DarkerSide

Ha! I thought this bit was full of electric gubbins. Turns out there's oodles of space to do the connections and keep them tidily out of the way.

Sorry, yes, I thought I'd included the word "mount" somewhere in there, but clearly not!

Aha, that's a different option. It's a Hailong downtube battery, so I'm sure there's some photos online on how to open it up. Plan for lights is 4 X 12v LED strips in series, plus a separate headlight in parallel.

Hi folks Having enjoyed the TSDZ2 so much on my touring bike, Santa (the generous devil) has provided a Kona Ute for electric longtail excitement. When I move the kit over, I'd like to wire in lights (partly because the new bike doesn't have a dynamo hub). I have a plan for that based on much googling, but I can't find anything that covers exactly how to splice into the cable between battery and motor. At the moment I've got a pair of bullet connectors covered in shrink wrap. Should I be using a waterproof three-way junction box thing, or am I overthinking it and can just stuff two cables into one end of each of the bullet connectors? 48V, 250W motor. Lights will be relatively restrained in terms of power... Ta Rob

My solution has been to carry around a lockring spanner and tighten it whenever it loosens (which has been about every 300km). As some have pointed out, this could be managed with regular maintenance rather than being reactive, but I would inevitably forget one month and be caught out... The spanner I carry is something like this, which avoids the need to remove the crank arm. https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Ice-Toolz-BB-and-Headset-Lockring-Tool_117914.htm

Hi folks Loving my TSDZ2 conversion, and looking to add in some additional electrics: Main beam headlight (dipped headlight/DRL already provided by a dynamo-powered light), so I can retire the Exposure Strada on the handlebars Horn, so I can retire the Mk1 Lungs. I appreciate this is about as simple an ebike lighting circuit as one can get, but feedback on the attached to ensure I haven't forgotten something warmly appreciated. Key thought is: should I be activating things through relays, or can I just go direct from the switch? (PS my ability to make pretty-looking diagrams in visio far outweighs my electrical knowledge - I am an utter novice at this.) Planned major parts: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3M5T5GYG474HX?ref_=wl_share Picture of bike for showing-off purposes...:

The nut delicately highlighted in red keeps loosening (twice in 150km). This causes the cranks to rock. I've just greased it again and tightened it up with a large lockring spanner rather than the included tool to try and get more torque on it. Any other thoughts? Possible factor - I spaced out one of the bolts with a tiny washer (yellow arrow), because tightening it all the way down without the washer was pivoting the black plate behind the main nut away from the bottom bracket frame. I'm sure it's not meant to do that, but I suppose there's an outside chance it's meant to be some kind of spring tension thing to stop the nut loosening under load... Cheers Rob

This is apparently the crane mini Suzu top cap bell. I like it because it leaves space on the handlebars for something a little more industrial... Good solid Ting! which carries well.

Thanks for the thoughts, folks. I'm going to try heat-shrinking the individual connectors for now, although I've ordered a cheap mini heat gun to try and get a better result. Although I'm sure soldering would give a better end result, I'm still looking in to running a connection off the battery for lights and a horn, so I don't want to do anything too permanent (and the length of free cable from the battery mount is on the short side...). Besides, it doesn't look like I'll be doing any commuting on it for a few months at the moment...

I don't, but if there's ever a time to learn new skills it's when you're stuck in a house... If soldering is the best choice, can give that a go.

Not as a pair, but thinking about this that's probably not what you're suggesting. Shrink each connection individually and not bother with one over the pair? Part of my concern is I've never had good results with heat shrink (previously used it a lot with dynamo lighting systems). Wondering if I do need some kind of hot air blower rather than a lighter...

Humbly reporting back in. Ta da: Not quite finished yet (the hydraulic brakes I bought were a European kit, so I need to switch the levers over), but managed a test lap successfully. Post on the build is here. Thanks for the guidance above!

Hi folks I've almost finished converting by touring bike to use a Tongsheng TSDZ2 kit from Woosh, which generally has been an excellent kit and straightforward to use. The one bit that's concerning me is the connection between the battery mount and the motor. (I've written up a post on the build here if anyone's killing time during isolation, but the key photo is at the end.) The kit comes with some chunky bullet connectors, to the point that once I'd given them a wrap in insulation tape, I couldn't get any of my heat shrink sizes over the top. I could redo the connectors to stagger their position, which would make it easier to get a wrap over, but I'm wondering whether a better solution would be some kind of magical tiny, water resistant junction box. Does such a thing exist? This will be an all-weather commuter in western Scotland, so it may get slightly damp on occasion... Cheers Rob

Thanks Kirstin, that's good to know. For some reason I thought the 48V only came in 350W (ie not UK legal), so glad someone's pointed that out). And thanks Andy for charger advice. Just to come back to my original question; for repeated battery disconnection and with a main concern on waterproofing, am I better with a battery cradle/mount, or does it not really matter? Cheers

Hi folks Specc-ing a conversion of my current commuter into an ebike, using the Tongsheng 250W TSDZ2. Could do with some hive-mind thoughts on battery options... It's a 40km round commute with about 450m of climbing. On a test ebike with Shimano Steps, I was consistently using about 200Wh from the battery. I want to keep the battery as small/light as possible (the bike already weighs a tonne...), so I'm thinking about 250Wh would be a reasonable compromise. Needs to be downtube mounted. Initial plan was a small bottle-battery (handy bonus - if I needed additional capacity for something, I could just buy a second and swap them over as needed during a ride). However, I'll be unplugging it daily to charge in the office, and I'm a little concerned about the waterproofing/fatigue on the battery/motor connection, even with a decent connector. Am I safer buying something with a battery "mount plate" so I can heat-shrink wrap the mount-motor connection, and then relying on the battery-mount connection being a bit more robust for repeated plug/unplugging? Commute is all-weathers in central Scotland, so we do rain well... Cheers Rob