Oxydrive kits

[Deleted member 4366]

That's my Rocky Mountain crank. I glued the cut out magnet disc to the inner chainring as you can see. It's still there and working after three years. There's loads of things you can do like that. It just takes a bit of imagination. All you need to achieve is the magnets passing in front of the sensor.

 

[Planemo]

N

Just had a email back from Andrew at oxydrive and the offer ends tonight at 11pm.
Just put my order in for the cst 11ah.
Will let you all know how I get on, and I'm sure I may need a bit of help
Steve

Nice one Steve! Have you got cable brakes? Looks like we will be fitting our kits in tandem. Given the previous reply I think I will be butchering the OD levers to extract the sensors but if they are not suitable I may have to look into alternative reed or mechanical switches. Hydraulic line pressure switches are also available but I am not keen on having to cut and bleed two lines.

 

[Planemo]

That's my Rocky Mountain crank. I glued the cut out magnet disc to the inner chainring as you can see. It's still there and working after three years. There's loads of things you can do like that. It just takes a bit of imagination. All you need to achieve is the magnets passing in front of the sensor.

Sorry d8evh I didn't know that was one of yours so credit due there! Its a very nice solution I have to say. It will definately be the route I take if the chainring bolt (magnet) option isn't feasible.

 

[Planemo]

Found them!

Going to give these a try with the OD kit unless someone says that 4 pulses per revolution wont be enough.

http://www.ebike-easy.com/products/Parts/Accessories/ELFEi-Accessories/ELFEi-PAS-Magnets-for-Octalink-and-Hollowtech-bottom-brackets.html

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've seen people glue magnets to the inner chainwheel before, but you have to be aware that not all magnet discs ard the same. Some have alternatively orientated magnets, some have them all the same way, and some even have them sideways-on so that each one passes a noth and south pole. You have to match the orientation in the disc that comes with the sensor. The number of magnets doesn't matter, except that alternately oriented magnets have to be an even number.

 

[Planemo]

Excellent info mate, very handy to know. Unless we know in advance the setup required by the OD kit I will check the disc myself when it arrives. Hopefully its not a side-on system, that would be a bit of a nightmare!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The previous Oxydrive kit had the sideways magnets (square), ut not this one.

 

[Planemo]

Hi d8vwh

Thanks for that. Hopefully the supplied kit will deal with a standard non-alternating pole switch. Coming myself from an industry which predominantly used fully customisable aftermarket vehicle ECU's, it would be nice for the OD kit to allow input configurations within the handlebar controller to enable the user to select the logic protocol for the users inputs. I fully understand why OD try to make the kit as PnP as possible but if they could add the programming ability (which would not be a lot of effort) it would take an already top notch kit to the next level. It wouldn't just have to end at brake and crank sensor inputs, it could extend to battery voltage and inclination sensors etc to allow greater flexibility. It would also be good if crank rpm could be monitored (rather than it seems with most kits a simple on/off PA) so that power could be delivered progressively, especially from a standstill.

Bearing in mind the retail nature of these kits, warranty issues will of course be ringing in sellers heads but if the seller was to 'lock' a sub menu which could only be accesed via a disclaimer then I see no issues. For sure, if we were using a fully mappable ECU and popped a £40k engine due to mapping/setup error we would be on our own.

These are just a few things I have picked up from my Mrs kit which is just a regular bafung ebay jobbie but hey I am probably getting a bit carried away.

Looking foward to getting the OD kit and playing with it

 

[anotherkiwi]

I think that brake cutoffs are overkill (pun intended) if you are not using a throttle. And PAS is so good I really don't see why anyone would need a throttle anyway. I have yet to find myself in a situation where I thought "hey a throttle would be handy here"...

 

[Planemo]

Throttle can be good when you simply dont want to peddle. My Mrs for example has dodgy knees but still wants to be on a bike so she picks and chooses her leg movements as required. I like it because it allows me to maintain speed whilst I stand up to stretch my legs etc (getting on a bit now!). The brake cutoff can be handy for example if you are downshifting so need to keep pedals moving but want to cut the power for a set of traffic lights etc. Unless I am missing something!?

 

[anotherkiwi]

If you are in a low assistance level you can downshift without having to cut the power. I use the assitance level button to turn down the power rather than brake while pedalling which is against nature to me - I stop pedalling when I touch the brake levers by instinct and I am getting on too so I can't see myself unlearning that. With my PAS even the millisecond I release pressure on the pedals cuts the motor when downchanging. It kicks straight back in when I start to pedal but you can feel the cutout.

With good PAS setup and using it the right way you don't have to apply pressure to the pedals. I ride around town without using any force and not breaking a sweat (36°C today...) just turning the pedals to keep the motor powered up and using the assistance level button to set the required riding speed.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Hi
I'm in the same boat as you, I have hydraulic breaks, so looks like I will try and mod up the switch.

 

[Planemo]

With my PAS even the millisecond I release pressure on the pedals cuts the motor when downchanging.

I sort of get what you are saying, but ultimately the crank still needs to turn when shifting, which with most kits will activate the motor. To give an example, there is a section at the end of my high road which declines sharply prior to a set of traffic lights. I don't want to stop the motor (or downshift) prior to the brow and I certainly don't want the motor running when I cross the brow. On my non ebike I find myself (instinctively) pedaling slowly and downshifting whilst braking. When I used the Mrs' ebike this one section of road brought up the issue I am trying to explain (probably not very well).

The option I guess (if not using brake cutoffs) is to manually turn off the system or activate a throttle only mode prior to the brow but this seems a faff. I would rather keep it simple and know that when I apply the brakes the motor shuts down. Like you quite rightly say though, we all ride differently and maybe I could learn around it. To be fair my Mrs ebike only has 3 levels of assist too rather than the 6 + 3 power of the OD kit which might be flexible enough to work around it.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's pretty easy to fit switches to Hydraulic brakes. You just need a reed switch and a magnet. The reed switch has to be NC if you want to pull the magnet away from it or NO if you want to bring the magnet to it. Which way you fo depends on the design of the levers and where you can fit the magnet and reed switch.

 

[mfj197]

I sort of get what you are saying, but ultimately the crank still needs to turn when shifting, which with most kits will activate the motor. To give an example, there is a section at the end of my high road which declines sharply prior to a set of traffic lights. I don't want to stop the motor (or downshift) prior to the brow and I certainly don't want the motor running when I cross the brow. On my non ebike I find myself (instinctively) pedaling slowly and downshifting whilst braking. When I used the Mrs' ebike this one section of road brought up the issue I am trying to explain (probably not very well).

The option I guess (if not using brake cutoffs) is to manually turn off the system or activate a throttle only mode prior to the brow but this seems a faff. I would rather keep it simple and know that when I apply the brakes the motor shuts down. Like you quite rightly say though, we all ride differently and maybe I could learn around it. To be fair my Mrs ebike only has 3 levels of assist too rather than the 6 + 3 power of the OD kit which might be flexible enough to work around it.

I find brake cutoffs necessary for the reasons you cite. Funnily enough I've only been riding the bike a couple of months and the use of the brake cutoffs (as distinct from just braking) has completely become second nature, and did so very quickly. I find them essential in the following situations:

• Downshifting as you slow down for a junction (I still need to turn the cranks as mine's a derailleur setup - don't want the drive kicking in!)
• Coming to a halt a car or two back from a junction and needing to move forwards slowly when each car in front moves off without being fired into oncoming traffic by the motor
• Half-turning the cranks to keep the inside pedal high when leaning hard over and switching from one side to the other as for a roundabout
• Generally creeping forward in stop-start traffic (as opposed to filtering)

I think there's many others, but as I say it's become completely second nature, simply half-pressing a brake when I don't want drive kicking in - I do it too many times to count over my commute. It's probably a bit more important for me as I use a crank drive, but interestingly I don't use the cutoffs for gear changes as I keep the power low enough not to need it.

Michael

 

[Planemo]

I have been looking at reed switches but my XT setup doesnt leave a lot of mounting options. I may have found another way round it though by using a simple microswitch between the alloy body and the hard plastic brake line which on my brakes moves away from the body when brakes are applied. I have stuck my finger between the line and body and theres a fair bit of force from the line when the brakes are released as theres very little give in the line. Bit difficult to explain but providing the microswitches dont take much effort to trigger I think it could be the simplest, neatest option. First pic is brake off, 2nd pic is brake on.

 

[mfj197]

If it helps, here are sensors on my M355 hydraulic brakes. The sensors are the standard 3-wire ones for BBS01/02.

Michael

 

[Planemo]

Hmm, the inner end of my brake lever isnt accessible like yours so it might be tricky to find a workable solution on my ones. I might just buy a pair to try though, were yours from eclipsebikes?

 

[mfj197]

They were indeed. Note that they are hall effect sensors so they have a 3-way connector and require power. I think the standard ones needed for the Oxydrive are 2-way, just open and closed circuit?

 

[Planemo]

Ah right I did wonder if they would suit the OD kit. I assumed they would but you might be right the OD ones could be 2 wire. I will have to have a look when the kit arrives which could be today. If so I may go back to the microswitch idea.