D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
I can't remember now. It's a while since I played with a Cyclamatic, but I took this photo of mine before I changed controllers. The white wire goes to a red one that comes out of a sleeve with the brake wires. The yellow one goes to another red, but I don't know where it originates, I think straight out of the controller, so my guess is that the Yellow is for the LEDs and the other must be the throttle switch.
Thanks 
Yellow is at (switched) battery +volts and the LED's work happily when connected. Not using the white wire - always found the on/off button a pain on hills, when you accidentally touch it and loose inertia.
Opened the controller up - all looks familiar - 1/3 soldered the shunt and works well - useful extra zip. Will take it for a spin up a hill and make sure the 3 phase wires don't overheat...
Yellow is at (switched) battery +volts and the LED's work happily when connected. Not using the white wire - always found the on/off button a pain on hills, when you accidentally touch it and loose inertia. Opened the controller up - all looks familiar - 1/3 soldered the shunt and works well - useful extra zip. Will take it for a spin up a hill and make sure the 3 phase wires don't overheat...
I have a question. Would it be possible to build a booster pack that plugged directly into the charging port of my 24v Cyclamatic battery? The 3 prong plugs are readily available. Recognizing that it wouldn't be as efficient as directly adding cells internally to the existing battery pack, it would be pretty easy to do. Specifically, I'd like to use my 36V Makita power tool battery, which I have a dedicated charger for, reduce the voltage to 25V or so using a voltage divider circuit or buck regulator, and hook the battery up to the 3 prong plug that fits the current Cyclamatic battery pack. Thanks!
What amperage is your chargeur? That is the number of amps you will get through the charger port, or, you will blow the fuse trying to pump more than it can handle.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
You can't connect a battery to the charge port because the negative goes through the charge mosfet, which will only take about 5 amps.
One of the pins is the common positive, which is connected tp the cells positive. The middle pin is not connected, so you could use that somehow , depending on what you mean by a booster pack.
One of the pins is the common positive, which is connected tp the cells positive. The middle pin is not connected, so you could use that somehow , depending on what you mean by a booster pack.
Hmm..how would it be different than the voltage/amperage that's being fed from the charger? My thought is to use a connector that's identical to the current charger connector, then positive to positive, negative to negative. But, seems like that would be to easy.....
The batteries I want to use are 3.7 amps so you are right; could be a fuse blower. I can regulate the voltage down. Need to think about regulating the current down as well?
If you are using a booster battery to achieve extra range out of the bike, then I think you will be disappointed. Every extra electronic device you put in the way of getting juice to the controller will sap power. Buck regulators are good at what they do, but will sap that juice. Possibly even the charging circuit too.
I assume you mean the batteries are 3.7Ah? The Cyclamatic at 24 volts is fairly inefficient, just from the virtue of its low voltage. If you want to increase range/performance on these bikes, then a 36 volt power pack is the way to go, but a 3.7Ah won't get you far, so it would have to be a higher capacity pack.
A few peeps have done it over the years, including myself, and IMHO is the best way to mod the Cyclamatic.
24 volts is just not a good voltage to work with on an electric bike, and to faff about with charger ports, buck regulators and low Ah power tool batteries is madness. 24 volt systems hail back to the days of lead acid batteries, where it was a compromise between power and weight.
Sorry to sound negative Steve, but I'm trying to save you huge disappointment
I assume you mean the batteries are 3.7Ah? The Cyclamatic at 24 volts is fairly inefficient, just from the virtue of its low voltage. If you want to increase range/performance on these bikes, then a 36 volt power pack is the way to go, but a 3.7Ah won't get you far, so it would have to be a higher capacity pack.
A few peeps have done it over the years, including myself, and IMHO is the best way to mod the Cyclamatic.
24 volts is just not a good voltage to work with on an electric bike, and to faff about with charger ports, buck regulators and low Ah power tool batteries is madness. 24 volt systems hail back to the days of lead acid batteries, where it was a compromise between power and weight.
Sorry to sound negative Steve, but I'm trying to save you huge disappointment
Last edited:
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
You need to understand how a BMS works, or maybe what it is if you don't know, and some of your comments, like " The batteries I want to use are 3.7 amps" are very worrying.
As I said, tell us what you want to achieve, and we can tell you how to do it. What do you mean by a booster battery? We normally refer to one as a battery that boosts the voltage, say from 24v to 30v, to get more speed and power.
As I said, tell us what you want to achieve, and we can tell you how to do it. What do you mean by a booster battery? We normally refer to one as a battery that boosts the voltage, say from 24v to 30v, to get more speed and power.
If you are using a booster battery to achieve extra range out of the bike, then I think you will be disappointed. Every extra electronic device you put in the way of getting juice to the controller will sap power. Buck regulators are good at what they do, but will sap that juice. Possibly even the charging circuit too.
I assume you mean the batteries are 3.7Ah? The Cyclamatic at 24 volts is fairly inefficient, just from the virtue of its low voltage. If you want to increase range/performance on these bikes, then a 36 volt power pack is the way to go, but a 3.7Ah won't get you far, so it would have to be a higher capacity pack.
A few peeps have done it over the years, including myself, and IMHO is the best way to mod the Cyclamatic.
24 volts is just not a good voltage to work with on an electric bike, and to faff about with charger ports, buck regulators and low Ah power tool batteries is madness. 24 volt systems hail back to the days of lead acid batteries, where it was a compromise between power and weight.
Sorry to sound negative Steve, but I'm trying to save you huge disappointment
Thanks! Really appreciate the detailed answer. For me it was more of a question of could it be done vs. should it be done! As is often the case, "could" sounds like it doesn't make sense! You know, it's interesting. I picked up the Cyclamatic, used, for around $300 US. Almost brand new according to the owner; 20 miles only in use. Who knows. But, the bike looks like new and does what I was looking for ( flattening hills) with a couple of exceptions. It stinks at flattening big hills and, until I added a suspension seat post, was a real kidney buster on bumps. I personally like the pedal assist mode (less derisive comments from my wife). I think my real need is getting more torque vs. more speed. To that end, would you recommend the shunt mod? I know I can buy a 36V 10ah battery that will plug and play for around $200 US. But I'm worried that the current gearing won't support the higher speeds that result. Not from a damage standpoint but, rather, just in being able to keep up with the pedals.
The shunt mod, using the existing 24v battery, will shorten the battery's life considerably. It's very difficult to mod the shunt accurately. Too much solder and bang goes the controller. You could end up potentially drawing 2C from a battery that not only contains cheap generic cells, but was never designed for the increase in load.
IIRC, my original controller was rated at a nominal 7 amps. Once I carried out the shunt mod, who knows what amperage it was drawing, but I did end up constantly melting the power/key switch wiring.
I eventually blew the controller and switched to an external 36v controller and 36v battery. The performance increase was like night and day.
I do believe that some owners on this forum have used a 36v battery with the existing controller, but don't quote me lol.
Last edited:
Got it. Thanks. Sounds like the best action will be to buy a new 36V battery and controller and give it a try.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
IIRC, Fordulike soldered all of his shunt (naughty, naughty), which is a bit extreme. You will be OK if you solder 25% of it's length. The highest you should go is 33%. I think I went to 50% on mine, which I wouldn't normally do, but it was originally only set to 12 amps, so 50% would have increased it to about 18 - 20 amps.
Completely solder the shunt... me... ok, so I went a bit overboard lol. You'll know when you go over the top, coz the motor stutters and makes weird noises.
Even when shunt modded correctly, it doesn't make it go any quicker, which is what's to be expected. It does however hold it's top speed better for the perception of being faster. I think mine topped out at 17mph on 24 volts.
Even when shunt modded correctly, it doesn't make it go any quicker, which is what's to be expected. It does however hold it's top speed better for the perception of being faster. I think mine topped out at 17mph on 24 volts.
Related Articles
-
MTF Enterprises announces acquisition of EMU Electric Bikes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Wisper 806T folding bike wins Which? ‘Best Buy’- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Sustrans calls for protected cycle lanes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Amazon launch their first UK e-cargo micromobility hub- Started by: Pedelecs
