buying pie what controller battery

[o00scorpion00o]

infineon controllers are well thought of, i'm not sure whether they will connect directly to the Pie or if modifications will be needed?? and I doubt it will improve performance. But i'm sure they would be more reliable.  but saying that I know nothing about them and have never used one.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Well I can certainly guarantee that the 40 amp infineon makes the pie come alive, going from the little GM controller to the 40 amp Infineon, there is no comparison at all! Absolute monster torque without the need for the weight of 2 pie motors.

And above all the controller stays nice and cool, I bet with modding, the controller could do 100 amps! The on off switch is a gem and no sparking when you connect the battery is good!

I got mine form ebikes.ca  The power, motor and hall wires were far too long for me, so I cut them and soldered and re shrank them. Heat shrink is really handy! Regarding the motor, I think the phase wire colours match up so it's a matter of just soldering and using shrink wrap, or getting the 30 amp andersons from ebikes.ca they have all the spare connectors you need.

Another good thing about the controller is the fact the wires come out in a much easier to manage place.

I seal all my connectors up with self amalgamating tape, it's used to seal the F connector on satellite dishes. It's a bitch to remove but is perfectly water tight, you just wrap it tight around the connectors!

One thing about the infineon from ebikes.ca is the regen is set far to weak, But you can re program it, but it means opening up the controller. And buying a different cable to connect it. That's the one good thing about the GM controller, the fact it's easy to program, The thing that really made me mad though was the fact 1 of them I got was a true 1kw controller, the other 2 were only 700-800 max no matter how much I turned up the power with the software.

The one that was a true 1kw is still working on my friends set up I sold him  before I bought my pie kit! It's amazing and If I still had it it would be fried! 

GM should really redesign that little 6 fet controller. I had 2 of them burn, that's not including the 2 I modded 

The 6 fet would be fine for the mini motor or for running at 500 watt, But they should have much higher powered controllers, and ones that can dissipate the heat much better too, even if they supplied infineons themselves!

There have been numerous complainants about the magic controllers so it's time they stopped selling them with anything over 500 watt kits, and offered better alternatives!   

[rollin76]

The 48v 20ah looks like ping batt with case off.Pack is made from 32 cells shaped like a pack of cigerettes.cell dimensions L 140mm W 65mm H 16mm pack size L 330mm W145mm H 125mm with out outer shell.Gm believes my pack is fine and want to send me new case.One cell corner is crushed.Not to bad.cells have square corners and this cells corner is rounded a bit.Will this make a differance?the top of case is crack half way across width of batt right over top of bms.What would happen if bms does not work and I charge this batt?Could it catch on fire?batt should be tested to see if cell damaged or bms functioning.It should  be fix first because if I use it amd bms is not working would that not ruin batt completely?denting lifeop4 cells is not good for them is it?I think I should be packing this batt up send it back and wait for new one.batt could work for while and die in 6 months because of this.It would be real fun trying to get a warranty claim on a batt few months from now if gm wont replace it now after it arrived almost broke in half..Maybe gm should package fragile items better in the future to prevent thing like this from happening.Save money in the long run.You would think they have some kind of insurance for this.

[GM Canada]

Please do not worry about your warranty. My reputation is rock solid and I will not let you down. If there was any doubt of this I'm sure you would find something negative in the forum about me somewhere.

That being said, GM does not want to just send you a new battery without tests to see if there is a problem with the one you have. They seem to feel a new case and a charger with the proper cord will resolve this. I think we have to wonder down that path to see where it leads us. They feel since it is lifpo4 it is safe to use and recommends a good test ride to see how well it works. Can you put a meter on it, record the voltage, run it until the bms kicks out and see what the voltage is then? Worse case scenario is I will be zooming around with that battery. I always wanted to try one anyway.

Gary

[karma]

The 48v 20ah looks like ping batt with case off.Pack is made from 32 cells shaped like a pack of cigerettes.cell dimensions L 140mm W 65mm H 16mm pack size L 330mm W145mm H 125mm with out outer shell.Gm believes my pack is fine and want to send me new case.One cell corner is crushed.Not to bad.cells have square corners and this cells corner is rounded a bit.Will this make a differance?the top of case is crack half way across width of batt right over top of bms.What would happen if bms does not work and I charge this batt?Could it catch on fire?batt should be tested to see if cell damaged or bms functioning.It should  be fix first because if I use it amd bms is not working would that not ruin batt completely?denting lifeop4 cells is not good for them is it?I think I should be packing this batt up send it back and wait for new one.batt could work for while and die in 6 months because of this.It would be real fun trying to get a warranty claim on a batt few months from now if gm wont replace it now after it arrived almost broke in half..Maybe gm should package fragile items better in the future to prevent thing like this from happening.Save money in the long run.You would think they have some kind of insurance for this.

Rollin 76 even a small dent in a cell will become a problem down the road. its lifepo4 theirs no risk of fire but if that cell shorts there will be heat and smoke don't charge that pack unattended. case is one thing crushed cells is warranty. 

[Bikemad]

Its lifepo4 there's no risk of fire.

That's what I used to think!

Read this.

Alan
 

[Cornelius]

With LiFePo4 there is little/no risk of explosions, like the older Li-Ion batteries could, but there's lots of power in those cells, so a short would develop lots of heat; enough to make things around catch fire...

[rollin76]

The battery is not getting hot and I don't plan on charging.I have been talking with gary and he said there would be a replacement soon.Gary is willing to pay for new battery to get me going and fight it out with gm china for refund on damaged one.I just hope Gary does not get stuck with damaged one.Thanks again Gary.Im glad I bought from you and not direct from china.Im in no big hurrry to ride bike as there is still to much slush and snow on the roads but I cant wait to see/hear it go.Is it ok not to use regen brakes?I have read stories about controllers frying with full batt?Only thing I want to use is cruise control lol.Is that ok?Or does regen have to be connected?I plan on making batt box that hangs from top tube as this batt fits in my frame.

[GM Canada]

Hi Rollin

If you don't want to use regen you can just turn it down or off with the USB cable. If you use cruise you should really use the power brake levers as they cut the motor. It is possible to use cruise without the power brake levers and use the button to turn it on then push again to turn it off. But in a panic situation it could be hard to do and the motor keeps going.

Gary

[rollin76]

Hi Gary  Could I use just one brake lever.Im trying to have as little wires as possable.I wanted to eliminate horn/cruise buttons also.operate cruise with button on throttle but I don't think you can do that can you?I will turn regen off and have brake lever to disable cruise just in case.You are in Missisaga right?Have you been stopped by the police.What would you say to them to convince them your bike is legal in Ontario as I dosent say anywhere on kit how many watt motor is?do they just take your word for it hopefully lol.Or do they have a portable e bike dyno to test watt output for motor.How do they determine if your bike is legal for Ontario?anyone have any experiences getting pulled over by police on an e bike?

[GM Canada]

Sorry for the delay responding. I have been in Ottawa for 4 days with the family for "Family Day" weekend. What a fantastic city!

Anyway. if you only want one brake cable wired you can clip the wire off the other. The button on the throttle can be used for cruise and works quite well with the twist throttle. The thumb throttle it is quite awkward to hold it in position and hit the cruise.

Gary
 

[GM Canada]

I now have had the damaged battery in my possesion for a week and have looked it over. I see no evidence that it was damaged in any way other then the external case damage. I know some will say there could be still be damage inside the shrinkwrap, but seeing no obvious damage I decide not to cut open the shrink wrap. Looking over the case and how the sits in it. My opinion is the top of the battery where the bms sits did not take a hit. I chaged the battery and all went well. It was at 52.7 volts when I received it and it charged to just over 56 volts. My next post will be about a recent test drive.Anyway here are some pictures.

[GM Canada]

I removed my rear 48v12ah battery from my bike and mounted the 48v20ah battery. I used about 12 bungie cords and wrapped it in a garbage bag to make it not so obvious. I loaded up my gear in my trailer and headed out on the road for my 10 mile (16k) ride to work.



What a day to do a road test! My ride is a long gradual uphill climb. The day I did this ride I actually had a headwind worse then any other ride. It was in the steady 40 to 50 kph with gusts over 70kph. My rolling weight with all my gear is over 200kg. With these obstacles I burned over 15 amps of power one way. This is not unusual as I normally burn most of my amps on the uphill ride to work and less downhill going home. But the battery pulled strong. My speed due to the wind was all over the place. Here are the pictures of the Cycle Analyst upon arriving at work.




After work I headed home and the battery started kicking out. I assumed it was the BMS saying thats it. I used anderson plugs to make the connection and I could unplug it and replug and it would go again. After doing it a few times and nursing the battery I made it most of the way home. I then unplugged it and plugged in my 48v12ah on the front for the rest of the trip. I was satisfied with the results and would look at the CA stats later. The next day when I returned to the battery I found I had cracked the Anderson plug and the connection was faulty. It was most likely why I had problems on the way home as the connection was very bad and any bumps or movement could make it kick out. So only the stats on the uphill ride to work will stand. The Stats from the return trip are unreliable and have been discarded.

I am not normally one that “tows  the company line”. Anyone that has been in the forum for some time knows I have butted heads with GM a few times on issues I don’t agree with. But In this case I do  believe this battery is fine. It will be recased and sent back to rollin76. I have given him every opportunity to cancel this order , offered him a full refund including any fees paid and even advised him on how to do a PayPal dispute if he feels it is necessary. He has chosen to still take this battery and it will still have full warranty and my assurance it will stand.

Gary

[MonkeyMagic]

Not that MM's words mean anything, but looking at those pics, personally I would be grateful of receiving a newly cased unit - and a bonus it was tested by a dealer.

I'll add a few more words (as MM usually does with a tasty beverage)

> After much dealing with customs and imports over the recent years, looking at this one you can't really blame GM 100% for the broken package.

Let's say it was packaged in a wooden carton, any dunnage such as this will require Quanantine, at the cost of the importer. So the range of cost would be from around $60USD to $130...

Air cells would burst, and due to the weight of the unit, the corners could break any plastic lining along with foam.

Recently GM orders are extremely well packed, but something to improve on here would be this battery surrounded in polyfoam, then double boxed in cardboard, then put in a bigger box with either shredded rubber or multiple layers of corrugated cardboard.. Reading that back seems like a bit of work but the cost would be $1 or 2 if that...

Anyway good work with the tests Super G !

[rollin76]

Gary even offered me 2 gm 48v 12a batterys to replace 20a if I wanted but I would prefer to have 20 a.Gary has been great through all this.I myself don't have much experiance with shipping to many packages but do they always look beat up or just mine lol.I will post pic of box and packing material.Very poorly packaged. How many times have you cycled the battery?Just the one time?How many times do you think it would take to insure everything is good?Were you thinking the battery was malfuctioning when you had connection issue.Im curious to see how it performs compared to 2 48v 12ah.See how many ah can be pulled from 20ah and dual 12ah.You said you got a little over 18ah from 20ah batt and 19 to 20 out of 2 12ah batt.

[GM Canada]

So far I have only done the one test drive. I was going to do it again today but is -8c and a high of -2c. Still a little cold considering the sides of the road are once again covered in snow. The forcast tommorow is above zero so maybe then. Also I am trying to do some further testing of my dual mini. So each trip I will have to decide, this bike or that one....

Gary