Well thought I should post a few pics and some info on my bike build with the Golden motor rear hub and Foxx Power 36V 10AH lifePO4 battery. Spent a couple of months researching the electric bike idea including reading all the posts here and elsewhere that I could find on the subject finally deciding on the Golden Rear hub motor. Rear hub because the bike has an aluminum frame with front suspension and thought I was going to mount the battery in the frame.
Guess I will start with the motor kit it’s a 500 watt kit with the upgraded Regen controller ordered it here http://www.goldenmotor.com/ $396
Although communication by e-mail was a bit slow now and then it did happen and the motor arrived promptly after payment.
Packing was a bit weak and both sides of the axle including the wires were punched through the Styrofoam and single layer box and sticking out. The box was beat up pretty good but I found the contents to be in good shape and complete although there was no documentation of any kind. The upgraded controller was not included in the original package but arrived separately a couple days later again with no documentation.
The rim installed on the hub had spokes tightened in some hap-hazard way. Some spokes were extremely tight others were very loose so I went to work on truing up the wheel. After about an hour I realized this was a waste of time as, although the side to side wobble was easy enough to deal with, the rim had a large flat spot covering several spokes in length rendering the wheel pretty much useless as far as I was concerned. I informed Golden motors of the problem with the wheel but thanked them for the kit just the same. I later asked for a few spoke nipples as they were messed up when the wheel arrived. I never received a reply from Golden Motors for any of my e-mails once the kit and controller had arrived.
I took the wheel to the local bike shop and asked for a strong double walled rim to be installed on the hub. Picked up the hub with the new wheel a few days later $77. It looked great so had them build me a front to match it with some 12 gauge spokes and a decent hub to the tune of $90.
When the hub axle nuts were spun up to the frame, for the first time, I noticed some kind of wobble in them. The thread line to the face of the bolt was not 90 degrees. They would not lay flat on the bike no matter how tight they were so were replaced with an aircraft/ny-lock type nut from the local hardware shop. Now things sat square against the frame and would not work loose in the near future.
Replacing the left nut was quite involved. It was necessary to remove the pins/terminals from the plugs, most pins in plugs have a release pin that can be bent up with a very small screwdriver to release them, from the wiring plug (see red circles on above linked pic). I used colored sharpie pmarkers to mark their orientation before removal. I could then route the wires through the new nut and into a battery box I had picked up. Upon removal of the terminals from the hall sensor plug I noticed that all of the wires had been carefully soldered in place(see yellow circle in above linked pic). Even though I would likely have crimped them first then soldered I was impressed by someone’s attention to this important detail. I cut off the hub wheel power wire female bullet connectors, large gauge yellow, blue and green wires. Then removed the connector from same wires on the stock controller I received with the kit as it was a direct plug in to the wheel connector plug. Next I crimped and soldered the correct spades on the three wires and pushed them into the plug removed from the original controller listening for that all important click as they locked into place. Now I could plug the regen controller wires directly into the stock wheel hub, inside my new battery box, and have matching connectors that would lock together.
Once the wheel kit had arrived I contacted Foxpower here
http://www.atenenergy.biz/Foxx%20Specs.htm Now on E-bay also to purchase one of their 36V battery packs. I received no confirmation on my payment or order and a week later I e-mailed them about this and received my first reply in another week stating they would ship the battery out tomorrow. A week after that I contacted them again as I had been told I would receive a shipping conformation and tracking number. This time they replied promptly and said they would ship it out the same day. The battery arrived a few days afterwards in a beat up box with no documentation of any kind. Contents were undamaged but packing once again could have been better. I e-mailed them about the documentation and the reply was prompt with a very helpful link to the information I requested on the net.
With the wheel installed the battery and controller tucked neatly into the modified tool box it was time for a test ride. I plugged the battery connecter into the Regen connecter there was a flash and pop inside the connecter. Scared me at first but found it to be a normal part of the plug in procedure every time. First ride was 16+ mile round trip on varied terrain with several fairly steep but short hills and lots of very gradual ups and downs with a several hour stop in the middle. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I managed just over sixteen miles total on my first charge and still had a measured voltage of 36.1 before I recharged. The regen took a bit of getting used to as whenever the throttle is released it kicks in hard to slow you down to less than a crawl and it is difficult to pedal against. I have since hooked up a switch so I can change back and forth from Regen to coast mode when I wish although a complete stop seems to be necessary to change from one mode to the other. This is a shame as I was planning just to run the Regen as an electric brake with a momentary switch. Just a note to remind those of you installing these types of hubs watch the spoke tension closely I tightened mine ¼ turn at 8,12, 25 and again at 50 miles. Not doing so could result in major damage to the rim and or your body if you crash cuz of it.
I now have 200+ miles on the bike with no problems and fairly consistant trip lengths so says my computer. I have killed the battery a couple of times with a measured voltage in some cells of near 2.8V. I have also added a 12V 20 amp fuse and a 12V 30 amp switch at the battery. These two mods have worked out well causing no problems. Did I mention fun? ;^)
In summing things up both Golden Motors and Foxpower delivered a decent product for a good price. Would I do it again? Well unless I can find a better product for a better price I will continue with these companies as I know they will eventually get me what I order and with a bit of werq things will be great.
