imortor 1.0

[gymchris]

hi everyone
i have just installed a front wheel imortor 1.0 kit to a 18 alloy boardman 26" wheel bike
this kit is apparently a 250 watt motor with a 3.2ah 36v battery that sits in the hub
everything has gone fine and its up and running
the power of this thing is well very poor
level 1 feel no assist level 2 like having a tail wind help you and level 3 is well it gets you rolling and up to about 8-10 mph but not as fast as i could have got going myself at a very steady passe it will pull me along at about 8mph for about 1 mile then just get slower and slower
battery shows 42v charged up my question is
does this kit sound normal as it feels like a total waste of time and no benefit

can i unplug the battery from the hub motor and just replace it with a somewhat bigger 36v 10ah battery and just plug the power lead into the xt60 socket into the hub motor where the standard battery lives or is the standard battery more than just a power pack and connecting a new 36v source to said connection will not achieve anything

 

[Nealh]

Show us some pics please.
If the battery is internal I can't see an externa one being connected unless there is a battery power outlet that exits the drive wheel.

 

[gymchris]

Show us some pics please.
If the battery is internal I can't see an externa one being connected unless there is a battery power outlet that exits the drive wheel.

 

[gymchris]

just thinking that i could remove battery and have a bottle battery in frame that would provide more well just more of everything

 

[vfr400]

The controller is in the hub too, which makes changing anything very awkward. No doubt, the controller is set to a very low current because a 3200mAh battery wouldn't be able to provide much.

It should be possible to bypass the battery, but it requires a bit of surgery because of the way it connects. The only thing I can suggest is to open the battery module and gut it, then you can solder a couple of wires to the terminals on the inside of the case and use the case as your connector. Even with a decent battery, you'll still have the problem of the low power.

All things considered, I'd chuck it and start again with a normal kit. These all-in-ones are always very problematic and don't last long. They should be avoided like the plague.

A secon thought after seeing a picture of the moulded connector. It looks very similar to an XT60 or something like that. It might be worth getting an XT60 or XT90 (check size) to see if it fits. If it does, then it's simple to use an external battery. Just connect it with the terminals the right way round.

 

[gymchris]

thanks for reply vfr400
my normal fat ebike is waiting on controller fix 1000w hub motor after a fall on ice the controller packed in and is out for repair the imortor was just a temp on an old bike but looks like a waste of time
may get a bottle battery and give it a go or maybe get a better controller this one is rated 9A

 

[gymchris]

XD

 

[vfr400]

I thought as much. 9A is a complete waste of time.

Having lookied at the photo again, I can see that the battery connector is removeable, so you could unsolder the wires and solder them to your new battery.

 

[Nealh]

If that case is fixed and the out rotates then as vfr has said one could likely replace the power connection with an XT60 or similar and use an exterior battery. Although only 9a is should output a nom 324w so a useful bit of power, the poor performance may be down to the silly battery or just a crap system altogether.

 

[vfr400]

If that case is fixed and the out rotates then as vfr has said one could likely replace the power connection with an XT60 or similar and use an exterior battery. Although only 9a is should output a nom 324w so a useful bit of power, the poor performance may be down to the silly battery or just a crap system altogether.

9A is his input power, so output power would be absolute max 230w, or 60% of what a normal crappy ebike system would give. It's going to be uqivalent to a 24v Cyclamatic, if you've ever tried one of those. It's a direct drive motor, so is probably a lot less effient than that, depending on the winding speed. It's going to need about 22 amps to come to life and give useful power.

I reckon that the very low current limit is because that's all the battery can give. If it's possible to open the controller, it might be worth having a look inside to see if there's a shunt to solder, which will increase the current. I expect it's encapsulated, but you might still be able to see it.

 

[gymchris]

If that case is fixed and the out rotates then as vfr has said one could likely replace the power connection with an XT60 or similar and use an exterior battery. Although only 9a is should output a nom 324w so a useful bit of power, the poor performance may be down to the silly battery or just a crap system altogether.

Thanks for reply. Before scrapping the lot I think an exter

9A is his input power, so output power would be absolute max 230w, or 60% of what a normal crappy ebike system would give. It's going to be uqivalent to a 24v Cyclamatic, if you've ever tried one of those. It's a direct drive motor, so is probably a lot less effient than that, depending on the winding speed. It's going to need about 22 amps to come to life and give useful power.

I reckon that the very low current limit is because that's all the battery can give. If it's possible to open the controller, it might be worth having a look inside to see if there's a shunt to solder, which will increase the current. I expect it's encapsulated, but you might still be able to see it.

 

[gymchris]

Meat that up abit. Before scrapping it I think I can get inside the controller and look to do the shunt mod and ad another 10 cell battery pack externally by removing the usb connection on the battery and solder external battery wires to internal battery connection and see if that gives a boost
That's another 36v hopefully making 6ah total battery thanks for the help with this.

 

[gymchris]

Battery specs

 

[gymchris]

 

[Appelmoesman]

I completed 5000KM on my Imortor 1.0 If anyone is still interested in how to live with this imortor and how to maintain and mod the thing let me know.

My mods:
1.0 Injected the large bearing with Shimano grease.
2.0 Drilled a small hole to check for water ingress covered by some tape
3.0 Added a parallel battery with XT30 connector. 14.6WH 36V and an additional plug for extra batteries in bags.
4.0 Painted the stator laminations to stop them rusting quickly
5.0 glued lose strands of stator to stop them rubbing under heavy vibrations
6.0 potted the Bluetooth controller in epoxy

This imortor is not waterproof at all. I'm not planning on testing that. Because of the low KV you really need 42V in order to ride at 32kmph. A bigger battery sags less. But adding a battery and boost converter to charge during riding to 42V makes the top speed very consistend. With an additional hailong battery (140$ from ebay) I found that this motor really rides long distances like a gem. I've done all the MTB tracks in my area (not on wet days) I have no hills in my country and I find it has the perfect amount of torque to fight the wind on most days. Consumptions is reasonable as long as you assist well.

Let me know if you've found a solution to make it more waterproof

Keep riding

 

[vfr400]

That controller says "current limiting 8A". Is that a joke????

 

[Appelmoesman]

That controller says "current limiting 8A". Is that a joke????

It says 9A is what I remembered. that's still 2A over the legal limit in my country. I really enjoy this device that populates my front wheel space for just over a year now. It's been pretty reliable silent and consistent. Before trips were max 20km. Now I can ride 70-125km on a single charge with all my gear of parallel extra batteries. i use 4* parkside 4AH powertool packs (20$ a piece) (40 cells total) and a 16.8V 40 cell old laptop salvaged pack that I convert to 42V to charge while riding to keep the topspeed at 31 instead of 28kmph at 42V I get 378Watts. a big difference combined with the low KV motor its pretty awesome.

 

[sjpt]

It says 9A is what I remembered. that's still 2A over the legal limit in my country.

Probably not illegal. I'm (not sure what your county is, but in most the legal limit is a rated wattage of 250w. Rated is somewhat arbitrary, and is for continuous power. The current limit will be as for peak power.

 

[vfr400]

It says 9A is what I remembered. that's still 2A over the legal limit in my country. I really enjoy this device that populates my front wheel space for just over a year now. It's been pretty reliable silent and consistent. Before trips were max 20km. Now I can ride 70-125km on a single charge with all my gear of parallel extra batteries. i use 4* parkside 4AH powertool packs (20$ a piece) (40 cells total) and a 16.8V 40 cell old laptop salvaged pack that I convert to 42V to charge while riding to keep the topspeed at 31 instead of 28kmph at 42V I get 378Watts. a big difference combined with the low KV motor its pretty awesome.

What country do you live in? All the EU countries, UK, Austalia and many more use EN15194 as the legal standard, which puts no limit on the maximum current. It only specifies that the MOTOR must be RATED at no more than 250w, which basically means a manufacturer's label or listing that says 250w. There's no limit on how much power you put through it.

 

[Appelmoesman]

I made a small fender for the exposed battery.

Without this cover water can run straight into the large 20CM diameter bearing.
Lets hope this will somewhat prevent my water damage to the expensive bearing. Water can still hit the fork and drip down under the acrylic and get inside. I hope anyone has some ideas to prevent this. I found the acrylic in the street and put it in my oven to make it pliable. I made the blue fender holder out of TPU with a 3D printer