Aprilia Enjoy

[gtadmin]

Hi guys,

I have been collecting performance data for a while and now have 20 data points:

Wind gusts: Max 63, Min 17, Avg 36
Wind avg: Max 48, Min 13, Avg 27.1
Ah: Max 5.673, Min 3.20, Avg 4.394
dV: Max 0.060, Min 0.009, Avg 0.0245
Speed: Max 45, Avg 28 (Edit: Avg 24)

Round trip is 15km, so using the avg Ah it works out to 3.4km/Ah (or 2.2m/Ah)
(A couple of 10% grades, lots of 2%, almost 0 flat, and the Ah used roughly corresponds with the wind speed, 'cause it's almost always a head wind )

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Hi Guys,

I have been reading the posts relating to these little gems of electric bikes, and have to say there is quite a lot of detail in all the posts. I do not understand most of it from a technical point of view but have tried to get the overall picture. I have two of these bikes and have had them for the past 5 years and have ridden both of them for many klms. I have both the racing and the city version. I bought the city one for my wife but she didn't fancy it so I have both of them now and enjoy riding them as they have different "personalities" . Some days I will be in the mood for the racing version and visa versa.
I have experienced all of the problems mentioned here at one time or another. THe city one went first and like most of the posters here thought it was the battery but having the two bikes made it easy to compare them. So swapping the batteries over did not cure the problem.It was not until I looked at the Dutch site that I found out about the inherent controller problem. THe problem persisted for quite a while before the bike just would not go any more so I just rode the racing version and swapped the batteries from one bike to another. The racing bike's battery went kaput before the warranty had expired and the Aprilia agant replaced it. I took off the battery cover and sent it back to them by post ( I was a little sneaky and marked the old battery).I was concerned that they might just send me the old one back again, but I did in fact get a new one. Unfortunately this battery only lasted a little over a year. I did not bother with Aprilia again as I find their attitude about theses bikes to be quite indifferent but that is another story.
I started to notice the "squeek" down in the motor area of the bike as others have spoken about. It has not happened with the city version to date.
Eventually the same symptoms started to happen with the racing bike with the controller and as with the city bike it took a while before the bike actually ceased to function at all.
It was at this time that I discovered the Dutch site and I decided to buy the new controller and bits from China. As I said earlier I do not have any skills with electronics but after the parts arrived I gave it a go and with the enormous help from the Dutch guy ( forgotten his name) I eventually got the bike going. I did the entire conversion with the new brake levers and "boy" it was like riding a new bike! It just went so well and because it now had a throttle I worked out that It was probably equivalent to riding the original bike on "uphill" mode all the time, It was like a little rocket and what a relief to not have the Pedelec irritation coming in and out all the time and limiting my speed to 24 klms. Now I could just open the throttle and let it rip!
Gone also was the constant beeping that used to happen coming up my big hill. That used to irritate me because the motor would cut out and I would have to stop and turn the ignition off and on again before I could continue riding. One of the earlier posters said that if he did the conversion he might like to keep the Pedelec. Take my advise and forget it.
The downside of the conversion is that I have become lazy and now just love to go for a ride and use the throttle on full most of the time but I can cover quite a distance fairly quickly. I do not miss having the LED display as I live 5 klms from town and a battery charge does that return trip with no problems. There is a LED display on the Hall twist throttle but I never look at that anyway.
When it came time to convert the racing version I decided not to change the brake levers as I prefer the original ones anyway. I do not see the necessity of the cut out switch as when I have to brake I automatically let the throttle off at the same time.
By the way the "squeek" in the motor on the racing bike has disappeared, no idea why this has happened at all.
I am finding at the moment that the original battery is starting to let me down a bit. I am presuming that it is just old as it has done an enormous amount of work over the 5 years, so I am interested in your mods with the LIPO batteries. By the way I cannot open those JPEG files to see what has been done.
So that is my story with these little gems. I have read also the posts on the Optibike and I thought I might buy one of them but not sure as they sound a bit on the noisy side of things. I am lucky that my little coastal town has a 14 klm walkway/ bike track and I would not like to freak walkers out with a noisy electric bike. THe Aprilia is sooo quiet! and unobtrusive apart from its good looks of course.

Cheers,
Tony (ontopofabighill)

 

[gtadmin]

By the way I cannot open those JPEG files to see what has been done.

Hi Tony, we had a server "upgrade" which rendered quite a few of the embedded jpeg's useless If you have any piccies in mind that I uploaded, I can always upload them again.

And welcome to the forum

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Thank you GT for the welcome,

I would really like to see the pics of the mods to the Aprilias battery box region.

Cheers,
Tony

 

[gtadmin]

Hi Tony, I have repopulated the two posts with those piccies here (and then scroll down a couple of posts for the last one)

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

G'day GT,

I still cannot see them, I followed your link and there is just large black spaces

Am I doing something wrong maybe?

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

Tony, they should be visible ! They are to me ! Can you see this one ? (I reloaded directly off the hard drive, whereas I only re-linked them previously.) If you can, I'll do the same for the other 5.

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Hi GT,

Yes, I can see that one.Looks great !

Would the fact that I can't see them be because I am using a Mac ?

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

Hi Tony, the problem is that the server "update" screwed the piccies, not anything you've done or use. I have reloaded all from my hard drive again so they should all be visible now (just follow that first link I gave you). I also loaded the mould piccie.

Cheers,
GT

 

[AussieJester]

Fantastic job GT turned out Pro mate ... :wink:

BTW, what's coroplast? Aluminium alloy?

Its a plastic, very often used for for sale signs
coroplast used to be a favorite amongst modelers, for making small ' park fliers'(rc planes) using a combination
of coroplast and duct tape.

KiM

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Hi GT,

I can see them all now thank you. You have done a great job, it looks like a "bought one". Thanks for going to the trouble with the pics.

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

Fantastic job GT turned out Pro mate ... :wink:

...

KiM

Hey AJ, thanks! It's high praise when it comes from you (re: painting) :wink: Once I get the cruiser finished, I'm considering re-doing this (without breaking the mould :lol: )

Hi GT,

I can see them all now thank you. You have done a great job, it looks like a "bought one". Thanks for going to the trouble with the pics.

Cheers,
Tony.

No problems, glad you like them!

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Hi Guys,

As I said in my original post I am not electronics savvy so when i replaced the controller with the Yin Yang (sorry I couldn't resist that one) unit all I did was follow instructions like a parrot. I have tried to follow what you guys have done with the LiPo pack but I am confused.
So , I have the new 24V controller with a new Hall throttle which I presume is suited to a 24V system. I turn the key and off I go on my merry way. So , now that my battery is on the way out can I change over to a 36V lipo pack? and just plug it in and off on my merry way again or do I have to get a 24V Lipo battery pack? I would rather have the extra power of the 36V lipo pack and so if I have to change the controller and throttle to a 36V I would rather do that. I guess my confusion is that it sounds like some of you guys are using a 36V Lipo pack with the 24 V controller.

Please put me out of my misery.

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

Hi Guys,

As I said in my original post I am not electronics savvy so when i replaced the controller with the Yin Yang (sorry I couldn't resist that one) unit all I did was follow instructions like a parrot. I have tried to follow what you guys have done with the LiPo pack but I am confused.
So , I have the new 24V controller with a new Hall throttle which I presume is suited to a 24V system. I turn the key and off I go on my merry way. So , now that my battery is on the way out can I change over to a 36V lipo pack? and just plug it in and off on my merry way again or do I have to get a 24V Lipo battery pack? I would rather have the extra power of the 36V lipo pack and so if I have to change the controller and throttle to a 36V I would rather do that. I guess my confusion is that it sounds like some of you guys are using a 36V Lipo pack with the 24 V controller.

Please put me out of my misery.

Cheers,
Tony.

Hi Tony, the throttle and controller you have will almost certainly be Ok (my controller has 50V caps in it even though it's rated at 24V) for 8S or 10S LiPo. So if you are confident enough to use LiPo, pick the speed you want to go at, choose the battery, connect it up and go.

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Mnnnnnn... More power and speed... I like the sound of that . Thanks again GT.

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

Mnnnnnn... More power and speed... I like the sound of that . Thanks again GT.

Cheers,
Tony.

More speed - yes, more power - no! You will just have the same power at the end of the ride as you did at the beginning. This is because you will be amp limited by the controller.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Okay, so if I change to the lipos and feel that I need a bit more power, I could change the controller to a 36V to get a little extra power? I live on top of a HUGE hill and it is a real bugger to face at the end of an otherwise enjoyable ride. If the battery isn't in tip top shape I have to get off and push it up the hill and this is not really what I want to do.Thanks GT.

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[gtadmin]

If you can comfortably get up that hill now when the battery is fully charged, then LiPo's alone will be OK because they will still give you enough amps at the end of your ride. With mine (with the old NiMH) I struggled to get up the hill (~10%) just out from work on the way home, having to stand in first gear especially with a head wind (upto 65kmh). Once I changed to LiPo, I have never had to go below 2nd, and usually go up in 3rd.

I would try it with changing to LiPo alone and if it still is a problem, then you need to change the controller for one with a higher amp (not volt).

** This assumes you have already replaced the original controller

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Thanks Gt,

I am very happy with your answer. The Lipos will obviously do the trick for me.

Thank you so much mate you have been an enormous help.


Cheers,
Tony.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Hi GT,

Not sure if these images will appear or not. They are not clear anyway. Remember I said that I had one of my battery packs replaced under warranty by Aprilia? I It was only a bit over a year old when it started to show signs of weakening and I got to thinking after reading all the posts here that maybe there might be a problem in the battery pack with a fuse perhaps. The pics that I have tried to post show what appear to me to be green fuses (30A). I am not sure how to tell when these types of fuses are blown but I am presuming they are blown as they have a melted hole in the green plastic on one side of the fuse. What do you think?

Cheers,
Tony

 

[gtadmin]

Hi Tony, piccies are OK. I'm a mech guy, not elec, so you would need to get another opinion, but my way of thinking is that if a fuse is blown, you wouldn't get any current flowing. However, it's cheap to find out if that's the problem - replace them @ about a buck each, and see if you get your performance back.

If so, you can then delay buying LiPo but you would need to eventually (or some other chemistry). I was looking on HK site, and you can get 4S8Ah batteries for $58US (you would need 2 for 8S) if your round trip is only 10km. Depends how you ride of course

PS If you want the piccies to show "inline", click on the button labelled "place inline" after uploading the attachment.

Cheers,
GT

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Thanks GT,

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[Hillhater]

Hi Tony,
As GT said that fuse is unlikely to be blown, but from the way the plastic is melted it looks like a dry connection that generated a lot of heat.
Weak battery performance often means that you have a bad cell or two in the pack.
See if you can check the pack volt drop under load (or when its giving poor performance ... you can use a Multimeter plugged into the charge socket !) ... or even check each cell individually on the bench.
My old Nimh pack perked up to be useable again after i fixed all the bad connections in the pack internal wiring.

36v Lipo ( 42 fully charged) will work ok with the Ying Yang controller, BUT beware that you wont have a LVC cut off protection for the battery...and the motor will get hot up that hill ! :lol:

Who will be the first to do a Brushless conversion using a Turnigy 80-100 ?

 

[jateureka]

I got to thinking after reading all the posts here that maybe there might be a problem in the battery pack with a fuse perhaps. The pics that I have tried to post show what appear to me to be green fuses (30A). I am not sure how to tell when these types of fuses are blown but I am presuming they are blown as they have a melted hole in the green plastic on one side of the fuse. What do you think?

If the battery has voltage at the output pins then one 30A fuse may still be blown as the 30A fuses are wired in parallel. However, it does look like at least one 30A fuse housing has melted a bit. You can take them out and test them or just replace with a standard 30A auto blade fuse.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Thank you guys for your posts. I will replace the fuses and have a bit of a gander at the internal wiring in the battery. Ultimately I want to change to the 36V lipos. I noticed that GT has got a LVC protection circuit board fitted to his unit. I could put one of those in as well,are they an over the counter job?. When I come home and ride up this big mother of hill, the motor feels fairly hot to the touch but I guess it has done a pretty hefty job.
I need to buy another multimeter as my old one is 30 years old and not working all that well.

Cheers,
Tony.