Veloman's ebike builds

[veloman]

After hours of brainstorming and designing how I would electrify my above Trek R200, which would need 26" wheels to use my wheels and do well at high speed, I decided to just do a 'Cruzbike' type conversion instead.

My goal is get the seat low and reclined enough to mimic the position of a low racer, but of course it won't be that low to the ground, just have the small frontal area.

This route hits on all my key requirements:
- low cost
- no serious frame building or welding required (though I am still thinking of getting a TIG welder and learn the trade)
- aerodynamic
- comfort
- cargo carrying capacity
- ease of adding electric. Think about how easy you could add a separate drivetrain to the rear wheel from a non-hub motor. Or just pop in a hub motor. These low end Y-frame suspension bikes have steel rear ends perfect for securing hub axles.

I predict this will be the next ES fad!

http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?p=606183

 

[potatorage]

Did you put LED strips on both the front and the sides? Or just the front or side?

 

[veloman]

the white leds are facing the sides. But as you can see, they still are bright from the side. The red leds are twisted so they face both back and the sides.

 

[neptronix]

Of those are 20 inch wheels, then you are in for a treat. A Crystalyte HS would be bitchin on that.. and efficient..

 

[veloman]

Of those are 20 inch wheels, then you are in for a treat. A Crystalyte HS would be bitchin on that.. and efficient..

I got rid of this bike. i didn't like how high the seat was and while a 20" ebike wheel can be good, I don't have one. Let me look to see what voltage I'd need on a HS in a 20" wheel to do 40mph....

I have another recumbent now, a Lightning Stealth with 26" rear wheel. Did my first ebike ride on it tonight. Looks like 24-26wh/mile at WOT 30mph. So that's a fair bit less than an upright and the position isn't very reclined.

 

[veloman]

Some thoughts and updates.
I'm working on this recumbent, need to fix the seat curvature, and mount the boom for the cranks on the front. Should handle a lot better at high speed. The Stealth with 20" front well was just still too twitchy.

- Dust in connectors is causing issues, I believe. After 1100 miles on the Proflex Mac, there is a bunch of dirt in the hall connector. Might be why it was shutting down randomly, or during high load. I did open the Mac up tonight to have a look. Of course it looks brand new on the winding side. The gears look brand new too, though the grease is a little dirty. That's about 3000 miles or so on 1400w peak and no sign of wear. I'm thinking I could run 1700w and not have issues.

- I rode the 2807 9c tonight on the silver KHS. What a tank, a loose tank at that. Man that thing won't move without pulling 1500w+. I really want to do some tests and see the power consumption difference compared to the Mac. The 9c is so unresponsive and slow unless I give it 1800w, even then it lags a lot. The Mac just rips. That KHS is tired though, I think the bushings on the rear end need to be replaced, it feels so loose. Rides way smoother though.

- Wh/mi on the 9c in normal riding seemed high, 25wh/mi. Maybe it was the cold wind. But with the 9c on the Stealth recumbent, I was getting 17wh/mile, though it was warmer then.

I got a bunch of motors coming. Going to put an Ezee rear geared wheel on my gf's ebike. much better torque and efficiency than the Mac 6t at her typical speeds. Thinking of slapping a 12v sla on her bike to boost the power and range a bit too, for cheap.

Still trying to figure out how to mount a fairing. It's officially winter here finally and down into the 30s at night. Motorcycle 3/4th face helmet helps a lot to keep the head warm.

Some more updates:
I got a 12v sla from a generous member here, but it may be used as a small solar bank instead. I picked up those cheap laptop packs, two of them for $26 shipped. That's 3s8p or 11v 16ah. Much lighter and smaller than the sla too. That will go on my gf's ebike to give her 25mph top speed.

I have 10 makita packs coming from drBass - will use those to complete a bionx kit who's battery is toast.

I am currently running my 50v cellman pack (8ah usable) and 11v 9ah usable Turnigy lipo. (3 3s5ah bricks, they only give about 3ah each when being safe). So that's about 63v loaded and the 9c rides great on it. Current limited to 26amps because I don't want to spoil myself. I peak at 1600watts, and that feels like a good limit. Once you go over 1000w it just feels like a lot of it gets wasted. I'm always rolling the throttle back on short hills to keep the power down and efficiency as high as possible.

Last night I had a crazy headwind going to my gf's and achieved my highest wh/mile ever of 31.3, barely any pedaling and lots of stops and cruising 25mph or so, practicing some ridiculous aero positions.

I put a 26" front wheel on the Lightning Stealth recumbent. It seems to ride much better, not as twitchy. Tomorrow I will have it powered and see for sure. The 8T mac on it should be hella fun. Too bad it's gotten cold here again.

 

[veloman]

Here's my complete first solar panel, charging my 63 volt battery directly - no inverter, no charger. 106v open circuit voltage 0.3amps rated. Sitting at 65v and rising right now. This is 5 x 5w panels.

It would take a couple days of perfect sun to get a full charge. But it's a start. I've got 50w more of panels coming, and plans to do a wind turbine as well. I'd love to get 10-20watts when the sun isn't shining.

 

[veloman]

This is what happens when you let spokes come loose! The wheel has needed a rebuild since I got it (used).

No wonder I was getting speed wobbles like crazy lately!

[youtube]ibycK2rYOIQ[/youtube]

 

[neptronix]

Panels eh, that's cool. I've thought about doing that since my electricity comes from gasoline out here ( kinda defeats the whole purpose of an eBike doesn't it? ).

Consider using dielectric grease on your connectors, maybe it will help keep the dirt off.

 

[veloman]

Panels eh, that's cool. I've thought about doing that since my electricity comes from gasoline out here ( kinda defeats the whole purpose of an eBike doesn't it? ).

Consider using dielectric grease on your connectors, maybe it will help keep the dirt off.

Justin mentioned using dielectric grease on the connector in the CA manual, I should give that a try.



I put the 6turn Mac on today. What a joke this is at under 20mph, no torque. The 2807 spanks it. I may be putting this up for sale sine I run 50-72v now.

 

[veloman]

I'm now running 23s lifepo4. 7s is Headway 10ah cells. So around 75v, and 26amps max on my 8t Mac. I have the phase current reduced to be easy on the gears off the line. This things moves! I spent more time about 40mph last night than I ever did before. Highway frontage roads and other 40mph roads warranted it. I maxed at 43mph with more power to spare. At that point I had traffic flying up behind me at 65mph, even though a hundred yards ahead traffic was gridlock! Ohhhh you cagers! I quickly said goodbye as I went offroad past them all.

 

[veloman]

I rebuilt the red Proflex with the 8t mac and 5ah of 14s lipo. (I only get about 3ah or so, they are getting old). This bike weighs a total of 45lbs including a rear rack with supports.

I like to pedal hard occasionally, like from stops and fun accelerations. I hold back though, because I don't want to break the sidecover on the mac. Even still, this bike is a ROCKET. It does wheelies off the line not intending too. A little tug on the bars, some hard pedal strokes and WOT and it will lift the wheel at 20mph. I need to get some video and show my 0-20, and 30mph acceleration. I'm only running 1350w peak. I get about 10 miles range, usually carry my charger with me.

What a 20lb weight reduction and stiffer suspension can do..... I am getting really interested in slapping this setup on an 18lb road bike and upping power to 1800w or so. That would be 33lbs. The acceleration is so addictive I swear. I love just cruising around 16mph and doing launches. The bike handles like a dream, just like a normal bike. The other day I was towing a mtn bike, 30mph up a decent hill.

If you haven't ridden a lightweight mid-power ebike, do it. It will open your eyes.

 

[veloman]

I built a 2nd 74v pack out of 8ah HP Headways. In parallel with my other main pack, it will power my motorcycle build. Or used on the ebike for 60 miles range. That's 74v 16ah. I made a front mount for it because the bike handles horrible with it on the rear rack, that far behind me. I have the mount secured to the frame, not the steering, so it doesn't hurt handling too much. Used a bent cruiser handlebar and some other metal and clamps. I have a Pelican 1300 case coming that will hold this 2nd battery more securely than the gas can it's in now.

 

[veloman]

Homemade fairing. Thin plastic sheeting (with reflective surface) cut and folded. Drilled 2" hole for headlight in center. Zip ties hold it on. Crap Chinese hub motor rim upcycled into fairing mount. Part of a crutch pole was used too.

It's definitely warmer. Not sure yet how it affects efficiency. Still tweaking

 

[veloman]

I figured I should update this thread. The above fairing was cut down the next day to this.



However I am in the procress of rebuilding this front fairing since it's been 2.5 years. The best part of it is the storage it provides. I usually don't care for the attention I get, but I want the storage, and the efficiency is good.

I decided I love the Crystalyte HT, it translates watts into performance way better than the yescomusa hub. At pretty much all power levels. The only downside is the heavier cogging (if coasting is something you care about). For me, it doesn't matter since I ride in urban areas and constantly changing speed and have few downgrades to coast on.

The other day I finally built a clamping torque arm to handle the regen/forward forces on the constant stop n go riding. Before this I would feel slight movement when transitioning between the two. Now there is no movement of the axle, just a nice solid feel. I will probably add another one on the other side to reduce torsional stress on the axle, even though I don't put more than 2kw into it, and 700w regen.

The a123 and headway packs are doing good. Still getting about 6-6.5ah from it. 17,000 miles on the a123 so far

 

[neptronix]

Fun to see an update after all these years.

If you want incredibly low cogging ( for a DD hub anyway ), i'd urge you to give a leafmotor a try.. or any motor with 0.35mm laminations.. the crystalyte is a dinosaur in terms of efficiency, power per weight, and cogging now..

 

[veloman]

The Leafmotor is on my mind.

I do have a mxus 3000 that I still have yet to use. It's currently in a 17" moped rim. Cogging felt similar to the HT.

 

[neptronix]

Small rim.. big stator.. yeah, cogging like a 35mm stator with thick lams is not a surprise.

On my 26 x 2.15" low rolling resistance tire ( schwalbe almotion ), the leaf 1500W isn't to bad to continuously pedal at around 17mph on the flats... it's no mac motor.. but damn, it's nice.

 

[veloman]

That's pretty good. Today I got to pedal my ebike 10 miles, mostly uphill (200ft gain). It seems a hall sensor went in the HT. I wasn't even riding on it hard, though there were some signs of a problem in recent memory (no power on a few starts, for the first second)

But yeah, I am able to do about 12-15mph (it is a low travel full suspension) on this setup. Rear tire is an old Marathon with tire liner and super think tube which does not help rolling.

Right now I am thinking of lacing my mxus3000 into a 26" rim so I can use. Right now it's in a 17" moped rim and needs a bike with disc brakes. I think I want to stick with 26" anyway. So if anyone wants spokes and a moped rim, I'm posting it now for sale.