£20 THING!, Upgrades. Battery, Bulbs, Locks etc..

[OldFart]

Stumped for a title, I posted pictures of my ebay bargain in the what bike section.
It actually works

It doesn't look like the pictures anymore. Its stripped of all its clothing so i can see the
frame and workings.
Thankfully no serious rust. Frame mostly good except the rear A frame. Paint peeling
off that in places. So a good rust killer and a good paint to prevent it getting worse.

Anyone know where i can get new locks for it? I had to butcher them to open it all up.

I thought about replacing the bulbs with LED's but they seem to be 36v bulbs. Not many
LEDs at that voltage. Thinking about adding a dropper to the lighting circuit?
The headlight reflector is flaking and rusty. I doubt i will find another one. Spotted some round
headlight/foglight units on ebay £6 or so. Might integrate them to the headlamp, what
do you think?

I need a charger anyway. So thinking of swapping the batteries for something a bit lighter.

Thinking of buying them in 12v packs so i have the easy option to run it at 36 volt or decide
on going to 48 volt later. Good plan?

Where can i get some decent batteries from? Seen some cheap ones on ebay, but the
sellers have terrible feedback so want to avoid them.

Thanks for putting up with me

 

[Geebee]

Have a look through this thread http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/lights-again.18952/
Basically you can buy from banggood.com or Ebay leds that run on 12 to 80v cheap and brighter than the scooter would ever have had.
If the led has heatsink fins it might pay to make sure there is some air flow some of them can get quite toasty

I noticed some of the cabinet/draw type of locks at the local hardware store look similar (barrel with a bent bit of metal attached), you would just have to bend a piece of metal to engage the slot on the bike, worth a look anyway.

Usually someone on ebay is clearing 12 ah ebike batteries cheap? preferably ones you can pick up to save shipping.

If any of your local stores have a good sale on jumpstarter packs the ones around 400 to 600 amp usually run a 12ah SLA, it will be written on the box somewhere, plus you get a trickle charger in each so you can charge all 3 batteries at once.

Good luck

 

[OldFart]

I was thinking of fitting the light unit inside the current unit, But the thoughts of heat may dash that plan. I could paint the plastic lens and poke the light through that i guess.

The topbox lock looks similar to that with an odd shaped rear linkage. But the linkage would swap over to one of those. The seat one operates a bar similar to a yale lock though.

I have some 12Ah SLA batteries, Just thinking what best to go lighter or extending the range without a weight penalty.
The old batteries have charged and are holding 12.98 - 13.2 volts. Will see if they drop over a few days. Or i may put them under load and see how they cope.

I forgot to ask, is it possible to bypass the pedal sensor, so the throttle works from a standing start? Ideally switchable so i can have it work by throttle alone or pedal start.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I forgot to ask, is it possible to bypass the pedal sensor, so the throttle works from a standing start? Ideally switchable so i can have it work by throttle alone or pedal start.

Thanks.

Possibly. Can you show a picture of the sensor?

 

[OldFart]

There are several holes filled with rusty remnants. What are they supposed to be?
Going ot cause an issue sooner rather than later?

All the covers are off and cleaned. It must have been a haven for spiders, Tons of remains and lots of web. And as you can see, plenty of rust.

How much to i want to strip it? Better now than after putting it all back together. But i dont want to end up with a pile of bits and no bike.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

That's a more or less standard sensor. It'll have three wires at the connector, normally red, black and another (signal). Try disconnecting it, then short the black to the signal wire to see what happens. Be careful! It might start up like that if it the motor goes when you pedal, so make sure that the wheel is off the ground. See what happens with the throttle.

If the colours are completely different, use your meter to the battery ground to find out which is 5v and which is ground, by elimination, the third is the signal wire.

 

[OldFart]

Thanks. It will have to wait now. It no longer has pedals, Or wheels or anything really.

Went to town on it. The left pedal/arm etc looked rather rust so i thought the bearings maybe shot. They appear OK. But totally devoid of grease on the left bearing. Right bearins still had some.

Chain and bearings are having an overnight bath in some oil to soften the crud.

The little rusty bits are the magnets of course.. If the aboveb trick doesnt work, Would it be possible to add more magnets? So instead of counting 5 pulses for one revolution it will count 5 in say half a revolution?

The motor is just a 2 wire job. Not a fancy one.

Rear band brake appears good, But i think the front shoes are rock hard. It makes an awful noise when braking. Do the rubber blocks harden with age?

Thanks.

If i have more questions is it best to keep to this topic or start a new one? I have so many questions i may swamp the board.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Would it be possible to add more magnets? So instead of counting 5 pulses for one revolution it will count 5 in say half a revolution?

I doubt that it'll make a difference. It depends on the software in the controller. I think a single pulse triggers a routine that involves time rather than counting. A modern high-speed controller has a lot of processing power, so can more easily cut down that delay.

 

[Geebee]

T
Rear band brake appears good, But i think the front shoes are rock hard. It makes an awful noise when braking. Do the rubber blocks harden with age?

The front brake blocks will have hardened, the ones I have seen on those scooters were ultra low quality anyway, with cantilevers make the yoke as short as possible it will increase braking power

 

[Geebee]

If you want to try running a led light inside the housing this might be worth a shot, ceap as and if anything like my 12v version impressively bright, with out too much heat, I am assuming it available to UK.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3W-DC12-100V-Motorcycle-Electric-Bike-Bicycle-Waterproof-LED-Headlight-Elegant/191365066768?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20131017132637&meid=dc7da60fcc0e4700bda8817e2d797b17&pid=100033&prg=20131017132637&rk=4&rkt=4&sd=331316354783

 

[OldFart]

Ahhh, I have a couple of those. But i think mine are 12v only.. Quite bright.

I do have some voltage droppers. Supposedly 80v, But the review of them seems to be 50 or 60v max in reality. With a sustained 45v use if left on for hours at a time. Anything over that and a bigger heatsink must be used.

So i may still convert it. None of the bulbs have any markings on them. No idea on the wattage they use. Will try the meter on them when its up and running again.

I removed the crank today, Left side as you sit on it had no grease on the bearings. The right side still had some but it was hard and useless.

I took the pedals off without checking them. Is R and L marked as you sit on the bike or facing it?
I think its been built backwards. If sitting on it the R pedal would be able to unscrew itself. Also the large bearing carrier/nut for the crank turns LH thread on the left and RH thread on the right.
Totally the opposite to what i would expect. If a bearing started to seize it could undo the nuts/caps (proper name)?

Have i got it wrong?

Thanks.

 

[OldFart]

With the spaghetti of wires and the controller tucked away in the floor it was hard to see what wires were connected to what.

With them spread out and traced along the floor i spotted 2 black plugs with a single blue wire on each. Plugged them in and the throttle works without* pedalling.

Starting to enjoy myself now. The rear lights have stumped me. Im going to ditch the current wires and redo them how i want them.

Currently the rear lights go off if you switch the assist off. Bit silly that.

 

[OldFart]

Any idea where it gets the speed signal from? Is it a factory set thing in the controller?

Not from the motor, Its a simple 2 wire DC one. Speed signal works when the motor is unplugged,

Not from the pedals either, Speed signal when not moving the pedals.

Motor unplugged and sensor unplugged just twisting the throttle moves the speed up the dial. Stops around 20km/h No idea if thats anywhere near accurate. The wheel doesnt seem to be spinning very fast.

Anyone reading this or have i bored you all to death by now

thanks.

 

[SAD12]

I'm not bored, I'm fascinated by what you're doing, but you've got several threads so suggest you keep it all in one place. Here? Others are much more knowledgeable about these things than me but logic suggests that a speed sensor must be present somewhere. The controller could, I suppose, measure current in some way and then make a guess at what speed the bike might be doing. Modern car fuel gauges do that without floats in the tank, measuring the rate of flow. But that sounds too complicated for your 'thing'. I'd be looking for a magnet attached to it somewhere and a corresponding sensor nearby.

Pictures are always good if you can. Keep letting us (me) know what you're doing. Thanks.

 

[Geebee]

With the spaghetti of wires and the controller tucked away in the floor it was hard to see what wires were
Currently the rear lights go off if you switch the assist off. Bit silly that.

Same way mine was wired, I suppose its to not drain the battery if you forget to switch off the lights?

 

[Geebee]

Motor unplugged and sensor unplugged just twisting the throttle moves the speed up the dial. Stops around 20km/h No idea if thats anywhere near accurate. The wheel doesnt seem to be spinning very fast.

Anyone reading this or have i bored you all to death by now

thanks.

20 kph would be in the ball park of 200 rpm which doesn't look very fast on a stand.
Keep the reports coming

 

[OldFart]

Damn finger slipped and lost my work before i clicked post reply.. Damn...
try again...

Only 18" wheels is 200rpm close to 15mph?

Front light is wired directly to the battery through position 2 on the ignition switch. Pos 1 = power on, Pos 2 puts the headlight on.
I plan on fitting a 36v to 12v dropper on that and use 12v LEDs which i ordered from China but not arrived yet.
So all the lights will work when in position 2 whether the assis is on or off. I think thats a better option.
I couldnt figure out why the rear lights were linked to the + feeds to the indicators so cut them off the plug and wired directly to earth which allows them to work as they should. I will have one central tail light and the 2 lights at the side will be stop lights.
All the bulbs are the same brightness, But i guess that wont matter.

No sensors at all for the speed. Motor and pedal sensors unplugged, twisting the throttle still makes the speedo move.
Nothing physhically moving on the bike.

As i was starting to router the cables and tidy them up i noticed the power went off. Seems to have a dodgy wire where it goes up the frame to the cluster. Glad i spotted that now and not after i assembled it.

I would have been cursing at having to take all the front panels off to get to the wiring.

Will try and get a picture of the frame with wheels tomorrow. Might even weigh it which i know someone asked a while back.

Its killing my back doing this, but i am enjoying the fact that it actually works

 

[OldFart]

One more thing before i rest for the night.. I was thinking of getting a small numberplate with the details on it. Something like.

Pedelec
200 watts
36 volts

Or do you think that will be more likely to attract attention with a quick glance making them think thats a moped?

Just a small plate attached to the frame with those details on to keep them happy and carry a copy of the 1982 EAPC rules?

thanks again.

 

[Geebee]

200 rpm on a 20" wheel is pretty much 20 kph, the tyres on these scooters tend to be quite tall so it would be pretty close to 200 rpm as well even though the wheel is 18 ".

 

[OldFart]

A picture and an oops...

Weighed it as in the picture and it weighs 26.6kg. The oops bit is that the batteries weigh 13.3kg.

So as long as all the panels and lights and pedals etc weigh less than 100grams its OK.
From the comments so far it seems doubtful that i could class it as a tandem.
It does have a seat big enough for 2 x 7 stone wimps . And small foot rests for the rear passenger.
But no pedals for them so is it a tandem??

I guess the way to go is ditch the SLA's and get more lipo's. The 2 x 5s (4000) lipos weigh just under 1kg.
So even if i get 2 more thats only 3kg, less than the weight of one SLA. And will give me 12Ah.

Should be comfortably under 40kg then.


Pic.