1st ebike conversion road bike or MTB with skinny tires? which starter for 20 mile commute each way

[BornAgainCyclist]

What would you do re brake cutoff if the bike had hydraulic brakes? https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-parts/459-hwbs-hidden-wire-brake-sensor-1pcs-parts.html is for cable only it seems.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I don't have them on my bike. KT controllers have such a quick response that they're not needed.

 

[BornAgainCyclist]

No quite sure what controller the following has other than it being a sine 20A - https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-battery/680-48v116ah-bottle-09-panasonic-battery-pack-battery.html#/137-color-black

Admire your confidence in it behaving but in city riding would you brave it without?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Admire your confidence in it behaving but in city riding would you brave it without?

Town, country or city riding makes no difference. You have complete control of the motor. it goes when you pedal and stops when you don't. Those expensive Bosch, Yamaha, Shimano and Brose bikes don't have brake sensors.

Yours is a KT controller too.

 

[BornAgainCyclist]

I didn't know that about the expensive bikes, thanks. It is all rather tempting to have a go fitting one of these to an existing bike to see how I get on. In the case of not fitting a brake controller cable I assume the lead expecting the brake cable is just plugged with a provided plug and will be waterproof.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

That 20amp integrated sine wave controller has a waterproof harness that splits into 4 at the handlebars. the two brake ones would need tape or a cap over the open end to keep the water out.

 

[rich_r]

You can get sensors with magnets that go on your brake levers to operate the cutoff if you have hydraulic brakes or integrated gear levers. But as d8veh says - the KT controllers cut the power very quickly when you stop pedaling.

Although I'm new to pedelecs - I fitted a Panda 250W front hub kit (KT LCD3 and KT controller so similar in some ways) only a couple of weeks ago - I'm learning how versatile even a cheap kit like mine is. By varying your cadence (changing gear if required) you can put as much or as little effort in as you need to maintain a speed. I don't have a throttle at the moment, but there's a sneaky cruise control mode on the LCD3 which can be used if you fancy not pedaling for a bit.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'm not sure if it still works, but the cruise control had two ways of working. If you permanently bridge the connector, cruise engaged when you held the throttle still for 5 seconds. You disengaged by blipping the throttle or applying the brake. the other way was with a momentary switch on the connector. each time you pressed the switch, the cruise would engage or disengage, which is a much better and more predictable way to do it.

Whichever method you use, You need brake switches. If the cruise engaged when you weren't expecting it, you'd be in trouble without brake switches.

if the connector is left unconnected, cruise is completely disabled. There's also some settings in the LCD to change the way it works.

 

[rich_r]

Yes - sorry, I should have said that I do have brake switches, and that is the easiest way to turn cruise off (or press any button on the LCD). I don't have a connector for a cruise switch, so hold the down arrow whilst pedaling to turn it on. That's with it enabled via C9. Probably best not to use it on public roads anyway. But I do use it on the cycle tracks in the local nature reserve.

 

[BornAgainCyclist]

Really interesting, thank you guys. Where did you get the brake lever bits from and I assume they fit connector wise to the above kit? It looks like this SLCD3 is fairly universal.

 

[JustinBedford]

Holy thread resurrection Batman.

Well 12 months after I originally posted this question I'm back again. At the time I had two possible projects and the ebike plans took 2nd place at the time to a sailing dinghy.

Now my hobby project funds kitty has been replenished to sufficient ebike status I'm looking at my ebike project with fresh eyes.

From the threads it appears the Q128C 201 36V running with 48V battery is still the best choice for my project and I'll also benefit from larger capacity batteries being available. 48V 14.5Ah from BMS? As the larger batteries dont include the controller just wondering which LCD screen option with the following kit I should be now ordering?

http://www.pswpower.com/peng/iview.asp?KeyID=dtpic-2016-3F-39N8.50CQE

Also any preference on the two battery options from BMS?
https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-battery/819-48v116ah-case-08-bottle-panasonic-battery-pack-battery.html

or

https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-battery/814-36v145ah-bottle-09-panasonic-battery-charger-battery.html

Looking at the ebike calc site for my commute it predicts I need at least 11.5Ah for my journey based on 100W input from my fat lardy arse and will be a 57min journey time which was my original target commute time.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'd get the motor from BMSB, the controller from PSWpower and the battery from eclipse. i prefer this type of battery because the mounting points are more likely to line up and it fits to the frame better. i always add a third rivnut for security:
http://eclipsebikes.com/product_info.php?products_id=104

 

[JustinBedford]

battery from eclipse. i prefer this type of battery because the mounting points are more likely to line up and it fits to the frame better. i always add a third rivnut for security:
http://eclipsebikes.com/product_info.php?products_id=104

Thanks d8veh. Have you fitted any of the 14.5Ah Whale packs yet from eclipse?

My concern is that the 12Ah battery gives very little headroom should I have a strong headwind for example. They too have three slot grooves in the base for 3 fixing points to the downtube. They are slightly taller and longer but narrower than the dolphin packs.

 

[anotherkiwi]

If you are buying from pswpower why not this battery? http://www.pswpower.com/peng/iview.asp?KeyID=dtpic-2016-B2-CW9X.63VJV

 

[JustinBedford]

Looks a good deal as long as I dont choose express shipping option

Shopping Fee: US$280.00
Shipping Fee: US$100,391.03
Total Fee: US$100671.03

off to search for threads about pswpower batteries now

 

[Deleted member 4366]

A charger only costs £20, so keep one at work for the windy days.

 

[JustinBedford]

A charger only costs £20, so keep one at work for the windy days.

It's 23 miles from my home to the office the ebike calc says this will use 95% of the 12ah battery when running 500w motor in one direction with 100W input from myself so a charge at work is necessary regardless. I'm 6ft 7in and 20 stone so a big fat wind breaker. Unless the real world range of a similar spec is much greater than the theoretical figures show?

 

[johneb]

There was a Q128H kit for sale on ebay recently, unsold when auction ended - He may still have it for sale:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-Bike-electric-bike-Motor-Wheel-Q128H-135mm-800W-Rear-Driving-700c-with-Acc/222640717735?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649