I already gave you the link in one of my posts above. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, The cables are always the wrong length in those kits with waterproof connectors, which makes the installation look untidy, and it makes it much more tricky to fix a rivnut for the bottom half of the battery.
250w Ebike Kit with KT Controller
- Thread starter saneagle
- Start date
Yeh I saw that and got confused tbh. On the BMS link it said cells/ capacity 3.5AH/ 14AH whereas the aliexpress one was 17Ah. But I could be getting the current of controller and batteries mixed up, plus it was out of stock on that bms website anyway.
The last thing I'd want is complications with the rivnut so it looks like aliexpress it is. I'm waiting for a reply on import duty then can make a decision. The complication comes from there being multiple routes to get to the same goal - better to be safe than sorry I reckon.
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As long as you don't include a battery, you normally escape any import charges.
Buying a kit or any of this stuff can be very confusing because there are so many choices and options. Every time you gain something from a particular choice, you tend to lose something else. What you have to do is choose the right options to get what's important to you, which seems very complicated until you understand what all this stuff is and what it does. My advice is to get some stuff. Don't over-think it. Learn from your experience.
Many guys on this forum started with no tools, no knowledge and no skills. They didn't want to buy bare motors because they thought they didn't know how to build a wheel. They worried about connectors because they thought they couldn't solder, and they didn't want to get a downtube battery because they didn't want to spoil their brand new waste of money donor bike by drilling the downtube. None of these things are difficult. Once you've done it, you wonder what all the fuss was about, and you have new skills and knowledge that you can use in the future.
I can remember one guy, who couldn't understand why he couldn't understand why his flat-bladed screwdriver wouldn't undo a hex screw. He had no knowledge of anything practical. After a few months, he was building all sorts of creations. He was last spotted in a video by The Sunday Times in an article about illegal bikes as he went past the reporter without pedalling at about 30 mph. Here's a thread about it for the sake of happy memories. nfortunately the Sunday Times video doesn't seem to be viewable. There are some interesting discussions in that thread, and I was pretty accurate in my prediction of the future. Post #72 confirmed it was him:
This mornings Sunday Times
Imagine the picture: drunk man over 60 on pedelec in safety jacket and helmet chuckling to himself as he weaves his way 38 km homewards... not pretty... :eek: The thing about riding a bike home from San Sebastian is that by the time I am off the cycle paths and on the open road I am half sober...
www.pedelecs.co.uk
Just accept that in the next year to 2 years you are going to end up with a shed full of redundant bits as you swap everything out that you have installed. Then one day you will look at all those bits and think. I know, I'll build another bike. Only to start swapping everything out again.
*1000 - it is definitely worth getting some opinions but you can end up in analysis / paralysis. Whatever problems you hit you will overcome and it will be valuable experience
I used to mount the controllers bare, With enough time, water damage would happen, so I moved them into enclosures. You still need drainage,. I found two dead controllers under water. One had a drain, but it was at the highest point. The other was like a bathtub.
Shipping even a 20" hubmotor/wheel to the USA is quite exoensive, I bought the bare motors and spoked them myself, I did not save much money, but that money went toward Sapim spokes and quality rims, instead of to the shipper. I've seen pics here of AKM100's in 20" rims with radial spokes from BMSbattery, May be a strong wheel, but looks like junk,
My education/training is in electrical. For mechanical, it's off the streets. I bought a Rivnut kit, but only use it on steel frames. I prefer to use clamps to hold battery cradles.
You can bend those bottle cages w/o snapping the aluminum with some heating, That's a vacuum cleaner cannister to the right, not a gas tank,
Shipping even a 20" hubmotor/wheel to the USA is quite exoensive, I bought the bare motors and spoked them myself, I did not save much money, but that money went toward Sapim spokes and quality rims, instead of to the shipper. I've seen pics here of AKM100's in 20" rims with radial spokes from BMSbattery, May be a strong wheel, but looks like junk,
My education/training is in electrical. For mechanical, it's off the streets. I bought a Rivnut kit, but only use it on steel frames. I prefer to use clamps to hold battery cradles.
You can bend those bottle cages w/o snapping the aluminum with some heating, That's a vacuum cleaner cannister to the right, not a gas tank,
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