drsolly

I just bought a Solarstorm X3 (triple front light). They throw in a free rear light. I had a Solarstorm before, but I accidentally gave it 50 volts, and it's dead. Oops. The listing says you also get a 4x18650 battery pack (but I think without batteries). 6600 lumens. It hasn't arrived yet, so I can't say how good it is, but it looks too good to be true at £2.99. That's the nice thing about paying via Ebay/Paypal. If actually is too good to be true, I can get my £2.99 back. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solarstorm-X3-CREE-U2-6600Lm-Mountain-Cycle-Bicycle-Light-Bike-Front-Lamp-Torch-/162391524356?hash=item25cf4a0404:g:hqUAAOSwx6pYnmlV

I had a similar experience. It all started when I got stuck in a bog ... http://blog.drsolly.com/2015/02/bogged-down.html

Hmm. Is there an easier way to take the motor apart than unlacing the whole wheel?

My motor has done about 2500 kilometers, and I've been very pleased with it. Lately, it's developed a whistle. This only happens in the low gear, and only when I apply power. Can anyone guess what the cause might be, and do I have to take action? My guess is that this has to be to do with the clutch.

I just bought three more 10AH 4S, to make into a 12S 10AH pack. I already have two of these packs, and I'm very happy with them. Cost, £21.89 per battery, down from £42.62. Very good value! I'm using 2-4S chargers. They cost £6.61; I run a bunch of them off an old PC power supply. It means I can charge my 4S batteries via the balance port, no need to plug in the main power lead (but I do remove the harness that puts the three 4Ses in series, because otherwise I think I'd see a flash, a bang and lots of smoke). They only run 30W, but because I'm using three of them to charge my three 4Ses, that's really 90W

I've done about 2000 kilometers on mine, it's a 36v model that I'm running at 12S, and I'm very happy with it.

http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/03/puncture-resistance.html

Yes, I wear that sort of helmet in winter. But it a hot summer, it gets a bit clammy in there, so I wear the usual sort of helmet with lots of slots and holes. I came off my bike yesterday (I was on very uneven ground), no damage done, and I didn't hit my head, so the helmet wasn't relevant. But here's the experiment that persuaded me to wear a helmet. Step 1. No helmet - bang my head on the road. Step 2. With helmet - bang my head on the road. I hear the arguments for and against, but that experiment convinces me. And if you're not keen on banging your head on the road, you can just do it as a thought-experiment.

Full marks for the battery box!

These 16ah, 6s batteries are not quite as cheap as the 4s 5ah hardcase batteries, which are 5% cheaper (comparing watt-hours). They are lighter, though, by about 25% (per watt-hour), which is very useful for aircraft; also useful for bikes. More importantly, they're in stock in the UK, whereas the 4s 5ah ones are currently not in stock.

That's right, I'm using battery packs made up by myself from Hobbyking batteries. It means I have to make up quite a lot of soldered connections, but I don't mind doing that, and it does mean I get a 12s 5ah battery for £45. I wouldn't recommend this for an absolute beginner!

I love my Xiong Da. But one of the wires from the controller to the battery broke while I was in the field (literally). Those wires are very short on the controller they sent me, and although they are mulitstrand, they aren't 1000-strand like the 10awg wire you can get from Hobbyking. I'm constantly plugging and unplugging the battery, so this might not affect you. I cut off the bullet connectors, added a length of 1000-strand 10awg silicone wire, and terminated with an EC5 (which is what I use as standard on my batteries and controllers, because they're easier to plug and unplug than the alternatives I tried.

In saddle bag: Open ended spanners, bike multitool, pump, spare inner tube, puncture repair kit, fuses, spare wire, terminal connectors, 5v step-down board (to power PDA if need be), external battery for iphone (which also has a backup navigation system), zip ties, silicone bands, small front light (just so I can be seen), small rear light, toilet roll, bike lock In shoulder bag (this is my geocaching bag): small torch, multi tool with pliers, forceps, multitool with scissors, splinter remover tweezers, needle nose tweezers, flashing purple light (so that when I tempoerarily leave the bike in the dark in the middle of a forest, I can find it again), first aid kit, anti sting and bite applicator, pencil, biro, gel pen, spare batteries for PDA, folding money wrapped up well and well hidden, spare battery for torch, magnet, magnifying glass, string, spare shoelace, insulating tape, sellotape, rubber bands, notebook, hand wipes, waterproof for PDA.

My XiongDa is fitted in a front suspension fork. But I had to use a car jack to widen them by about an inch. These are steel forks, I wouldn't do that with aluminium.

I was partway across a muddy field, switched on the power for a bit of help, and ... no power. I got off and had a look, flicked the switch a couple of times, changed the batteries, then I noticed - the negative wire from the controller to the connector that I plug the batteries into, had broken. This is the controller that arrived with my XiongDa two-speed. Looking at that wire, my first thought was, hmm, that's a bit short. Not a real problem. And when I looked at the broken ends, I thought, hmm, cheap wire. Well, an electric bike with no power is still a bike, so I pedalled for 500 yards or so, but while I pedalled, I was thinking, how to handle this? I leaned the bike on a wall, unplugged the batteries, and took my penknife to the broken lead. I stripped it back about a centimeter on either side of the break, twisted the ends together, and wrapped sticky tape over the join. My thinking was, this isn't going to make the problem worse, and just maybe ... Well, blow me down with a 24awg wire, it worked. After all the efforts I've made in the past to get the best possible joins, it turns out that just twisting the wires together was good enough to get me through the next six miles. A small roll of insulating tape has always been part of my on-the-road tool kit. Now I'll add a short length of 10awg wire.

My XiongDa is almost silent in low gear.

I get all my batteries from Hobbyking, but unless you know the dos and don'ts of working with Lipos, you should go with the battey from BMSbattery or Woosh. The advantage of getting them from Hobbyking, is that I get the 14.4v, 5ah hardcase Lipos for £15 each (shipped from UK, so it includes vat and duty) so that nine of them (giving me 44v and 15ah) costs £135. Add another £20 for a charger, and you can see why I prefer that route. But before you even think about going that route, read this: http://www.icharger.co.nz/articles/ArticleId/6/Introduction-To-Lipo-Batteries.aspx http://www.icharger.co.nz/articles/ArticleId/3/Lipo-Lithium-Battery-Safety-Guide.aspx

I went out on the bike with the Xiongda motor today, and had a very good day out, mostly over rough terrain at about 8mph in low gear, but some on tarmac (including an excessively exciting section on the A14 and A1) at up to 18 mph. I wonder why articulated lorries feel that they have to blast you with their horn as they whoosh by? I know I'm only a bike and I'm only pootling along at 18 mph, but this isn't a motorway, I'm entitled to be here. I got my revenge by dinging my bell at them.

What battery will you be getting, and what charger?

The rim was this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BARGAIN-2-X-EXAL-SUPER-LIGHT-SL19-RIMS-559-19-26-MTB-36H-SPOKE-OFFER-NEW-/331241507234?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&var=&hash=item4d1f8849a2 Two rims for £18. I only used one, but I might build another bike, or replace a worn rim. Spokes were 213mm from http://www.tillercycles.co.uk/, I got the 13/14 Sapim Strong, 36 of them for £34.20 (there were two extras when it arrived, nice). I also treated myself to a Park Tool spoke key, which is a bit nicer than the El Cheapo spoke tool I've used in the past. Yes, it is great fun making an ebike, and it's very satisfying riding something you've built. I say built, I mean assembled out of assorted components. You can read my blog on the process. http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/07/new-motor.html http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/08/bought-on-ebay.html http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/08/stuff-arrives.html http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/08/rebuilding-bike2.html http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/08/finishing-off-bike2.html http://blog.drsolly.com/2014/08/testing-bike2.html

I agree, everything I've read says don't try to spead alloy forks. The xiongda motor does need more width than I expected, though. I had a geared motor before, and that fit fine in the Haro, but the Xiongda needed an extra inch or so. You can look on the xiongda web site and see the dimensions of the motor, and check it on your bike. Or you could try it on the rear wheel. Or you could get the front motor, and if it's too wide, get a secondhand bike off ebay for £20-£30. If you just get the motor, remember you'll need to put it into a rim with spokes. If you're interested, I can tell you the rim and spokes I used. What are you going to use for batteries?

I took the bike out again today, mostly on roads. 12s Lipo. I noticed something. At 12 mph in low gear on the level, it's pulling about 250 watts. In high gear at the same speed, it's pulling 500 watts or more. I know that motors are more efficient when they spin faster, does that explain it? I'm still very happy with this motor.

Those throttles are a good price, I just bought two. Thanks.

I use nothing but efolding ebikes. It means that when I transport the bike in the car, I dont have to use a rear rack, with all the fuffing about that it entails.

I took the bike out for a test run. It's powered by 12s of Lipo. The summary of my testing, is that it's the bike I plan to take out when I next go out geocaching. Which means I'm happy with it. In low gear, the top speed was 12mph, in top gear it was 20 on the level. That's pretty good for a 250 watt motor. I took it to my local steep hill test road. It climbed it at 7 or 8 mph, with only a very slight encouragement of pedalling; most of the hill it could climb without any help. The voltage display is nice; the watts display is good, but I have my own wattmeter, which revealed that the max amps was 15 (not surprising, that's set by the controller) and the max watts was 750 (which is because I was pulling 50 volts x 15 amps). It's also nice that there's a speedometer. You can choose units of miles or kilometers. There's 5 levels of PAS; I haven't tried that out as I prefer throttle. There's also a level which is "walking speed", which is about 4mph, and the bike keeps on going as long as you have your finger pressed on the display's button (which means that if it runs away from you, it'll cut power). The thermometer on the bike display is useless. I think it's displaying the temperature of the air, it certainly isn't showing the motor or controller temperature. My own thermometer (an aquarium thermometer, cost me about a pound) turned out to be excellent. I checked its display with an infra-red thermometer, and by feeling the motor. The axle is hotter than the casing, and it peaked at 36 degrees C, feeling really quite warm (but remember my blood heat is about 40, so not really hot). It might be possible to put a few more amps through the motor. The autoshift does work; when the speed falls to around 7 or 8, it changes to low gear, and at 12 or so it changes to high. But, obviously, it has no anticipation. When it changes gear, you lose power for about a second. My feeling is that I'll prefer to make my own choice when to be in low and when to be in high, based not only on my current speed, but also on what I can see coming up ahead of me. So I think that for me, the autoshift won't be very useful. Which means that I could replace the controller with any controller that will let the motor go in reverse at full speed. Anyone got any recommendations?