Lafree bike...info on this bike please

[NeilP]

Hello
I have just been given this bike as a non -runner and was hoping for a bit of info on it

First question..anyone recognise it. and tell me what it is called...that will make further googling easier Similar to a Lafree Sport Step thru..but not quite the same


Marking on it says Lafree and Giant , but have not found an image similar on the net yet.

Thinking charger may be at fault. It is built in to battery and shows green the instant it is turned on. Supposedly new SLA's put in two years ago...but never charged...since charger does not seem to work.
I have tried re charging the SLA's individually with a specialised digital SLA charger...but no go. battery voltage too low. Am attempting recovery...have 13.8 volts across it now...It is now taking 96mA...it started off at less than 10. If I cant recover them no big deal. I will fit some LiPo cells 3 packs of 4s 5 Ah would give near enough the same voltage and slightly more Ah..or even 4 of them and get 20Ah out of it. My 72 v 20 Ah pack will fit in there nicely...although I do not think the controller board would like that very much!!

If any one had a schematic that would be great.




What is this? speed or battery indicator? and the little hole with S/T marked. The previous owner seemed to think there was something missing there? a switch broken off?




Unknown wires...The link wire, would that be a 'speed limiter' link?...and the spare coiled up wire? any ideas?


Spare connector, almost center of pic, just to the right of the white label with the screw above it, there is a connector with two wires...not connected...any ideas? Label has three letters....B H & L

 

[HarryB]

See this...

lafreetwist

or this

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/105-giant-lafree-twist-story.html

 

[banbury frank]

batterys

Hi Harry

Just Fit New Battery's The Battery's on the link below are proper Electric Bike battery's

Ritar : Products

Available on Ebay

Ritar : Products

Frank

 

[NeilP]

Thanks Frank/Harry. Lightening fast replies as usual from this forum...less than 5 minutes I am sure..

Looks like I have one of the first early models...12 mile range and a bit of a dinosaur.
No point in fitting new SLA's if it is the charge that is gone as the original problem will still remain...dead charger. Will see how the slow recharge goes

Can only stick a charge voltage up one SLA at a time...and it is up to 125mA now...when disconnected it holds steady at about 8 volts...so looking good...will see if I can recover these...even if enough to see if the bike works.

Any ideas on those wires? or a schematic?

 

[flecc]

Yes, one of the original heavy SLA batteried Lafree models detailed in my history page. Never very good, these are a decade old lost cause now and in my opinion not worth trying to get running.

I was never familiar enough with these to be able to give you detailed information, but it's possible that Giant can send you a PDF manual on them.

Try emailing aftersales@giant-bicycles.co.uk to see if it's still available, quoting the manual for the Lafree E-Trans, E-Race and E-World e-bikes.

These models were more popular in the United States than this side of the Atlantic, but even there it seems there's precious little knowledge about them.

 

[banbury frank]

Charger

Hi

Charger on Ebay

Battery Charger 36V 36 Volt 1.6A Electric Bike Scooter on eBay (end time 18-Apr-11 22:11:54 BST)

Frank

 

[NeilP]

I had actually thought of building my own dedicated SLA charger
Battery Charger 12v SLA

seems a nice little circuit.

If the motor on the bike worked, I had thought about fitting a different controller if it comes to it. I would imagine a brushed motor?

flecc...thanks for the e-mail address...I'll give them a try...and like the pages..very useful

 

[NeilP]

Result from that e-mail address already this morning, they have info and will post it to me

 

[stevebills]

I would scrap it... as it is at the end of its useful life!

 

[flecc]

Result from that e-mail address already this morning, they have info and will post it to me

That's good Neil, I know they've come up trumps in the past.
.

 

[NeilP]

I would scrap it... as it is at the end of its useful life!

As it is, yes. but modified...? wondering what sort of power the motor can be made to take. scrap the current circuit board/cpu controller and fit a throttle only based controler

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Giant LaFree Full suspension street bike project. | V is for Voltage electric vehicle forum
or you could just chuck all the electrics and get a 36v Lifepo battery and a new controller and it should go well.

 

[NeilP]

Well I had a play with it last week, dumped al the original electrcics and stuck an extra 12v car battery n the frame in series with the standard SLA's.

Wired it up direct to the motor via a manual starter solenoid switch to see how it went.

Well the motor works and barely gets warm pulling up a hill with 36 volts across it. Still a bit slow on the flat though

Will try 48 volt next, then look for a 2 wire DC motor contoller.

In the same space the original 2 SLA's are fitted, I can fit my 72v 20Ah LiPo pack, so there is plenty of room. I could go for something like 48 volt and 25 or 30Ah

Anyone got any recommendations for a 2 wire controller ?

 

[banbury frank]

Hi

Neilp

Try this link for a 2 wire brushed motor controller 36 volt 500 watts


36V 500W Speed Controller Electric Bike Scooter 500 W on eBay (end time 25-Apr-11 00:41:03 BST)


Frank

 

[NeilP]

Hi Frank thanks
that looks like the sort of thing...never though of e-bay for new parts like that..but why not. seems to have the correct number of wires. Will mail them to get more info

For £20 it is worth keeping in stock for other jobs if it does not do this one

Thanks

Neil

 

[NeilP]

Or there is this one if I go up to 48V

Scooter/Electric Bike Brush Speed Controller 48V 500W on eBay (end time 28-Apr-11 16:19:34 BST)


Just found this lot as well...probably too much choice..now more research required

TNC Scooters (Scooter Sales and Service)

 

[NeilP]

Just a quick update to the progress of this bike.

Well I did have it running interminently with the original electrics. Motor runs fine, it is just the batteries that are U/S. I took them out of the case again yesterday, and they have bulged and swollen up.

I originally charged them with a iCharger 3010b hobby charger that is designed for SLA/NiMh/LiPo etc etc. They had been flat for 6 months or more and I did not know if I could recover them. I gave them a couple of charge/discharge cycles with the iCharger and they seemed fine.

I used the bike a bit and then charged them with built in charger. Still intermitant running, suspect controller or torque sensor

So I removed all the original control parts, controller, throttle, battery monitor etc and ran motor direct from battery pack with large on/off battery contactor. Ran well then...quite easily 18mph

This is where it all started to go wrong

Adding another Lead Acid battery in series gave 36 volts and all seemed great. Another and at 48 volts, getting 22MPH or so on the flat.

I did wonder about the ability of the original SLA's since when ever I plugged the original built in charger in, it did not charge...stayed green. A load test dropped the voltage down to about 8 volts!! yikes.
So I removed the pack, and replaced it with two Gel/Fiber mat Motorcycle batteries. So now it has 4 heavy duty 12 v batteries in series direct to the motor....via a on/off switch.
Well now it is good for 28 MPH


Until that is...the constant 'bang' of hitting th drive train with the motor going hard on with 48 volts.

Something must have sheared/stripped within the internal drive / gearbox assembly. The crank still pedals the rear wheel as normal, the motor spins but no drive

Have looked on Flecc's site but he only has pictures of the later model motors with motor on the side.

This one has motor out the front.

Will strip it later today after work and see what damage I have caused.

Flecc.....if you want pics for your site of this earlier motor. I'll post them on to you

Neil

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the offer Neil, but please don't worry. I have deliberately left these models out of my site since they aren't in any way related to the later Lafree models which I do know about. The Lafree name refers to the Dutch design company which assisted with styling on these bikes, but the two bike designs are radically different. Yours was totally designed by Giant, but the later models are predominantly a Panasonic design. Your model has much in common with the Yamaha e-bikes of that era, except they used more advanced batteries.
.

 

[NeilP]

OK, thanks for letting me know...before I had taken loads of pics...though i could probably still do that and psot them here for any one else for future reference, even if not on your site.

Should be off work in a couple of hours so I will strip it down to see that has gone

 

[flecc]

OK, thanks for letting me know...before I had taken loads of pics...though i could probably still do that and post them here for any one else for future reference, even if not on your site.

Yes, that would be a good idea Neil. Best not on my site which is really about the Panasonic systems, the difference often causing lots of confusion.

I don't know what it is about Giant and their model naming policy, but it sure confuses people. They've done the same with the Twist name, first applied to one of the three Panasonic-Lafree bike models, then applied to two hub motor regenerating bikes, and now for two of their latest non-regenerating bikes.

They also seem to think the more names, the better, thus we've had:

Giant Lafree Twist Lite

Giant Twist Freedom CS Lite

Giant Twist Express RS1 and RS 2

When they do keep it simple they don't get it right though. The Giant Suede made little sense as a name, but when they revamped it and changed it's name to the Giant Argue, it was so silly that it didn't even make it onto the UK market!
.