts are out of the way...
This was how the bike shaped up, not bad, few cracks here and there, nothing to worry about thought...

Took it for a ride around the carpark of where i live 2 days after getting home, you know the saying, fall off the horse, get back on :lol:

Grabbed a can of paint and sprayed it black again to hide the "miss hap"

This is how is essentially stayed for the next 2.5 months, just getting me too and from work.

Looking on eBay i had been eying off a cheap 750w controller YK89. Thought, bugger it, ill do it.

Then this little puppy turned up

Looked the goods, 48v, 750w. Next to the stock controller it looked massive, going by the screws on the side, its only a 6 mosfet. could be wrong, haven't cracked it open yet.

I was shocked that it was almost a direct plug in replacement! the throttle power and sense wire needed to be swapped, but that was it!

Anyway, plugged in, road test time, same 37 Kmh top speed as the standard controller, but by god, it pulled HARD, no drams up hill at all.

Got home, then curiosity got the better of me...

I thought, ill add another 12v in series and see how it copes. I tried this on the stock controller, upping it to 60v but it didn't want a bar of it, over volt protection cut in.

With 60v, took it for a ride and it was a totally different bike.

Along the bike way, pulled out the iPhone and took a half assed photo. 45km/h! and it didn't slow uphill much, still maintained 40 km/h.

Went home, cleaned up.

Then thought... it wouldn't handle 72v.... would it?

I figure, its only Aus$80... if i cook it, ill get another. Lets give it a go.

Another 12v battery in series, 72v in total and MOTHER OF GOD!!!
This was with it on the stand this time, not on the road, but 60 Km/h!!!

Time to road test!

And it didn't disappoint at ALL!!! so much torque, speed everything I wanted from it.
Went back home, got the video camera...
Now the camera is designed to be held with the right hand, unfortunately so is the throttle this made it a little tricky... as you see in the photo, i put the cam in my mouth to hit the brakes to turn around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNzOeVLtHNs

Camera away, went for a decent ride to work and back, mingling in traffic as if it was meant to be! Overtaking cars. and the best bit is, cause its pulls hard, off the line, it leaves the traffic for dead!

Brake light didn't like the high voltage, nor did the horn, easy fix though.

I'm in LOVE!

 

[02jze]

Hey thats nuts. Kinda wish i kept mine now..

 

[Evoforce]

You give me inspiration to go back to my first e-bike and up the ante.

 

[John in CR]

Excellent upgrading. The only thing I'd suggest is to stop and feel the motor cover after the most demanding use up hills. If it's too hot to hold your hand on for more than a few seconds, then you're pushing the motor too far. Also feel the motor wiring and battery harnesses and connectors to make sure they're not more than very slightly warm. If the wires are warm, then upgrade them with heavier gauge wire.

Start saving for a lithium pack to replace the lead when it wears out. That will give you better acceleration and hill climbing due to less weight.

John

 

[Tincan]

John, funny you mention heat...

I got carried away...

I decided, what they heck, lets see how much i can throw at this thing before it goes pop, be it the motor or controller.

I wired up 7 SLA's to get a theoretical 84v, but would have been about the 90v mark hot of the charger.

Took it for a ride in my buildings car park, went ok, the torque was uncanny! So i parked it, took the batterys upstairs and charged them up ready for the next morning.

On my way to work, mostly down hill, waiting at a set of traffic lights... Lights go green, wind on the power. i hear a POP followed by a SHTLOAD of whitesmoke. So kill the power, and waddle to the side of the road leaving an intersection full of white smoke that a p plater with a hire could be proud of.

With melted crispy wires everywhere, i just did what i could to kill the power directly from the packs.

Had to get a spectator to calm down with his extinguisher, i think he was just itching to spray something...

I noticed the motor had also gone VERY tight. Lucky it wasn't too far from home, so i pushed it. remember i said it was down hill on the way to work? well that clearly is now UP hill and also with what appears to be a seized burnt motor.

Once home, pulled it apart. What I noticed was the moment i unplugged the controller, the motor became free again... Now i don't know if it was holding charge or something somehow, but very strange.

Tried my luck by powering the controller up without the motor attached and the size of the spark was amazing... Melted a pin off my power pack plug.

So controller is cooked, no doubt about that one.

But what shocked me was, hooking up the factory controller, the motor worked fine! These things are a beast!

Over the past few weeks i have been investigating my options.

Lyen has been invaluable!

I went on a shopping spree with him.

18 FET Low RDS MOSFET Overclocker Ready LYEN Controller with every option i could throw at it...
-Cruise control
-Three way speed switch
-Cycle Analyst Plug
-Regen enable / disable plug
-TTL USB Plug
-USB Adaptor
-Motor phase tester

And of course
-A Cycle Analyst

Now im going to run this on 96v (8x12v SLA) to begin, just working out Lipo pack at the moment, again his help has been second to none.

Anyone who has one of these knows that the factory drum brakes are... yeh... ordinary? is that a polite way to put it without saying shit?... oops.

Lyen again to the rescue! pointed me at electronicscooterparts.com where i promptly found a drum to disc brake conversion kit for my bike!

And was parted with more cashola very quickly after clicking buy on these...

Now I guess i play the waiting game for it all to turn up
ps - sorry about the novel lol

 

[lifepo4ever]

sorry to say that, those scooter are real shit, i bougth one my self and its was my first ebike and they are so fragile and i changed 2 time the controller and the brake are not hydraulic and need always ajustement , fairing crack on the road , suspension felt, bearing felt, speedo are modified to let think to have speed of 40kph but you only reach 30 when the wind push you on the back , and the sla was so heavy to transport its was a horrible beginning and i really think theses scooter kill the market of ebike because everyone who buy this piece of shit never want another ebike because they thing there nothing
better on the market. people who own these scooter when they see me with my ebike they are speechless about my lithium battery and performance because they believe they bougth the best electric scooter for 1500$ or 2000$ again converted bicycle its much more useful then scooter its my opinion , I don't want offense electric scooter owner with my post its only a experience and a observation

 

[Tincan]

All valid points.

It was more a case of curiosity as to what i could do with one of these.

I have since started converting mu mongoose mountian bike to electric from the the things i have learned off this scooter.

I live in the CBD of Brisbane, so having something that looks like a generic scooter was the intent, If i take the mountain bike out, its going to get pinched or stuff raided off it, where as this blends in with the other 11ty billion mopeds in town.

I know the frame is not good, but ill tackle that as i go. All the other things however are easily fixed, brakes are being sorted at the moment, rear had been converted to disc now, still working out what to do with the front. Batterys... well anyone with half a brain only use the SLAs until they get Lipo. I haven't had many issues with the plastics yet, apart from when i came off it and a couple of cracks. Speedo is taken care of with a Cycle Analyst.

At the end of the day, it cost me $400. Was not a huge outlay and is a good test bed to learn from. Think of it like your first car. Sure it stuffed up all the time and looked like ass, but you use it as a stepping stone

 

[Tincan]

Anyway on with things...

Today some goodies turned up from electricscooterparts.com

Rear cable caliper
160mm disc
and drum -> disc adapter

Got home, wheel off. tried a few ways to get the existing drum off, failed at using the multigrips! Simple screwdriver and a hammer got it off in the end.

Rather happy with the fit and finish

Back in the dropouts

Still undecided on where to mount the caliper.
I'm thinking about here. I'm going to remove the swing arm and have the drop out plate welded and extended up rather than just having a plate only bolted on.

As for the font wheel... Not too sure on that front. Being that the front is the one to do the majority of the brake work, i really need to work that one out.
I don't think it will have too much stopping as it is with the Lyen controller's regen and the rear disc but having everything on the one wheel only ends up in... well... skids

Really need to get off my ass and order my batterys before the goodies from Lyen turn up.

 

[Tincan]

Goodies from Lyen turned up!

If anyone is thinking of dealing with his, I have nothing but praise!

Quick shipping from the states to Australia and well packed!

Ended up with the follwing
- 18x 4115 MOSFET Lyen Controller
- Plug in Cycle Analyst
- USB connectivity
- Cruise Control
- 3 way speed switch
- Regen connection
- CA connector.

Spent the day installing everything, still need to weld up a mounting bracket for the rear brake caliper.

Stock Vs eBay china Vs Lyen

Have taken it for a few laps tonight around my buildings carpark and i was a little let down. not as fast as i hoped...

Then I realised i had the 3 way speed switch on 1, put it on 3 and FK ME! YEEE HAA!

Cant wait for the ride to work tomorrow!

Going to take it easy and stay clear of the roads and keep the speed down until i sort the rear brakes out.

At the moment im relying on the fronts and the regen, which i might add, the regen is fantastic!

Bring on tomorrow!

 

[Tincan]

Typical Queensland weather, sunny this morn, thunderstorm this arv

All i can say is.... wow...

Cycle analyst shows 3950 watts at full throttle

This was with 105v off the charger.

Absolutely no issue sitting with cars in the local streets.

I find my self not having to use the brakes much at all, the regen works VERY well.

But there is a clunk between on throttle and regen clicking in... not sure if the torque arm might be loose or what's going on back there.

Loving this!

 

[Tincan]

Ok...

132v, 5ah of lipo on board and i dead set shit myself.

Next to no weight in it, now it picks up the front wheel. Was not expecting that at all!

Out on the road, within 100m im doing 85 km/h!

I don't quite have the balls to see what the top speed is yet as the regen isn't working for some funky reason. Have emailed Lyen and paying for help.

To anyone who is having second thoughts on going lipo... you will LOVE it.

Going from 8 x 12v sla's to this....