This thread will cover my next build -- a bike that can go to the airport and back where my next job will be.
Here's a map with placemarks showing the start and end trip:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=51.081312,-114.088554&spn=0.136526,0.226593&z=12&msid=107333143066324759920.00045e6c6ed8c2bff9670
Trip Specs & Goals:
- 60km round trip distance, I live on the edge of the city with a 300 foot hill that I would go down on the way to work and back up at the end of my return home. A route with more intersections and a similiar hill in the middle might shave 5 km's off of the total distance but I don't think it would be a better option.
- want to avoid relying on charging at destination.
- want to be able to travel at 55-65km/hr on the flats, total trip time of 40 minutes is the goal. On a good day, 40 minutes by car is do-able, 60 - 70 minutes is typical for most days, and right now in the dead of winter with stalls, slow traffic on winter snowy roads it can take up to two hours each way by car.
- somewhat stealthy but I realize total stealth might involve too much compromise in terms of performance and useability of the bike
- driving would log about 15,000km on my car a year and cost about a tank of gas a week, so my budget for this project would be fairly high.
- reliability is important, I want it to survive minor spills, work in rain and snow, be able to pedal it home or have it reliable enough that I only get stranded a couple of times a year.
- this bike would need to be locked up outside at an airport under decent security cameras, I can't take the battery pack inside for obvious reasons
- doing a battery drop along the way might be an option to lower the weight but still be able to deal with the 300 foot elevation gain at the last part of the return home. I'm thinking of locking a smaller pack to a pole or a tree or something like that and picking it up on the way home at the bottom of the big hill.
- I would travel on back roads, side streets, winding smooth dirt paths and bike paths through packed snow, ice in the rain etc
- Twenty days a year have headwinds around 60km/hr.
- I still want to get some exercize with this, so gearing/drivetrain would have to be modified.
- I want a really decent horn and headlights as I'd be riding in the dark a lot, and at speed, I'd need to warn cars that are about to turn in front of me
- temperatures would range from -25 to + 30 celsius over the year
Parts on hand from my first year and a half of ebiking:
Motors:
- used 408,
- new 5304,
- new Puma nylon geared motor from team-hybrid (haven't had time to figure out how to wire up a controller properly to get it to spin, it is possible that in my previous attempts I've somehow fried the motor)
Controllers:
- 2 35amp 36-72volt c-lyte imediate start analogs,
- 1 20amp 36-72volt c-lyte imediate start analogue
Batteries:
- 1 used 8ah NIMH 24lb pack (was originally 13ah but it has degraded to about 8ah)
- 20s5p a123 pack. These are 5 separate 20cell packs wired up for single cell charging much like a1234lifes setup here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3171&p=45746&hilit=+a1234life#p45746
I'm at the point where I realize I need a LVC cuttoff for each group of cells. Too many issues with individual cells dying on really snowy or windy days when the pack gets stressed on the way up the big hill near home. I'm pretty annoyed by how much of my own time I've invested in this setup, but I sure do love the power of the a123's
1 Cycle Analyst
Skill set:
- I can tune my bike and do most types of repairs to it, I'm comfortable building wheels too.
- I can solder cells, wire up packs etc, building Gary's BMS with his board and parts list or modifying a controllers fets, shunt etc are a bit beyond me though. I've tried fixing blown up controllers and don't have the dexterity or soldering skill and frankly the patience to pull it off.
I'd be okay sending stuff out for complex controller mods or BMS assembly and testing.
Here are the three bikes I have that I could use:
1) Santa Cruz VP Free, bomb proof downhill bike, with ugpraded high end parts, currently weighs 40 pounds with 6 inches of suspension travel
This is a picture of the fork on the Santa Cruz, it is pretty burly and might be strong enough to hold a puma or 5series crystalite:
2) Specialized Enduro, my wifes bike, about 4-5 inches of travel
3) Specialized RockHopper. Low end bike, my current e-bike. Has a big triangle.
I'm watching the RC threads with keen interest but don't think I'd be ready to consider that route yet. I want to wait until a few people with similiar motor, esc/throttle and gear reduction setups had a thousand miles of actual use to talk about.
I want to have this ready for March 1, 2009 with the intention to use it through the winter next year as the job would likely be extended to a 2 year gig.
Here's my current thoughts:
Plan A
- Santa Cruz VP Free
- Mount the PUMA on the front fork of the (its a Fox RC 40 shock) with torque arms
- Use the unmodified 35amp 36-72 volt controller.
- Have a panier system on the back with a suitable AH pack on either side. Probably 60 volts would get me close to the 55-65 target flat speed without pedalling
- mod the bike so that the high end parts aren't easy to steal, lock up the packs so you can't access them without the key
- variations on this theme might involve the 5304 on the front with 48 volts in the back paniers
- with the motor on the front, getting the pedal drive train gearing where I could still exercise and the rear disc brake useable would be a lot easier. The weight would be better distributed as well.
- would the front mounted motor be better in the snow?
Plan B
- Santa Cruz VP Free
- Puma or 5304 on the rear
- Batteries mounted Xyster style (I miss him!) on either side of the fusilage up near the front fork in custom fabricated boxes
- this option has possibly better safety with the rear motor but it would be more difficult to get the brake and pedal drive train adapted to the hub and speed I want to pedal at
- the battery box would be quite a project too
Batteries
- I think a larger Ping pack at 48 to 72volts with maybe a dropped 18-20s3p a123 pack for the return trip up the big hill near my home might work. Headway, lifebatt, more a123's could also be an option.
I could use the specialized hardrock but I really don't like it. It would be a bit too rough at that speed and I think the weight of the batteries combined with no real suspension and the speed I want to go would be a bit too un-reliable in terms of parts etc. The specialized enduro is my wifes bike and I'd have to do some good negotiating to really get to mod that one.
Here's a map with placemarks showing the start and end trip:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=51.081312,-114.088554&spn=0.136526,0.226593&z=12&msid=107333143066324759920.00045e6c6ed8c2bff9670
Trip Specs & Goals:
- 60km round trip distance, I live on the edge of the city with a 300 foot hill that I would go down on the way to work and back up at the end of my return home. A route with more intersections and a similiar hill in the middle might shave 5 km's off of the total distance but I don't think it would be a better option.
- want to avoid relying on charging at destination.
- want to be able to travel at 55-65km/hr on the flats, total trip time of 40 minutes is the goal. On a good day, 40 minutes by car is do-able, 60 - 70 minutes is typical for most days, and right now in the dead of winter with stalls, slow traffic on winter snowy roads it can take up to two hours each way by car.
- somewhat stealthy but I realize total stealth might involve too much compromise in terms of performance and useability of the bike
- driving would log about 15,000km on my car a year and cost about a tank of gas a week, so my budget for this project would be fairly high.
- reliability is important, I want it to survive minor spills, work in rain and snow, be able to pedal it home or have it reliable enough that I only get stranded a couple of times a year.
- this bike would need to be locked up outside at an airport under decent security cameras, I can't take the battery pack inside for obvious reasons
- doing a battery drop along the way might be an option to lower the weight but still be able to deal with the 300 foot elevation gain at the last part of the return home. I'm thinking of locking a smaller pack to a pole or a tree or something like that and picking it up on the way home at the bottom of the big hill.
- I would travel on back roads, side streets, winding smooth dirt paths and bike paths through packed snow, ice in the rain etc
- Twenty days a year have headwinds around 60km/hr.
- I still want to get some exercize with this, so gearing/drivetrain would have to be modified.
- I want a really decent horn and headlights as I'd be riding in the dark a lot, and at speed, I'd need to warn cars that are about to turn in front of me
- temperatures would range from -25 to + 30 celsius over the year
Parts on hand from my first year and a half of ebiking:
Motors:
- used 408,
- new 5304,
- new Puma nylon geared motor from team-hybrid (haven't had time to figure out how to wire up a controller properly to get it to spin, it is possible that in my previous attempts I've somehow fried the motor)
Controllers:
- 2 35amp 36-72volt c-lyte imediate start analogs,
- 1 20amp 36-72volt c-lyte imediate start analogue
Batteries:
- 1 used 8ah NIMH 24lb pack (was originally 13ah but it has degraded to about 8ah)
- 20s5p a123 pack. These are 5 separate 20cell packs wired up for single cell charging much like a1234lifes setup here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3171&p=45746&hilit=+a1234life#p45746
I'm at the point where I realize I need a LVC cuttoff for each group of cells. Too many issues with individual cells dying on really snowy or windy days when the pack gets stressed on the way up the big hill near home. I'm pretty annoyed by how much of my own time I've invested in this setup, but I sure do love the power of the a123's
1 Cycle Analyst
Skill set:
- I can tune my bike and do most types of repairs to it, I'm comfortable building wheels too.
- I can solder cells, wire up packs etc, building Gary's BMS with his board and parts list or modifying a controllers fets, shunt etc are a bit beyond me though. I've tried fixing blown up controllers and don't have the dexterity or soldering skill and frankly the patience to pull it off.
I'd be okay sending stuff out for complex controller mods or BMS assembly and testing.
Here are the three bikes I have that I could use:
1) Santa Cruz VP Free, bomb proof downhill bike, with ugpraded high end parts, currently weighs 40 pounds with 6 inches of suspension travel
This is a picture of the fork on the Santa Cruz, it is pretty burly and might be strong enough to hold a puma or 5series crystalite:
2) Specialized Enduro, my wifes bike, about 4-5 inches of travel
3) Specialized RockHopper. Low end bike, my current e-bike. Has a big triangle.
I'm watching the RC threads with keen interest but don't think I'd be ready to consider that route yet. I want to wait until a few people with similiar motor, esc/throttle and gear reduction setups had a thousand miles of actual use to talk about.
I want to have this ready for March 1, 2009 with the intention to use it through the winter next year as the job would likely be extended to a 2 year gig.
Here's my current thoughts:
Plan A
- Santa Cruz VP Free
- Mount the PUMA on the front fork of the (its a Fox RC 40 shock) with torque arms
- Use the unmodified 35amp 36-72 volt controller.
- Have a panier system on the back with a suitable AH pack on either side. Probably 60 volts would get me close to the 55-65 target flat speed without pedalling
- mod the bike so that the high end parts aren't easy to steal, lock up the packs so you can't access them without the key
- variations on this theme might involve the 5304 on the front with 48 volts in the back paniers
- with the motor on the front, getting the pedal drive train gearing where I could still exercise and the rear disc brake useable would be a lot easier. The weight would be better distributed as well.
- would the front mounted motor be better in the snow?
Plan B
- Santa Cruz VP Free
- Puma or 5304 on the rear
- Batteries mounted Xyster style (I miss him!) on either side of the fusilage up near the front fork in custom fabricated boxes
- this option has possibly better safety with the rear motor but it would be more difficult to get the brake and pedal drive train adapted to the hub and speed I want to pedal at
- the battery box would be quite a project too
Batteries
- I think a larger Ping pack at 48 to 72volts with maybe a dropped 18-20s3p a123 pack for the return trip up the big hill near my home might work. Headway, lifebatt, more a123's could also be an option.
I could use the specialized hardrock but I really don't like it. It would be a bit too rough at that speed and I think the weight of the batteries combined with no real suspension and the speed I want to go would be a bit too un-reliable in terms of parts etc. The specialized enduro is my wifes bike and I'd have to do some good negotiating to really get to mod that one.
