Second long trip on self-build bike

[morphix]

I don't think its a Tongxin as the casing looks different. The Tongxin motors are virtually silent due to the use of steel roller bearing gears to drive it. They are made in China not Austria.

This is unique in that all other gear driven hub motors use nylon gears and hence are more noisy.

Regards

Jerry

I don't know then.. all I can say is the motor is virtually silent when running except when starting up... the guy who owns rftec told me they are made for them in a Chinese factory, also there's no noticeable drag when pedalling unpowered...it feels to me virtually the same as riding the bike without a motor fitted...the weight of the motor is 2.5kg.

 

[jerrysimon]

I am not sure either. I guess the only way to confirm would be to open it up.

Weight is different though.

Having said that the one shown is the narrower 80mm wide one.

Regards

Jerry

 

[stevebills]

Thanks for the recommendation.. I got the battery from a Chinese business selling on eBay... cost £83 with BMS and a charger including shipping by FedEx.. a few other people have bought for him before me and vouched for him..

daoji666 items - Get great deals on Sporting Goods, Consumer Electronics items on eBay UK!

Thats cheaper than ping

 

[NRG]

Yes they are but then Ping batteries can deliver current up to ~3C so the voltage will hold up better underload and overall quality may be better....only time will tell

 

[morphix]

Yes they are but then Ping batteries can deliver current up to ~3C so the voltage will hold up better underload and overall quality may be better....only time will tell

If you were using your bike moderately, say twice a week and doing a full charge cycle each time, how long do you think it would take for the battery performance to degrade? After a year or maybe 2 years? And if you were using it daily, and charging every day, how much faster would it start to degrade?

 

[NRG]

The battery will age wether you use it or not, say in two years it may be dead. If you continually pull the max C rating from the battery and fully discharge it each time the the life may be shortened to 6 month or lesss, it's really hard to say...one thing that can help with these batteries rated at 1C is to spec Ah so that it equals or exceeds the current capability of the controller, so if that is 15amp make the capacity 15Ah or more, that way the battery will be under less stress......but it will still age anyhow as I mentioned above.

The downside is a larger battery and for a folder that's a problem so the best route is to do as Jerry has done and go for quality A123 cells that can take the strain when put together in smaller capacities....

 

[morphix]

BTW if you are looking at 20" wheels or smaller you want to seriously consider suspension as small wheels on anything else other than smooth surfaces without suspension can get very uncomfortable. The Brompton falls mid way with rear suspension only, but of course folds really small. It is not cheap though.

An alternative cheaper one I have come across recently is a Downtube which does come with full suspension, though I have not ridden one so can't vouch for it.

Regards

Jerry

Thanks Jerry that's something I had not even considered. I will keep it in mind, I did look at the downtube bikes, they look not bad at all for the price and very light.

 

[morphix]

The battery will age wether you use it or not, say in two years it may be dead. If you continually pull the max C rating from the battery and fully discharge it each time the the life may be shortened to 6 month or lesss, it's really hard to say...one thing that can help with these batteries rated at 1C is to spec Ah so that it equals or exceeds the current capability of the controller, so if that is 15amp make the capacity 15Ah or more, that way the battery will be under less stress......but it will still age anyhow as I mentioned above.

The downside is a larger battery and for a folder that's a problem so the best route is to do as Jerry has done and go for quality A123 cells that can take the strain when put together in smaller capacities....

Thanks for that useful advice!

 

[jerrysimon]

Morphix,

Looking at this link maybe your motor is in fact a Tongxin. They seem to have redesigned the case a little now and it looks very simlar to yours.

Interesting

Regards

Jerry

 

[morphix]

Morphix,

Looking at this link maybe your motor is in fact a Tongxin. They seem to have redesigned the case a little now and it looks very simlar to yours.

Interesting

Regards

Jerry

Aha! Interesting. I did have a technical drawing of the motor from my supplier which might of had some info on it relevant, but I seem to have misplaced it I will have a proper look for it.