Upgrading an existing ebike

[vfr400]

I exchanged quite a few emails with Andrew, who was a great guy.

I later had dealings with John who was also very good, as was Dale who I dealt with for help with spar parts etc.

My 2011 Oxygen Emate was my first electric bike and I bought it from 50cycles original store in Richmond.

When I had a problem (very unusual) with my first motor just within the 2 year warranty I initially contacted 50 cycles for help but they told me they no longer dealt with Oxygen Bikes and could not help me. Not what you want from the dealer you bought your bike from.

Anyway as I had corresponded with Andrew before I bought my bike I contacted him directly and he sent me a replacement motor wheel free of charge for me to swap my tyre, cassette, and brake rotor over to.

I was very impressed.

Dale was my last contact there. he moved to ireland with his wife. I think she was a teacher and had family there. I've spoken with him a couple of times since, and he seems to be happy there.

 

[YORKSHIREEXILE1]

Hi All

Sorry, I went a bit quiet on this, I'd convinced myself that Jools needed a new bike and the NCM Milano was going to be the way forward, well guess what, it's out of stock, looks like 'ma belle-soeur' got the last one!

So back to updating the existing bike, it appears that 36v and (at least) 12.5Ah is the way forwards , there seem to be quite a few around, so If I can retain the existing motor, then we can keep this bike for a while and move onto a better bike when they become available. Pic below shows the controller, am I able to retain this too and literally just change the battery/housing along with the supply wires? Having now seen the controller it doesn't seem quite so daunting even if I do need to chance the controller, but bearing in mind the motor is uncensored, so, again, which one?

Cheers all.

Ian.

 

[YORKSHIREEXILE1]

Right, so I've ordered the controller with display as recommended by VFR400 (cheers fella), assuming that if I just wired up the new (on it's way) 36v battery it'd just fritz the existing controller, will be reporting back in a few days time!

Ian

 

[YORKSHIREEXILE1]

I've converted about three bikes like that to 36v with a 36v controller and battery. Two of them were Schwinn Tailwinds, which are really nice bikes except for the underpowered 24v system and low capacity battery. At 36v, these 24v bikes go much better.

Your motor is sensorless, which limits your choice a bit.

All you need is a complete (with rack) new rack battery and a controller for sensorless motors.

The best controllers are from KT because they have better power regulation. If it's for your Mrs, she might find the higher power at start up from the cheaper controllers a bit unnerving. I recommend this one with the LCD3. You'll need to select the speed sensor as well, and I'd get a throttle, which is at least useful for testing even if you don't use it. You need to find out what type of pedal sensor you have. If it's a normal magnet disc type, you can keep it, but if it's a torque sensor, you need to show some close photos of the area around your bottom bracket. Perhaps do that anyway so we can see how a pedal sensor would fit.

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Pardon our interruption...

Pardon our interruption...

Hi,

My apologies I'd whizzed through your reply without really noting your advice, have now taken it, although I went with a different battery supplier, just waiting on the bits now, I do hope I have bodged the order.

Cheers

Ian

 

[vfr400]

Many 24v controllers will run with a 36v battery, but there are pitfalls. Most importantly, the controller won't cut off the power when the battery reaches 31v because it's programmed to cut off at 21v for a 24v one. That can brick your 36v battery if you're not careful. also, any indicators you have for yor battery charge level will show that it's full all the time, which adds to the chance of you running the battery too low. batteries should cut off by themselves when they go too low, but that system is not 100% guaranteed. several batteries that I tested didn't cut off at all even theough they were supposed to.

 

[YORKSHIREEXILE1]

Many 24v controllers will run with a 36v battery, but there are pitfalls. Most importantly, the controller won't cut off the power when the battery reaches 31v because it's programmed to cut off at 21v for a 24v one. That can brick your 36v battery if you're not careful. also, any indicators you have for yor battery charge level will show that it's full all the time, which adds to the chance of you running the battery too low. batteries should cut off by themselves when they go too low, but that system is not 100% guaranteed. several batteries that I tested didn't cut off at all even theough they were supposed to.

Yeah, I'll hang fire trying anything until I've got the lot and can install in one go, I have a limited attention span (especially if anything goes wrong) , so best done in one go!

Cheers

Ian

 

[YORKSHIREEXILE1]

The FedEx man came bearing gifts this afternoon. Jools and I set to and fitted the new battery rack, controller and display, took our time in an effort not to mess up. Getting the new display cable through the tube was a pain and eventually accepted that we were not able to get it to go up the seat stem tube, well hugely surprisingly it worked straight off. Plugged the battery in and powered up the display, check! I'd fitted a simple throttle (thanks for the advice VFR400) and it powered the front wheel, check. Disconnected the throttle and went for muscle power, wow, check. The brakes don't cut the power immediately, but I've figured that one out, I need to splice the two connector from each brake into a single connector, job for tonight, finally the lights don't want to operate, far from a deal breaker. Nipped it outside and gave it a maiden run down and back up the lane to the side of the barn, seems very good, Jools did the same and proclaimed it 'better than before', damned by faint praise! We tidied things up and I decided to give it a go on the road to the next village, up the hill for half mile of constant easy(ish) gradient, it climbs 50m according to Google. I ran out of gear going up it! This amended bike might just be a bit quicker than I anticipated! Sort out the brakes tonight and we'll give it a proper test tomorrow, weather gods willing. My biggest worry is that I'll not be able to keep up now, and no she's not getting the throttle!

Thank you all for you assistance and advice, looks like I've saved myself the best part of a grand.

More later.

Cheers

Ian