Hello, after reading some post here I'd like to share some experiences.
Running ebikes for +5 years I decided to evolve to better efficiency and speed with a recumbent, a long wheelbase is hard to manoeuvre in my area and not an option to bring down to our basement (same reason a trike isn't an alternative). The short wheelbase seem nose heavy and I definitely don't like to give up on stopping power. That left me to CLWB wich is a dying breed unfortunately, the Spirit beeing my second option of choice.
The front hub motor was bought some five years ago and is a no name style Chinese direct drive 250w 24v and originally laced in a 26 inch wheel.
These are far more robust than geared hubs and doesn't ware out your gears and put strain on your bike like a cranksystem, they will literally run quiet forever and take abuse without complaining.
Now in a 20 inch (front) wheel the torque is great in both accelerating and ebraking - optimal for a recumbent.
Its been upgraded with ca, and 20a 60v Grin controller - that is as plug and play as it gets!
I love the benefits of regenerative braking, extending range (15-20% according to the ca), allmost eliminating the use of the ordinary brakes and the benefits of changing speed as a matter of safety without hesitation.
This thing is a blast and the ca give me the option of running restricted or use the +40km/h top speed. After ~1500km of driving I average around 10wh/km giving me more than 70km range on one charge (36v 20ah lithium, two second hand parallel Big hit batteries - without their bulky boxes ofcourse).
And some love to your Li-ion batteries:
* Worth telling here is that your batteries are NOT like a fuel tank, no matter what the misinformation of the manual, sales or service personnel is telling you - it doesn't like to stay fully charged!
* Lithium batteries like to be 40% charged (~3,9v/cell).
* Accepting 20-80% of charge and 1000's of cycles in between those.
* Aging very quickly at high temperatures and fully charged. (High temperatures also comes from small, low quality or aging cells during charge or discharge if a lot of power is used)
* Get possibly destroyed and unable to take charge again if completely discharged - stay above 3v/cell or better 3,5v/cell - and check what is YOUR battery level of selfdischarge.
* Now, depending on how your cells in series are beeing balanced (commonly just while left in the charger over night, due to savings of the electronic parts and ignorance of the bms programmer) - this should be done every month or so.
* To extend battery life I simply use a diode in series to lower the full charge to 4,1v/cell (instead of the common 4,2v) and most frequently stop before even reaching there.
I'm a happy owner of the Bacchetta Cafe' / Stefan
Running ebikes for +5 years I decided to evolve to better efficiency and speed with a recumbent, a long wheelbase is hard to manoeuvre in my area and not an option to bring down to our basement (same reason a trike isn't an alternative). The short wheelbase seem nose heavy and I definitely don't like to give up on stopping power. That left me to CLWB wich is a dying breed unfortunately, the Spirit beeing my second option of choice.
The front hub motor was bought some five years ago and is a no name style Chinese direct drive 250w 24v and originally laced in a 26 inch wheel.
These are far more robust than geared hubs and doesn't ware out your gears and put strain on your bike like a cranksystem, they will literally run quiet forever and take abuse without complaining.
Now in a 20 inch (front) wheel the torque is great in both accelerating and ebraking - optimal for a recumbent.
Its been upgraded with ca, and 20a 60v Grin controller - that is as plug and play as it gets!
I love the benefits of regenerative braking, extending range (15-20% according to the ca), allmost eliminating the use of the ordinary brakes and the benefits of changing speed as a matter of safety without hesitation.
This thing is a blast and the ca give me the option of running restricted or use the +40km/h top speed. After ~1500km of driving I average around 10wh/km giving me more than 70km range on one charge (36v 20ah lithium, two second hand parallel Big hit batteries - without their bulky boxes ofcourse).
And some love to your Li-ion batteries:
* Worth telling here is that your batteries are NOT like a fuel tank, no matter what the misinformation of the manual, sales or service personnel is telling you - it doesn't like to stay fully charged!
* Lithium batteries like to be 40% charged (~3,9v/cell).
* Accepting 20-80% of charge and 1000's of cycles in between those.
* Aging very quickly at high temperatures and fully charged. (High temperatures also comes from small, low quality or aging cells during charge or discharge if a lot of power is used)
* Get possibly destroyed and unable to take charge again if completely discharged - stay above 3v/cell or better 3,5v/cell - and check what is YOUR battery level of selfdischarge.
* Now, depending on how your cells in series are beeing balanced (commonly just while left in the charger over night, due to savings of the electronic parts and ignorance of the bms programmer) - this should be done every month or so.
* To extend battery life I simply use a diode in series to lower the full charge to 4,1v/cell (instead of the common 4,2v) and most frequently stop before even reaching there.
I'm a happy owner of the Bacchetta Cafe' / Stefan
