Well it's still on the workstand at the moment, mainly 'cos I forgot to order tyres:oops:.

Ordered those and Anderson connectors today. Jimmy wants to sell me a 48v 21Ah battery but I've told him that my bum only has a 15Ah 36v range.

The kit's on, wiring mostly in place. The Panda pas is certainly easy to fit but I'm finding it gets knocked out of line very easily and can end up coming into contact with the sensor. Although the spring clip stops it coming apart, it actually doesn't grip the shaft very well. Have to keep an eye on it.

As you can see, I managed to get the Roswheel bag into the bottom of the frame without fouling the front changer. Because of the L.H. pas I've kept all three front rings, this thing should climb walls!

The new quill stem is well long and brings the handlebars nicely into old fogey position.

New changers are all set up and working nicely and the Magura is ready to go. The motor has two tabbed washers, on it's shaft, which fit nicely into the bottom of the dropouts. Not sure if I need a torque arm or not. What do you think?

So waiting for tyres and battery.

You may notice that I have the poshest workshop ever, with oak floor, fridge and oil lamp. Trouble is, she who must says she wants it for cookin' an' fings. Really, there's just no stopping the liberated woman is there:D;)

Are they just tubes on the rims ? If so take them off and find some narrow gauge rail lines to have a play on .

I would fit a torque arm as soon as is convenient. You can ride it in the meantime, but make sure that the nuts are nice and tight.

If you had a bit of steel 1- 2mm thick you could make your own one piece T/A making sure the axle fit was nice and snug and shape the finished T/A to suit the drop out and fix it to the mudguard stay fixing point with a longer fixing .

All my bikes have one piece homemade T/A's the beauty of it is you can shape them nicely to blend in with the drops outs and fix then to the local fixing point available, paint them up and they are barely noticeable.

I've ordered a Cyclezee one. I know it fits, in fact the picture on his site is this very bike when it had the Ezee kit on it.

I'm a carpenter and electrician by trade and, although making one is not beyond me, I don't think I'd make a very good job of it.

Having read another thread about somebody's pas problems, I decided to apply D8veh's fix to the wonky pas disc.

I fitted a 16mm washer to space the disc away from the bottom bracket.

Then used a piece of 22mm plastic water pipe between the disc and the crank.

There are some bad paint chips on the forks and I was considering painting them. But past experience tells me I wouldn't be likely to get a good finish. Then I remembered I had some large heatshrink left over from a job, so I did this.

Jimmy tells me the battery should be ready next week. Slight hiccup is, I've just had the money for my Anderson plug order refunded, with no explanation. Gotta search again!

If you ordered the Andersons from Aliexpress, the supplier has x days to confirm shipment. After that time expires, you get an automatic refund.

Ezee torque arm arrived and fitted.

Battery is due to arrive tomorrow. I received the following from Jimmy, I don't fully understand it, but it may prove informative to others. I bit the bullet and went for the Boston power swing cells. Ya pays ya money and makes ya choice, we'll see if I've chosen right, over time.

 

 

Hi Ben,

 

I have now completed the build of your battery and the test results were excellent.

 

The capacity is actually 15.8Ah at 2.85V low voltage cut-off. I measured the total internal resistance of the pack including the interconnects which was 54.4milliohm which is excellent. The battery was fully charged at 42.0V and the instant 10A current is drawn, the voltage sags by slightly less than 1V which is about 0.5V higher than what I'd expect. This is obviously due to the much lower resistance of the copper interconnects. This produces an extra 5W of power. This means the battery would be hotter by 5W if it were made with nickel interconnects.

 

The data is the best I have recorded for a similar battery and it is obviously due to the use of copper instead of nickel. Discharging at 10A, and still attaining 15.8Ah of capacity is simply outstanding.

 

I am attaching an image of the battery as it was being capacity tested using an electronic DC load at 10A continuous current.

The length is about 290mm and it will be PVC shrink wrapped (White shrink wrap).

 

I am also attaching the screen shots of the discharge curve and another that I have created using the Excel log file which shows a second by second account of the discharge process. The left column represents the time in seconds as the DC load updates the data every second. I have also attached the xls file which is the full discharge data from beginning to end.

 

I am certain you will be most pleased with the results.

 

Best regards,

Jimmy

 

This guy obviously loves what he does, and that's the best you can ask for really, isn't it? Communication has been good, even got a call from Mary today, to say it was being despatched.

Andersons have been despatched, so hope for a shake down run by the end of the week. (Where's the pathetically excited emoticon?).

So the battery's arrived and I suspect that Jimmy thinks I'll be running a milk float with it!

As far as I can make out, that's a 175A connector. He did ask if I was OK with Andersons and I never thought to ask,'What size?'. I'll be swapping it for a 30A, to match my Ezee. Just need to find a nice bit of multi-strand cable to go from rack to controller. Anyone got any sources? All mine is twin and earth solid core.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X14g+silicone+wire.TRS0&_nkw=14g+silicone+wire&_sacat=0

I used maplin audio cable . The type intended for those incredibly loud subwoofer s in adolescents cars. These woofers are typically 3 ohm and the cable is intended to have a very low resistance perhaps 1 to 5%of 3 ohm. so very thick. Cannot remember the gauge, but you buy it by the yard

That's great, thanks.

30A Powerpoles can take up to about 4mm cross section cable. For single wires look for tri-rated cable on 'the bay' or in your local electrical wholesalers, if they sell it by the metre.

So, finally got the kit fired up today. Control led's lit up as did the pas led, but no motor. Then I remembered that, when putting the round motor plug together, some of the pins looked shorter than others. There are 3 larger diameter ones which are the longest. The others are a smaller diameter and shorter and two of these were shorter still. So I gave them a pull with the long nose pliers and felt them click into place. Hey presto, motor works.. Everything appears to be operating as it should.

Not road tested yet because I still need to fabricate the battery mounting. Battery terminals have been fitted to match the ones on my other bike, and I now know what I need to do to get this Insat battery to fit my Ezee.

 

This whole thing is taking far longer than I thought, but I'm just giving each obsticle it's time and enjoying finding my way around them.

At last, 'tis done.

The battery fitted into the box with millimeters to spare. I've bedded it on a foam tray that came with one of the kits. I stiffened the box inside the front and bottom with 1/8th ply. The bottom piece is bolted through to the 3/4 ply that holds the bungee straps.

The power cables exit through a 20mm gland that seals around the cable. Just need some right sized heatshrink.

Box can be removed easily and fitted to the Carrera. Mission acomplished.

 

First shakedown run showed the motor to be, apparently, quite fast, hard to tell as no speedo fitted. However it has noticeably less torque than my Ezee, to be expected I suppose. Seems quiet when up to speed but doesn't like low revs, particularly hill starts. Then it is growly and puts a fair bit of vibration through the forks, until speed increases. The 3 assist levels seem to be giving speed control. Hope for a longer run tomorrow when battery is fully charged.

The HS11 is awesome. Light to the feel with nice progressive braking, this, combined with the longer blocks in the rear brake, should do the job on local hills.

The quill stem is on minimum height adjustment but is still giving a near upright ride position, as this bike is meant for guests( who maybe don't cycle much) I think that's fine.

The bike as a whole feels light and nimble, this is ironic as I used to ride this but swapped it for the Carrera, but then I needed front sus to deal with the local roads. The control box tends to get knocked as you step through, have to keep an eye on it.

Just needs some rudimentry lights and it's good to go.

I'll report back on the kit after a longer run.

Thanks for all the help and info.

Ben

Managed to get out on a 14ml run today, but took the Carrera with the Insat battery on, because of fog and no lights yet on the fox.

Intended to 'work' the battery, so ran in a higher setting than normal. Battery voltage checked at 37.7 after settling. That's what I wanted as it may be a while before I can get to use it, so I'll store it at this.

Got out on the fox today, it was very windy and I targetted a coupke of the steeper local climbs.

The Panda worked well but I think I've been spoiled as my first kit was an Ezee and, power wise, this just doesn't compare. On the flat I used setting 2/3 to get up to speed. Once there the bike hummed along with the mearest whine from the motor. Seems that power setting one wouldn't be much use except maybe a pedestrian precinct. The cut out at design speed was smooth and barely noticeable apart from the whine stopping. Drop back in was similarly smooth. It was when hitting the hills that the 'fun' started. First was a long incline varying from 1:20 to 1:12ish. Had to go to top setting here and was glad I'd left the front changer on the bike, onto the second ring in 2nd or 3rd gear. As the revs went down the motor noise increased, but it got there.

Now down into a steep valley and the longer mtb brake blocks on the rear and the Magura on the front worked the magic controllably and with no drama.

Now the steep climb out the other side, I'd say 1:8 to 1:6 with a killer switch back bend half way. Here I was quickly onto the granny ring and out of the saddle. The motor noise increased to a growl with detectable vibration coming through the bars, needless to say on top power setting. We got there but I had to work and came close to stalling the motor on the corner.

With my Ezee I would go up here in 2/5 and not in bottom gear.

I think if you have a commute to do that is mainly flat with only moderate hills, this kit is fine. It's a good kit and buzzes along nicely and is lighter than some. However if there's hills involved or you need serious power to get you home then I would look elsewhere.

For it's intended purpose of it being used by guests, probably not used to cycling generally let alone e-bikes, I think this will be OK, as the power comes in smoothly without that unsubtle kick that I'm used to. Just won't let them near the Ezee in case they realise what they're missing:p

This has been a bit of an eye opener for me, having previously only experienced the Ezee and the Big Bear. All motors are not created equal. Who'd a thunk:rolleyes:

little bit of solder on the shunt helps a lot with hill-climbing. The extra power helps you to go faster, so the motor is more efficient and makes more power because of that too. You therefore get a double win on the power.

OK, so that bridges out a proportion of the windings of the shunt, so reducing the resistance, so must increase the max current - is that right? How would this affect the rest of the circuitry in the controller.

On a slightly different issue, there is a direct connection from the battery to the bikes cabling - no fuse or switch. This unsettles my electricians brain, should there be one?

On a slightly different issue, there is a direct connection from the battery to the bikes cabling - no fuse or switch. This unsettles my electricians brain, should there be one?

 

I have been living like that for quite a while. Only very occasionally do I see a tiny spark when plugging in the XT30. There are "no spark" XT plugs available too.

 

That said I am going to install a switch on the BFBattery box because my new lights are wired into the controller and a switch will allow me to turn the lights off without unplugging the battery each time.

First big test passed with flying colours. The prodigal daughter's home for christmas and we went for a shortest day ride, dodging the rain drops. 17 miles and the lower powered motor prooved to be fine for the younger rider. She normally commutes around Cardif on an unpowered bike, so we took her up the hills for a blast and a big view.

Though I'd expressed doubts about this motor in comparison to my Ezee, it performs fine and the comparison is, perhaps, an unfair one, bearing in mind the cost of each. Maybe for the future, a sine wave controller might be on the cards so the motor runs quieter.

So, on the christmas eve ride we got caught in some rain. Nothing too serious - by Welsh standards!

Anyway on our dry boxing day ride the bike developed an intermittant fault. (Aren't they the worst?). It's cutting out for a second or so, with no pattern. When it was playing up I got my daughter to use the throttle and that overode the fault. Also got her to use the brake whilst on throttle and that works as it should. So I'm thinking it's something on the pas circuit, wondering if some water's got in somewhere. I did notice a slight fogging in the led display so it's possible. Have to get the bike on the stand, maybe strip the connections out of the controller box. Really didn't want to have to go into that rats nest again!

Are you sure it wasn't that she was touching the brakes? Some people ride like that - especially motorcyclists.

That was my first thought too. But there's a switch only on the back brake and I explained that to her. Also it would have cut when using the throttle, if she was doing that.

I'll get it on the stand today and have a look see.

Got the bike on the stand and, of course, it behaved impeccably. So went out for 14 miler with the daughter and, of course, it started playing up again, though not as bad as yesterday. I'm hoping it's one of those that will self clear, maybe as it dries out. (Well we can all dream).

Interesting observation. When out with the wife on her Big Bear, I'm normally in setting 2/5 and wait for her every mile or so. With the daughters younger legs to ride alongside, I'm in 3 to keep up and breathing heavy whilst she's apparently ambling along being all chatty. Ah the arrogance of youth:rolleyes: