TyJedi's new Stokemonkey

Hi guys!

Here's my new set-up. My dog Guinness is making sure it stays in place!

It's a 99 Specialized Hardrock bike with a Surly Rigid Fork, CETMA five-rail front rack, Velo Orange city bars, Xtracycle Free Radical, and Stokemonkey. It is pulling a doggyride mini-trailer. We have two Yorkies, Guinness and Penny, and they ride in the trailer. My wife rides on the snap deck. I have stoker bars for her to grip and U-tubes for her to rest her feet.

The stokemonkey is used and was purchased from a ES Forum member. It was purchased originally in late 2009 and has Cycle Analyst version 1.0. The battery is a 36V 15 Ahr LifePO4.


Got everything installed and working well. Only snag so far is that my LBS needed to get a wider bottom-bracket so the stokemonkey chain would clear the chain stay. As a consequence, I can't shift into the smallest front cog, so my hill climbing is compromised until we get a suitable replacement. My mechanic is confident he will be able to find something that will do the trick.

Took it for it's first real long ride this Sunday with my wife on the back and the dogs in the trailer. Went very well. Mainly flat with a couple small hills so I was sure we would be fine with the second and third ring. It was great passing some road bikes occasionally.

The battery seems to be in great shape! We went 29.45 Miles. CA still showed 39.4 V. Total Watt hours used 379.3, 12.8 wh/m average .21.9 max speed. Average speed 12.9. New, the battery had 540 watt hours capacity Judging by the voltage, it still had plenty left. I'm thinking it might have at least 500 watt hours based upon this, but might be overly optimistic. The system has nearly 6,000 miles on it, so clearly the previous owner treated it very well indeed!

Question on battery care: Stokemonkey instructions recommend plugging the battery into the charger every night. Is that still the consensus? What do other users recommend?



During our ride, we went by Oracle's headquarters in Redwood Shores and saw their American's Cup yacht. Had no idea it was there. Fun what you can find when you go exploring!


Anyway, loving it so far! My wife kept saying to me "You're loving this, aren't you?" as I kicked on the throttle to blast through a headwind.

"Heck yes!" I shouted back.

Cool rig!
Seeing all of you go by must be like watching a parade

From the front rack to the mini doggy trailer you've got it going on. 8)

Judging by this pre-stokemonkey pic (taken two weeks ago) I think we do! We definitely get a lot of reactions, usually smiles when they see the dogs.

Nice job, TyJedi!

-JD

TyJedi said:

Question on battery care: Stokemonkey instructions recommend plugging the battery into the charger every night. Is that still the consensus? What do other users recommend?

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Most of the Li type batteries seem to have longer life (based on ES reports) when not always kept fully charged. So if you were to only recharge it just before going on a ride, it *might* increase the pack's lifespan--but it could be inconvenient at best if you find you don't have time to recharge first, and then end up on a longer ride than planned (or with a bad headwind for too long), and run out of power when you still need it.

So there is a possible downside either way.

I keep my packs (NMC, LiFePO4, and RCLiPo) all charged up all the time, so I always have full capacity whenever I need it...even though it probably means I won't get as many years/cycles out of the packs because of it.

amberwolf said:

TyJedi said:

Question on battery care: Stokemonkey instructions recommend plugging the battery into the charger every night. Is that still the consensus? What do other users recommend?

Click to expand...

Most of the Li type batteries seem to have longer life (based on ES reports) when not always kept fully charged.

I keep my packs (NMC, LiFePO4, and RCLiPo) all charged up all the time, so I always have full capacity whenever I need it...even though it probably means I won't get as many years/cycles out of the packs because of it.

Click to expand...

Not much point having flat batteries on an ebike, bit like a screen door on a submarine.
I keep mine charged all the time too. It has to be a practical machine.
If you were going to put it in storage for a couple of months a storage charge would be recommended.

I know a guy who carries a Gala in his pocket on a motorbike. Certainly is a conversation starter at the pub.

I believe LiFePo4 is more tolerant of keeping them at full charge. Also their balance condition tends to drift more than lithium polymer batts, so not only is charging every night fine, but also be sure to leave it on the charger for long enough for it to go thru it's full balancing routine. A pack only has the capacity of it's weakest parallel group and LiFePo4 keeps a really flat voltage before falling off the cliff, so don't get lulled into a false sense of security by the voltage. Instead, go ahead and find out what your capacity is before the BMS shuts down by taking it to full discharge near home so you know the actual limit. That way you don't get a surprise and have to pedal home into a headwind with a passenger and a trailer full of gear and dogs.

What's the top speed with the lowest gear you have without the smallest chainring? With a StokeMonkey I wouldn't think the absolute lowest gear would ever be necessary even with the steepest hill you can find.

Great looking family ebike rig! Awesome efficiency with that kind of load. Double up on the battery and add some solar panels and you're ready for a cross country adventure.

John

John in CR said:

I believe LiFePo4 is more tolerant of keeping them at full charge. Also their balance condition tends to drift more than lithium polymer batts, so not only is charging every night fine, but also be sure to leave it on the charger for long enough for it to go thru it's full balancing routine. A pack only has the capacity of it's weakest parallel group and LiFePo4 keeps a really flat voltage before falling off the cliff, so don't get lulled into a false sense of security by the voltage. Instead, go ahead and find out what your capacity is before the BMS shuts down by taking it to full discharge near home so you know the actual limit. That way you don't get a surprise and have to pedal home into a headwind with a passenger and a trailer full of gear and dogs.

John

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Good idea! Been meaning to do that. Lots of flat routes near my house so I can do that safely.

Can I assume you mean it's ok to leave it on the charger all the time? I was thinking just plug it in a the end of the day and not to unplug it until I take it out. I ask, as I don't commute with this bike, so it does sit during the day during the week, but I do take it out for shopping trips, food, etc., after work. The big rides are on the weekend.

John in CR said:

What's the top speed with the lowest gear you have without the smallest chainring? With a StokeMonkey I wouldn't think the absolute lowest gear would ever be necessary even with the steepest hill you can find.

John

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I checked this the other day. It was around 7.5 mph, spinning pretty hard. However, I since got the all the front chain rings sorted out, so all ok now. I have a pretty substantial granny gear now! In fact, last Saturday we were doing our first steep climb, about a 20% grade. Wife on the back of the bike, dogs in trailer. I was in the 1st ring, probably middle of the cassette was going about 8 mph, nearly at the top, when my chain broke! We had just had to pull over for a fire truck. I think going from a dead stop up that grade was too much for my old chain. Very disappointing, but I attribute it just being old. Thankfully, I was able to coast all the way down and minimal pushing got us to my LBS. Got a brand new chain (well, two put together considering the Xtracycle.) Working great since. Will try the big hill again next weekend.

John in CR said:

Great looking family ebike rig! Awesome efficiency with that kind of load. Double up on the battery and add some solar panels and you're ready for a cross country adventure.

John

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Thanks! I'm been thinking about a second battery for fore more distance. The solar panel idea sounds intriguing too.

Ty

Regarding chain breakage, unfortunately many bike chains don't take that much power well (what might amount to full human plus motor power from a stop up a hill). Depending on how much power, it's possible that none of them would take it, but you probably don't have to worry about that.


Back when I used to use powerchair motors thru the drivetrain, I kept spare chains and links with me, along with the chainbreaker tool to take out the broken, twisted, and bent links when stuff like that happened, and some pliers to bend the twisted teeth and sprockets back into sufficient alignment to get me back on the road to home.... (but mine was not a well-designed system like the SM, and had alignment problems that contributed to my issues greatly).