Anybody used the Cute motors yet?

[DAND214]

I was just wondering if anyone has done a fair test run on the Cite motor from BMSBATTERY yet. Just wondering what I would expect when i get to try mine. How do they compair to the Bafang and so.

 

[ecowheelz]

Also interested in the CUTE motors... any feedback or experiences?

 

[DAND214]

Hi Jeremy, I have 2 hubs, 1 lace in a wheel but too much snow and ice right now to try it. I was hoping there was others out there that have tried them. There has been a lot of talk but no action yet. I will mount it on a bike soon and try it but I'm still not sure if I want to replace a wheel or build another ebike. Have all the parts as well as the bike, just in slow motion in this cold snowy winter here.
Dan

 

[DAND214]

A new build! I thought it would be easier to build a new ride than switching a good old ride.
The CUTE hub mounted in a 26" wheel on a NEXT (POS) full suspension bike. With the 6 fet controller from BMSBATTERY at 48v. It's really cold today (7 deg) and still have snow on the ground so I was a little worried to try it out today, smooth tires don't like this stuff. Only went about a mile, but it did perform pretty good. I would of gone further but I was more worried about the frt fork than the weather. I need to take the front fork apart and tighten it up or replace it. I have other chaep forks but they sure don't knock like this one.
the controller has been mod to 4110 fets and the shunt half soldered, I did like the performance of the controller and the hub but need to get more time with a speedo and a CA before i can really say how they perform. I will say the acceleration was prety good and that it was pretty qiuit for a geared hub, the real test will be when it gets warmer so I can put some miles on it and how warm they get. I had the controller on a DD hub earlier in hot weather and it did shut down so since then I changed the fets and redid the solder lands so only time will tell. The hub is a 48v 500 w ordered for a 20" wheel so I might melt it down come summer but as I said not bad for a small hub, I also think it's quicker and quieter than my BAFANG 8fun hub. Hope we hear from other members that have talked about the QUITE hubs before and said they had ordered them.
Dan

 

[cell_man]

I've used them and several different versions of them. They are nice small motor. I don't know if they are quite as strong as the Bafang front and they are more noisy. There are many variants. The 128 is a very different motor to the 108 and you also get different width 108 motors. Don't believe the power ratings on Ecity, just because you can overvolts a motor and pull a more power out of it doesn't mean it was built and rated to that spec. These are Ananda motors and they do not rate any of these small hub motors over 250W but have agreed unofficially it is maybe acceptable to run them on overvolts (maybe 48V on a 36V motor, or 36V on a 24V motor) if current is limited to say 15A. The smallest QX85 108 motor is only about 200W rated but worked quite nicely overvolts with a 15A current limit.

If you look for some posts by my mate Lynchy you will see lots of pics of the 108 internals.

 

[GrayKard]

Currently I'm waiting on my pair of cute motors to be laced up at an LBS. They had quite a bit of work ahead of me so I just have to be patient.

Everything else for the build is ready and waiting to go on the bike so I am really anxious to get this build finished.

I plan on torture testing these motors with 20 to 30 miles on them a day or even more. Hope they prove to be reliable or I will have to upgrade.

Gary

 

[DAND214]

Am I the only one here that has accually ran one of these CUTE things? I only have about 19 miles on it due to the snow and bitter cold here. The first ride was 7f and only about a mile, motor pulled pretty good for a small hub. I didn't have any meters at the time so it was just a test. Tuesday was the maden run to the bike path to a lake 7 miles away. I only had a speedo that day and was running 48v a 128mm rear hub laced in a 26" wheel. I think it was a heat wave 25f that day!! the top speed I did see was 26 mph going with the wind and pedaling moderatly. I fogot that I was also running one of the 6 fet controllers from BMSBATT which I moooded with 4110 fets and half soldered the shunt, I have used this controller stock on a dd hub in the summer and it cut out after about 5 miles. It was hard to tell if there was any heat generated at the controller as it is mounted under the rear rack and has great air, the hub was cool and the axles was just warm. Most of the ride home was at WOT and into the wind, top speed was 22 mph. When I got home I charged the pack and it took 5.6 ah to chrge it so about 2 miles an amp. Today I put my CA on the bike and road to our local DUNKIN Donuts just a couple miles though. the CA showed 21 w/mi with 30 amp peak and top speed of 20.8 on 36v. Not too bad compaired with my Bafang 8FUN hub which does 20 pedaling your butt off. I'm not a big fan of geared hubs due to the sound but this was not bad. I like the small size and light weight which will be the bike we put on back of the car when we GO to ride. So untill the heat comes I will ride this and wait to see if the heat destroys it. Most of my runs will be on 48v not 36 I turned it down a little cause it snowed here yesterday and I don't like what's under the snow at times cause you don't see it till it's too late.
As for the service from BMSBATTERY I go alone with most of the complaints I have read, they are slow and they have no clue what they are selling!
Hope to hear from others soon on their CUTE hubs!

I got in another 8 miles today! Another warm day, only feezing but little wind. Today was on 48v and top speed was just over 25 mph and I used 3.5 ah in 8 miles and 1/4 of it was slow due to ice prints in the snow, peak amps was 28 on the Ca, not too bad. The bad part was the snow and frozen foot prints on the bike paths not to mention the frozen bike tracks that steer you where you don't want to go. So far the motor seems to be pretty good, I know that Cell-man says they are only 250w but it runns better than my bafang does and quieter. I know BMSBATT lists other ratings and on my hubs they are listed as 36v 500w for a 20" wheel but I'm running 48v in a 26" wheel. after the run I discharged the pack and total discharge was 13.5 ah on the pack which is rated at 15ah. The controller was cold and the hub was just warm, axle too. Hope you guys get your stuff running before I wear mine out!?
Dan

 

[dwkennedy]

I have received my Cute 100 (Model: Q-F-100SX) and 500W controller from BMS. I ordered the 20" 48V version. I'm just waiting on spokes.


I've tried it out sans rim/spokes and get about 220RPM. With my 20" wheel that only gives around 14 MPH (22 kph)!!!

Those BMS guys are hard to communicate with. I even tried calling various phone numbers for ecitypower and BMS, but could never get them to answer. I need a little practice on my Poo-Tong-Hwa (huh huh huh) I kind of thought I was getting a 20MPH hub and could get even faster with a 26" wheel.

If I wanted a 28MPH top speed, should I have ordered a 24V, 20" motor... or a 48V, 10" model?

The motor seems pretty nice, esp. for the money, I'm just sad I'll be puttering along instead of whizzing along in white-knuckled fear.

 

[swbluto]

I have received my Cute 100 (Model: Q-F-100SX) and 500W controller from BMS. I ordered the 20" 48V version. I'm just waiting on spokes.


I've tried it out sans rim/spokes and get about 220RPM. With my 20" wheel that only gives around 14 MPH (22 kph)!!!

Those BMS guys are hard to communicate with. I even tried calling various phone numbers for ecitypower and BMS, but could never get them to answer. I need a little practice on my Poo-Tong-Hwa (huh huh huh) I kind of thought I was getting a 20MPH hub and could get even faster with a 26" wheel.

If I wanted a 28MPH top speed, should I have ordered a 24V, 20" motor... or a 48V, 10" model?

The motor seems pretty nice, esp. for the money, I'm just sad I'll be puttering along instead of whizzing along in white-knuckled fear.

Double the voltage, double the fun! (You'd have to get a 100+ V controller, though.)

 

[GrayKard]

I have received my Cute 100 (Model: Q-F-100SX) and 500W controller from BMS. I ordered the 20" 48V version. I'm just waiting on spokes.


I've tried it out sans rim/spokes and get about 220RPM. With my 20" wheel that only gives around 14 MPH (22 kph)!!!

Those BMS guys are hard to communicate with. I even tried calling various phone numbers for ecitypower and BMS, but could never get them to answer. I need a little practice on my Poo-Tong-Hwa (huh huh huh) I kind of thought I was getting a 20MPH hub and could get even faster with a 26" wheel.

If I wanted a 28MPH top speed, should I have ordered a 24V, 20" motor... or a 48V, 10" model?

The motor seems pretty nice, esp. for the money, I'm just sad I'll be puttering along instead of whizzing along in white-knuckled fear.

Yeah, hard to communicate with them. Took me like 2 weeks of email tag or more on my first order.

I have two of the 85's that were supposed to be wound for 26 inch rim (no idea if they really are) and 48V. I can go about 17mph running on one motor and a bit over 18mph running both. So I'm running around 220 rpm under load on one motor. My no load rpm is about 270.

If your no load rpm is 220 you won't even be going 14 mph, more like 10. Your rpm is low even if it had been wound for a 26 inch rim.

I was hoping for a bit more speed too, low 20's without pedaling and running both, so I may do a delta/wye mod on the rear motor for an overdrive. Should get me into the high 20's if the motor still has enough torque left while running in delta.

Gary

 

[DAND214]

10 MPH??? That is really slow compared to what I got. I ordered the 128 hubs 36v for 20" wheel to mount in a 26" wheel. Top speed on 36v is about 18 mph and 22 pedaling, on 48 I see 26 to 28 non assisted and 30 pedaling hard.

So far I like the hubs but due to a fall last month doing some heat testing I went down in a turn and broke my Rt ankle and leg. Doc says no rining for a couple months. What a bummer, just as the weather starts to get nice.

It's been a month and I'm going nuts being captive, won't see the doc for another 2 more weeks to see if he says it would be safe to use my ankle. Surggry and hospital cost was almost 30k what a racket. I got to implants in the ankle. Yeah 2 screws for $1600.00 what a ripoff. The ankle feels good and my leg and knee also. I sure hope He says it's ok to ride or I'm gonna go nuts.

As for communications with them it's a very slow and frustrating thing. I will say that I am happy with what I have received from them it's just the long waiting for what you order.
Dan

 

[GrayKard]

10 MPH??? That is really slow compared to what I got. I ordered the 128 hubs 36v for 20" wheel to mount in a 26" wheel. Top speed on 36v is about 18 mph and 22 pedaling, on 48 I see 26 to 28 non assisted and 30 pedaling hard.

So far I like the hubs but due to a fall last month doing some heat testing I went down in a turn and broke my Rt ankle and leg. Doc says no rining for a couple months. What a bummer, just as the weather starts to get nice.

It's been a month and I'm going nuts being captive, won't see the doc for another 2 more weeks to see if he says it would be safe to use my ankle. Surggry and hospital cost was almost 30k what a racket. I got to implants in the ankle. Yeah 2 screws for $1600.00 what a ripoff. The ankle feels good and my leg and knee also. I sure hope He says it's ok to ride or I'm gonna go nuts.

As for communications with them it's a very slow and frustrating thing. I will say that I am happy with what I have received from them it's just the long waiting for what you order.
Dan

Bummer about the ankle. Messed my right one up years ago on a camping trip. It's plenty strong now but range of movement side to side is not too good. Hope yours heals OK.

Very nice bike. Like how stealth and clean looking the electric install is. Mine needs some tweaking as the controllers look like crap in the triangle and I still have wires dangling everywhere.

Sounds like you are getting decent speed out of yours. How is the hill climbing? Mine climbs like a mountain goat but pays for it in top end. I suppose I could overvolt it some but I don't want to take a chance on toasting the motors or controllers.

 

[DAND214]

Hi GrayKard, What is climbing, I live in CHICAGO. It's pretty flat here other than some overpasses and they are not a problem. They do accelerate rather well for such a small hub, both are pulling around 25 amps under full load from stops. I also have the controllers from BMS the POS is a 6 fet with 4110 fets and half soldered shunt and the Burley has a stock 12 fet unit, neither get warm at all. The 6 fet did shut down last summer and I thought it was dead till I tried it to test the hubs on my bench to find it was fine so I just reworked it to see if it would hold up and so far it's doing fine.

I was out to torture test the hubs when I fell. Was trying to see how hot I could get them and had very poor luck to heat them up too much as it was only 40f at the time. Spring is here and it's getting rather warm and as soon as I can ride they will get a real beating!

I also have one on a POS from WALLYWORLD a well used NEXT, it's not too bad for $15.00 I did replace the fork since it sounded like it was ready to explode over any bumps. It also does the same speeds and with assist get about 2 miles an amp per CA.

On the recumbent I'm in the process of moving the battery to below the seat for better handling and front tire traction, that is what got me the light front tire and the missliading speed of a recumbent. I went down at 20mph+ not even thinking I was going that fast. riding the MTB and the Recumbent at the same speeds is is like your doing half the speed till. you look at the speedo.

Mine are all at 48v when I ride 36 if I let a newbie ride for the first time. The POS makes 7 and counting 2 more bikes hanging in the garage without motors, what do you think I'm going to do with them??? TOO many toys? Not yet but getting there soon.

Have fun with your CUTE motor and keep use informed how it's doing.
Dan

 

[GrayKard]

Hi GrayKard, What is climbing, I live in CHICAGO. It's pretty flat here other than some overpasses and they are not a problem.

Well, most of the hills on my commute that are long are generally not very steep. Say about 5% at most. But there are some short steep ones near my house that are in the 10% range. One long hill is about 6% up one side and 8% the other way. The bike will handle all of those without pedaling and rarely drops below 14mph. None of the hills are long enough to cause excessive heating in either the motors or controllers so far. We'll see how they do in 100 degree weather later this year.

There is one hill that just has a gravel road down it that leads to some nice trails. It's 25% most of the way with a 10ft section that goes to 29%. If I don't pedal on the worst part the wheels will spin or if they don't lose traction the motors will stall.

This setup is a real blast off road!

Oh, btw, my controllers are supposed to be 22amp models but I have never seen more than a 21amp peak and the norm is just above 20. I bet if I soldered up the shunts a bit I could defeat that 29% section.

Gary

 

[deVries]

Hi Gary,

I live in Austin and have got to climb some hills in the heat too.

Which Cute motor do you have? What controller?

Seems your setup will do steep hills but speed is under 20mph? Top speed is?

You're using 48v?

Thanks for any update you can provide.

Thanks.

Hi GrayKard, What is climbing, I live in CHICAGO. It's pretty flat here other than some overpasses and they are not a problem.

Well, most of the hills on my commute that are long are generally not very steep. Say about 5% at most. But there are some short steep ones near my house that are in the 10% range. One long hill is about 6% up one side and 8% the other way. The bike will handle all of those without pedaling and rarely drops below 14mph. None of the hills are long enough to cause excessive heating in either the motors or controllers so far. We'll see how they do in 100 degree weather later this year.

There is one hill that just has a gravel road down it that leads to some nice trails. It's 25% most of the way with a 10ft section that goes to 29%. If I don't pedal on the worst part the wheels will spin or if they don't lose traction the motors will stall.

This setup is a real blast off road!

Oh, btw, my controllers are supposed to be 22amp models but I have never seen more than a 21amp peak and the norm is just above 20. I bet if I soldered up the shunts a bit I could defeat that 29% section.

Gary

 

[DAND214]

Hi Guys, good to see there are some users out there.
I'm back in the saddle again and riding. Ankle is still a little tender at times but feels better riding than just sitting around. I sure hope the doc doesn't bitch me out too much.
The weather has been in the upper 70's and up to 90! Took a long road trip to meet up with Speedebikes and a few of his buddies last Wednsday, They were interested in the CUTE hub for one of the guys wife. Todd and Fred both took it for a short ride aroud the parking lot, they both thought the hub was very nice. Hard to belive that for them as they run 66volts plus on Crylt hubs. It was a warm day and just to get to where they were it was 15 miles, so first thing was to check temp of the hub. 98deg was as I got there and no warm wires as I have been reading from others that have the same hubs.
So as I was saying we went off for a ride thru the trails in Chicago, mostly flat to rolling hills with 2 overpasses. The Cute hub was great with a top speed of just under 30mph it would keep up rather well. The total round trip was 45 miles and at 42 I was out of power 12.25 amps, used in that ride.
Today a friend and I took another ride withe the Cute hubs this time he got my POS and eoad my Mongoose Blackcomb with the hub off my recumbant. We road a little harder as we needed to go faster at times to keep up with traffic. The round trip was just over 30 miles and we used just over 10 amps per the CA. No heat to speak of and checked the wires as we road and they were cool.
I am running 48v with BMSBATTERY 12 fet controller stock. I see peaks of 40 amos and cruises around 7 at about 15 mph.
I have been a big fan of the DD hubs due to the silence they have but after useing the cute hubs I'm not too sure anymore. compaired to the Bafang 8FUN small hub and my wifes BMC v1 hub I am not sold on the DD'S as much as I was. The cute is quieter than both of them and performs as well if not better.
The problem I see is when you order them from ECITY/BMSBATTERY you don't know what you will get. As I said I ordered 36v 500w for a 20" hoping to get good top speed, which I did but was worried about that they would overheat. I guess it's a crap shoot when you order from them as I still think they sticker what they have and send it out as is.
I hope you guys are having as much fun and good luck with them as I am.
I just hope we never need to replace a gear as i don't think they will support them.
Once again, have fun and ride safely.
Dan

 

[GrayKard]

Hi Gary,

I live in Austin and have got to climb some hills in the heat too.

Which Cute motor do you have? What controller?

I have what are now called on the BMSbattery website the Cute-85 motors. Same motor on the front and rear although they don't list a rear version on their site since they did an update. Hard to believe they could make the site uglier but they did.

The controllers are their 9 fet model I think. I didn't open them up but that is what I ordered. They were supposed to be 15 amp but when they arrived the stickers said 22 amp... No idea which one it is on their site as they no longer list much besides wattage and sensor or sensorless in the details.

Stay tuned! I just ordered 2 of Lyen's 6 fet controllers for this bike. I think I can get a bit more performance once I start tweaking the settings.

Seems your setup will do steep hills but speed is under 20mph? Top speed is?

I average 16 to 17mph on most trips. Top speed no wind on the flat is about 19mph.

I just received my order from Powerwerx.com which included these:


Soon I will see how these motors like running in Delta

You're using 48v?

Yep, 48volts 12ah BMS battery shrink wrap pack. Been happy with them so far. I actually have two and I rotate using them. I bought two in case one wouldn't be enough range and couldn't provide amps for two motors but they did live up to their rating.

One of the packs has no problem providing 20amps to each motor on takeoff. I can get around 30 miles on a charge as the motors only use 1.5 to 5amps each when cruising.

They don't list those now but you can go to the Lifepo4/Lithium Ion customizing battery pack link under batteries and order whatever volt and ah your want. They appear to come in a metal box now.

Thanks for any update you can provide.
Thanks.

Glad to help. I noticed that BMSbattery has a couple of new motors listed in the Cute section. One looks suspiciously like a Mac/Puma though...

Gary

 

[The Stig]

Gary, do you know what winding speed your motors come in? Like Fast=20" Medium=24" Slow=26". And where do yours fall in?

 

[GrayKard]

Gary, do you know what winding speed your motors come in? Like Fast=20" Medium=24" Slow=26". And where do yours fall in?

I'm not sure really. I think that sounds right but I only have motors wound for 26" so don't know if the other rim sizes have different winding specs. Good luck getting usable info from BMSbattery...

I will try to figure out how mine are wound when I have them open for the Delta/Wye mode in a few weeks.

 

[dwkennedy]

Much obliged to any info you could share, mine are wound sloooooow, I ordered 48V 20" and they are only good for 12-14 mph. I want about double that

Next time I guess I should order 24V and run them on 48V !

 

[marshy]

... mine are wound sloooooow, I ordered 48V 20" and they are only good for 12-14 mph....

maybe you ended up with 20V 48"? :wink:

 

[The Stig]

48" lol MONSTER BIKE

 

[robert.smu]

Hello, maybe someone know, are cute motors delta or wye out from factory ?

Greetings form Poland, Robert

 

[Hyena]

I noticed that BMSbattery has a couple of new motors listed in the Cute section. One looks suspiciously like a Mac/Puma though...

Yeah I just noticed that on their site, it does look identical to the Mac. I'd be very surprised if it's much different internally to the 500w rated may, so I suspect the 1000w rating is a bit of exagerration.

 

[The Stig]

This is the picture BMSbattery.com have for the "cute-12" on their website http://www.bmsbattery.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_19&products_id=91
Is this ineed a Mac Shanghai? So 4kg and can take definately take peaks of 40Amps?