Thinking of getting an E bike

[Jay64]

Yeah, I had heard that it quits out pretty fast, but it was showing red when I first plugged it in, and then it was green when I checked back in about 6 hours later. I guess I should go and buy myself another volt meter, mine blew the fuse and it was one of the cheap ones that costs less then the fuse. I know I need to get a digital one that is a lot better then the one I had, but I'm waiting to start work next week to get more money and I get a 10% discount. But I think I can't wait that long, I need to check and see if the battery pack charged up or not. I checked the fuse on the battery pack and it was good. I looked in the controller box to see if there were any loose connections or a fuse of some sort in there. It all looked good. I read through the manual, and suprisingly there is no start proceedure listed and the only troubleshooting guide that it gives is for the actual mechanical parts of the bicycle, nothing on the electrical system or the motor.
So Albie, what did you do to fix the situation? Did you just use a different battery pack or did you use a different brand charger that worked with that battery pack? I have a 12v charger, but I think I would have to take the pack apart to use that since it is a 24v pack, or am I mistaken on that?

 

[Drunkskunk]

Even if the battery charger is bad, you should get something at the controler.
If your disposable volt meter has a blown fuse, you could shove something metal in the fuse holder and make it work for a while. If its already trash, you won't make it worse. If the battery is putting out close to its rated voltage, then you have a problem somewhere else in the system.

 

[Jay64]

Another thing that I noticed is that the battery rack on the right side of the bike seems to be bent slightly. The rack is designed to have the battery pack slide down the two rails in the groove of the pack. It came on the left side of the rack, but I was wondering if it was that connection somehow, so I tried to put it on the right side of the rack and it wouldn't slide down the rails. There seems to be a very slight bend in the back rail.

 

[Jay64]

I called currie, had to wait till the opened on West Coast time, and they seem to think that the on/off switch in the throttle is bad. So they are sending me out a new throttle and a new battery rack. Damnit, I had to wait for a week for the bike to get here, now I have to wait for the throttle to come in to use it. Anyone know if I can just modify the throttle to bypass that on/off switch?

 

[TylerDurden]

I don't know about the on/off switch, but most stuff can be hacked.

I was suprised you reached anyone at Currie... they're reputed to be slow on the support side. I wouldn't wait for the part tho, I'd hack the switch and see what you get.

:?

 

[Jay64]

I popped open the throttle and got into the switch, that was a pain in the arse. I don't know exactly how it is supposed to come apart, but I could only get half of it to pop up, the throttle twist tube assembly was holding the other half down. When I pulled the switch out of the housing it started to click when I depressed it. This didn't seem to be the case when it was in the housing. So I checked again to see if it would power up before I did anything else to see if maybe the housing was preventing it from depressing all the way. Nope. When I was pulling the two wires out that went to the switch I noticed that the brown (tan?) on had some exposure through the insulation. There was no exposed metal in that area, so I'm pretty sure it didn't short. I taped that up and snipped the two wires from the switch and connected them straight together. Checked for power again, nothing. I'm thinking that maybe it isn't the throttle.

 

[albie]

I used a new battery pack (36v) and a new charger.

Couldn't be bothered dealing with the distributor with a crappo charger and battery setup!

 

[Jay64]

update: Like I had mentioned, on the 11th, I contacted Currie and they told me that they thought it was the throttle and that they had one in stock, which they would send out to me right away. I mentioned that the battery rack was in bent and they told me they would send that out too. So I waited for the package from Currie. And I waited, and waited. Finally, I called them back this past Friday to see what was up with it and why it was taking so long to get here. The guy I spoke to stated that they didn't have the parts in stock and they wouldn't be in until the middle of next month. So basically I have to wait for over a month to use something that I bought brand new. I asked him what the deal was with that and he told me that if I didn't like it then send it back to who I bought it from, even though when I first contacted them they told me not to do this.

 

[Johnbear]

Boy reliable e-bike venders are few and far between!

 

[Jay64]

Yeah, I am very dissapointed with them.

Well, after posting that last bit, I was pretty mad, so I went outside and went to town on the battery rack. Both sides were bent, but in different ways. After looking at it for a bit, it seemed like it would be easier to get the right side inline, so I let some aggression out on it. I got the battery to slide all the way down and also clear the tire. Getting power now, but when I do, the motor starts to move without any throttle input. I'm not sure I quite understand that one. When Currie told me that they thought it was the on/off switch in the throttle, I opened up the throttle and bypassed the switch by connecting the two wires to it together. How would that make it start accelerating without turning the throttle? When I was speaking to the Currie person, she said that the motor won't work unless I am pedaling, shoot, this thing is turning with out me pedaling AND without me even using the throttle. It does seem to have a sensor coming off the base of the left side pedal. At least I did get a chance to get out and ride it to check it out. I had to take it out in the street and get riding, then reach down and turn the main power switch on. And when I was done, I had to reach down and turn that switch off. That wasn't that bad, but I was hoping that my girlfriend would be able to ride this bike when we went out riding bicycles so that she could keep up with me easier, but that isn't very safe for her to be riding like that at all. I've had my throttle get stuck wide open on my 180hp motorcyle before, so it doesn't effect me, but it is a little irritating. It's not very fast at all, but that is what I expected. It doesn't seem to go any faster then what I can pedal, but it is just easier to pedal. It had sat for a while since I last messed with it because I just started a new job, so I think the battery might have discharged a little bit. I am now giving it a full charge and think I will go out and try for a range run and see how far it goes. I think I am going to need some basic EV riding lessons. What is the most effecient way to ride the bike for range? Is it better to use pedal power to get it moving from a stop/slow crawl, and then use the throttle to maintain speed with little extra pedaling at that point? Or is it better to use the throttle to get out of the hole, and then use mostly pedal power to keep the momentum going?

 

[albie]

I think you need to return the entire bike and get a new one dude... this one seems to be insanely faulty.

The bike I had had either pedal assist or non pedal assist. You can decide between the two by pushing the on/off button on the throttle.

 

[Jay64]

I think you need to return the entire bike and get a new one dude... this one seems to be insanely faulty.

Yeah, unfortunately, when they said they were sending me out another throttle anyways, I went ahead and bypassed the on/off switch in the throttle to see if I could get it working and ride it. So now I have to wait until I get the new throttle before I can return it since I cut the wires.

The bike I had had either pedal assist or non pedal assist. You can decide between the two by pushing the on/off button on the throttle.

That's funny, they didn't tell me anything about that when I was talking to them. Bastards. And the owners manual doesn't have ANY information about the electric part of the bike, just the normal bicycle stuff.

 

[albie]

the manual calls it the PAS...

Most stupidest system on an ebike ever!

 

[Jay64]

Yesterday after work I came home and did some testing with the bike. Seems like it goes about the same speed if I am causually pedaling with no throttle, with full throttle, or no pedal assist and full throttle. Seems to go a decent pace for cruising. About the pace I ride when I am out riding with my girlfriend. I wanted to see how it did on a hill, but since I live in florida I had to go searching for one. We have a bike path near my house which has overpasses on the busy roads which is by far the biggest hills around here. So I rode over to the nearest one. I think it was about 3 miles away, so I had used a bit of the battery before getting there. I got to the base of it and came to a complete stop at the point where both of my wheels were on the incline. I think throttled without any pedal assist. It really bogged coming off the line, but then got moving relatively ok. Faster then if I was pedaling probably. About halfway up the hill I started to pedal a bit to see what effect that had. I felt like I was pedaling on the flat, but the speed definately increased. On the way down the other side I noticed that the motor cut out after it reached a certain speed. At the bottom I turned around and came to a complete stop on the base of the incline. This time I did light pedal assist the whole way up. Passed some kids that were struggling to pedal up the hill. At the top of the hill I stopped and felt the motor. It was getting a little warm, not hot by any means. About the same as some of my power tools when working them hard. On the way home I again just had the throttle wide open to see how long it could handle that load. At one point I started to pedal at the speed that I normally pedal when I am trying to get a good workout. On the flat I was able to out pedal the motor and it turned off.

Since my bike is set up to use a battery pack on either side, and I have 48v of sla batteries just sitting here, I am thinking about trying to build a 36v pack to sit on the top of the rack and plug into the unused side. That way I can switch back and forth between the 24v and the 36v with just a flip of a switch to directly compare the differences back to back. From what I have gathered from you guys is that the motor AND controller will handle 36v. Is that correct?

 

[safe]

From what I have gathered from you guys is that the motor AND controller will handle 36v. Is that correct?

Without pulling out a bunch of charts I can say that whatever heat profile you have at 24v will scale up to 36v in the same ratio as the increase in voltage.

So if you get "X" amount of heat at 24v.

Then you will get 36/24 = 1.5 "X" times the heat at 36v.

Armed with this knowledge and an understanding of how more heat is created AT LOW RPM you should be able to ride the bike without problems if you avoid excessive low rpm riding. Without much in the way of hills you should be fine. Someone that lived in a hilly area might be at higher risk of accidental overheating due to low rpm riding.

The only other thing that might be a problem is the controller.

If the controller overheats and is destroyed then spend $40 and get a new one. It's really no big deal. (so just don't worry about it)

 

[TylerDurden]

From what I have gathered from you guys is that the motor AND controller will handle 36v. Is that correct?

I think the members that have run 36V did not have PAS controllers.
reid
knightmb
xyster
vanilla ice

I finally got my turbo-trainer back so I can do some lab testing on the modified MY1018, but I have to finish building another trailer first. :?

(got pix of the fets & caps in that controller?)

 

[Jay64]

Well, I am supposed to have a PAS bike according to Currie, but the thing powers up when I'm not even on the throttle let alone pedaling. As soon as I turn on the power switch the motor starts turning. I just got the bike running two days ago, so I haven't torn things apart yet. I just want to get things working before I start adding more things in the mix. But I will open it up and take some pics as soon as I get things situated and working properly.

I keep hearing that the amps is what makes heat in motors, but then every once in a while I hear mention of volts making heat. Am I missing something here?

 

[Link]

I keep hearing that the amps is what makes heat in motors, but then every once in a while I hear mention of volts making heat. Am I missing something here?

You can push through more amps with more volts. That's all I can think of.

There is also the case of a motor overvolted so badly that the brushes start to arc. Which generally equates to a catastrophic meltdown if not shut off.

 

[TylerDurden]

It's the amps.

You will see references to "I2*R losses"... that is current-squared x resistance = power lost as heat.

Higher voltage is less impeded by resistance, so more current can flow, if available.

Check the EVbasics page for good stuff like this:

http://www.bcae1.com/ohmslaw.htm

 

[Sacman]

Hi I'm thinking of getting Bionix PL 350 also. What kind of range and speed do you get before and after you changed to slick tires? I'm curious because I also changed the nobbies on my mt bike to slicks. How fast can you go (with moderate pedaling) and at what assist level?

-Sacman

I have a bionx PL 350 on my Montague Swissbike LX. I replaced the knobby tires with slick tires. It kicks ass

 

[How2]

Yeah, I am very dissapointed with them.

Well, after posting that last bit, I was pretty mad, so I went outside and went to town on the battery rack. Both sides were bent, but in different ways. After looking at it for a bit, it seemed like it would be easier to get the right side inline, so I let some aggression out on it. I got the battery to slide all the way down and also clear the tire.

Hi Jay64.. i too received my ezip with a badly damaged box, but only one side was too bent to accept the battery, while the other side works perfectly. (and the rest of the bike works perfectly as well.. soo sorry for your troubles!) It seems like just the bottom half of the damaged side of my rack is bent. What kind of tool/s did you use to "go to town" on your battery rack? (rubber mallet? machine gun? ha!) Did you take the entire rack off the bike to make your adjustments? Thanks for any help you can provide. I am not a hardware savvy person and would like to know what you used to bend the rack metal.. it seems really difficult to bend back. I tried inserting a broom handle in to bend it but it would not budge.

 

[Jay64]

I just got totally pissed and walked outside and grabbed it with my bare hands and bent the hell out of it till the battery box would slide into place. I left it on the bike when I did it. If I were you I would try to get a pry bar from harbor freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44912
And maybe a dead blow hammer.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=41796

currie actually sent me another battery rack and throttle. I haven't tried the new rack cuz I'm using the Milwaukee packs now instead of the stock pack.

 

[How2]

I just got totally pissed and walked outside and grabbed it with my bare hands and bent the hell out of it till the battery box would slide into place. I left it on the bike when I did it.

LOL.. well.. sounds like I need to employ some brute force.. which I lack. Thanks for the response.

 

[Jay64]

I just get really mad sometimes. :lol:

sounds like I need to employ some brute force.. which I lack.

That is why god created pry bars. If you get those pry bars from harbor freight (for $6) you will easily be able to man handle the rack.