Aurora arrived today!!!!!

[BLACKPANTHER]

Woo-Hoo. At last I have my new machine. While I was waiting for the battery to charge I made a few alterations. I Lowered and moved forwards the battery rack. Added front pannier frame, though I don't know if I'll use it. Changed the front tyre for a Marathon Plus and slime inner tube, waiting for a 2.00 inch wide Marathon plus for the rear, but they were out of stock. Hopefully it'll come tomorrow 'cos I don't really want to use it for work until I'm all puncture resistant. Changing the rear is not something I'm looking forward to.
I swapped the 'doesn't fit' aluminium bottle for my trusty 99p jobbie. Added an extra bar above the handle bars so the mode unit is level, and to make way for the Thunder Horn button (115 db!!) and the cycle computer. Checked all nuts and bolts. One spoke on the rear was mega loose, but my spoke spanner doesn't fit, (and it's a multi one which goes up to 3.30mm!)

Then it was time for a quick trip around the block. Which turned into a trip into Doncaster (rush hour/couldn't resist) and it's so satisfying filtering through traffic without pedalling. Then went a bit further, and a bit further, and so on. I saw 26 mph on the pretty damn accurate speedo (matched against a speed board which is bang on when I pass in the car) and on roads where I average around 15 mph I was breezing along at 20+ on full assist. I went hill searching, and it pulls up them very impressively. I did around 5 or 6 miles and still have a full charge.

Tomorrow I'll run it low to condition the battery.......though if it's raining I may just leave the lights on! I'll also take the advice of fellow Aurora owners and fix that damn battery rattle/squeak, and may remove the steering 'damper'. The centre-stand isn't as bad as I thought it might be, so I'll stick with it for now....oh and I'm off for a new seat stem as it's just too high to be perfect.

So I'm pretty satisfied with her. I very nearly bought an ebike back in May. I was edging towards an Alien Ocean GSII, but after driving up to York to test ride a Wisper 905, I felt I needed something with a bit more ooomph. I can manage the 20 mile round trip commute on the Dawes (non-electric), but sometimes my knee plays up and just before work there's a big hill. So, I'll probably just use the Aurora when I'm not 100%....or if it's really windy.
Anyway, this is one Happy Chappy signing off. I'll ride her for a couple of weeks and then give a proper review. Here's some pics!

 

[jerrysimon]

Congratulations and great to see lovely pictures!

I was about to say they fitted a nice tyre on the front then I read your text.

Ebiking is fantastic when its windy, your tired or just can't be bothered to pedal much

Regards

Jerry

 

[BLACKPANTHER]

Congratulations and great to see lovely pictures!

I was about to say they fitted a nice tyre on the front then I read your text.



Jerry

Ooooops, looking at the pic of the front tyre, I've cocked up there.....I should've levelled up the rim logo with the tyre logo. Untidy 'upside downie' work by me


The only annoying thing about setting the bike up was adjusting the gears. I think it'd had a bit of a knock at some point, and they took a lot of faffing to get them just right (it's a HEAVY) beast, god bless the centre-stand!). Having said that, I went out in traffic, on cycle paths, uphill, downhill, and never dropped out of top gear, even on a traffic light steep hill start. I think a chainring with more teeth may be getting ordered pretty soon.

 

[Marky T]

Hi Blackpanther,

Bike looks nice, I love the Black/Silver scheme, just like my Rush Trek, well smart.

Enjoy!

Marky T

 

[overlander]

It really is a fantastic value bike, yes you need some mods but thats part of the fun personalising your bike. Do please keep us informed of your progress.

 

[overlander]

Out of curiosity, who makes the battery for the aurora, is it the goldenmotor battery, looks very similar.

 

[averhamdave]

Is it a Golden Motor motor as well?

Looks good

 

[overlander]

If it is the goldenmotor gear then that is a major bonus, cheap hi capacity batteries.

Edit that the motor is Suzhou Bafang but still think the battery is goldenmotors.

 

[jbond]

Out of curiosity, who makes the battery for the aurora, is it the goldenmotor battery, looks very similar.

Phylion. It's a pretty standard 36v10AHr Lion battery in an ally case and with a lock/power switch. The battery and the rack it mounts in are used by several people so I'm not surprised it's similar to the ones sold by Goldenmotor.

It's a 10s layout but each cell may be paralleled internally. Somebody said the bare cells are actually 5AHr but if they are they look like one piece.

One thing to watch for. The internal layout is 3 columns of 3. The last cell and the BMS (in a cast ally mount) take up the 4th column at the outlet/switch end. The cell should be at the bottom when the battery is mounted with some support padding between it and the BMS case. I've had 2 where the orientation was the other way and there was no padding. So over bumps the cell can move which then breaks the connector to the other cells. I got one replaced under warranty. The replacement had the warranty seal broken so I opened it up and found the problem. The way the connector had broken meant it was fairly easy to solder it with a bit of embedded heavy duty copper wire. I put it back together with the sensible orientation of cell at the bottom and with some camping mat shoved between it and the BMS case. No problems since then.

YMMV. Be aware that you need to be sensible and careful around bare battery terminals. Don't blame me, etc.

 

[Streethawk]

Nice bike, but as a prospective Aurora buyer, i have a few questions, first, what do you mean by:

"I'll also take the advice of fellow Aurora owners and fix that damn battery rattle/squeak, and may remove the steering 'damper'."

Also, i have to ask why you're fitting slime tube with Marathon Plus tyres? The tyres are about as puncture proof as you can get (much better than Armadillos in my opinion), but the Slime tubes very rarely seal. Puncture sealant only seems to work properly on tubeless tyres.

Also, what range are you getting from it now? I read your other post on getting 15 miles from the Aurora, but with lots of hills, that didnt sound too good.

Finally, are the lights any good? Nobody seems to mention this anywhere.

 

[jbond]

"I'll also take the advice of fellow Aurora owners and fix that damn battery rattle/squeak, and may remove the steering 'damper'."

Also, what range are you getting from it now? I read your other post on getting 15 miles from the Aurora, but with lots of hills, that didnt sound too good.

Finally, are the lights any good? Nobody seems to mention this anywhere

The battery is a loose fit in the rack. So it helps get rid of rattles if you use a bungee to pull it up, or rap some rubber bumpers round the rack parts or dimple the slide.

It comes with a spring thingy to stop the wheel flopping sideways on the centre stand. Most people just remove it.

Front light is good. Back light really should be an LED rather than some weird 36v bulb. I had problems with the bulb blowing so made up my own red led cluster with a 1k resistor in series.

My range using medium power and pedelec is a little over 20 miles. Being stingy with the power, I got 28 miles with power to spare on my last long ride.

 

[WALKERMAN]

Where can I get one of those Thunder horns in the UK please?

 

[Streethawk]

Thanks jbond. I imagine its quite difficult to source a 36v LED rear light to replace the bulb with as most bike lights and even car LED's wont take that voltage?

 

[aseb]

Thanks jbond. I imagine its quite difficult to source a 36v LED rear light to replace the bulb with as most bike lights and even car LED's wont take that voltage?

Different colour LEDs have different forward voltages (around 2 or 3 Volts), but all can be easily adjusted to higher voltages by use of a series resistor.
It's an easy calculation and resistors are just pennies. There is plenty of help (and even resistor calculators) easily found on the web. Try a web search for something like 'LED current limiting series resistors' and similar terms. I think a 680 ohm resistor would do it but because its a larger than the car voltage drop get a resistor capable of handling a bit more power- You'd probably need a 0.5 or 1 W for 12V. 36 V would dissipate about 1.7W through the resistor, normally you go 50-100% over so a 3W resistor should do- but it depends on the led forward current- the above is for a 50mA current.

 

[BLACKPANTHER]

Where can I get one of those Thunder horns in the UK please?

I don't think you can. I bought one for each of my bikes from Thunder Horn Bicycle Bike Electronic Beeper bike mount on eBay (end time 13-Jan-11 20:07:00 GMT)
and even though it came from Hong Kong, I still received both within 10 days of ordering! I think the reason you can't source them in the U.K. is because they are 115db. Regular horns in this country seem to be around 70-80db, which is fine for getting pedestrians attention, but not cars. Be assured that these ARE VERY LOUD. Cars will hear you. They take the square 9v battery, and my 1st horn still works fine on the same battery after nearly a year of use in all weathers. I highly recommended them, but I'd suggest you keep a 'polite' bell so you don't frighten pedestrians.

 

[BLACKPANTHER]

Nice bike, but as a prospective Aurora buyer, i have a few questions, first, what do you mean by:

"I'll also take the advice of fellow Aurora owners and fix that damn battery rattle/squeak, and may remove the steering 'damper'."

Also, i have to ask why you're fitting slime tube with Marathon Plus tyres? The tyres are about as puncture proof as you can get (much better than Armadillos in my opinion), but the Slime tubes very rarely seal. Puncture sealant only seems to work properly on tubeless tyres.

Also, what range are you getting from it now? I read your other post on getting 15 miles from the Aurora, but with lots of hills, that didnt sound too good.

Finally, are the lights any good? Nobody seems to mention this anywhere.

I firstly solved the rattle by tie wrapping the battery at the back to lift it slightly. I now just use velcro. It works just as well and is obviously better for removing/refitting the battery. I've kept the 'damper' on. As a motorbiker, with a few biker mates, I take great delight in pointing the damper out and telling them it's there to prevent 'tank slappers' because of the power.
The slime tubes? Just extra protection. They worked so well on my mountain bike, and in my experience do seal the tube. The extra weight makes no odds on the Aurora....it feels like it could pull the house!
The only reason I was getting under 15 miles range is because I was intentionally using high power all the time to flatten and condition the battery (and because it's sooooo much fun). This week I got to work and back (20 miles) using half assist half of the time, and full throttle the rest. Now I know it can be done, I just use full nearly all the time, and recharge at work.
The lights.....well I've only owned mine for a fortnight, so the bulb's still fine. I'm a bit of a 'techno no-no' so I don't think I could l.e.d it, so if it goes, I'll just replace the bulb, which is actually rather bright anyway.
Having looked around at various bikes and test riding a Wisper, it became apparent that I wanted more performance than a road legal bike could muster. BUT I didn't want some beast that did 30mph and obviously looked well illegal with a motor the size of a dustbin lid!. The Aurora looks legal as the motor is the same size as a 250w. In summary......no complete bike on the market can touch it for the money, you won't be disappointed!

 

[Old Timer]

I firstly solved the rattle by tie wrapping the battery at the back to lift it slightly. I now just use velcro. It works just as well and is obviously better for removing/refitting the battery. I've kept the 'damper' on. As a motorbiker, with a few biker mates, I take great delight in pointing the damper out and telling them it's there to prevent 'tank slappers' because of the power.
The slime tubes? Just extra protection. They worked so well on my mountain bike, and in my experience do seal the tube. The extra weight makes no odds on the Aurora....it feels like it could pull the house!
The only reason I was getting under 15 miles range is because I was intentionally using high power all the time to flatten and condition the battery (and because it's sooooo much fun). This week I got to work and back (20 miles) using half assist half of the time, and full throttle the rest. Now I know it can be done, I just use full nearly all the time, and recharge at work.
The lights.....well I've only owned mine for a fortnight, so the bulb's still fine. I'm a bit of a 'techno no-no' so I don't think I could l.e.d it, so if it goes, I'll just replace the bulb, which is actually rather bright anyway.
Having looked around at various bikes and test riding a Wisper, it became apparent that I wanted more performance than a road legal bike could muster. BUT I didn't want some beast that did 30mph and obviously looked well illegal with a motor the size of a dustbin lid!. The Aurora looks legal as the motor is the same size as a 250w. In summary......no complete bike on the market can touch it for the money, you won't be disappointed!

Sorry BlackPanther, I only just realised you had sent me a mail, it was in my on line spam folder.

The short answer regarding converting a Lipo4 battery to fit the Aurora if you aren`t electrically inclined is not to get involved. Sorry.

There is another thing to consider that has become apparent is that the charged up voltage of a Lipo4 is lower than a Li-ion or Li-polymer which means that with a fully charged Lipo4 you are actually starting off at a lower voltage which is quite obvious from the fact that there can be just one light on as you set off because the controller is relaying the voltage and thinks you have fitted a partially charged li-ion battery and because the controller will cut out at a given voltage (for li-ion) then it will not allow the lipo4 to get down to what would be a safe voltage for it so you loose out and in the real world a 15Amp lipo4 on a bike designed for a li-ion is more than likely going to be nearer the performance of a 12Amp li-ion battery. Which at the price I paid (£180) is still a very good deal and to be quite honest not asking everything of the lipo4 (it not getting as low on power as it might have) might well see it lasting longer than it might have.

I wouldn`t really want to carry the extra weight of a 20Amp lipo4 battery to get something like maybe 16Amp on the road and I think if I had my time over( and bearing in mind that in reality the original Aurora battery seems quite a good unit) I would probably go for a 10Amp lipo4 battery made up as a flat configuration to either go onto the rear carrier or slung under the crossbar(the later preferred for a nice balance) and to be carried along with the original. I think the 10Amp lipo4 was around £160 inc p&p which is a good price compared to what else is available. I`m not saying the lipo4 I purchased isn`t a top notch battery cos it is but in conjunction with the Aurora controller it can`t give you it`s full potential.

Dave

 

[Streethawk]

I dont think i'd tackle building my own LED rear light, id much rather buy one or just make do with the 36v bulb.

Thanks for all the info everyone. I have to agree that the Aurora miles ahead of everything else in terms of value.

 

[jbond]

Old Timer, I'm sure I remember a thread here about the differences between Lion and LiFePo. The gist being that a typical 36v LiFePo battery has a slightly lower fully charged voltage and a higher discharged lowest voltage. So Lion was something like 42v to 32v and a LiFePo 40v to 36v. I think there should be two low voltage cutoffs. One in the battery BMS and the other in the controller. The Aurora controller is marked as LVC=31.5v. A LiFePo battery should never get down to this as the Battery BMS should cut off before the voltage drops this low. So the empty point should be set by the battery not the bike.

So what I'd expect to happen with LiFePo is that the battery gauge LEDS will look as if the battery is slightly discharged when it's full. Say 3 LEDS instead of 4. But the battery will cut off before the LEDs go out. So you you should get the full 15AHr of the LiFePo's nominal 15AHr.

The catch is that the 15AHr of the battery may not be real. It may be that the battery BMS protects the last 2 or 3 to avoid damaging the cells by over-discharging them.