My First public Build

[FastDemise]

I did not know of the issue of the + battery seeing more load. Right now I'm just trying to fond out which one of my parallel JST plugs is bad that's tricking my charger into unbalancing the packs. One side gets to 7mV and the other 32mV but switching parallel plugs I get the unbalanced side gets to 7mV.
I've been very successful in running the motor on 12s 30A and perhaps due to the cooler weather we are having here in the north west, the 30MPH speed I typically maintain on the roads, and the forward placement of the controller I have no issues with heat. Though I was running 1.8kW thru a modified GM controller stored enclosed in a frog pack without heating issues. So I can assume that at least 2kW with Lyens controller shouldn't be far fetched with good placement and descent wind speeds(or road speed) or tame it down to 1kW easily and clean up the bike look and store the controller and wires inside a frog pack.

I've hard wired 2 pairs in 12s so 12s2p. With my bad luck on HobbyKing 6s packs I just need 1 more good pack to try 18s2p and see if I am approaching the limits of the 6fet controller. I'm not sure of anyone pushing the small 6fets. My 5303 is probably bored with the little power I'm putting through it. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't just get a small MAC or the like since I am only dealing with a couple kW which has been tested again and again as a safe level for the geared motors. I understand I will not have regen but the tremendous weight savings from a 5303 to a MAC(or similar geared) is tempting.

On another note I finally crashed. Just had to glance a wet spot on the trail I was on during a sunny day and I wipped out while giving the right a way to another biker. I think the handlebar is a bit worse for wear but nothing that needs any fixing. Sadly I lost the cateye computer. The computer had been keeping track of every electric mile I had ever done to date. Pretty sad to loose the data. I was starting to get pretty proud of my new bike already passing 150miles when my last year bike only had 250 miles over the entire last year. I was sure to surpass it easily half way through this Spring Term.

Apologies for such a long winded post. haha If you see no pictures you will most likely just read this. Have fun riding and never underestimate the perks of having a well secured backpack when your ejected from your bike and sliding on your back to a stop. ^_^

[wesnewell]

I assume you know that if you are charging your pack as 12s that you have to plug the high side balance plug into the B port and the low side into the A port for the balancer to work properly.

[FastDemise]

Balance leads closest to the main - gets A and the side closest to the main + gets B?

[wesnewell]

Balance leads closest to the main - gets A and the side closest to the main + gets B?

Yes. Put another way, when you connect them for a 12s pack, you are left with the red + connector on one end and the black - connector on the other end to connect to the charge port. The pack with the red connector is the high side and the balance leads from it should go to port B, and the low (- black) to port A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I76y8eizm0

[FastDemise]

I used a black sharpie and marked on the Hyperion (B side) and on my battery (+ side) balance leads by chance but last few charges I was just grabbing balance leads and paying no attention to it. Seems to do much better. Directly connected from battery to charger I can get 3mV in balance and with the parallel plugs I only get 7mV. Thanks for clearing my mistake up.

[FastDemise]

Well got my motor apart a second time so I can paint it black to match the frame. Good thing I did as I noticed the phase wires inside the motor were being rubbed through. One wire was already worn to the wires while a 2nd was very close. Whew, dodged a bullet on that one. Redid wires on motor to ensure no future problems and even repacked the bearings with fresh grease. Now time to clean up and get to paint.

[FastDemise]

What was going to soon be a bad day for me had I not noticed it.


Also went for a ride in the beautiful weather I am having here and not 10ft from my driveway my rear tire explodes. It appears I wasn't putting enough air in the back to compensate for the heavy x5303 motor, my ass, and 12s3p in the bag. The tire got a severe case of the pinch and cut thru the tire and the tube. Tire is useless and the tube by the grace of God decided to die in front of my house and not while I was doing 30MPH heading home the other day. Just purchased 2 replacement tubes already filled with slime and are the extra thick. I'm growing very tired of removing my rear wheel.

A little surprise for me when I put the wheel back on.



Just seems like there isn't any 3M 420 on it at all. Just rust which concerns me. I globbed the crap out of it when I applied it on a clean surface prepped with liberal amount of acetone. Then applied more along the entire circumference. My next idea will be to take the dremel and grind grooves along the outside for the glue to better hold on to. Not quite sure what I can do differently next go around.

Just driving to REI to grab new tubes pained me. Over the past 2 weeks since the start of Spring term I've ridden every day and I'm spoiled now. I love biking and hate driving my Jeep. Something so confining about it now. Even though it's a SUV isn't just small feeling now. I love my ebike and will continue to strive to maintain it and improve.

Quick question!
I am only going as high as 2kW on my motor so would replacing the heavy x5303 motor with a lighter HT/HS motor be fine? I feel the heavy-duty x5303 motor is overkill and a waste to use on only ~1.5-2kW.

[MadRhino]

Yep, at 2Kw the H motor would give you better acceleration, and handling, because of the lighter weight.
The X5 though, is more quiet and durable.

[amberwolf]

I'm growing very tired of removing my rear wheel.

You could try putting two tubes in, adding an extra valve hole 180 degrees from the original. I can't yet vouch for how well it works because for me it is not helping, but I have not had time to take the wheel apart again to figure out why. I just did it a week ago, and already one tube is no longer taking air and the other has a bad leak, but none of the tubes I have is new, and most have patches on their patches.

[FastDemise]

I'm growing very tired of removing my rear wheel.

You could try putting two tubes in, adding an extra valve hole 180 degrees from the original. I can't yet vouch for how well it works because for me it is not helping, but I have not had time to take the wheel apart again to figure out why. I just did it a week ago, and already one tube is no longer taking air and the other has a bad leak, but none of the tubes I have is new, and most have patches on their patches.

I can't wrap my head around how you put 2 tubes in a tire without them twisting around each other when you get to the tube part. Wouldn't the twisting cause a weak point in the tube?? My patches I had were the first problem but I just got some quality ones that use rubber cement with the patch so I'm confident they will not leak.

Thanks for the input about different motor choices. I'm confident the x5303 is a tough motor. The darn thing weighs 30lbs and I relate it to a tank. Just gotta find a good used deal on a motor. Possible the 9c 2810 might work. It's sold pretty cheap from a member here and I understand that running it with 72V will give me ~30MPH and that I can live with.

In other news I've made the plunge for front disc. Some excessive shopping on pinkbike.com has got me Avid bb7 caliper, 203mm disc, disc comp and wheel. It's been only 2 weeks and my vbrakes are about 50% used up already. I find the regensetup on the Lyen controller lacking. Having the setting at 2 I've read I can possibly increase the regen voltage to improve the regen(braking) to a acceptable level. I'll keep on it and soon have a very capable bike.

[amberwolf]

I can't wrap my head around how you put 2 tubes in a tire without them twisting around each other when you get to the tube part. Wouldn't the twisting cause a weak point in the tube??

They're installed side by side, no twisting necessary.

Others have done this successfully before, even on regular bikes, so I'm just copying their work. But in my case, it's not workin' so hot.

This is the post in my CrazyBike2 thread about the install, but I don't have any pics of putting it in there, as I coudln't get any angles that showed anything useful. There is just a pic of the "twinnertube" wheel, inflated but not yet installed on the bike.
viewtopic.php?p=562728#p562728

[FastDemise]

They're installed side by side, no twisting necessary.

Others have done this successfully before, even on regular bikes, so I'm just copying their work. But in my case, it's not workin' so hot.

This is the post in my CrazyBike2 thread about the install, but I don't have any pics of putting it in there, as I coudln't get any angles that showed anything useful. There is just a pic of the "twinnertube" wheel, inflated but not yet installed on the bike.
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/vi ... 28#p562728

You think having smaller diameter < 2" tubes would work better than 2 larger tubes sized for 2.1 or greater? I'll consider it as a option if I get a flat on this tube. With MTB knobby tread and the slime packed ultra think tube I hope I don't see any flats anytime soon not including something puncturing my tire.

[MadRhino]

When you have done a good dropout job, you don't have any problem anymore servicing the rear wheel. Then you will want some other motors, to swap the rear wheel for servicing or just according to the ride planned. !0 minutes is all I need to swap the hub motor wheel and controller on my bikes.

About flats, you have 2 choices: Either you spend time and various means to try making flat proof, or you spend money to make a good ride. A fresh fat tire and DH tube don't go flat unless improperly inflated, or a true bad luck. I speed in the mountain trails without any puncture protection, yet I never let a tire wear enough to become fragile.

[FastDemise]

I'm gonna have to get over my fear of mounting the batteries in the frame as I just scored a great deal on a Rocky Mountain Instinct frame 20.5". So that makes me have 1 electric working bike and 3 other full suspension frame bikes that are just parts and dreams.....oops forgot my extra Giant hardtail frame. I really need to clear out my bike stock.

[FastDemise]

Funny enough I've made a new friend through craigslist where I bought most my bike stuff from and today showed him the light of electric bikes. Talk about a smile from ear to ear when he was done just riding around the block. Just reprogrammed the lyen controller. Not sure if I'm pushing it too far or I still have some headroom for power. But at 35MPH got my first compliment from a guy in his car. Feels good

Here are my improved settings. I used 12s3p 20C Turnigy Lipo for a 15mile round trip full throttle every chance I got doing ~35MPH


15.8mi (googlemaps)
13.763Ah
628Wh
39.7Wh/Mile I don't think that's too bad considering I'm 6'3" guessing 240ish lbs

Controller is just warm and now the DD casing is starting to feel warm. Just got a nice Marcozzi front shock I'll use for a while with a Avid 160 disc and Avid Juicy 5 brakes. Should be a very nice improvement over my quickly wearing out V-brakes.

[FastDemise]

Another pinch flat. Lucky again it happened while I was going 'slow' behind another cyclist. A spectacular bursting sound as the tire and tube were both pinch cut and failed. Sadly I was 4 miles from home. Walk of shame.

This was with a slime puncture resistant tube and mtb tire. I had 60psi in rear tire. Frustrating having this happen again. My next choice is getting a quality tire that takes even higher pressure and maintaining maximum pressure. If this doesn't work I'm going amberwolfs advice.

[amberwolf]

If you're getting pinch flats at 60PSI, you've either got some super-hard bumps/holes that your suspension isn't able to deal with (which I'd expect to hurt the rider if sitting in the saddle), or your tire sidewalls are just way too soft/thin.

Unfortunatley pinch flats can't be helped by any kind of slime-type stuff--they're so far up the tube side that centrifugal force will prevent any of it from reaching the hole until it's deflated and at the bottom of the wheel, squished on the road. And unless you've got the chunky tubeless-type slime in there, it's very unlikely it would be able to fill a pinchflat hole anyway. Some of those holes are large enough that even that stuff can't fill them.


One thing I have noted, though--people running tires no wider than their rims don't seem to get much in the way of pinch flats, regardless of riding style/tire pressure, compared to those that run fat tires that hang way over the rim at any pressure.

[FastDemise]

I ended up with a 26" 2.0 sized tire that doesn't overlap much this time. At 65psi doesn't compress much under my weight and works great so far. *fingers crossed* Now on rough roads I just need to learn to slow down. Apparently more difficult than learning to speed up.

Installed:
Avid BB7 Front caliper
Avid 203mm Disc
Z1 Marcozzi Air Front shock

Stops much faster and rides better. Just need a horn so all those 'naturally' powered slow pokes get out of the way. Clearly having to slow down and re accelerate (real word?) wastes precious wattage...kidding if your offended by that....or not....

[FastDemise]

Rebuilt my Lipo pack. Did some repair to a laggy cell then retested resistance and capacity on my Hyperion and matched up a descent 12s2p pack out of the 6 I have.

Almost everything taken off as I'm preparing to solder balance leads in parallel and the main +/-


Sorry there is no between picture but as it sits now. I also just added 'Ass' after the word big. I know it's really a tiny battery compared to everyone here but it's a monster for everyone at college that have never done this.


Put the same foam that is in between the cells on both ends of the pack and then cut up some scrap circuit boards for protection on the bottom and top of the pack. (relative to how it sits in the 2nd picture)

Really enjoying the ease of charging with so little wiring to get in the way now and no more messing with velcro straps to hold the pack together. Dang...just hit me I should also switch over to just using the 4mm bullet connectors. My old setup from battery to controller (bullets-xt60(Female)-xt60(Male)-WattsUp-xt60(Male)-xt60(Female)) New setup should be(bullets-bullets-Wattsup-bullets-bullets) and if I'm traveling a route I've done many times and don't need/care for the data I can just go from battery to controller.

[FastDemise]

Just got me a 9C 8x8 motor. I think that's just another way of saying its a 2808 as that's what I use in the ebikes.ca/simulator to compare against my 5303.




Adjusting the power so that both motors achieve approx. the same speed I can see the 8x8 pulls harder and draws less wattage from the battery. The only reason for the shorter range is as of right now I only have 4x 6s 20C Turnigy and can either do 18s1p or 12s2p. I have 2 other 6s turnigy but they both tested with less capacity and higher pack resistance. Though using the 12s2p battery on the 8x8 would give me a top speed of around 23.5mph 28.3WH/Mile 16mile range(17.7WH/km) 27km range.



Anyone else seeing the pictures are a bit blurry?

[FastDemise]

I just got the motor turning over on my bike and the speedo reads almost the same exact speed that the 5303 would do free spinning 51 MPH. I was expecting a much lower speed due to the simulator saying that at 48v Lipo I would see 24mph. Perhaps just letting the motor spin up without any load has absolutely no bearing on actual speed. *shrug* Just thought it was weird to see such a high speed...

Almost done soldering up the connections. I couldn't really get bigger wires for my phase. I just ended up finding wire of similar stock and just ran double phase wires. Really not planning on much more than 2kW so that will do. I then added roughly 50mL of Mineral Oil to the motor. Mostly to just keep the moisture from hurting the motor from all the rain I get here. The cooling is a bonus.

[FastDemise]

Came in the mail yesterday. Originally a ebikes.ca motor sold to Methods then oatnet bought it from him then I bought it from oatnet.

9C 8x8 in a 26" rim. Filled with ~50mL of mineral oil


Oh the good stuff!


Equals the new and improved this.

Controller is painted black and uses the lowest bottle holder bolt on the bottom and sits upward at a angle. I like the angle as I also filled my 6fet with mineral oil.



Next step is to bump the controller to 40amp battery and 90 phase amps with my 12s2p Lipo battery. Run with that for a while. I don't expect any real heat from a 12s setup. Using the ebikes.ca/simulator using 48V seems only draws <700watts at full throttle. Planning 18s at 25battery amps for starters and just work my way up to 35a. Not a very powerful setup compared to others here but will get me past 2kW and more than quick to get me to school.

On a side note a great thanks to the ES members that helped me out today when I hooked up the motor and I made a opps in the assembly of the motor and it was running backways. Swapped 2 hall wires and found the phase setup that worked. I am going to get my hands on a meter to test how my freespin amps are at with the mineral oil inside it soon enough.

[FastDemise]

Did I mention how much lighter the 9C is compared to the 5303. Holy sh!t lifting a 30lb dead weight and then the 5303 the 5303 is still heavier. That's just the 5303 in a 26" rim without tire and tube. Instant love for the 9c due to the weight savings alone. Super happy with the switch to the lighter motor.

[FastDemise]

A impulse buy off Amazon, a cheap ($24) triangle bag a Sunlite Epic tour XL. With that bag in mind I started taking my 12s2p square brick of a battery and made it into a flat rectangle. Luckily when I soldered it I left just enough wire to let me simply lay flat without any mods to the battery.



Using a roll of 4" 3M Scotchrap All weather corrosion tape. Stuff is 10Mil thick. In this picture I used normal electric tape and a #2 exacto knife for size comparison.


Adding 2 large circuit boards to both sides of the battery for strength and used some thick foam on the bottom I wrapped the battery in 3 layers of the tape. Looks real sharp not covered in duct tape.



The new 12s2p battery fits perfect in the bag. Very happy with this impulse buy of the bag working out so far.


I want very badly to make the jump to 18s to bring the 8x8 motor to life but I feel it'll be good for my waistline if I keep the motor to ~24mph where I can easily pedal with my 52/14 gearing.

It's late for me 3:41am and I need some sleep so I don't somehow screw up attaching a velco bag to my bike. I can't thank everyone that has helped this motor swap happen as quickly as it did with fast responses from forum members and a huge thanks go to Lyen who sold me the little 6fet controller that has worked flawlessly and continues to answer all my questions.

Thanks ES

[FastDemise]

Ensuring the battery sits snug in the back the front triangle now holds battery, throttle, and ebrake wire. Now off to get some groceries on the bike I'm starving. Bumped Lyen 6fet controller to 40amp battery and 90amp phase. I can bump it higher as I have no more worries about picking front tire off ground when I finish a turn and throttle it.