Oxydrive kits

[baldylox]

I have an Oxydrive CST HT kit purchased in January 2015 (I assume a 250w) and a CST HT 350w kit purchased in November 2015 and I'm not sure that I can tell them apart WRT power/torque. I would however like to know what the controller is rated at and whether they are different for each battery base.
I currently have the old (250) wheel matched to the new controller and new (350) wheel matched to the old controller.
Mainly because as the website states that the 350w motor can handle the higher loads (well, my higher load/weight)!

 

[anotherkiwi]

I should be on a sticker somewhere on the controller.

With regards to you finding no difference between them, if you run a 250 W motor at higher Amps and a 350 W motor at lower Amps they will be much of a muchness.

 

[baldylox]

On inspection the controller on each of the kits is marked as 15 amp max. So maybe the new (350w) motor is just as stated on the website to take higher load.
I guess that as it's an integrated controller there is no way of getting more oomph, I understand (from a much earlier post) that there is no shunt which can be soldered to gain a little extra ampage?

 

[Nealh]

When I opened mine to look I saw no sign of one, as D8veh said it may be on the other side but as it is all coated in silicone and tight I didn't go any further. Selrahc smoked his whether he looked any further I don't know.

 

[dave92]

Thanks to Andrew the replacement battery charger arrived yesterday and my battery is now fully charged once again ready for the off.

On a somewhat related topic; can anyone please advise on a good source for a lighter backup battery which can be carried on a ride to be used when the main battery runs dry.

Plus; I'd also like to know the lowest useable voltage level the BMS display should be allowed to go down to - if anyone can help with that info.

Thanks very much.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Quality cells 3.2 V, Chinese 3.5 V

The BMS on my bottle battery cuts of at 35.5 V IIRC I hardly ever let it empty completely I always charge at just over 36 V. You can play with the level in the LCD settings but if the BMS is set to a certain level the controller won't override I think.

 

[dave92]

For anyone who's interested, here's a picture of my titanium road bike with a front wheel motor on Surly steel forks, the pedal assist magnetic disc attached to the inside of a Shimano Hollowtech II compact chainring and the C6 LCD display mounted centrally on the dropped handlebars with the button control pad next to it on the right. The throttle and brake cut-off lever and both been left off as neither were required for my cycle touring activities. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to answer.

 

[Planemo]

Any particular reason why the battery is upside down? Was it ease of wiring?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Don't ride it in the rain with the battery upside down.

 

[Planemo]

Thats what I was thinking! Just washing the bike could cause problems?

 

[dave92]

Both my bike mechanic chum (who installed the kit) and I thought it fitted much better this way round. The battery casing was very close to the large chainring the other way round and in danger of fouling the chain. There was also no room for a bottle cage on the seat tube which is a good thing to have on a long ride. We looked at the electrical plug and socket connection between the controller and battery and the outer part is now pointing downwards and so seemed to have minimal risk of water ingress. What have we missed - are there other electrical connections between the two components we need to be aware of?

Thanks very much; your advice and guidance is much appreciated.

 

[anotherkiwi]

There is only a thin rubber gasket between the black controller top and the metal bit which makes water ingress more likely now that it is exposed to the front and not protected behind the battery.

 

[trex]

Both my bike mechanic chum (who installed the kit) and I thought it fitted much better this way round. The battery casing was very close to the large chainring the other way round and in danger of fouling the chain. There was also no room for a bottle cage on the seat tube which is a good thing to have on a long ride. We looked at the electrical plug and socket connection between the controller and battery and the outer part is now pointing downwards and so seemed to have minimal risk of water ingress. What have we missed - are there other electrical connections between the two components we need to be aware of?

Thanks very much; your advice and guidance is much appreciated.

you could add a couple of M6 rivnuts to the downtube and have the battery installed in the normal way up.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Probably even just one rivnut a notch up from the top one would do the trick.

 

[Planemo]

Also, its difficult to see but have you got a drip loop on the motor axle input wire? Or at least make sure the wire goes below the height of the axle before it enters.

 

[Planemo]

This is mine, you can see the wire exits downwards from the axle. Its not much of an angle but enough to keep water from travelling along the wire into the axle.

 

[baldylox]

I wonder if anyone has experienced problems with their Oxydrive battery charger for the CST HD kit? I just got a fault with mine - no lights and not charging, I thought it'd blown a fuse at first but a fresh fuse did not help. I suspect an internal component has given up the ghost as I had a similar problem not so long ago with a Bosch (power tool) battery charger, apparently a well known fault with these (according to forum/feedback accounts)!

 

[baldylox]

Update:
Got in touch with Andrew at H7 engineering and he is sending a replacement charger, excellent service again from Oxydrive.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

There's probably a fuse inside on the output, maybe soldered to the pcb. I've never opened one of those chargers, but nearly every other one I've opened did have a fuse inside.

Switch the charger on before sticking it in the battery, otherwise the inrush will might blow the fuse and it'll cause a spark that can damage the socket.

 

[baldylox]

There's probably a fuse inside on the output, maybe soldered to the pcb. I've never opened one of those chargers, but nearly every other one I've opened did have a fuse inside.

Switch the charger on before sticking it in the battery, otherwise the inrush will might blow the fuse and it'll cause a spark that can damage the socket.

Ah, I thought the charging procedure was to plug charger into wall socket, plug charger into battery and then switch on at wall socket.