A2B Metro build

Picked this up yesterday, a (2010) A2B Metro.I always wanted an electric bike and couldn't pass up on the deal because I got it cheap enough that I have room to put some cash into it. Supposedly the motor has been all rebuilt, but the batteries are toast. It's all complete, but my plan is to replace the controller and make a battery pack. The bike did come with it's original controller, but I'm not finding too much info on it. It would be nice to use the original because I'd like to keep the electronic display, but then I'm limited to the programming that came from A2B.
Since I'm totally new to this, can someone recommend a good quality controller and any other items I may need. Will also need advice on the best charger type/brand as well as battery management.

Looks like a fun project. those look like the skinniest front tire I've ever seen on an A2B metro. Stock were 20" X 3" tires, and the bike will benefit from having the larger tires.
A common mod was to fit 16" moped tires on these. A 16" moped rim is the same size as a 20" bicycle, due to the different way they are measured.

Controllers choices abound. Any 20A to 40A Infineon based controller should work if you want cheap. Even Walmart offers a basic $29 Ebike controller that would work, with basic mods. Amazon has a number of them you could get with same day delivery. There are much better options if you want to get fancy, but the Infineon base controllers are still great.
Direct drive hub motors are nearly silent. cheap controllers are square wave, which cause some growling noises from motors, ruining the near total silence but performing very well enough and causing no real problems. Sine wave controllers are more expensive, but don't cause the buzzes and growls. A good high end controller would be something like the Phaserunner. https://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/controllers/c-phaserunner.html

Have you seen this thread? https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30050

Here's another thread to check out:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50590&hilit=metro

You have the newer one with external controller, so you probably don't need to take apart the motor. The controller sits under the battery. Nothing a good garbage can won't fix :thumb:

I highly recommend trashing the stock controller and go with a new one. The speedometer display runs off the controller so you would lose that but your new controller may have it's own display.

36v is OK for 20mph. 52v is much more fun

I ordered a new controller as well as a new display. I'm located in Canada, so my resources are very limited. We couldn't even imagine buying a controller at Walmart ! LOL

Here's the items I bought;
https://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/controllers/c7240-gr.html

https://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/cycle-analysts/ca-dp.html

I do plan on running a higher voltage (50-60v), but my dilemma now is to figure out how many cells I will need. If I use 15 cells in series, that will put me at around 54 volts. I need to find out how many of these I will need to connect in parallel to get a higher AH. If the cells are rated for 2000 mha, would 5 of these packs which will be around 10AH be sufficient ? I would be happy with a 20 mile range.

Edit;
I guess I forgot to mention what I'm planning to do with this bike. I plan on using it for light riding at campgrounds, so I definitely don't need something that's designed high speed.

14 series is much more common so easier to get chargers etc. On mine, I don't even use the frame pack except for emergencies. I run a separate pack on the rear. It would be nice if the internal pack was built with decent cells though. Somebody reconfigured one some time ago. It's on the forum somewhere. I don't remember what the final configuration was.

fechter said:

14 series is much more common so easier to get chargers etc. On mine, I don't even use the frame pack except for emergencies. I run a separate pack on the rear. It would be nice if the internal pack was built with decent cells though. Somebody reconfigured one some time ago. It's on the forum somewhere. I don't remember what the final configuration was.

Click to expand...

How many cells in your 14 series, and what is the total AH ? Also, how far can you travel with that battery pack?
I would love to retain the "in-frame" battery because it makes the bike look so much better, as well as better weight balancing. Unfortunately using the batteries in the frame may prove to be a PITA, so most likely the battery will end up on the rear rack.

My rear pack is 14s, 9p made from CGR18650DA cells. Nominal 21.6 Ahr for the pack. Range really depends a lot on speed. At 20mph, it can go at least 40 miles.

Here's a build thread for the battery:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=79324&p=1171277&hilit=ammo+can#p1171277

Made good progress, but having an issue.
After a few hours messing with the phase and hall wires, I finally got a nice smooth rotation of the hub motor. The problem is that at high speed, the motor surges like it's losing voltage. For test purposes I'm using 3 lead/acid batteries. The battery is a constant 37 volts as I ramp up the RPM with no load. When the surges start, the battery voltage is still 37volts so that rules out a drop in voltag causing the issue. Any ideas?

Is that with the stock controller? Have you tried it under load (actual riding)?
It could be a speed limiter kicking in.

The problem was that I was testing with 36 volts. Tried 48v and it now runs great. I'm using an aftermarket controller.