Reviews and Modifications of ebike model: XB-310Li

The Stig

100 kW
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
1,032
Location
Boston
UPDATE 11/20/2014

Ok I've owned the XB-310Li for 5 years or something so let me give the realistic picture... its is a nice bike for getting from point a to b cheaply, but it will need to be treated nice and you must be into tinkering and being an ebike mechanic to keep it running.


Disadvantages:
- low quality components all around(means there WILL be a lot of tinkering throught the life of the bike to keep it running),
- low quality frame(I saw a defective xb310li frame that broke, its not really worth upgrading components except for brakes maybe),
- to get high speed/power all electrical components need replacing (battery, controller and motor),
- without modification or adjustment of battery mount, its only good for tall riders, even some 5' 8" riders find it uncomfortable

Advantages:
- Heavy duty frame with 350lbs capacity so assuming its not a defective one it will take anything you throw at it,
- the bike is well equipped,
- cheap,
- will do many miles if maintenance is kept up,
- its folding so its versatile which is handy in case of bad weather or break downs. The folding is actually one of my favorite features because I can use it for cross-city trips(subway) or intercity trips (bus or amtrak) so in that sense it is worth doing a small upgrade detailed 2 paragraphs down from here.


If your looking for something to modify and turn into a machine with a lot of power buy a used downhill-bike from craigslist and convert it to electric. Or at least something with a decent quality frame to make worth putting decent breaks and suspension components.

(4/2014:) If you want to modify the XB-310li, and If you have a new purpose or home for the 24v little frog battery that came with the bike, you could swap the 24v battery for a 36v battery, put a tiny bit of solder on the shunt in the controller and be good to go. Otherwise if you don't have anything to do with the 24v battery that comes with the bike I would say get another 24v battery, wire them in parallel and upgrade to a lyen controller including the usb programming adapter so you can set it up right. Still you won't be able to go up any steep inclines for tooo long cos the motor might overheat.


UPDATE 06/01/2015
According to a seller, farbike.com:
It's had "many of the slight fit and finish issues fixed such as those with the hinge. X-treme has been making this bike bettter and better each year, and although still an entry level electric bike this one willl last a long time."

Makes sense that the manufacturer would update the bike, considering I bought mine and started this thread in 2009.



ORIGINAL POST

Hi sphere members,
I went ahead and bought the XB-310Li. It seems to be as described and is working fine so far, Works the way its supposed to. Chinese build quility but not bad. Haven't done any range or speed tests yet although I should.

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I took apart the plastic part on the back that houses the controller because I'm thinking of doing some sort of shunt modification for a little more current. I was hoping to get some advice about that here. The controller board wouldn't budge easily from inside the aluminum casing so there are no pics of the whole board. I'm also thinking about 36V. Maybe someday I'll replace the cells in the battery pack and rearrange for more voltage. Also could someone identify that hubmotor?

I took lots of pics of the important parts you don't see on any of their websites:
I would appreciate your impressions and feedback/opinions/whatever.
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"Not brushes..." haha chinese labelling...
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LATEST UPDATE: Folding hinge gasket modification http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13910&p=551869#p551869
 
The Stig said:
The controller board wouldn't budge easily from inside the aluminum casing so there are no pics of the whole board.
The cover should slide off; the board will be likely screwed to the case via the FETs.
 
I wouldn't like to do a shunt mod on this controller to up the Current limit from 14A to about 20A. How do I do a shunt mod, or increase the current limit?
I haven't got a picture of the whole board because the top of the case is glued on but I believe the shunt in this picture, on top of the board and to the left(where all the black wires connect too).
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I can't help with the hub, but for the shunt:

Since the shunt is a precise resistor, adding solder up one leg will reduce its total resistance because the solder resistance is lower. The lower resistance should raise the current limit.

You might try adding solder up to the halfway point, then test; continue as needed or shave off solder if limit goes too high.
 
Another shoutout for help from the ES community as I want to turn this bike into a duel motor snow driving, mountain climbing beast.

Can anyone tell me what the hub motor that came with the bike is? I'd like to know how heavy it is and if I could take it to lets say... 36V 30Amps. 48V maybe.

Also could the controller possibly be overvolted as well as given a shunt mod? I was unable to budge the top of the casing to get a pic of the board.
 
TylerDurden said:
The Stig said:
The controller board wouldn't budge easily from inside the aluminum casing so there are no pics of the whole board.
The cover should slide off; the board will be likely screwed to the case via the FETs.

I even think that the FET's are only pressed by the case and are not even screwed to the case.
So just open it up and you then can remove the board easily.
 
The Stig said:
Another shoutout for help from the ES community as I want to turn this bike into a duel motor snow driving, mountain climbing beast.

Can anyone tell me what the hub motor that came with the bike is? I'd like to know how heavy it is and if I could take it to lets say... 36V 30Amps. 48V maybe.

Also could the controller possibly be overvolted as well as given a shunt mod? I was unable to budge the top of the casing to get a pic of the board.

I have identified the hub motor and the controller. The brand of the hub motor is simply on the piece of sticker from you photo. It is a Chinese brand so no English name for it. You can over-volt both motor and controller. But keep in mind your battery will reduce the range dramatically and may cause potential damage to the battery circuitry if any. It is due to the battery is not designed for higher discharge from both the controller and the hub motor. Let me know or PM me if you have any other questions. :)
 
Recently got the Xtreme-scooters' XB-310Li from craigs list. He says it is about 6 months old so was new about Oct 2009.

It's great to find someone else that has one.

I find the hand grips to be too hard, so will change out the left one with a padded gel one. I'm 74 inches tall, so the handle bar is a little low and I have the seat fully up. (34 pants inseam).If was an inch taller would be better.

I weigh 210 pounds and the bike shocks seem to bounce a lot. I want to stiffen the ride but have not found any directions to do so.

Power wise the motor assists in all 7 gears and the only way I can stop motor is with key lock. If I am riding with someone, I have to take care not to surge past them when I start pedaling.

Battery seems to last forever. I usually can ride about 2 hours on gently rolling hills (less than 6 ft elevation changes) and return home using only used one bar of battery power. The manual indicates it is best to recharge even though battery is not fully discharged.

This morning I hit the edge of a curb and blew out my tire. So I'm going to get a 26 x 1.95 tube and check wheel rim and spokes.
 
Glad to here from you Bodepn! I have since upgraded to a 36V 10AH battery thanks in accordence with Lyen's advice, it has the same case/mounting as the stock battery and I have a new 30A controller so now I'm very satisfied with the power and weight of the bike ;) I did use it and enjoy it for 6 months the way it came stock. All in all a good deal. Much better than commuting by foot or car at least. And it survived a full winter of salt, snow, slush and water so thats something.

However I did manage to kill it eventually by letting my girl friend ride it up a steep mountain. She isnt much a of a pedeler so after several minutes of full throttle at extremely slow speeds one of the hall sensors was fried. So I replaced it and replaced the battery, controller and throttle along on the bike with it. And now I can keep up with traffic and surpass it, even on decent hills.

So did you fix your tire?
 
Hello all e bike winners! 8)

I just ordered this xb310 today and hope to get my ass on it later this week. So excited to use it!
Question about the speed. I was told at a bicycle shop that the governor can be "adjusted" so the top speed can be responsibly advanced. What will I need to do to do this?

Thanks everyone! :mrgreen:
 
Hey welcome to the club!

20mph is pretty good for 24v with that motor. To go faster I think you would need higher voltage and thus a different speed controller. You can get a 36v replacement battery for the xb310li from BMsbattery.com and a 36v controller from ecrazyman.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences when you got the ebike.
 
Hi Serge

I replaced the battery and the controller(and throttle because I wanted a thumb throttle).

The battery is in the same case and has the same mount that bolts to the seat tube. Only its a 36V 10AH Li-NiCoMn. I was told by BMS battery its good for 20A continuous and 35A Burst for 10 Seconds.
Specs:http://www.bmsbattery.com/index.php..._id=17&zenid=0bbd6ffcaa154655454869875bd0b28d
When you click add to cart I think it adds the 10AH version instead of the 5AH. Its $210 without shipping. I ordered through skype though because they're not very reliable and its good to have a contact to hold accountable. http://ecitypower.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=category&catid=12&Itemid=30 I think Annie Lei has the best english. I ordered through Mandy and she wasn't the best I got my battery about the latest she orginally said it would arrive.

The controller I got from Keywin, master of controllers: ecrazyman@gmail.com
It was the 36V 30A brushless one. I think it was 9 Fet.
For wiring the controller to the motor: "YB GG BY, both phase wires and hall sensor" -Keywin
 
The results are great. Top speed is higher now. High enough for a bicycle I think. Acceleration is improved especially at medium speeds. Its now the kind of ebike you don't really have to pedal much, whereas before I always pedaled.
The cons are that the motor that comes with the XB is not the highest quality. It would have more power with a better motor. Because of the low quality don't be running the motor at full throttle at really low RPM for a long time (like dont pull a buddy on a pedal bicycle up a small mountain. I burnt a hall sensor doing that. This was before the modification. Luckily the hall sensor failed close to the top of the mountain!)
Heres a post about the battery: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16824&start=15#p267023. An alternative and probably higher quality supplier for a similar battery would be this vendor who is closer by in europe: http://www.e-bicycles.eu/en/contact.html
 
Thank you for your report. How about this: replacing the motor with a better 350W one, replacing the battery with 36V LiFePO4, and replacing the controller. The world definitely needs more e-bikes, and that means that more people have to learn about them, since at the moment it's a project type vehicle.
 
LiFePO4 is amazing technology...at least compared to many of the other batteries. It's safe - less likely to spontaneously combust than LiPo, it has a long life, it does not have "memory", it self-discharges slowly, and it is considered non-toxic. LiFePO4 has energy density four times higher than lead acid batteries - the same amount of Volt*Amp*Hours weighs four times less in LiFePO4 than in Lead Acid batteries.
 
I almost bought one! Here is what I did instead. Look at E-Bike Photos and Video topic under "Evoforce bike build 1". Then look up builds 2 and 3. Isn't this fun!
 

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How about 36V battery without upgrading the controller? What are the risks?

Evoforce said:
I almost bought one! Here is what I did instead. Look at E-Bike Photos and Video topic under "Evoforce bike build 1". Then look up builds 2 and 3. Isn't this fun!
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20345 - Build 3
Haha, looks extreme:)

That silver and red picture is a nice, clean build.
 
The bike has arrived. :) I ordered a 24V LiFePO4 from BMS Battery.

I just tested the bike and it is awesome. It's comparable in speed to regular bikes, which is fine because I like to ride on the side-walk, so it's stealthy this way. Just have to get rid of the e-bike stickers...but people probably don't read them before I zoom by hehe. The quality of the bike is good. One of the reasons for buying it were the disc brakes, and they perform well. This bike is certified win.

More speed might be nice, so a 36V upgrade might be good. Can I run two controllers in parallel, so I can switch between 24V and 36V batteries?
 
SergeTruth said:
The bike has arrived. :) I ordered a 24V LiFePO4 from BMS Battery.

I just tested the bike and it is awesome. It's comparable in speed to regular bikes, which is fine because I like to ride on the side-walk, so it's stealthy this way. Just have to get rid of the e-bike stickers...but people probably don't read them before I zoom by hehe. The quality of the bike is good. One of the reasons for buying it were the disc brakes, and they perform well. This bike is certified win.

More speed might be nice, so a 36V upgrade might be good. Can I run two controllers in parallel, so I can switch between 24V and 36V batteries?

Its a good ebike. I don't think there would be any point in keeping the 24V battery and controller on their if you have a 36V system.
If you do get a 36V battery you also have to get a 36V controller. The 24V controller will not work at 36V.
I like the looks of the ampedbikes.com tube battery. I have a feeling it would go nicely on the frame, just in front and above the pedal crank.
 
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