Advice re changing Brompton swytch for something more reliable using same motor wheel

[bbiggs]

Hi,

I'm Barbara and I'm planning a cycle trip around Turkey in May.

My Brompton swytch has been quite unreliable. I've just replaced the controller (I've seen others have had trouble with this) and can't get it to work again.

In any case, I'm looking for another battery that has these criteria:

1. fits on the same mounting I have
2. is under 300kw
3. compatible with the swytch motor wheel.

Reading other threads it seems the motor wheel is fairly generic.

I live in quite a remote place with no access to technicians of any kind so I'm looking for something very simple to switch from my swytch. Maybe that doesn't exist and I have to buy a brand new swytch battery to make sure I don't break down on the road in Turkey, but thought to ask.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Any advice?

 

[saneagle]

Hi,

I'm Barbara and I'm planning a cycle trip around Turkey in May.

My Brompton swytch has been quite unreliable. I've just replaced the controller (I've seen others have had trouble with this) and can't get it to work again.

In any case, I'm looking for another battery that has these criteria:

1. fits on the same mounting I have
2. is under 300kw
3. compatible with the swytch motor wheel.

Reading other threads it seems the motor wheel is fairly generic.

I live in quite a remote place with no access to technicians of any kind so I'm looking for something very simple to switch from my swytch. Maybe that doesn't exist and I have to buy a brand new swytch battery to make sure I don't break down on the road in Turkey, but thought to ask.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Any advice?View attachment 61475

Any 36v battery will work. You can fit it where you want and how you want. All you have to do is connect the two wires to your controller. The requirements you listed pretty well limit you to the Swytch battery.

If your motor isn't working, make sure you pushed its connector together far enough. It has to go ALL THE WAY TO THE LINE, not just in tight. If that's not it, give us the details of what you bought and tell us how many pins in the motor connector.

Just a reminder that you can't take any ebike battery on an aircraft.

 

[bbiggs]

Thanks for replying Saneagle.

Isn't the controller attached to the battery? For mine, it's inside the case.

And yes, I thought my only option would be another Swytch

And thanks also for the tip about pushing the connector right in to make the motor work. I'm not with the bike now and won't be for another months since I'm on holidays, but I'll be sure to try that to make it work again with the new controller!

I've contacted swytch and they have a new Max+ which fits the criteria. But it's a whole new type of kit. They've discontinued the battery type I have now.

Very kind of you to take the time to reply.

 

[matthewslack]

Sounds like a great adventure!

I try to cover all the reliability and maintenance bases before leaving - for example new brake pads before a long trip means they should last - and carry any small, light spares that might not be available.

But any time I've been stuck there has always been someone helpful around.

Make sure it all works before you set off! Maybe a two day shakedown trip beforehand.

 

[eas2lv]

In the facebook group "Swytch Bike Chat" there is a member who has toured around in various countries on a "Swytched" Brompton and third-party/custom(?) batteries. You may get some tips if you ask there. I suspect he travels with multiple < 100Wh batteries which some airlines allow you to take along.

 

[StuartsProjects]

Technically moving away from the Swytch controller\battery bag is not difficult, even I have managed it.

The Swytch Motor wheel on a Brompton can be used with a standard KT controller, PAS, inline brake switches, and the LCD4 controller is a neat fit on the handlbars.

There is a lot of detail here;

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/ebrompton-build.45098/#post-677745

 

[Cisco-man]

Technically moving away from the Swytch controller\battery bag is not difficult, even I have managed it.

The Swytch Motor wheel on a Brompton can be used with a standard KT controller, PAS, inline brake switches, and the LCD4 controller is a neat fit on the handlbars.

There is a lot of detail here;

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/ebrompton-build.45098/#post-677745

Agreed. Ditch the Swytch - keep the hub!

 

[Bikes4two]

- keep the hub!

• Someone else ditched the Swytch and I got their wheel and hub motor from ebay.
• It's now on a road bike with a KT sine wave controller (in the tool holder on the seat post) and the KT-LCD4 discretely hiding on the drops.
• The battery is a 8.4Ah self build in the seat pack
• A bit more cable tidying to do (no ebrake or throttle or light control and the 9-pin controller cable broken out to connect to the LCD rather than a bulky 1-4 job).
• An initial ride of 40 miles on mostly flat terrain and on PAS 1, saw a fare bit of the riding over the 25 kph speed limit I've set the controller to and thus achieving 3.2Wh/mile.
• My other ebikes are TSDZ2 so torque sensing, thus I was wondering about how the KT controller power delivery compared (P3=1, 'imitation torque controler') and after this one ride I know I'm going to enjoy this hub conversion.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

• Someone else ditched the Swytch and I got their wheel and hub motor from ebay.
• It's now on a road bike with a KT sine wave controller (in the tool holder on the seat post) and the KT-LCD4 discretely hiding on the drops.
• The battery is a 8.4Ah self build in the seat pack
• A bit more cable tidying to do (no ebrake or throttle or light control and the 9-pin controller cable broken out to connect to the LCD rather than a bulky 1-4 job).
• An initial ride of 40 miles on mostly flat terrain and on PAS 1, saw a fare bit of the riding over the 25 kph speed limit I've set the controller to and thus achieving 3.2Wh/mile.
• My other ebikes are TSDZ2 so torque sensing, thus I was wondering about how the KT controller power delivery compared (P3=1, 'imitation torque controler') and after this one ride I know I'm going to enjoy this hub conversion.

View attachment 61532

Looks amazing, do you know is it a AKM-100 clone motor ?

Are the rims "road bike size" ?

How is the handling with the hub in the front wheel ?

Do you notice any resistance above 25kph ?

So, if the controller is max 15 amps, pas level 1 is 13% I think so output power from the controller is 36*15*.13 = 70 watts ( below 25 kph !)

I was really interested in this style build (road bike with small front hub), I'm glad someone has done it !

 

[Nealh]

The switch hubs are usually genuine AKM's Peter, AKM95 is used .

 

[Bikes4two]

Looks amazing, do you know is it a AKM-100 clone motor ?

Part of the numbers engraved on the motor are '100SX-6XX' so I'd guess it's an AKM 100 but I don't know if a clone or otherwise. From other postings, someone when talking about their Gen 2 Swytch kit also mentioned '100SX 6XX' and a friend brought his Gen 3 bike around to me to look at and again the motor had '100SX-6XX' on it.

Are the rims "road bike size" ?

- yes 700c, 36 spoke with rim size of 19mm making the 28mm tyre I've currently on it a bit on the small size profile wise.

How is the handling with the hub in the front wheel ?

Well, I've only ridden it for 40 miles ish and on mostly flat and dry roads and in PAS-1, so not demanding and within this context I've not noticed any difference to the handling and I dought I'll ever be using more than PAS-3 so although 'loosing the front wheel on a front hub' is often quoted, but having ridden many years with loaded front panniers on tours in all conditions, I feel confident that a front hub motor isn't going to give me any grief.

Do you notice any resistance above 25kph ?

No

I was really interested in this style build (road bike with small front hub), I'm glad someone has done it !

Early days but I've thoroughly enjoyed the riding that I've done so far and I've managed to bring a bike that I'd not ridden for a few years back into active use.