DrkAngel said:
Brush motor - dummy! 2009 and later motors much quieter! You are 3 years out of touch!
lol, typo is corrected.
I've heard a newer motor and it is still louder than my big geared hub motor, so given the pithy power it produces, that's pretty bad.
DrkAngel said:
Where can you get a 500w hub motor, with controller, brake cut-offs, rack, battery, charger + shipping included, for less than $300? ... With USA warranty and support?
Nowhere, but i can get a $150 hub motor kit shipped from a reputable vendor overseas with good support for about $225 total to the states and then add a real battery. I could spend $400 and get the same thing from a USA company.. even less if you go the eBay route ( yes, i actually advocate buying an eBay kit over one of these )
Given that the stock lead acid is a paperweight after a year or two, i would say this money saved is best spent towards a real battery.
That's like asking, where else can you get a large size pizza for $6? Well, you can't. That $6 pizza is crap and is made with ketchup ( lead acid ) and velveeta ( brushed motor ), you shouldn't be eating it in the first place.
DrkAngel said:
Motor on left, battery on right ... balances almost perfectly!
Again.. junk battery that should be binned, bookended, or recycled upon receiving the package in the mail.
You have a point here if you use the lead acid battery or fill the battery box with the heaviest lithium you can find.
But how about a center mounted battery, like a real ebike? nope, gotta keep that weight in the back to maintain the side balance.
DrkAngel said:
I've run at 37v, (675w+), for thousands of miles, with no overheat problems!
You also intentionally grandma your bike and run on batteries with massive amounts of voltage sag. Try sticking some lipos in there, give it some hills, full throttle, and let me know how it goes! You even said you intentionally let air out of your tires to keep the speed down. lol.
There are many reports of motor failures at 36v. Don't pretend that you haven't heard of them. I saw the forum you came from.
DrkAngel said:
2009, and newer, controllers, have overvoltage protection, sonewhere between 29.4-33.1v.
So in other words, one that you buy new on Amazon is voltage limited. 15mph, any faster would be dangerous right?
neptronix said:
+ when brushed controllers fail, they often do so by shorting the throttle and creating a 100% throttle condition.
DrkAngel said:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5345
fechter said:
When a brushed controller fails, it feeds full power to the motor instead of shorting out the battery. This is why there is frequently no visible damage. The motor keeps the FETs from exploding.
Fechter experienced this personally, as well as many members of ES who were using brushed early on. That problem is pretty well known. Add the lower efficiency factor and low performance potential of of brushed motors, and you will understand why brushed has generally been abandoned here, with very few exceptions.
DrkAngel said:
$60 a year would be damn cheap for an eBike battery!
Currie is asking about $90 for a replacement. You know that lithium batteries last way longer and are a better value per $ otherwise you wouldn't be building lithium packs yourself.
That pack doesn't even last that long either. That's $60-$90 to replace a pack that goes what, 10 miles?
neptronix said:
+ pain in the ass to change tire, way worse than rear hubmotor. Involves a lot of disassembly.
Add my T-Plug mod. Makes disassembly about as simple as any wheel!Simpler than a hub motor!
See page 2:
The New EZip "StepThrough"[/quote]
That's helpful but it only reduces the pain in the ass factor by a fraction compared to a hub motor.
I had a mongoose bike with a currie kit on it that i had bought used. It was a serious pain in the ass to change the rear wheel and my hands would always end up needing to be scrubbed afterwards, i think maybe the gearbox was leaking oil or something. I called that bike the lead sled and owned it for about 2 months before selling it.