offroad cyclone

[glv]

Yes, all those wires are marked correctly in your pics. The small wires are for the charger (I double-checked with Ping just to make sure) and the large ones are for discharging.

The white wire from the charger is the positive and the unshielded one is negative, though I'd still put a meter on your charger just to make double-sure.

I put the charger on my pack last night and that BMS gets mighty warm after half an hour even at only 2A.

Ping says that this pack can be safely charged at 10A (0.5C) regularly without affecting the battery life and it can be fast-charged occasionally at 20A, but it will shorten the life.

Incidentally can anyone recommend a decent 48V 10A LiFePo4 bulk charger?

 

[laufer]

thx glv
Im planning on wiring all the set this weekend if i have some time, and also i whant to build a triangle frame case for the battery. Hopefully i can post some pics son.

 

[glv]

I just got everything wired up last night and did a test run (everything spread out on the floor) to make sure it's all working and it does! It sounds pretty much exactly like a cordless drill running.

laufer, do you have a cycle analyst or a watts up or some kind of current meter? If so I'd like to hear what your no-load current readings are. At full throttle with the motor just sitting on the floor it's drawing around 300W which is more than I expected. I'll do another test without the reduction attached and see how much difference it makes. Maybe it needs some oil or the gears need to break in a bit and loosen up.

It doesn't look like the battery pack will fit in my frame triangle without taking it apart and reconfiguring it (which I am not going to do). I'll probably have to strap it to the rack in back, unfortunately.

 

[glv]

Got everything put together today and took the first ride. Other than some chain problems the performance is better than expected. I've never ridden a hub motor powered bike so the noise doesn't seem all that bad to me.

Using the larger chainring in front and the lowest (largest) gear in back it tops out at about 26-27 mph @ 20A on flat ground. The other gears are skipping unfortunately, but I did manage to get a run in 2nd and I suspect the top speed will be in the 40s possibly 50mph with proper gearing I'm not totally sure on tooth counts, though I think the largest is a 30t. If you go with the smaller chainring in front you should get plenty of reduction using a standard MTB cassette in the rear. I'm going more for speed on my commute so I'll probably stick with the larger chainring, especially since I can only reliably use the one gear in back.

A couple times the motor mounts torqued around when I jumped on the throttle too quickly while testing. I threaded a bolt through the top mount's set screw hole and into one of the the bottle cage bosses on the top side of the downtube which has worked very well so far at keeping everything in place.

The motor barely got warm with the heatsinks on it and the same for the controller though it was only 60F/15C here this evening. I didn't try any dead-stop full-throttle acceleration runs but I was pulling 50A+ on several occasions with no trouble from anything.

If the weather cooperates I plan to try my commute with it tomorrow. If it doesn't then I guess I'll work on waterproofing everything. I'll try to get some pictures together, but I'm a little embarrassed of all the zip ties and bungie cords Mounting the controller is proving to be interesting due to the short wires.

The BMS on the battery gets up to about 200F/95C while it's balancing. I hope it's not a problem for those components to maintain that temp for a while. Guess I'll find out in the morning.

Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread... we're both building pretty much the same thing so hopefully we can learn from each other's mistakes and successes. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[glv]

Skipping and breaking chains are a constant problem so far. I broke a chain shifting under power this morning so I'd recommend against doing that The chain's derailed and wrapped itself around the bottom bracket a couple times too. I think I'll need to do the same as burtie and remount an impotent front derailer to keep the chain in place. I'm thinking very hard about ditching the 8-speed cassette in favor of an internal gear hub.

When it goes it really goes though. A friend an I were taking turns doing speed runs around the neighborhood last night. He managed 42mph in second, but it would probably keep going if I could figure out the gearing problems. He had someone follow him in a car and give him a complement on the performance We burned through almost 10Ah in 10 miles. It's just too much fun to go flat-out.

Any idea what the big metal hose clamp is for? I've noticed that the motor is a bit askew, possibly due to the mount bending a bit where it connects to the motor so I put the clamp on the opposite (heatsink) side of the motor from the drive sprocket and laced it through the mount to help secure the other side a bit. Not sure that's what it's for or if it will even help, but it probably won't hurt, at least.

 

[pakobike]

Hi, I followed your thread and progress with the 1200 Cyclone, I'm with my little 500, I also had problems with the alignment of the chain, usually by leaving the inside when trying to insert the cassette back in the 34 large teeth, and finally the solution is:



The chain has not come out anymore, I hope that continues.

I hope that the images are useful for you

Greetings

 

[UK_Bloke]

I'll try to get some pictures together, but I'm a little embarrassed of all the zip ties and bungie cords

I wouldn't be.....you've gone and made it, which is a lot more than most of us.
There are some very professional builds on these forums, but not everyone has the time money and access to tools etc (along with the skills)

I was looking at the kit you bought on ebay and the search then led me to these forums where at first you feel a total newbie, but after a lot of reading some of it starts to make sense.
One thing I will say about the cyclone kit....when I first looked at the way the engine was mounted, I'm thinking that doesn't look very strong esp for some of the higher watt motors.
I noticed you gain strength from using the bottle mount screws on your frame which was a good idea that I have seen others do, but I guess your aware even these have limitations? (can find link now to the picture of some of those distorted)
Bottom line....I think something stronger is needed else the torque is going to end up twisting your frame!
Keep up the good work though and remember newbies like me learn from seeing what people like you have "done" be it with sticky tape, zip ties whatever!

 

[glv]

Thanks for the pics, pakobike. I ended up following your lead and reattaching my old derailer, but I don't have any fancy sacrificial plastic on mine like you do. I saw your pics from your etrail thread. The bike is very sharp, nice job!

UK_Bloke, thanks for your thoughts on the mount. Yes, the cyclone mount is kind of crap, but so far it's getting the job done. I know oofnik had some trouble when using his bottle cage bosses to steady his motor mount/reduction though I suspect he would have had better luck if he had drilled through his mounts and threaded into the bosses rather than simply using them as flat spots. Hopefully the combination of the cyclone mount and the one boss will be sturdy enough. Time will tell.

The skipping chain problem was apparently caused by using a new chain on an old worn cassette. That would explain why the lowest 30t sprocket was the only one that didn't skip, I never used it I replaced the cassette and all the gears have returned.

Guess I should stop cluttering up laufer's thread and start my own... I'll get some pics out there too.

edit - the thread's here

 

[glv]

How's your build going? Did you get everything bolted- and wired-up yet?

 

[laufer]

sorry guys i had no news for so long, i had some personal problems to solve, but now its all ok. so hopefully i will be on with the proyect in a couple of weeks. thx u all !!!