nabidana

http://king-meter.com/upload/images/1405495823.jpg is the new sensor and magnet-wheel

Bit of a catastrophe, this. Trex, do you think Woosh would have a PAS compatible with the XiongDa 2 speed? Desperate to get back on the road.

It's not going to blow up either way, I guess. Just want to get back on!

Anybody any clue on the wiring of the PAS sensor loom from the XiongDa controller? Black, Brown and Yellow on the loom, but black, blue and red on the replacement PAS from King-meter.com

My new PAS sensor has arrived - it's by King-Meter.com and it appears to have a male 3-pin connector - I think (but am not sure) that the XiongDa controller has a different connector. What do you reckon?

Thanks Kirstin. Got home and had a quick check of the fuse - it wouldn't want to be that, it's a 30 amp job - if something had blown a 30 amp fuse, I wouldn't have wanted to be on it in the rain, rubber shoes notwithstanding. It powered up ok this time, and there's no evidence of water ingress into the LCD or anywhere else. My guess is still flooding of the battery cradle, so a bit of judicious silicone and gaffer tape will be going on that at lunchtime tomorrow. Delighted and relieved that it all started up again. Had all sorts of visions of 'if not this then what' diagnostics.

Hi there - was looking forward to posting about my first 350km on the bike, but just short of that, I've had a bit of a setback. My route home takes me up a long-ish hill, then up a much steeper part of the hill. When operating normally, the wattage meter shows between 40w and about 300w, but when going uphill semi-lazily, it can register 480w or more. This used to alarm me, but it's gone through that cycle about 40 times now, so I didn't see it as a concern. Last night, in a very heavy rainstorm, as I approached the very steep part of the hill, the screen went dead and all power assistance was lost. There was no other indication of an impending failure. Battery checks out okay and charges as usual. Battery cradle was wet, screen was wet and of course the assist selectors and switch were wet. Controller, which sits in a waterproof saddlebag, did not get wet at all. On removing the battery, the terminals connecting the battery to the cradle were bone dry. Haven't taken the cradle off to see if there's water inside there. Around 5 minutes after the failure, when I finally got the machine back into the garage, the controller was lukewarm to the touch. The motor was cold, the axle was lukewarm, but certainly not hot. I don't claim to be able to unpick the variables: either a) stuff got wet and it stopped working, in which case it's been in a dry place and I shall check for any corrosion or shorts as soon as I get home today. or b) something has gone in the controller or the motor. Where would you start?

Ohh. Go on

Thanks to the excellent support in this forum, I settled on a Xiong Da 2-speed motor and a 15Ah battery from Woosh bikes. After my first 100km I thought I'd make some observations about how it works fromt eh perspective of an absolute beginner. Some of the assertions I make will be basically wrong, but this is 'as it seems to me'. I ordered the motor straight from the factory and it arrived with minimal fuss just about 2 weeks after payment. Once it was on the way I ordered a rim (Ryde Sputnik 26) and custom fit spokes, both from the charming and helpful Dylan Thomas at YourSpokes (also trading as Poetry in Motion - which is a necessary trading name if your name is Dylan Thomas). In Ireland there are literally no companies advertising spoke cutting services, such is the size of the population. I have subsequently found a few. The bike attached to the kit is a now gently customised BH Corona mountain bike, second hand, which looks all beat up to hell but is actually in fantastic condition. I had a shop swap out the fork for a steel one and set up spacers to fix the geometry of the ride. The Xiong Da goes on the front hub. I built the wheel myself - and was delighted to be told by the shop that the final truing took ten minutes - he thought it was a good job and I was happy to believe him. The first ride was a thriller - partially because the seat post retention clip was cracked and sheared half way up a dual carriageway, puttting me 20 degrees off centre and compressing my knees into a 38 degree angle for basically the whole stroke for about 5km; but partially because this little motor is fabulous fun. The modus of operation seems essentially to help one to get to 25.5km and then do its best to hold one there. It isn't a motorbike, it isn't just taking off on its own. In assist mode 3,4 and 5, it really does exact some serious pull. It's extremely gentle except in level 5, where it smoothly but firmly applies force and pulls one quickly along. It is very quiet, and I'm pleased to say I can't detect any of the noise described in previous threads on the motor, requiring dollops of this and that. I can't for the life of me think of a reason to use the Low or Automatic setting. Battery capacity is perfect for two round-trips to my office, dropping only one bar and sitting at 38v idle. Starts at 44v. The screen is great and very informative - its so much fun to see the additional power I'm putting in reducing the assistance level - it's gamifying my commute. This motor has brought me back into cycling in a big way - I find myself addicted to climbing the Stillorgan Dual Carriageway at 30km/h with the watt meter showing low or no assistance - but even more addicted to the feeling when I'm nearing the end of my lollipop and the wheel pulls me over the crest.

Cable brakes. Attach a Hall Effect sensor and embed a magnet?

Trex, that's fine, but is there a brand of lever I should be considering?

Bike sourced, wheel being checked, battery arrived, all splendid stuff. Don't particularly want a throttle, but am a bit concerned about brakes - is there a particular brand of cut-off brake I should be considering?

None yet, Trex. Hitting second hand bike shops today. A steel quill type fork would be ok?

Battery due to arrive from Wooshbikes tomorrow. Tony in Kits is very friendly and very helpful, so I am pretty happy so far. Sold my incompatible bike. Trex - the bike you show there - is that quill-type fork strong enough for the torque? If so it might have made my bike purchase a lot easier.

Motor kit arrived! Very exciting. Bloody heavy (but I have nothing to compare it with). Out frame hunting this afternoon.

Trex - just a boggle here - are you saying the BMSbattery kits have a built in controller and Woosh kits don't? As I understand it, the motor controller for the XiongDa is external (little finned box) but I assumed battery management would be built in to the Woosh one as well? (Forget it - I see the Woosh has a BMS and I am more of an idiot than I thought.

DrSolly, I think you've gone with a custom battery solution, whereas as I understand it the Woosh system has a battery cradle - so in essence I will be wiring the cradle to the kit. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Quick query re: batteries and setting them up with this kit. Assume I'm getting the Woosh battery. How much bodging do I need to do to wire the thing up? is there a standard connector or am I going to have to get the soldering iron out?

Thank goodness, I wasn't hallucinating. I've been following drsolly with extreme interest, since his timescales and processes seem very close to those I'd like to follow myself. I haven't seen photos of drsolly's bike so I was reading between the lines of his (excellent) blog. So - realistically, what I have been gathering is as follows - I can use a DECENT aluminium rigid fork as long as I use a torque arm - and Americans seem to think that's only necessary for big powerful motors. I'm taking the view that the XiongDa probably outputs a reasonable torque - and therefore it'd be better if I used an arm to offset the spreading force active on the dropout, I should be golden. Alternatively, if I can, I should get a steel fork, but still use the torque arm because I may as well do everything I can to mitigate potential risks. I shouldn't try to use a suspension fork because I can't rely on the XiongDa fitting and I shouldn't bugger about with a suspension fork.

Parts for a front one ordered. Happy enough to dump suspension if necessary - haven't found a need for it before, but before I had been using carbon forks, which were lovely. The things we trade down to trade up...

Hello - I've ordered a XiongDa 2-speed motor, I've ordered a strong rim (Ryde Sputnik) and strong spokes and I have a bike firm in Dublin in principle happy to take a trade-in on my Cube Hyde Race bike (with which I will be sorry to part, sort of). I've decided to get the new big 15Ah battery from Woosh, because I suspect they will be quicker to help me out than a factory in China (Although I will solicit other options). So I now have to get myself a bike to build my new wheel and motor into - the Irish bike market being relatively immobile (Giant, Specialised and Merida, mostly), I am hit with a number of extremely undesirable bikes with steel rigid forks, or much nicer units for reasonable prices with aluminium forks. So I'm confused. The XiongDa puts out good torque, obviously - but tell me, in your view, if all else was equal (hub fitted between the dropouts, prepared to use a Torque Arm etc), is there anything specifically militating against aluminium forks? Is there a basic cardinal rule saying they're not compatible with a 250w motor of this sort? Also, by extension, is front suspension now ruled out? Decathlon have some inexpensive, nice looking bikes. I treat your words as gospel, chaps and chapesses. I have no desire to faceplant nor be scraped from underneath the wheel arches of an 18-wheeler. Save my life.

So I made a few modifications. Have ordered a Ryde Sputnik rim and spokes to fit (same ERD as the rim you ordered, so same spokes ordered!). I have ordered spokes and rim from same place. Haven't decided on a battery yet - but it will be a pre-packaged job with a BMS and it will be something tidy enough. Any recommendations in that regard?

Xiongda motor ordered. Ordering rims and spokes tomorrow. Speaking to a bike shop to replace the front fork on my existing bike with a steel one. Considering these rims. Will order battery next week. Excited! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MACH1-MONSTRO-26-559-X-19-AERO-PROFILE-DUAL-WALL-ALLOY-BLACK-RIMS-/390906952514?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item5b03debb42

I'm going to check the widths and construction of the front fork, and if it's not suitable, I'm going to sell the bike and replace it with one which will work for this. I would like to know the rim and spokes you used so I can make a start on the process. This could be great fun...

So I'm going to go with the same approach as drsolly which may or may not work for me with my more limited experience. It appears that my bike has an alloy fork though, which might be a pain and dangerous to stretch, if I understand you correctly - so I am beginning to wonder about selling off the old bike (as d8veh had suggested in another thread) and picking up a donor bike which would work better.