Review of Argos £245 E-move folder

My e-move folder was delivered efficiently this morning after a number of messages from the delivery people at Argos, informing me of when to expect them. 10/10 for communication and an efficient service.

 

The large cardboard box in my hallway at Newcastle.

 

 

 

Very securely packed and well wrapped up. Everything that might be scratched or damaged was padded and secure.

 

 

I was keen to get it all out so I could inspect it, and soon had it out, unfolded and ready to charge. All expected accessories such as battery, keys, and the tools were there. And the bike is cosmetically perfect. Not a mark on it.

 

I may need to think about increasing the downward curve of the motor power cable where it enters the hub. It probably ought to have a slightly less sharp bend where it goes into the hub, but the motor has been put into the frame the right way up.

 

The assembly, or packing date on the paperwork inside the box is September 2022 - and here perhaps may be a clue as to why these bikes are being so heavily discounted. This battery is already two years old, all but a month. The level of charge was quite low, only one green bar out of three on the battery's built in charge indicator which is accessed by pressing the membrane button on the case. It is easy to imagine that if this batch of bikes was kept in a warehouse of a little longer, some of them might refuse to charge as the cells lost voltage. I ought to have actually measured the pack voltage at the contacts, to give a better picture of what state the battery was in.

 

The pack has been on charge for some hours now and I am keen to get out on it and test the bike and its performance. No doubt there will be adjustments to be made - perhaps gear indexing and brakes. It has cable brakes of course, but these could if necessary be cheaply upgraded. At the price paid, that would be a small sacrifice.

 

There is a fault I have already discovered. The battery on off switch is sticky and won't now turn off. Slightly annoying, but I won't be sending it back for that. I have read another review on the Argos site which mentioned faulty battery switch and they returned the bike. They probably paid £700..... I didn't, and will be content to try and fettle it, or replace the switch. Initially, I will simply withdraw the battery slightly from the cradle so there is no parasitic loss of power if the bike is left a long time unused.

 

All in all, at this early - as yet un-ridden stage, I am rather pleased with it. A huge bargain at £245. After lunch I will take it out, see how it performs ,and make another report.

She's a beauty. Thank you for the review!

 

What is the biggest 36v battery of the same rear pannier style one can fit in there? If someone needs one for a longer commute it'd be good to know for us newbies.

When you connect a battery that's switched on to a controller, you get the sparks that can damage the connector, so it would probably be better to leave it in all the time and use the control panel to switch on and off. The drain is in the order of micro-amps, so nothing to worry about. Basically, the power only goes as far as the MOSFETs in the controller, which are switched off. Everything else is switched off. It's no different to the MOSFETs in the BMS that switch it off when you operate the battery switch.

 

Can you show a picture of the cable routing. Your photo is dark and blurred.

OK . I had it out on a 7 mile ride to see how she rides.

 

It isn't the most sophisticated ebike for sure, but it does seem to do what you would expect. I rode it mostly in the middle of the three PAS settings which corresponds to the speed controller pushing me along at about 11 miles an hour (best guess). After whatever that middle speed setting is, the motor stops humming and I take over. I soon felt at home, though at first it felt odd after my usual rides, a mid drive Bafang BBS01, and a standard, 3 gear Brompton. After a few hundred yards it felt fine. It is very low geared. In top, I feel like I am spinning when the motor cuts out at 15.4 miles an hour.

 

I really did not have to do much work at all, even when I purposely took it to the bottom of a very harsh climb out of Jesmond Dene. I would be pushing my Brompton up that, but I just dropped a few gears and spun my legs and the bike climbed up there at about 8 or 9 miles an hour. No sweat, even on a hot day.

 

It has brake lights. Nice and bright and I have now discovered another disadvantage of the 'no switchy' power switch - there is a small single LED tail light which is on all the time. It is not part of the brake light system. That works properly, but I am guessing that when you switch on the power on the battery, this LED lights. I did not notice it before now, but it is on all the time and since the power switch doesn't work, I am going to have to get that switch working or it will soon drain the battery. Sad to say, as an anti-tamper measure, the screws which secure the upper and lower halves of the battery case, have had glue dripped into them.

 

So - - my first effort will need to be to try dripping some wd40 or such like into the switch to see if the insides will free and flip over as they should.

 

Maybe the engineers on here will come up with a non invasive solution....

When you connect a battery that's switched on to a controller, you get the sparks that can damage the connector, so it would probably be better to leave it in all the time and use the control panel to switch on and off. The drain is in the order of micro-amps, so nothing to worry about. Basically, the power only goes as far as the MOSFETs in the controller, which are switched off. Everything else is switched off. It's no different to the MOSFETs in the BMS that switch it off when you operate the battery switch.

 

Can you show a picture of the cable routing. Your photo is dark and blurred.

 

Thanks for the information Saneagle. Yes I was listening for the crackle when I fed the battery back into its dock. I suppose the time out of the dock had been brief so whatever capacitors in the controller might have pulled big current, were still charged up. Heard nothing that time, but point taken.

 

Please see remarks in post above about led tail light which is always on I think while the battery is switched on.

 

Here is a photo of the cable routing:

 

Thanks for the information Saneagle. Yes I was listening for the crackle when I fed the battery back into its dock. I suppose the time out of the dock had been brief so whatever capacitors in the controller might have pulled big current, were still charged up. Heard nothing that time, but point taken.

 

Please see remarks in post above about led tail light which is always on I think while the battery is switched on.

 

Here is a photo of the cable routing:

 

[ATTACH=full]59317[/ATTACH]

I'd like to have seen it zoomed out a bit. It's clearly too tight, but I can't see why.

 

It's a shame it's 6-speed, otherwise, you could fit a DNP 11/32 freewheel to solve your pedal issue. I might see if it works on mine.

Edited August 11, 20241 yr by saneagle

I'd like to have seen it zoomed out a bit. It's clearly too tight, but I can't see why.

 

The cable is clipped very firmly to the frame and then disappears inside the frame, and probably then goes to a knot of tightly tied cables on the other side of that hole behind the battery and controller. I have not yet ironed out what is going on there, but I suspect I can unravel a bit of the bird's nest and free up an inch or two of the motor cable to make a more reasonable bend there. There certainly isn't any more slack right now until I get into that cable the other side of the frame.

 

Did you see my remarks above about the permanently lit LED on the back of the battery?

 

Strange to say - that LED has now extinguished itself... Very odd. It was on when I got back from the ride, and then I put the battery on charge and while I have been having a cup of coffee and writing this, it has gone out. Nuts or what? It was on when the battery was taken out of the cradle too, but not now. What could it be for?

Aditional info on weird little led on battery case at the back.

 

It is related to the brake light.

 

It was out, and I switched on the controller and looked at the lights at the back. None were lit.

I momentarily pressed the brake levers and the brake light came on brightly, and the little weird led glowed dimly then died out. I pressed and held the brake for about twenty seconds and the weird led was brightly it and remained bright after i released the brakes. The big brakelight had extinguished of course. Over time, the weird led fades and goes out so it is powered I think by a small super capacitor and it will not be draining the battery as I thought ten minutes ago.

 

Why they would add such a feature I do not know, unless it was thought of as a way of putting in a feeble rear light.... I can stop concerning myself with it, and so can you.

 

Edit - it might not be a super-capacitor that is powering it. Had it been, it would have charged more or less instantly which it obviously didn't. It could though be charged via a reasonably high resistor, and that would mean it would charge more slowly...... I feel like someone who found a UFO and is trying to reverse engineer the strange technology. Yes - I am now coming to the opinion that it is a super cap with a hundred k resistor to charge it.

Aditional info on weird little led on battery case at the back.

 

It is related to the brake light.

 

It was out, and I switched on the controller and looked at the lights at the back. None were lit.

I momentarily pressed the brake levers and the brake light came on brightly, and the little weird led glowed dimly then died out. I pressed and held the brake for about twenty seconds and the weird led was brightly it and remained bright after i released the brakes. The big brakelight had extinguished of course. Over time, the weird led fades and goes out so it is powered I think by a small super capacitor and it will not be draining the battery as I thought ten minutes ago.

 

Why they would add such a feature I do not know, unless it was thought of as a way of putting in a feeble rear light.... I can stop concerning myself with it, and so can you.

We'll have to see what mine does when it comes.

We'll have to see what mine does when it comes.

 

I added to that remark you are commenting on and you may not have seen it. I think the led is powered by a super capacitor which is slowly charged from a highish value resistor. See edited remark if you want to see how I came to that conclusion.

[ATTACH type=full" alt="Argos folder first ride.jpg]59316[/ATTACH]

 

Whata's that you're using to photograph the bike with? It's 'kin useless. Haven't you got a phone with a camera in it?

Never use WD-40 for electrical connections.

https://www.goldwingfacts.com/threads/never-use-wd-40-for-electrical-connections.366596/

That isn't the original photo. I can never upload the full quality pictures and I downloaded a photo compressor that shrinks them to a much smaller size. I think this phone camera is pretty good, but the pedelecs site won't accept the full quality pictures.

 

I am convinced that there is plenty of motor cable ravelled up behind the controller that can be pulled through. The ravel of wire is very tightly bound up with cable ties. I can't really see it that well with my varifocals. When I get back to Northumberland I have some good x3.5 reading specs and will be able to work out what is happening. I don't think it is an existential crisis. It can wait.

 

That isn't the original photo. I can never upload the full quality pictures and I downloaded a photo compressor that shrinks them to a much smaller size. I think this phone camera is pretty good, but the pedelecs site won't accept the full quality pictures.

 

Hi resolution is no problem if you drag and drop into the uploader, instead of dragging and dropping into your post:

 

 

Never use WD-40 for electrical connections.

 

https://www.goldwingfacts.com/threads/never-use-wd-40-for-electrical-connections.366596/

 

I have some 99% isopropyl alcohol here, but I am a bit reluctant to use it, because it will melt certain plastics. I had a cheap Chinese pocket torch which had a push switch that wasn't working and I dripped some of the isopropyl stuff in. This freed up the switch which worked, but it melted the plastic lens making it blurry. I gave that to my eldest grandson and bought a new torch and vowed to mind where I poured that stuff after.

Hi resolution is no problem if you drag and drop into the uploader, instead of dragging and dropping into your post:

 

 

[ATTACH=full]59319[/ATTACH]

Thanks Guerney. Good info.

 

Just on our shared passion for BBS01 systems - this hub motor speed control is SO crude by comparison to our soft start BBSes. It comes on like a dragster when i start pedaling. I need to be a bit careful doing a u turn on a narrow track. I nearly ended up in the weeds when doing that earlier.

Thanks Guerney. Good info.

 

Just on our shared passion for BBS01 systems - this hub motor speed control is SO crude by comparison to our soft start BBSes. It comes on like a dragster when i start pedaling. I need to be a bit careful doing a u turn on a narrow track. I nearly ended up in the weeds when doing that earlier.

You feel it more because the small wheel gives high torque. It wasn't a problem with the 27.5" wheel one. Now you know why we recommend KT controllers with current control. They give much better control of how much power you get and how hard you want to pedal. IMHO, it's a better system than a torque sensor.

 

I never had a problem with pictures of any size. Just click that little mountain icon and drag your photo in.

I added to that remark you are commenting on and you may not have seen it. I think the led is powered by a super capacitor which is slowly charged from a highish value resistor. See edited remark if you want to see how I came to that conclusion.

 

Set off a proper brake light using a relay, powered by the ebike battery? Or a fart machine.

One reason why I didn't bother ordering one, after one ride I would have had to rip out the the elctronic system for a prorper one and replace all with KT.

Speed control I find aweful.

One reason why I didn't bother ordering one, after one ride I would have had to rip out the the elctronic system for a prorper one and replace all with KT.

Speed control I find aweful.

 

Yeah - it's not great. However it will do for what I have in mind. Even if you had done that Neil, it would still be very cheap.

 

One thing I may not have mentioned. It is very heavy. It's like riding on a girder. Only just got it in the boot as well. I had to take out the parcel shelf and stand it up. The Brompton fits in there very easily lying down.

One reason why I didn't bother ordering one, after one ride I would have had to rip out the the elctronic system for a prorper one and replace all with KT.

Speed control I find aweful.

 

More folding bikes than I expected have 135mm rear dropouts - the (not great) Brompton inspired Dahon Curl i8 (I think) , also [uSER=46203]@Ghost1951[/uSER]'s old space framed Moulton. It seems any bike with 8 SRAM hub gears, is potentially an easy drop-in/little-or-no-chainstay-spread rear hub motor conversion candidate. With filing of dropouts and mysterious but alluring WTF PLC settings to contend with of course.

One thing I may not have mentioned. It is very heavy. It's like riding on a girder. Only just got it in the boot as well. I had to take out the parcel shelf and stand it up. The Brompton fits in there very easily lying down.

 

Not very heavy: 25kg, including 2.35kg battery.

 

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1267677

 

I have no trouble heaving my 22.41kg 20" wheeled conversion into a car boot or public transport, but it's easier with it's 3.6kg battery removed. Anabolic steroids - initial frustration flashes into roid rage to get the job done. It takes a tranquiliser dart to stop me turning over the car and going on a HULK! SMASH!!! rampage. Don't leave home without spare injections.

 

Just on our shared passion for BBS01 systems - this hub motor speed control is SO crude by comparison to our soft start BBSes. It comes on like a dragster when i start pedaling. I need to be a bit careful doing a u turn on a narrow track. I nearly ended up in the weeds when doing that earlier.

 

If you can transfer your BBS01 kit onto that steel framed folder it'll fly, all nice and controllable like. It might even fly and devour hills with that battery - what are the cells, what's the capacity of the pack, what Chingrish is on the BMS? Will be heavier with a BBS01. A couple of extra Kg will be neither here nor there. With the controller at 15A, an extra 80kg slowed (but didn't stop) hill climbs.

 

(The wobbly Minoura handlebar extension has since been tightened)

Edited August 12, 20241 yr by guerney

Not very heavy: 25kg, including 2.35kg battery.

There are some 7 speed 20" Dahon clones with mechanical disc brakes, alloy frame and steel forks for 12.5 -> 13 kg - add a 1.6 kg AKM hub motor , KT controller and 1.8 kg 36V 10Ah bag battery ( and [mention=3847]saneagle[/mention] 's 11-32t sprocket ) they will weigh 16.5 kg to 17 kg and it is a very capable bike (although it would likely cost £6-700 !)

By the way - the brakes on this thing are pretty bad. The contrast with the disc brakes on my Specialised BBS01 conversion (hydraulic) is stark. Those are fantastic by comparison. Fettling and bedding in may help. I have only ridden it about twelve miles so far.