Sunstar Ibike S03

[funkylyn]

Good points......in my case I can cycle 50 miles a day (not often ) ONLY because I have an electric bike...there is no way I could do that mileage unassisted.
The reason I personally want more range is when I am camping off site with no hookup, but there are other ways around that.
Probably for me the most important thing is the weight of the bike, and the only thing that has put me off carrying a spare battery just in case its needed, is the fact that it would be deteriorating at a similar rate to the original battery.
But also it needs to be able to get me up steep hills.....
Faster charging batteries are going to be fantastic if you are somewhere midday (pub) where you can charge a bit....
As ever its always going to be a compromise, but with the current rumours about what may be coming next in the e bike world.....I'm thinking.....should I wait a bit longer......
At the moment I am waiting to test the new Tonaro Esprit to see if I absolutely fall in love with it...or whether the weight is going to be its downfall for me personally.....decisions decisions......

Lynda

 

[flecc]

Further confirmation on these points.

Riding an eZee Quando on which the motor ability outruns the single rider pedalling gear, meaning virtually motor only, the range on a 36 volt 10 Ah battery is typically 15 miles, viz my own experience and that of A to B's review.

On other e-bikes I've ridden trips of 50 to 60 miles with up to 3 batteries on the most powerful machine, an eZee Torq, one in and the others in the panniers. The greedy Torq typically used two and a half batteries capacity on a 60 mile trip.

I did regularly ride 50 to 60 mile trips in my unpowered cycling days prior to 2003.
.

 

[Scottyf]

Either way some Lipo and I'm surte some other cell type are up to 5c charging. Now I know thats pretty hefty but even at a 2c charge rate if you have a powerful enough charger you could charge a battery in 30mins...

Although you really would need a large power supply to hit that, say 36v 10amp battery @ 2c would require a charger capable of at least 720watt which is quite considerable when drawing that power from a wall outlet.

 

[Rob Jones - Sunstar]

Sunstar I-Bike S03 unit

Hi my name is Rob Jones From Sunstar in the UK. If you would like some information on our S03 unit perhaps I can help. The unit has been on the market 10 years+ in Japan. But only recently introduced to the UK. I have a trial cycle with the unit fitted if you would like to try the system. I am always travelling around the UK and can arrange to drop the cycle with you (no obligation). My UK office telephone is 01926 863163. Let me know how I can help. Cheers Rob

Hi,
the reason why I'm here is that I'm interested in a pedelec. I would like to buy me a motor unit which I can mount on my old but loved bike. During my search of a supplier I found the Ibike S03 of Sunstar. Does anyone of you has any experiences with this motor unit?
Unfortunately, I'm not so familiar with this electrical stuff. Would it be a good investment to buy this unit? here is the link of the website. Maybe someone can give me an advice. en | Sunstaribike

Thanks for your help.

 

[Artstu]

Tell us more Rob please.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

Sunstar

Hi...
long time ago i was here...
hi flecc.

Just read your thoughts about the sunstar.

1.) you think that it has too less power, "only" 1:1 assistance ?

well: i purchased my set from a guy here in Austria.
he told me, that he has measured peaks up to 20A
a other guy in the German Pedelec-Forum said, that he has seen Peaks up to 15A at the German Pedelec exhibition, because there was a Wattsup mounted.

so: 15A, 20A -> that are around 370Watt to 500Watt inputpower
assuming a not too bad efficience there is plenty of power coming out of the sytem

infact it feels stronger than the - for years strong enough - Panasonic 26V-System
but not as strong as the Bosch-System


2.) Speed... you fear, that you are not reaching the 20mph because of too few power?
i can tell you, that it was no affair to get 40km/h and more with it
(it is very simple to "tune" the bike: just turn the magnet of the speed-sensor to the side)

i have testdriven 2 Bikes.. a MTB and a trike

this Trike:

because of my head near the rearwheel the motor was not hearable... (ok, the speed was around 45km/h i could reach with this)

and a old steelframed MTB (from the dealer of the motor here in Vienna, just for test-purpose)
with this bike i could manage to climbe a very steep, short incline of 42% up to 53% (!)
(with a 41 teeth crankwheel)

i tried it some days later with my normal MTB and managed it too, to climb it, but with the Sunstar ist was WAY easier (also it had a 41 teeth crankwheel).. this thing has power and you don´t have to fear that it is weak, as said: its not a BOSCH, but its stronger than the Panasonic 26V-System which was - when it came to climbing - for years the reference under the Watt-legal bikes.

here a picture of the incline, so iam not joking about the 42-53%:

finaly: i have put it today in a MTB iam building for my mother:
this bike as a SRam Dualdrive-gearing (3 hubgears combines with 9 chain-gears...
so i will have a much slower first-gear than on the testbike)

here i have made a Video, so you can see how easy it is done to fit it into the bike:
there are only 2 wires, 1 for the console/HMI, one for the battery (2 wires, so any battery works, no bus-system or other nonsense)

[video=youtube;janGZLjMrY4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=janGZLjMrY4[/video]
Sunstar03 - Lieferumfang und Einbau - YouTube

make sure to watch it in full-hd

seriosly: the motor is not perfect.. by far
iam finding more and more things i don´t like
(for example nearly 2 seconds continoued power when you already have stopped to pedal)
and other things, i think i don´t wana speak about, until i have more experience with it and can say this first findings by sure

well: the downsides were not so strong sofar, so i bought it, also it costs nearly 3times as much as a hub-motor-set

for battery: you see the bottle on the picture: here i will install 7s2p Konion2100, so 4,2Ah nominal
that results in about 100Wh
which should be ok for 20-30km
the battery weights for that only about 700gramms
the motor should be a assistance, to help my 50kg light mother over some hills
(yes, with her light weight a hubmotor would have enough power as well on hills, but i have already build 2 hub-motorbikes, i WANTED to try something new)

well, when i have some experiences with driving, i will post here again, if i don´t forget
hope that this posting helps a little
the motor is not un-interesting, thats for sure

 

[kraeuterbutter]

ah.. weight of the fully-MTB should come out with about 16,99kg

 

[eddieo]

kraeuterbutter are you a relation of Herb butter over on German pedelec by any chance?lol

The Cannondale looks very cool!

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the response kraeuterbutter. Owners and reviewers of the SO1 system were agreed on the weakness of the system and the SO2 was reportedly little different, so it was in response to that the SO3 was introduced with claimed higher power. I haven't tried the SO3, but I know the fundamentals are the same so obviously they must have changed the controller aspect to allow those sort of currents.

That said, drive-through-the-gear systems will climb steep hills by virtue of using the gears, and I know from the videos you've posted just how powerful a rider you are, far stronger (and much younger) than myself or the great majority in here.

The mention of a 100 Wh battery gives the game away, since that for most e-bikers it won't last any time at all on a system with the power you claim for it, less than 12 minutes on full throttle and that wouldn't be enough to climb some single hills! I notice also that Sunstar still only offer tiny batteries for them by most e-bike standards, so I find it difficult to believe it is a 20 amp system. Others capable of that order of power use batteries at least 3 or 4 times larger.
.

 

[daniel.weck]

kraeuterbutter are you a relation of Herb butter over on German pedelec by any chance?lol

FYI:

iBike S03

Pedelec-Forum

The Dahon Boost is based on the Sunstar S03, I believe:

Old discussion thread:

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/4869-why-not-choice-speed-sensors-centrl-crank-motors.html#post61535

Kit photos:

Official link:

SUNSTAR i-Bike intelligent bike

 

[daniel.weck]