Progress

[Spacey]

Just had another nipple come off into the egg shaped wheel rim that I have. Can not be bothered to take it all apart to fix it again.

[Sundsvall]

Just had another nipple come off into the egg shaped wheel rim that I have. Can not be bothered to take it all apart to fix it again.

If there’s less spokes the stress on the remaining will increase and most likely break one more. This will make it even more likely that you’ll snap another one. You have to consider the possibility on having an accident in full speed when there’s a total wheel collapse caused by overstressed spokes.

My suggestion is to rebuild the wheel with new spokes as a protection against a calamity.

Sincerely
Peter

[Sundsvall]

Hehe what currency is that in?
I'm liking this innovative way to tune a wheel!

The currency in the attached pdf-file is Swedish kronor (SEK). 100 SEK are approximately €10. Maybe someone will test the usefulness of  this kind of equipment.

Regards
Peter

[Sundsvall]

Just came in from the garage after some brain twisting electrical surgery. There’re a lot of cables to solder and the final look has to be as clean as possible. The throttle has been shortened as a suggestion from Leslie and the power switch on the controller have been by-passed so I can use the switch on the throttle instead. The controller is going to be hidden and Mark really liked the switch. There’re a lot of tips I’ve picked up here and implemented on my bikes.

[Sundsvall]

Hi all!

The Dark Lady has finally been out on the road and the acceleration is amazing.
I haven’t mounted any torque arms yet as I was much to eager to get her out. Nor have I programmed the Cycle Analyst so the 50 kph it shows may be wrong, but she’s definitely fast enough. Unfortunately, the autumn’s already here. Soon the temperature will go below zero and force her to go back in jail for at least five month, so I’ll note everything about speed, power consumption and distance as soon as possible. I’ll borrow a camera tomorrow and take some photos on her.

Happy Peter

[Leslie]

Yes, I did lubricate those nipples before I twisted them between my thumb and finger but it wasn’t until I used a tool on the nipples I could hear her complain. Almost every spoke did spoke to me in the same pitch and she became a real beauty whit the “Fat Ass” tyre on. Unfortunately she couldn’t lend on her kickstand because her butt became too heavy with the leather saddlebag containing the battery pack.

Peter

Glad the end of this saga has drawn to an end Peter.  A lot more work goes into to these custom E-bikes than most would be prepared to put into it you know,

I had one of those kick stands and with the SLA's it got so heavy the stand bracket literally tor off the frame at the weldings.

Finding a decent stand is very difficult.  I would be keen to learn more of this progress.  Yesterday I received my replacement BMS for the 20ah LI pack from ping.  I put it on installed its anderson plugs and sealed the pack up and installed it onto the bike.

Here I do some 8.15 amp loading with 8*50 (200watt) halogen to cycle the pack up for my soon to come Magic Pies.I am hoping for them at the end of this week, but they could arrive in maybe next week 4~6 waiting.  Ive only to wait another 2 weeks and the 6 week delivery time is up.  SO they could even arrive today.

As you can see it's a simple pack design with a battery charger connector and a main output connector.  I'm keeping this part of the pack as simple and easy as possible to avoid any more accidents with the BMS..  If I add any special switches or CA devices they will be easy tested and just snap on to thos connectors.


Like you I have a Dark lady too.  We called it the Black Hawlk.   I think the rebuild deserve it a name change

[Bikemad]

Peter, it's good to hear she's finally been tested.

What voltage is your Pie running on, and how many Amps does that Infineon controller actually draw?

Alan
 

[Leslie]

Peter, you don't mind if I use your thread to show you my progress too?

Saves me making one myself.  I'm pretty impressed with your new build Peter.

But can I show you my bike and how its working, its just a rebuild from my old bike..  And as you can see the postman brought me a little gift (sitting on my pack) from Reton Company, those DC to DC converters are here.

[Leslie]

The tape I used around my 20ah pack, it gets tighter as it lives on, what I thought was going to be solid and get more solid, squashed the BMS board . and the pressure pulled a BMS pin, lost an SM resistor the cells are all very good though.  I had no idea what that stretchy duct tape does when its stretched around stuff. If Id protected the BMS structurally it would of been a very good pack.   Progress is intermittent in yard over this week.

In hind sight, I did allow the BMS room to move around and the fets wee poking out of the side as they had free air to them.  But I should of known when after a day the BMS became more difficult to move and then it was stuck (squashed) in the best spot for my needs.

I reset the pin clip fixed it and will need another BMS.  

[Sundsvall]

Two step forward, one step back. This seems to be the norm for the e-bike builder. I’m sorry to here that your BMS crashed as a result of the tape contraction. The package gave a pretty solid and durable impression.

Pictures of the Dark Lady are coming up, but I can’t give any data on her as the bad weather keeps her inside. Even if she is a 48 V man-eater, she is affected by the rain.

Peter

[Leslie]

Well my pack was hard installed to the back rack,  I must of wound a few rolls of stretchy duct tape and made some bungy straps out of tractor inner tube to keep it on the rack.

It was very solid and to add I tapped a security cable around the pack.  It was a shame it didnt work, Im kicking my self looking at the amount of damage the pressure did to the BMS.,  It took me an hour to remove the pack and cutting the compressed foam and tape was scary as I didnt want to injure anything else with my knife..  Damned foam everywhere now.  This opack is turning out to be cursed, I have these strange feelings about its future.  When I threw the twisted pile of foam and tape in the bin I honestly felt the curse was lifted. One can only hope.   



More like 5 steps forward and 10 steps back with this one. 


The pack I played with the most "the 15 ah pack" is sitting on a rack ready to go on any bike and I left it in the foam box and taped it up too.  Unlike my failure with the 20ah pack the BMS can move a little bit and has no issues with the increasing pressure but I am intrigued to take a look, I should leave it alone.  But should I?


Your bike is road worthy at last.  IShame about the weather there.  We are getting much needed rain here so its a love hate relationship with the weather in QLD Australia.

[Sundsvall]

The bad weather was just temporary so she’s now longing for the road again, now it’s the kids that keep me inside. Although my fingers are itching to set-up the CA and begin to take measurement about her abilities, my guys comes first.

Took a photo in the garage this morning before I went to work. Lousy camera, lousy photographer and lousy chosen background didn’t prevent me from posting it though. But I will take a better one outside tomorrow and hopefully provide you with some data from her.

My intention was to achieve a proper looking lady, revealing as little as possible about the beast I wanted her to be. I’m quite satisfied with the result but I could have done a better work inside the saddle bag though. As I was afraid to cut the cables to short they instead went too long and everything (incl. the battery pack, the controller, the charger, a junction box and a considerable amount of cables) was just stuffed into the saddle bag because my impatience to get her out.

I liked the taping idea to keep everything together so maybe that will be my winter project.

Peter

[Leslie]

Very nice.  Wheren do you get a bike like this.  I am leaninfg towards this design for a new build.  I am happy with my old bike to get it going again yet I think the sadle bag is awesome.  We did this but over the cross bars.

I like to adapt things.  I used a laundry basket for a storage area on my back rack once.  It suprised me how well it worked.  I would repaet this as it served well with out failure.


I honestly wont tell you anything to do with your bike.  Its looks like an E-Triumph..  Love the classic looks.  The Triumph is a good bike to E-clone as it is lighter build than the other classic bikes.


If you use the tape its good for the prismatic cells to be under horizontal pressure.  This is ok with the tape.  The BMS with these packs troubles me so,  its like the unwanted pregnacy.  Although the BMS is a very good desgn and really keeps the packs in good balance they don't like being bent about or have thing drop on them.  Should keep them from harms way but have air to them.

I guess its cold where you are peter so the BMS would be pretty cool where every you put it.  

Is you use the tape its good for the prismatic cells to be under good horizontal pressure.  This is ok with the tape.  The BMS with these packs troubles me so.

I keep tinking of using wood block ends to keep some pressure on the cells.  Read on!

I bought these 8ah cells for very cheap and they were foil pouches in puffy metal containers, I used a G clamp and two pieces of pine squashed them back intoi shape and did some discharge and charging cycles.  They went from 5 ah cells to almost 10ah cells.  I was getting much better capacity, and the cells reqired much pressure to push back into shape  In fact I have to keep them like this.


My solution is pushing me to split the pack.  My back rack has places on both sides, and I want to balance its centre of gravity a little lower.


From the look of the pack its configured 8S2P cells blocks to an A and B plug.  I will show.

Its looking right at me.

There is a compartment in the rack for the electronics of the old Ezip Trailz the BMS fits in here perfectly.  I split the pack to either side of the rack.  Tape the cells with security cable to attact to frame under a deep layers of tape, keep dry and well protected and make a smoother contour shape with the tape for lower wind resistance.  But making sure the pressure is spread over the cells with wooden ends.  Make some nice rubber hoods for the pack and lace them up.

LOL Im looking at two

I have the wood, screws, and a circular saw.  Before I split I need the tape and to cut the blocks.  The cells are to spend no more than short while unprotected.

[Sundsvall]

Ok, here come the pictures. The 75 mm wide “FatAss” Tyre is really a good shock absorber and also is good looking. The front wheel, which came with the bicycle, has a 60 mm tyre but have to be adjusted as it wobbles at high speed. I by-passed the switch on the controller and used the switch on the throttle instead, but there was still a spark when I tried to connect the battery so I added a switch on the battery cable and mounted it in the front of the saddlebag. The Cycle Analyst is fastened in a homemade bracket and all the cables are put in shrinking hose. I cut the throttle in half to be able to customize it and make it look as the left handle. The front brake handle is mounted on the right side because its there it should be (a habit from the motorcycle) and is not connected to the controller. On the rear wheel, there’s only regen to stop the bike and it’s connected to the left handle.

I dug a hole in front of my garage with the rear wheel spinning in the gravel.
 I’ve been out watching the CA up on the mountain behind my house and she took at most 1610 w. She has no problem at all on these serpentine roads. An EU-moped came up besides me at a traffic light probably thinking he was passing a bicycle but was left behind when the light switched to green. The acceleration on the flat is what thrills me the most.

[Sundsvall]

More pictures