My charger and battery :(

[PaintingLoft.com]

I just received my kit today.  I got the 1000watt 48v option. 

Problem:  the charger has an outlet for the wall and a female plug for the battery.
              the battery has a female plug as well!!! 


does anyone else have this problem?  what am I suppose to do about this?  when I unpacked the battery there was some sort of adapter plugged into it that has a red wire with a fuse and an exposed end of a wire.  there is also a yellow and green striped wire that also ends in exposed copper.

is this suppose to be my adapter?  is it broken or missing?  I know nothing about electricity to have an idea about what to do about this thing. 

I noticed in the picture of the kit on the GM site the end of the charger plug looks different.

HELP!!

ps;  is there suppose to be any on or off switch on the battery?

[biohazardman]

Does the plug on the end of the wires fit the female plugs on the controller and charger?

[PaintingLoft.com]

the plug with the exposed wires and fuse does fit both of the female plugs.  it was attached to the battery when I unpacked it.

[Draggin]

All is well.  The charger does not plug into the controller.  The Battery(exposed wires) recessed male plug when in use runs the controller.  The controller is unplugged to plug in the battery charger.  Check the polarity many times before making any connexions.

[PaintingLoft.com]

"The charger does not plug into the controller.  The Battery(exposed wires) recessed male plug when in use runs the controller.  The controller is unplugged to plug in the battery charger.  Check the polarity many times before making any connexions.
"

can you dumb this down for me.  first you say it doesnt plug into the controller then you say it does.  I have no idea how to check polarity.

like I said, I know nothing about electricity.  I don't see any way they connect.  does anyone have a pic of how it is done? how do I connect two female plugs?

thanks

[tartosuc]

the exposed wires are to be used on the batteries..red go to + and yello to -
that is why you have a male plug at the other end of the exposed wires...

when this wire is connected to the batteries, you can either connect the batteries to the charger to chanrge them, or to the controller to ride the bike.  but you don't need top connect charger/controller togheter.

[PaintingLoft.com]

I'm an idiot!!!  I am now realizing the problem.  I thought the controller was the battery.  I get it now.  Now I realize that a battery did not come with the kit and I need to buy one.

can anyone send me a link to where I can get that?

thanks

btw it needs to power 1000w/48v

[Draggin]

Your not an idiot.  This stuff takes time.  Stick with it. Your choices for batteries are.  Pb (sealed lead acid) cheap 4x12v 12Ah batteries cost about $100.  They are heavy and don't last long.  service life is about a year.  Nimh (nickle metal hydride)  the same v volt Ah amp hour rated battery as the lead might cost $400 it will last you a couple of years ane requires a special charger.  Most use radio control chargers.  You would need four of them.  The last and best is Lifepo4 (lithium ferrite polymer).  Dont pay more than $450 on ebay as I see people are paying three time the price for the same battery as they did a few short months ago.  I think one of the best sources for Lifepo4 is goldenmotor.com but you never now with them.  They may not carry them anymore.  Lifepo4 is one quarter the weight of Pb half the weight of NiMh,  2/3 the size of Pb and 3 times the energy avalable for the same Ah rating and last 10 times longer overall.  You will need a little volt meter about 20 bucks at wallmart.  This is to tell the positive + terminal from the - negative terminal.  Red is usually +.  Then make friends with somebody who knows how to solder otherwise you will have to buy a crimping tool and those little plastic  push-on ends.  when you are done you will have a very very nice machine at half the price of the next best kit.  read back in this index most of the questions you have have already been asked.  .The instructible is at goldenmotor.com.  or google instructible golden motor.  when you go for your first ride you will not be able to wipe the smile of your face!   

[PaintingLoft.com]

holy Sh$(#_!
This is starting to turn into a money pit.  I thought I was all set with the kit now I have to buy a battery that is $339+shipping AND I was not able to get the tire to fit my fork so I either need a new bike or  a new fork.  I thought going into this it would cost me $4oo.  now it will cost at least twice that. 

Does anyone know of a cheap bike that will have a wide enough front fork???  I was at walmart today measuring all the forks and none of them were wide enough.  I guess I will have to start saving up for the battery from GM.  maybe next summer this will happen for me.  what a drag!

[Draggin]

Older bikes work better as the forks don't have the tree's.  Hence you can bend them.  I used an old raleigh mountain bike that someone gave me.  There is a pile of then on kijiji from 20-50 bucks.  Yes this is a project.  You will end up with a kickass bike if you stick with it.  Look at a Bionx there like 250 watts yours is 1000 watts.  They also cost $1200.  If you went with the crystalyte only the top of the line could keep up with yours and I think its like a grand just for the motor.  and none of them is offering Lifepo4 for $339.  More like $650 plus shipping. How much to small is the fork than the motor.  I had to cut the spacers down that came with the kit.   Remember you can't use that motor on an aluminium bike it will rip the front fork right off the bike.  If you thought that you might ride off road think again.  I got about half a mile down a cow path, looked down and saw the powercord wrapped around the axle.  I had to braze a washer and cut out a tigher dropout to solve the problem.  I stick to the roads now.  Last year I put 1000km on my bike.  That was enough commuting to work to pay for the kit.  This year I did 2000km by June, enough to pay for the Lifepo4 battery.  I lost 25 pounds and thats 3000kms that didn't go on the minivan.  So get busy I don't want to hear any more complaining.  I want to hear some sucess!       

[PaintingLoft.com]

thanks for the pep talk.  I appreciate it. I know the price of the finished ike is cheap still.  I just thought it was cheaper by about half of that.  I thought I went into it with enough education but I quickly found out otherwise.  that is the reason for my dismay.  I am going to move forward and be excited about this.  I just need to do a large amount of penny pinching.  good thing I just started a second job to help.

[Draggin]

Well you may not be exactly wrong on that.  A year ago the kit came with a battery and a case and it was a hundred dollars less.  The add still says everything you need.  Then further into the article says batteries not included.  The batteries were poor quality but the battery box was excellent.  At least you had something to get you going.  That kit you have is going to turn the wheel at 408 rpm  I think my 36volt kit turns at 308rpm.  I go 35km/hr on average.  Your going to go more like 50.  The good thing is that you will be able to keep up with traffic.  The bad thing is you may get some speeding tickets. Keep us posted as your build progress and we want pictures, too.

[PaintingLoft.com]

50 mph?  do you think?  holy #$##@!  I think I need to upgrade my helmet as well.

what does everyone else use?  bike or motorcycle helmets?

i take pics of everything.  I will post a lot of pics when I have progress to report

[Draggin]

No. Not quite.  The freewheel speed of the 48v motor is around 450 rpm.  The freewheel speed of the 36v motor is 300 rpm. You have 1000watts of power and I have 600 watts.  So one would expect that you should go a little more than 25% faster me.  I don't have any problem dooing 35km/hr.  You should be going around 50Km/hr, or 30 miles and hour.  I wonder if there is any point in pedalling at that speed.     

[andre]

Hello every body and Draggin... do not forget the aerodynamic drag that increase with approximately the square of the speed!

with my 36v 500w engine, I was effectively able to 32-33 km/h without pedalling.
now on the 48v regen controler connected to the same engine...  a good 42km/h without pedalling at all, even if in free wheel (bike upside down) the wheel is turning a 52.6km/h (26")

hoping that helps, best regards,

Andre.