My ultra-sufficient semi-recumbent tricycle project

[ddk]

while waiting for an appointment I took some time to take pics of my 80 mile range setup (mit out mountains)

It's going to be awhile til I gather enough battery to finish the other two bat boxes.
I managed to rejuvenate my 8 12A AGM batteries so I put them to use, installed in the trailer


I also scored a cheap-ass speed-o which verified my guesstamentations of how fast at what volts the trike travels.

Added the Super High Tech GPS which came with my motor kit from highertecbikes
(actually I use a clown horn strapped around my neck for er, announcements)


I carry a chair for those moments of fix'n' tires an stuffs which also makes a pretty good "warning, I'm lots slower than you are" sign

added a (OMG a SWITCH) a switch to select which battery bank is active
'nother cheap-ass radio-shack POS SPDT switch!View attachment 1


LOL- so that's why I have two meters !

so far successfully navigated about 40 miles round trip (80 mile total) with about 40% capacity left (55% on the AGM, 40% on the LiPo)

later peeps

 

[ddk]

-took some time today to travel the route with not-quite-fully-charged LiPo batteries 10S3P (5S 5000ma each) for 41V15AH and the fully charged 8 AGM (SLA) batteries (6S 12AH each) 24S2P for 54V24AH for fun and games and a weigh-in at the weigh-in station.
First off, the range of the LiPo batteries vs the SLA batteries was similar but not equal. This wasn't a distance run as I stopped at all the coastal viewpoints to, ah, view stuff...
Roads into and out of viewpoints tend to be rugged, for lack of a better description.

results:
The SLA batteries sagged like my grandma's petticoats and could hardly pull their own weight up a moderate hill (4% grade) They were completely discharged in 2 hours even though I kept speeds to 10 MPH most the distance.
(except checking top speed once on the flat to verify what I thought was my top speed @ 54V)

ending voltages showed the sla batteries recovered an additional 0.8 volts after resting for two hours


The LiPo batteries brought me back home with capacity of ~40% left. LiPo weight-in is, duh I dunno because I haven't weighed the bat box with or without the batteries installed. But the batteries themselves weigh about 666 grams each per manufacturer's specs x6 for ~4kg or 8lbs 13 ozView attachment 3you remove the black knobs to open the hood...




One SLA battery weighs almost as much as six LiPo batteries @ ~7.94lbs per battery per manufacturer's specs. x8 for 63.52lbs.
no question about whether LiPo batteries are worth the extra cost they just are.

-@ the weigh-in the bike,me and trailer was 500lbs!

-not sure about how accurate that is because I just found out what my current weight was yesterday and I doubt I've added another 50lbs overnight, although anythings possible.
Then I noticed the weigh scale has been improved again, as it now only measures in 50lb increments!
-pretty useless for my uses.

I do know I'm done fooling around with the SLA batteries in the trailer.
The trailer shall resume it's former function as a groceries hauler.


and the kings duties has been reassigned

 

[ddk]

-apparently I've somehow become locally famous in a 10 mile radius.

dunno why some fat guy, riding a weird-looking home-built electric-powered tricycle along HWY101 in CA and OR might be an un-usual-sight.
:lol:
I now wave for the picture-takers :waves:
I suppose this is better than where I moved from, where drive-by's generally involved gunfire.

 

[ddk]

ok,
I lied again... (mainly to myself)

-has to do with my trip yesterday, where on the return run some guy pulled me over and asked if I was "X" (see: famous!)
...too which I replied "durr... Yup".
He then informed me I'd dropped my gloves along the return ride; whereupon checking my coat pocket I noticed my gloves were, indeed, no longer where they once were.
He mentioned he had them back at his shop, where I could pick them up.
I replied I was too whipped to make the return trip and wondered (out loud) if I could drop by tomorrow to retrieve said gloves (today IS tomorrow)
(why he didn't just bring the gloves with him is "the mystery that remains to be answered")

So this morn' I loaded up the trailer (where I hadn't removed the SLA batteries yet had re-charged them the day before)
(because you NEVER want to leave lead-acid batteries in a discharged state for too long)
Started towards my destination with clear skies and a light tail wind. (birds chirping, tractor-trailers roaring, blah blah blah)
Got to the business place where my gloves were being held hostage.
It was conveniently closed.

OMG I'm out one pair of $2.00 gloves!

but that's not the real story here.

The Real Story Here involves:
Somewhere along the return ride the winds picked up a slight.
I now faced 20-30MPH headwinds on a mostly uphill 15-mile run to home, on my underpowered 1/4 ton (me included) tricycle.

Although I wasn't measuring current, my IR temp reader showed the controller remained cool enough to not worry about (96F outside case, 59F ambient) as did my fingers when performing touchy/feely on the case (see: pics showing the controller mounted on the bottom-side of the handlebar-mounted Bat Box)
The motor, however, had climbed to 130F... started to worry I might be approaching the melt-down zone.
Continuing on I travailed the ride, only stopping long enough to fix the zipper-closer-thingy on my second jacket, which somehow got slammed, bent or made otherwise useless while it was folded, awaiting my needs, in the rear basket. (yes... the winds were not just very strong, but very cold @10-15MPH requiring my use of two coats if I wanted to remain comfortable) (And I wanted to remain comfortable)
I also put on my spare pair of gloves (everyone keeps a spare pair of gloves handy, right?)
Of course, I then proceeded to forget to monitor the motor temp.

-made it home; the motor sitting @140F

hope I didn't melt those nylon gears...

 

[John in CR]

DDK,
I love the detail. I've got a question. What is the contingency plan in the event of a failure of a plastics part(s) driving the 1/4 ton, including you, load?

 

[ddk]

DDK,
... I've got a question.

and I've got an answer :lol:

What is the contingency plan in the event of a failure of a plastics part(s) driving the 1/4 ton, including you, load?

my 'other' motor is a brushed mY1018 450w jobber driving a jackshaft that drives a 13-tooth gear mounted on the My Trike rear axle.
Although it's only geared for 8-10MPH I'm ok with this. You should be too :lol:
Although I had all the batteries assigned to the front motor, the process of re-assigning power involves unplugging and re-plugging a...
plug

I've been using trailer hitch 4x plugs because:

1. I have lots of them, leftover from another project and ...

2. After my failed attempt to purchase parts from Futurlec I still haven't re-ordered the SpeakON connectors I would rather be using for connecting batteries to controllers and chargers (previously discussed in This Thread)
PartsExpress is my Next Choice for those connectors.

BTW the motor survived (did a ten mile run later in the day after the re-charge)
The trailer is NOT going to be used as a battery hauler no mo'
The gloves be damned! ...To some hellish existence in Some Guy's shop.

 

[ddk]

today's nonsense is all about getting less than you pay for
OR
A review of the bicycledesigner.com's "front brake for a 26" bent springer fork".

First off why I bought this thing is because I've grown tired of building things for a bit
(I never really get tired of building things but I will take long-ish vacations from the whole process - like.now)

So I ordered this thing from you-know-who; not that I wanted too, because on the face of it their prices range between 15-20% higher than any other on-line parts supplier who handle the same/similar goods.
Unfortunately for me, no one else that I Wanted To Do Business With stocked this particular item.
So I ordered it from what's it's name
What I didn't expect was an additional ~$14 shipping charge from a city about 150 miles from me.
Of course, I don't really unnerstan where shipping via the same service with items weighing the same or slightly heavier, from Penn State cost $4... so one should assume that The Shop In Question might has slightly exorbitant "handling fees"
-and, as pointed out earlier in this This Thread, their shipping procedures are less than one might expect, sonsidering the handling charges.

_I sum-times wonder why on-line stores that charges the most (and immediately upon your click of the "checkout" button) regularly provides the least.

BUT NOW LET"S TALK ABOUT THE BRAKE

yunno... what I bought for about ~$43.


Since the Shop In Question provided a blurry photo and a useless video, I kinda knew I was getting taken for the ride.
But what I actually wanted was this thing


The brake pads the $43 solution came with worked so well-
I made a beeline to the LBS to purchase new replacement pads, hoping the brake might actually work like a brake. That is, provide some sort of braking force... because the brake 'as received' certainly didn't.



since I'm in a "sharing" mode here's my High-Tech Cutting-Edge solutions


I use TWO rubber bands... for Safety Sakes




end result:

with an additional $5 spent on replacement brake pads... I have a front brake

only costed ~$48
what a DEAL

 

[ddk]

...and last night I did the famous bone-headed thing of leaving my battery switched on, along with the controller.

some 12 hours later found the battery discharged from 41V to 40.2V :|


and one quickie review of the speed-o
works GREAT... sometimes.

 

[ddk]

blah blah blah...Have a nice life!

Can you post a few pictures of your final, finished etrike? Can you also summarize the changes to made to the original trike?

Now that I'm feeling better I will get a round toit but taking pictures is a problem unless I partially disassemble the trike
which at this moment in time I'd rather not do.
so instead I'll repeat what changes were affected to the Belize Tri-Rider Comfort Trike to become the My Trike(TM)
Goal: a street-legal (in my state) electric-powered pedal-assisted transportation vehicle what would be classified as a bicycle under state statues. i.e an electric motor developing up to 1000W propelling the bicycle at speeds up to 20MPH
All said statues to be complied with.
Note: Deviated from (implied) state statues by using two motors that are rated at 900W when operated at the same time.
Using more than one motor (two motors) is not specifically banned. if the total rated power of the motors are at or below 1000W. (moi interpretation, which is probably wrong)
-all given prices includes shipping costs

What was done to the Belize. (~$600) (jazzysports NA)
Mechanical Changes
-simply put: moved the chair, moved the BB location, added a new fork, added a jackshaft with sprockets for the rear motor drive
1. Changed seat position lowering it some 12" and positioning it some 5-6" rearward towards the rear axle by adding homemade adapter plates fashioned from Belize-provided basket hardware. (whew- a mouthfu) ($0)
2. Had the bottom bracket shell (where your bottom bracket lives) cut out and moved froward on the trike's frame by ~5-6" by a local welding-fabrication shop ($20.00) (local)
3.Purchased parts for a 5/8" jackshaft to accommodate a 44-tooth sprocket mounted on a freewheel I'd previously purchased for the E-Moto Trike (~$100 including previous purchased 44-tooth sprocket w/freewheel) (sickbikeparts, OMBwarehouse)
4. Had two 5/8" jackshaft bearing plates welded on where the tricycle's bicycle hub-styled jackshaft exists ($20)
5. Purchased and installed a Bent Springer Front Fork in order to position the trike's 24" front wheel froward almost 16" Note: these are the forks used on lowrider bicycle builds and include a rudimentary, yet fairly effective single-spring suspension arm. (~$55) (chubbyscruisers)
5. Purchased a disc brake for the left rear (un-driven) wheel ($60.00) (LBS)
6. Purchased a rim brake for the Bent -Springer Fork for a 26" wheel (~$43) (bicycledesigner NA)
7. Purchased new brake pads for the above ($5.00) (LBS)
8. Added trailer hitch fashioned from my previously-owned The Hitch by removing large, heavy chunks of steel ($20 for The Hitch) (local)
9. Purchased 3 lengths of BMX and multi-speed bicycle chain (~$33) 1/2" pitch, various widths. (local)
10. Purchased hardware for various fabrication and fastening purposes. (~$120) (McMaster-Carr, local)
11. grease, adhesives (~$8.00) (local)
12. coroplast ($12.00 ) (local)
13. additional tooling needed for fabrication (~$200) (Harbor Freight, local)
($1296)

Electrical Additions:
-simply put: added front geared-brushless hub motor (20MPH w/36V), brushed motor driving the rear axle through separate geared chain-drive (8MPH w/36V) and associated batteries and chargers and stuff.
1. Front geared hub motor(ampedbikes mighty mite ) mounted on a 24" rim with a 23A controller (36V-60V), brake handles and the other stuff normally found in a "kit" ($336) (highertekbikes) (included Highertek GPS for free) (see: This Thread page 9)
2. MY1018 brushed motor for 36V (~$114) (ElectricScooterParts)
3. 36V 600W controller for a brushed motor (~43) (tncscooters)
4. 5S 5000ma 20C LiPo Turnigy (~360) (hobbyking)
5. Battery bullet connectors and adapters (~$28) (hobbyking)
6. Max80 2-6S 7A battery charger (~38.00) (hobbyking)
7. wire, various (~$45) (local)
8. connectors, switches and fuses (various) (~$70.00) (hobbyking, radioshack, parts express)
9. meters (~$10.00 , speed-o (~$11.00) and Super Hightek Lighting Package (~$4.00 w/batteries)

($1059)

total cost So Far is $2355.00 and chump change
(I still need to purchase ANOTHER $360 of batteries)
It's a bit higher than one would pay for a pre-built E-bicycle that might perform as well as this build does on hills

-what makes this tricycle worth my effort and monies?
1. replaces a car (if the car were a convertible with no roof, no doors etc)
2. My Comfort (seating)
3. it's range (atm 15-20M on bigger or longer hills)
4. it's hill-climbing, albeit slowly up my sister's 30% graded driveway for almost 100 meters

I've not driven my vehicle since getting the My Trike somewhat road-worthy in March of this year.
With the additional braking and successful test runs I feel confident enough to not carry all the tools required to completely re-build the trike on the road.
-just normal tire-changing stuff(s) -and my folding chair (~$5.00)

Notes
NA means Never Again (will I do business with these clowns)
I dropped the (TM) from the trike's given name of My Trike(TM) since the (TM) stood for 'Tain't Made.
And Now My Trike Is Made.

 

[Rassy]

I enjoyed your exploits with that two wheel trailer full of lead. Almost 5 years ago I got hooked on longer rides (vs. just riding around the village), with that trailer hauling 12 12V x 12AH SLAs. They were wired 4S3P for a 36V 48AH pack. There were 2 brushed hubs on the trailer and 1 on the front of the delta trike, each with it's own controller but working from a single throttle.

The controllers were 35 amp models, so I could pull over 100 amps from the battery pack. It was a fun setup, but very heavy.

Anyway, my brother and two friends were riding the Oregon coast from Astoria to California and I had my wife haul me North about 30 miles so I could ride back to my place with them. Still had plenty of juice for the 15% grade at the end of the ride

That ride hooked me, and resulted in first going with a recumbent bike pulling a SLA powered BOB trailer, then the recumbent bike with a front hub and LiFePO4 on the rack, and now the mid-drive tadpole.

 

[ddk]

...
That ride hooked me, and resulted in first going with a recumbent bike pulling a SLA powered BOB trailer, then the recumbent bike with a front hub and LiFePO4 on the rack, and now the mid-drive tadpole.

LOL I've been hooked on long bike rides since I was a lil' kid, riding up to Crystal Springs from Millbrae (SF Bay Area) on my TWO-SPEED Schwinn cruiser. My older brothers had Three-Speeds. I was jealous.
(5-speeds were just being introduced to 'merican publics about this time)

Over the years I've owned more bikes of different pedigrees than I can remember, but the silly part is my last un-powered bike that I rode daily for 20-30 miles was a step-thru aluminum-framed TWO-SPEED cruiser. I donated that bike to the local animal shelter thrift store here, because I was mainly using the e-bike for all the hills. Wished I'd kept it, as it weighed 12lb

I know I'm unable to travel the distance to your location until I can purchase another 30AH of batteries, which is possible should I sell my E-Moto trike for what I want for it. (only spammers so far)
30AH of LiPo is the weight of 2-12AH SLA's LOL and I have The Room for both on the sides of my seat. (or I could stick'em in the trailer :lol

Traveling south of Smith River is a hoot and I'd love to ride the Avenue of the Giants... but heading north is far more tempting to me for all the scenery... I betcha anything I'm likely one of the few bike/trike riders who keeps a strong pair of binoculars in their tool kit.

I've become much less fascinated having large-ish solar panels riding above my head because of the winds I've encountered on the open roads.
I know... I know ... it would take a pretty big airfoil to lift my fat-ash up in the air. But the panels might be Just Bigenov (not-so-evil-twin of Boris Badenov) ...when those winds slam into me and, unlike the panels on my MH, the trike panels would be constructed using much much lighter materials.

 

[ddk]

the sign-shop-guy I bought my coroplast from has a Sun EZ3 for sale for less than $500

-wished he'd decided to sell that before I bought the Belize Tri-Rider Comfort POS
(which is the basis of My Trike)

it's raining
I Will be making a complete fairing for My Trike for days like this... but I won't document the process here
be aware I'd already decided long ago the body will mainly be fashioned of heavy-duty shrink wrap, as what's used for shrink-wrapping boats, cars, trains and aeroplanes

 

[ddk]

curiosity reins high in me
i might be part cat or sumtin.
always curiously curious
and definitely bone-headed

anyway I spent most of last week and Monday charging my 5s5000ma LiPo Turnigy battery packs to 4.1 volts per cell and made many runs over a fixed distance on different days but about the same conditions (about ten miles total on a 10s3p pack (41V15Ah)
-results were almost always the same, averaging:
start w/41V
end w/38.5V
with almost a 1.5V sag under acceleration and hill-climbing (0.7-1.3V)

Today (5-23) I charged the LiPo packs to 41.5V and did the same run, same battery pack (10s3p)
start w/41.5V
end w/41V
with anywhere from 0.3-0.6 sag under acceleration and hill-climbing

that's quite a difference!
- so I'll continue to repeat this run for the next 7 days (when not raining)

I'll note my charging techniques is all wrong (per usual) as I'm using a 'bulk' power supply and just watching the pack voltage until it reaches my desired goal. (Soneil SLA bat charger for 48V@2A with a 56V measured open circuit, actually)

I checked the individual cell voltages the first few days last week but stopped bothering when everything remained in balance
Today I also checked cell voltages before and after charging with the same results; that is each cell measuring within a few millivolts of each other
...too be continued

 

[ddk]

5-24 one cycle only
start 41.3V (rain interruptions, high wind gusts)
end 39.7V (rain prevented me from immediately taking a measurement, other than a reading from the *very* inaccurate red meter)

...so far this is looking like I -should- re-charge the cells above 4.1V for a very significant increase in range per charge
the cells have been cycled 40 times now. (this info is posted in case I misplace my lil' notebook)

I often cycle the cells 3-4 times daily -need the exercise-

 

[ddk]

-had my first run-in with the police today
There's one intersection along HWY 101 with lights, where vehicles turning right on the north side of the intersection I've had the displeasure of almost being hit by, way to many times when attempting to cross in the pedestrian lane with a "walk" signal.
On the north side vehicles do have a blind spot to the crosswalk (stupidly poor road design that I'm sure "looks nice" to somebody) I might understand their lack of vision as they turn, except the "walk" signal can only be activated by a pedestrian or "me".
I've become quite skilled at hitting the the "walk" switches, doing a quick reverse, aligning the trike to make the crossing.
And waiting a moment before actually crossing the road.
Today I attempted this maneuver on the south side of the intersection in an effort to avoid the blind spot.
Hit the switch...
Almost immediately the light changed and I had my "walk" light and I started the crossing.
As I entered the pedestrian lane a 42' Motor Home decided to make a left turn, cutting me off. Two more vehicles followed this bozo (bozo followers) keeping me from advancing. After they finally cleared the intersection cars on the opposite side started turning right, again, cutting me off.
One of the cars was a police cruiser...
Which stopped after entering the intersection when he saw me. (I must be semi-invisible) (no... I'm very visible... these clowns were just following the vehicle in front of them, disregarding the walk signal, which by this time had switched to the flashing "do not walk" sign.
I tried waving him through, since he was blocking my path, but he waited for me to finish crossing.
While waiting for the next signal to continue my ride north, I noticed the cruiser pulling up in the parking lot directly behind me.
The officer disembarked, walked up to me and said something about crossing on a "do not walk" signal.
I'm thinking he wants to write me a ticket...
He obviously didn't see the sign was flashing, or more likely, doesn't understand how intersection lights work.
I explained my dilemma being cut off by the vehicles (his included), keeping quite about his inability to see the "do not walk" light was flashing, indicating it had previously been a "walk" signal before that moment in time.
he took my word (that's a first)
mumbled something about cars almost hitting pedestrians and left.
I wonder if he stops to ticket pedestrians too?
You'd think he'd ticket the vehicles instead.
He could start with himself.

today's ride (with a minor interruption and high head winds)
Start 41,5V
End 39V
forgot to watch sag, as the winds were... windy.

 

[TopCat]

[youtube]bzE-IMaegzQ[/youtube]

Just thought you might like to see this vid about bike lanes and the law.

Regards
Tom

 

[ddk]

:lol:
@ stunt werk

Thank goodness the police guy wasn't an ass to me... just wasn't as observant as one might expect an officer should be.
Perhaps he realized that he might have missed the sign change, as his ending conversation was not an admonishment and mildly pleasant.

 

[ddk]

observations of my LiPo battery pack
-consists of 6 each 5s 5000ma Turnigy "20c" packages (20c discharge, 2c charge
configuration: 2s3p for (nom) 36V15Ah battery pack

1-balanced-charged individual 5s packages 10-15 cycles to 4.2V per cell all cells started charge with less than 0.01V difference between sells (with one exception noted in This Thread where one 5s pack was discharged to 3.5V per cell)
2-bulk-charged 36V15Ah pack at 7% of the pack's rated "c" (2c per 5s package) using a single 48V 2A charger for SLA batteries*
(open-circuit voltage @ 56V) until the battery pack reached my desired ending voltages as displayed on my wildly inaccurate red meter (consistently accurate but displayed voltages above the actual circuit voltage by ~0.4V-0.7V)
A. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between 38V to 41.5V for 25 cycles (37.5V to 41V measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
B. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between 37.7V to 42.2V for 1 cycle (37V to 41.5V measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
C. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between ~39.5V to (41.9 to 42.2V) for 10 cycles ((39.2V to 40V) to (41.2 to 41.5V) measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
3- balanced-charged individual 5s packages with all cells: start 3.93V with less than 0.01V difference between all cells as measured with accurate voltmeter and the charger's voltmeter display of individual cell voltages. (MAX80 2s-6s charger @7Ah)

*end of next week finds me replacing the Soneil charger (rated @ 1A measured 2.2A) with a "48V 7.3 AMP 350W Max Power Supply by AGT" (copied from amazon description LOL) which should increase the "C" charge rate to just 20% of the battery pack's rated "C"


I can be dreadfully boring when I wanna be

 

[Rassy]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[SamTexas]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Please, don't wake me up. I'm enjoying one of my longest sleep.

 

[ddk]

since I'm getting closer to an ending, I took the opportunity to ride north today in an effort to see how many mountains I could climb... which was "2"
This time I grabbed my camera!
The second mountain was too much for either the front hub motor or the sla batteries.
I forgot my ir temp reader so I'm gonna guess it was the sla batteries, because when I switched to the LiPo' battery pack the motor started working again.
I'm guessing the lead batteries were sagging too much, intermittently kicking in the LVC
Oh well... it's mainly downhill from here to back there.
As I coasted down the coastline I took pictures of the coast (gotta love the english language sometimes)




View attachment 1

The trailer full of lead is, as I'd previously noted, too much for the lil' Mity Might motor. That extra 100# of weight, it's just a bit more than I should carry

 

[ddk]

dunno about the BIG RED TARGET I have on my back...
apparently people ARE mistaking it as a 'real' target
...almost t-boned a couple of days ago.
I dumped the trike. Old tricks are hard to forget, and, was quite automatic on my part.
Results would have been better if I was, uhm, about 40 years younger, however.

So it's either body armor and/or a BIG XENON STROBE LIGHT to make sure drivers both see me and can judge how fast I'm going (about 12-15MPH is all) (I don't like the thought of sweating in body armor btw)

results:
-One battered, scratched and bruised body
-Undamaged trike, needing adjustments only
-DD doing the proper breakaway, as designed (guessed)
-LiPo's protected both in their cage and within their strawberry-kiwi packaging (actually I much prefer the peach-mango-green tea)

Sold the EMoto only to find out I have to wait for HK to re-stock their USA warehouse with 5s-5000ma batteries. Something about being unable to air-ship even one battery.
...And I tried to order 12 LOL.

Already have a supply of crystal lite 'packaging' awaiting their filling.

 

[ddk]

welp-the magic smoke was released from the soniel 48V charger last week so I ordered one of these things through amazon.
-expecting it tomorrow.

Since I hadn't added my 'new' connectors to the bat box I took 4 hours today to do just that.
The whole process involved a redo of the battery cage and a whole new wiring harness, which was a gud thing as the wiring was a complete mess, as opposed to the mess it is now.View attachment 2

The funny looking connector is what I've chosen to use for the functions of battery packs discharge and charge. Very simple to use, handles lots of amps and is simple to plug/unplug

downsides... 'lil pricey but doesn't incur the cost of an anderson crimper (upside is I really don't like andersons because they disconnect way too easily.

 

[amberwolf]

(upside is I really don't like andersons because they disconnect way too easily.

You must not be using the bigger Andersons--PP75 and SB50 definitely don't disconnect easily. You can find these used on various powerchair systems, on batteires, chargers, and battery-controller plugs most commonly.

Plus there are two different kinds of contacts available for even the smaller ones--the common ones have a lower pull-force and so disconnect easily, but there are higher-pull-force contacts available that won't just come loose as easily.

 

[ddk]

[....

Plus there are two different kinds of contacts available for even the smaller ones--the common ones have a lower pull-force and so disconnect easily, but there are higher-pull-force contacts available that won't just come loose as easily.

my only experience with the small Andersons are the ones installed on the Ampedbike mighty mite kit and one manufactured battery pack.
The only other Anderson connectors I've used are found on certain remote broadcasting trucks and my formerly-owned winch, neither of which you should use on an ebike :lol:

That said I spent 30 dollars for enough speakon connectors for my three battery packs and their respective cabling, which is all I'm ever likely to make in my lifetime... less expensive than one Anderson crimping tool -although I prefer crimped connections over terminal connections. -just like crimp connections that work fine when properly done using the right tool and I hate hand-forming crimps because they never work as good as the crimp done with the right tool.
Terminal connections done properly work fine for the power levels I'm using.
SpeakON connectors use a screw termination not unlike a Hubble power connector. They're about the size of an XLR microphone connector.

Soldered connections are, in my opinion (and my experience) the least reliable power connection but since I didn't want to change the HK battery bullets- hence the soldered bullet connectors (HK batteries, chargers and such all have bullets-- but you knew that!)
-if you look closely you might notice where I had to add terminal connections to a battery to repair it's failed solder connection. Had a couple of those failures on R/C batteries so far.
I'm thinking of terminating all the batteries in all my packs in terminal blocks, but only time will tell (and a few more failed solder joints)