my first e-bike

[davec]

the bike in the pic is actually my 2nd generation not my first
my first was the same bike but used the kit in the below picture- the hub motor was small and it used a seatpost rack to hold the sla battery

I got the bike for free a guy selling it in coutrice ontario - he was moving and selling his house...once i got the bike i ended up buying a daymak e-bike in a box kit... i was a noobie back than
i paid about 300 dollars for this kit... it came with a seatpost rack ... a 24volt (2xno-name sla hooked in series) weigh about 18lbs.(also there was a fuse that kept melting for some reason). cheap chinese no-name controller- the motor was 250w dd front motor.. this was my first kit. it had it all even a slow 2 amp charger so i would get to work(14 km trip) plug in and re-charge my 24v sla took like 2-3 hrs.... brand new this was fun , i think i clocked 25/km hr top speed but than 10km into my trip the peukert effect slowed me down eventually...hill climbs definitely needed peddaling otherwise it would stall...assembly was real easy

 

[davec]

i bought the kit here:
http://www.daymak.com/ebikeinabox/info.html


so basically i got close to 2 months out of it before the sla decided to give up
the chinese seatpost rack was not build for the 18lbs sla battery and eventually snapped in 2 (lucky i was not going fast) the battery fell to the ground- i had to bungee coord it to frame to get home
the dealer was nice enough to give me a new rear rack free of charge which is what's installed on it and use to this day
also the kit had no power or performance but it was fun
The saddle was upgraded to http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/BikesAccessories/SeatsSeatcovers/PRD~0737431P/Schwinn+No-Pressure+Bike+Saddle.jsp?locale=en
Schwinn No-Pressure Bike Saddle - general bicycle seats are not healthy and totally uncomfortable - i find this saddle so comfortable that i've been using these since

anyways after the sla went i retired this kit and got hungry for power
i read all sorts of threads on here about the power of lifepo4/ after doing some research
i ended up ordering 12 headway 10ah blue cylinder cells and bought a inf 20a controller + 9c 2806 from ebikes.ca
i used 12 voltphreaks single cell lifepo4 chargers in series,,, as a charger
it was a world of difference- i used it to get to work everyday and got good service out of it

some issues i had with the 2nd generation bike were:
1 rear wheel axle snapped- but for 10 bucks i got brand new rear wheel
2. the 9c rusted to death even though i never rode in rain.. the moisture gets in and eats these hubs away
3. the headways would sag and i killed 2 of them ending up with a 10s pack
i think the main reason the headways went on me is because i had no lvc..i dont think i was hard on them- i always charged them up and only went 14km per trip.i was using them max 2c..but regardless these are poor quality and cheap so no surprises.

at the present this bike has a pro901 golden motor on the front with a non name 36v controller+ few yardworks packs...
i let my friends use this in the city

 

[Bill Nye the science guy]

how did you find the headways for weight and performance? look like a good option for cheap lifepo but i know 0 about them.

 

[davec]

i got my HEADWAY 10AH 38120 LIFEPO4 locally from ottowa as i didnt have the patience to waite on stuff from china
coming from sla it was a huge upgrade and found them fantastic
it had the nice lego blocks which made construction super easy- these blue cells are 0.33kg i had 12 of them so the weight of the pack was about 11lbs compared to the 18lbs sla
it worked ok for the first month but than problems started
for some reason there was a heavy sag - and i wasn't even abusing it the most i did was 2c max/20amps up a hill . i did not have LVC/or a BMS protection so generally the cells on the end of the pack got weak and evenually died
fortunately i had spares- i must of gone through at least 2 spares until i gave up even though i should have bought a bms
maybe they're truly 1c and 2c peak not sure...
i would not go with this brand again - sometimes it's just worth paying more and going for quality

 

[chvidgov.bc.ca]

Really, I think you need to use a BMS on the Headways, unless you balance charge another way. I've had excellent success with my two Headway packs using them daily for about two years now. They balance right up, at 58.2 volts terminal.
They are somewhat saggier than the Ping battery in the same size amp-hour-wise. I've been using the 10 amp hour Headway pack mostly with 15 amp continuous controllers with small gear motors. The 15 amp hour pack works fine with the 9C and a 30 amp controller.

 

[pwd]

Nice to see another Canadian here. You should fill out your location. Thanks for sharing your build, sounds like you've learned a thing or two with your build. Do you have a voltmeter to monitor your pack voltage while riding? I'm sure you would find it very handy to have.

Cheers

 

[davec]

thanks for the comments
this bike was what i used when i first started years ago
i've built many more since than and my newest ebikes have certainly evolved - pushing the bar higher seeing what works and what dosnt- i like to design something new each year. i think ebikes still have to evolve to the point where they can be reliable as scooters/ and other motor vehicles we use. , lately i've been into cargo bikes, but i would like to get into creating light road bikes now- these days i use either a CA or a watts up meter- temp probes in my hub motor- i monitor all. back than all i used was a simple voltmeter (also had cellogs but never installed)- but i didnt push it hard - with 20amp controller and never running the cells below 60% dod i figured i should be fine - did have a gary goodrum lvc kit assembled and installed but it did not work right so i scrapped it and used the cells bare.
regarding the hedways theres a mix of reviews some had luck others didnt-
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=49433&p=730186#p730186

if you use them definately have an lvc or bms for sure
and i think they should work ok at 0.5(10a) to 1.5c(15amps but anything over that is iffy and i ran mine 20amps on hills i think thats what caused some of them to reverse or die prolly due to sag- funny it was always the end cells that reversed - except for the lvc i managed the cells properly i balanced charged them to 100% with 12 x lifepo4 voltphreaks single cell chargers each time and took proper care but they still failed...... regardless i wont be going with this vendor again
a123's might cost a bit more but you get what you pay for