NewB here. Some info on GM 500w rear motor + Foxpower 10AH Lifepo4

[biohazardman]

Destructive little girls they are!! Hard to believe they could do all that but it is probly in their genes? ;^) LOL Mine were a few years older when they ran through the house chasing each other with a bottle of baby powder that's upstairs and down. On the walls floor ceiling just about everywhere.  At least they were old enough to clean it up afterwards anyway.  Got to love those teenage girls.  I had six of them with me for awhile as a single dad and worked multiple jobs at the same time. Lived through it and have many fond memories of the insanity.  Just keep an eye out for bargains and use what you can for now as the wives usually know best.  ;^)

[biohazardman]

At about 1200 miles I was out for a ride and noticed a loss of power then cut out completely.  This was near the time I thought that the batts might get low so I turned off the switch and waited a few minutes hoping to get another half mile down the road as I had so many times before.  Turned it back on and nothing so checked the 20 amp fuse and found it blown for the first time.  Saw no wiring problems so in went the spare fuse which promptly blew in a few seconds with a slight jerk of the wheel.   Regen was bad on trying to pedal with the motor off so I disconnected all the wires to the controller which made it very easy to pedal.  Hooked up the non-regen controller I have at home and checked some voltages had .8-3.67 on the throttle wires with a 4.75 feed so close to acceptable but thought the .8 excessive at idle position.  The hall sensor power was near 5v also coming out of the spare controller but still I had no motor power.  So checked the other side of the hall sensor plug and found nothing coming out and upon a close inspection I had as others bent one of the pins over even though I was trying to be careful not to do so.  Straightened it out and as soon as I plugged in the power off went the motor happy to be moving again.  Looks like my regen controller is having problems will tear into it soon.  Have a 48v but not enough batts to run that much yet so will have to run non-regen for a time. Poor poor me.  ;^)

[Leslie]

By themselves they are normal babies.  Together as a combined force they can equal the strength of a 7yo  consider the brain of a terrible two'er then times that by -3 because combined brainlessness doesn't multiply in the positive range it sways to the negative side of the plane.  instead of pulling down small things they get together and move tables and assist each other in all sorts of manner of things... Like we tape nappies on and the other one helps get them off.  If one isnt in the mood for painting she will willing hand the other the faecal matter needed to make out lives living hell.  OMG its endless and I am about to face another day in hell yet again....

From the moment We got them home the weighed 4lbs each on 3/4 hourly feeds and it was all hand on deck.  You finish feeding baby 3 baby 1 was ready to start on the next feed.


On topic
The thing is I got the batts, bikes, wheels and controllers to bulid 2 bikes and Im planning on a third.  Im thinking maintaining three bikes is going to be as hard as looking after three babies. 

[biohazardman]

To be honest with you I doubt there is much worse in the world than terrible 2 times three on a bad day.  Ouch!! ;^) Then again there has to be the good also although lots of work involved.  Expect you have to be fairly well on a schedule to keep them going with not much free time or things get out of hand.  Mine are all growed up now and I will always miss the little ones in them.  Then again the grand kids are great no matter the age.  ;^)

As far as three bikes go I have one running, two more in the making, and as you can see it has had it's problems but I have been running it at full throttle and for lots of miles.  With the exception of the latest controller issue the problems have been minor.  Build them strong make sure you have torque bars and the wiring is oversized, carefully routed and secured well. Take good care of the batts  brakes and tires as your lives depend on them. I think it will be much easier to take care of the e-bikes then the brood.  ;^)

[Leslie]

I will admit your bike looks a lot more easy to maintain than mine and better built.  I made the mistake of removing the plugs as I thought they were a little shotty.  It just made life that little bit harder.  The Big batteries take there toll on the rims at times and there is no room to have the rear mono shock which would make the bike better with this weight im carying...

I'm an improviser in sorts and I recycle junk to make it all work I have success and failure as I go. 

EG... I have made a very good auto light led holder from a garden hose fitting that to be honest works better than anything I've bought in the shops yet, it's just superior in every way...


However with the recycle approach with every success story there are failures too.

[biohazardman]

Bike lights are over priced nice werq on yours.   My regen controller just bit the dust after 1200 miles or so and the stock controller is to big to fit in the box.  Have a 48v regen controller but not enough batteries.  GRRR.  That is not enough Lifepo4 batteries I do have 60v worth of the heavy stuff.  So looks like I become a member of the 48v club tomorrow as the 48v controller does fit in the box. Will put a couple of the smallish lead acid things in parallel and then in series with my 36v lifepo4s.  Should get me around till I can get some more batts and finish up the other bike. Have fun with yours take care of the thing and enjoy it while you can. Watch out for them little girls too they are just waiting to find something evil to do to your bike?  ;^)

[biohazardman]

48v is the only way to go for climbing hills and acceleration.  What a change although the top speed only slightly improved.  48v controller  bit the dust less than 50 miles on it really sucks as it was my newest addiction.  It was running great then just quit werqing without warning of any kind.  Had it fused and it blew the 30A fuse also.  Batts still had juice as I had less than 15 miles on a fresh charge.  Went over 18 miles on a like charge yesterday.  Had to pedal a 70lb bike near three miles to get home. Will tear into it soon.  Checked all the wiring and it was still top notch.

[Spacelander 1946]

Sorry to hear of your fried controller BioHman makes me worry about upgrading my bike!.....Anyway here goes.....would the 500W motor handle 60V ?.........would need a new uprated aftermarket controller. I have 36V 10AH Lifepo4 battery, if I add a 24V 10AH battery this should give 60v 10AH of power right?....I would still need to charge each battery separately. I am not that happy with the performance of my kit as is and would like to upgrade without spending a small fortune or am I just asking for trouble & headaches?....Cheers

[Lanchon]

> 48v controller  bit the dust less than 50 miles on

is this a GM regen 48V, GM non-regen 48V, or what? could you describe your batts?

[Spacelander 1946]

Currently running 36V 500W GM rear hub motor + 36V Regen controller + 36V 10AH Lifepo4 Batts....OK

[biohazardman]

Sorry to hear of your fried controller BioHman makes me worry about upgrading my bike!.....Anyway here goes.....would the 500W motor handle 60V ?.........would need a new uprated aftermarket controller. I have 36V 10AH Lifepo4 battery, if I add a 24V 10AH battery this should give 60v 10AH of power right?....I would still need to charge each battery separately. I am not that happy with the performance of my kit as is and would like to upgrade without spending a small fortune or am I just asking for trouble & headaches?....Cheers

From what I have learned by reading and past experience the GM motors do not dissipate the heat well at low speeds and or high loads.  I have no information on the change made to the motors by the factory from 36 to 48v but would imagine larger wiring would be the least done.  You will need to install some larger diameter wire to handle the increased voltage and likely amperage draw. Something a bit more high temp for all the wires would not hurt either.  Yes 24v 10ah batts in series with what you have should do fine.  Don't forget the rated amp draw on the batts either though.  It needs to be a minimum of 20 amp continuous with 40 amp for shorter durations else cutout and or limited performance will be a problem.  Your controller will make a big difference in performance also.  I would suggest a minimum of a 35 amp unit.  I am not sure what kind of top speed you will get at 60v but it will be a torque monster for sure.  Watch for the heat thing or you could fry your motor.

[Leslie]

I have the feeling that the only difference between the 48v and the 36v is the stamp on the side.  I took a good look at the windings on the hubs I opened and there' is no room for a larger gauge winding.

I know how to fix the problem with going slow when you go up to 48v.  Just don't go slow "lol" or move down to a 25" wheel.  you will get some good torque and speed to boot.  I estimate about youll get around 23mph (37kph) on flats and lose less speed with the smaller wheel against wind and hills.  I looked at my speedo today and I was flying with a small wind behind me at 21 mph (34kph)

I wont go to 48v becaue our cops in Aussie QLD are like mega losers that like seeing a future of smog and huge 4 wheel drives using kids as speed humps in theire own front drive ways..

Sorry if you own an RV.  For you!  Im moving to hook these babies up to solar panels very soon. 

[biohazardman]

48v is the only way to go for climbing hills and acceleration.  What a change although the top speed only slightly improved.  48v controller  bit the dust less than 50 miles on it really sucks as it was my newest addiction.  It was running great then just quit werqing without warning of any kind.  Had it fused and it blew the 30A fuse also.  Batts still had juice as I had less than 15 miles on a fresh charge.  Went over 18 miles on a like charge yesterday.  Had to pedal a 70lb bike near three miles to get home. Will tear into it soon.  Checked all the wiring and it was still top notch.

Well I did tear into it expecting to find bad FETs but instead found two of the diodes connected on the resistors on the back of the board shorted.  Found the same thing wrong with the 36v controller which I promptly robbed parts from to fix the 48v unit. Soldering on one of these boards is awful to say the least. But once done I jump wired everything together and IT LIVES once again.  Such a deal so now after three nice days without the bike I will ride to work in the rain tomorrow. :^) NOT!!!
A bit more on the question as to why this happened.  I was putting things back together and decided to put some better terminals,recently aquired,  on a few of the power wires.  Did about half of them crimped and soldered also and decided that was good.  NOT!! As I was finishing up one of the main power wires pulled out of it's terminal I had just redone this one couple days before it had not been soldered just thought about it and decided to do it later. Looking closely at the terminal I could plainly see it was for 14-16 gauge and I had crimped it onto 12 gauge wire and thought it looked good that day.  What a difference a few days can make. 

[biohazardman]

Well another month a few hundred miles and a few spokes later I'm still riding the  GM Schwinn as my BMC motor was a bust as you can see here.  http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=388.0   I have learned it takes two 12v 9ah SLA bats at 10lbs total to do the job of 4 cells LifePo4 also 12v but 10ah and weighing 4lbs. Have been running 36v LifePo4 in series with the two 12v SLAs paralleled for several hundred miles now.  It's a pretty good match as they die about the same time.  But the balance of the bike has be seriously upset. I have adapted but dont' like the extra 10lbs in the bag on the side of the rear wheel.  I turned off regen also to be on the safe side. I run wide open on the trottle most times and get near 20 miles 20-23 mph first ten and then I slow down to 18-20 for the other 10 so I can make it home or close anyway.

GM spokes are touted as 12ga but they are turned down at the nipple and then threaded so really 13ga at most.  I have broken eight or nine spokes at the nipple thus far.  Probly the way the wheel was put together.  Replaced the broken spokes with honest 12 gauge stainless in black from Danscomp. They are 170mm in length for the stock one cross styled wheel and 26inch rim. I have done some miles of off road riding as of late and the broken spokes were the only damage done. Will get them all replaced soon enough.

GM motor and the Foxpower battery have proven to be a good match and neither has given me grief as yet. I have some 1700 or so miles on the e-bike now and one suggestion.  Get the 48 volt system and a 48v battery from somewhere also. I started out with the 36v and thought it was great till I tasted the extra 12v.  No comparison the 48v wins hands down. No more pedaling up hill unless you want to and plenty of start up torque to get out of bad situations too.

[biohazardman]

Extremely clean installation there Biohazardman!  Sad to hear about the dead freewheel.  How difficult will the replacement be?

Sorry somehow missed your question a couple months back.  I had to buy the correct removal tool $6 and then enlarge the hole with a dremel as the axle would not fit through it.  Arm was not up to much so got out the 1/2 inch airgun and put it on the tool.  Freewheel came right off without a complaint and left the threads too!